There’s agreement that the current formula to fund primary education in Illinois is not effective, but how to address the issue differs.

Bunker Hill Democratic State Senator Andy Manar says any K-12 education plan in the General Assembly that doesn’t address the funding disparities would be a failure.

Manar wants more state funding to be based on need with consideration to area property tax strengths or weaknesses.

In other State news:

With shaky global economy, Illinois said goodbye to over 16,000 jobs in December and hello to a higher unemployment rate, according to the latest jobs numbers.  For the year, the Illinois Department of Employment Security says Illinois saw a total of 3,000 jobs lost, the first time since 2009 the state ended the year with fewer jobs than it started with. Evelina Loescher, labor market information director at IDES, says some job losses were seasonal jobs but there are also fears about a slowdown in the global economy.  IDES says Illinois’ unemployment rate is up to 5.9 percent, nearly a full percentage point higher than the rate for the entire U.S., which sits at 5 percent.