The Illinois State Board of Education is asking lawmakers for $200,000 to develop a new way of counting low-income students, after federal policy changes began shrinking the benefit rolls the state uses to distribute school funding.

The request matters locally because the low-income student count feeds directly into the Evidence-Based Funding formula, which determines how much state money many districts receive. La Grange School District 102 reported a 17.2% low-income student rate and received $3.72 million in EBF revenue in fiscal year 2024, according to the district's annual financial report. Lyons Township High School District 204 reported a 11.7% low-income rate. Other area districts, including D105 South and Western Springs D101, also receive EBF funding.

Illinois currently identifies low-income students based on household enrollment in Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, and the Children's Health Insurance Program. New eligibility rules under the federal "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" are tightening access to those programs. SNAP work requirements that took effect May 1, 2026, could push as many as 120,000 Illinoisans off food assistance, the Chicago Tribune reported. Officials worry that when adults lose benefits, entire households may drop off federal rolls, reducing the number of children counted as low-income in future years.

No replacement formula exists yet. The $200,000 is for a study, not a new policy.

"We believe we have time to come up with an alternative method," Robin Steans, executive director of education advocacy group Advance Illinois, told Capitol News Illinois.

The study request is pending legislative approval as part of the state's fiscal year 2027 budget.