Education emerged as a major campaign issue during the Illinois State Fair, with Governor JB Pritzker and Republican challenger Darren Bailey offering sharply different approaches to improving the state’s schools.
Pritzker acknowledged Illinois schools need additional funding while pointing to increased state spending and improvements in graduation rates and student performance during his administration.
Illinois is beginning its 10th year under the Evidence-Based Funding formula, created to direct additional money toward underfunded districts. State funding has increased by more than $3 billion since the formula was adopted, but more than two-thirds of Illinois school districts remain below their calculated adequate funding level. The statewide funding gap is estimated at $6.8 billion.
Bailey argued additional money is not the primary solution, instead calling for less state government involvement and greater control by local school districts and parents.
Bailey also criticized student proficiency levels, although some figures he cited differed from Illinois State Board of Education data. The 2025 state report card showed 47.6% of students below proficiency in English language arts and 61.6% below proficiency in math.
Education policy has also become a campaign flashpoint over Bailey’s previous involvement with Full Armor Christian Academy in Southern Illinois and its teaching of creationism. Pritzker’s campaign highlighted the issue during the State Fair.
Then Monday, Bailey issued a statement saying the school had received a “threatening message” and he accused Pritzker of putting children in danger with by using “reckless” campaign rhetoric.
“Pritzker is free to attack Darren Bailey,” the statement said. “He can spend his billions slinging all the political mud he wants at another candidate. But a governor who not only drags students, teachers, and families into the political gutter but also endangers them with his reckless rhetoric has lost any claim to moral leadership.”
A spokesperson for Illinois State Police said in an email Monday that it is assisting the Clay County Sheriff’s Office in investigating a threat made to the school but offered no additional comment.