The deal would bring certainty to schools and relief to cash-strapped colleges and social service providers.
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At this time, IL will still enter its second consecutive year without a full budget.
Republican House Leader Jim Durkin said it would have been “atrocious” and likely spurred a public revolt if lawmakers finished another fiscal year without a budget.
IDOT posted a June 30 notice on its website saying: “No suspension of construction and other activities that was scheduled for tomorrow (July 1, 2016) will occur and business will continue as usual”. Budget negotiations for the next six months are expected to begin after the general election. Central District 104 can reportedly last throughout the entire school year.
In addition to financial help from the state, Emanuel’s hand-picked CPS board was given the authority to levy yet another property tax on Chicago residents, one that could raise an additional $250 million for the district for pensions. Dave Syverson of Rockford.
Most recently, the fight between the two sides has centered around school funding , as Chicago Public Schools, by far the state’s largest school district, threatened to not open its doors in the Fall if state officials could not agree on an education budget. “Also, more money for our schools in southern IL which is always great so we did very well”, said Phelps.
Lawmakers passed a measure Thursday that allows IL not to repay about $454 million previously taken from special state funds, freeing up that money for other uses.
Without a plan – IL went through the entire 2016 fiscal year without a budget – authority to spend for public education would have run out, meaning school likely would not have started this fall, months before the November 8 election.
Under the plan, schools are getting over $500 million more in state aid than they did a year ago.
The plan passed on June 30 will get IL through the year, but the same issues that caused the yearlong budget impasse still loom as large as ever.
The proposal comes as public pressure continued to mount for ending the gridlock. On Wednesday, dozens of IL newspapers ran front page editorials demanding both sides get to work on a resolution, many with headlines such as “Enough” and “Do your job”.
Rauner says he won’t sign a budget that is out of balance and won’t approve any tax increases without some of the reforms he has proposed.
“I still think it’s just a stopgap and it’s not a final solution”, she said.
The stopgap spending portion of the agreement largely reflects the work of a bipartisan group of lawmakers that has been negotiating for weeks. Democrats say the governor’s initiatives would hurt middle-class families and have nothing to do with the budget.
Lawmakers are next in Springfield this November for the fall veto session.
A member of the media is silhouetted along with television cameras positioned outside the Governor’s office at the Illinois Statehouse in Springfield on Wednesday, June 29, 2016.
IL lawmakers have passed a temporary budget and sent it to Governor Rauner.
The partial budget will end in January for most state departments and services.
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In several bills lawmakers approved $25 billion in state and federal funding for the budget year that just ended, and another $50 billion for the upcoming fiscal year. It’ll be the first time lawmakers will be in session since they finished their spring session May 31.
