Today, Gov. Bruce Rauner again called on lawmakers to send him Senate Bill 1, the school funding reform bill. If the bill is not sent to Gov. Rauner’s desk soon, public schools throughout the state may not open in time for the new school year. Democrats in the Illinois Senate are using a procedural quirk to keep SB 1 from advancing.
Gov. Rauner plans to issue an amendatory veto that will result in higher state funding for almost every school district in Illinois. As written, the bill includes a bailout of Chicago’s broken teacher pension system, so Gov. Rauner plans to amend SB 1 to remove this from the bill and instead provide adequate and equitable funding for students in Illinois no matter their zip code.
“Enough is enough. Children should come before everything else, and we have to make sure they get back to school on time,” Gov. Rauner said. “Legislators are holding our children hostage in a political game. This is shameful and unacceptable. Our kids deserve better. What are lawmakers waiting for? Send me SB 1 so I can make the necessary changes to eliminate the Chicago Public Schools pension bailout and we can get our kids back to school on time.”
A new webpage launched by the governor shows how much more money each school district will receive after the governor issues his amendatory veto: https://www.illinois.gov/gov/SitePages/SchoolDistrictFunding.aspx
