“Any school district that gets less money under the current existing funding formula, we also created a $105 million fund to make sure no school district gets less than they’ve been getting”, the governor added.
Advertisement
Rauner has urged Democrats to stand up against their leaders and pass two bills sponsored by Republicans, one a stopgap measure to fund government operations through November, and another to ensure schools open on time.
The Illinois General Assembly failed to pass a budget agreement by the scheduled end of the regular legislative session Tuesday. The Illinois Senate has considered two temporary measures, both of which include a bailout for Chicago Public Schools, according to Rauner.
The state has been without a budget for over a year, and with Rauner taking office just over a year ago, he has taken most of the criticism for the issue.
The backlog is expected to hit $10 billion at the close of fiscal 2016 June 30, exceeding a past high of $9 billion.
Efforts to reach a compromise broke down in the final days of the regular session.
Throughout the stalemate, Rauner has focused on these sweeping reforms dedicated to growing the state’s economy and increasing revenue while Democrats focused on tax increases and cuts to the state’s budget. Although Cullerton earlier in the day said he had a hand in crafting the plan, he blamed its failure on the perception that the House forced the plan on to the Senate. Some Democrats did break ranks, leading to the defeat of a House budget plan in the Senate, and a Senate school funding bill in the House. But Rauner said he’ll veto it.
The Republican governor appeared with a GOP candidate for state Senate on Wednesday at the Vienna Correctional Center in southern IL. “The passing of May 31 with apparently no agreement in place demonstrates the severity of the political logjam that has evolved”.
Credit rating agencies have warned of downgrades if the state fails to tackle its budget deficit. Investors keep punishing IL, asking for an extra 1.8 percentage points to own the state’s 10-year bonds compared to benchmark debt. By contrast, the spread for New Jersey, another state with fiscal problems, was 100 basis points, while California’s was only 20 basis points. Last month there were 9,700 more Illinoisans who couldn’t find a job than in March.
“They couldn’t even pass an unbalanced budget”, the governor said. Please see our terms of service for more information. “Schools in Johnson County are able to open their doors”. The Senate failed to pass a House-approved overall spending bill and the House voted down a Senate bill for education spending. “We will not start school on time”, said Ryan. Prisons, social service providers and public colleges are also at risk.
Without a budget in 2015, lawmakers and Rauner managed to fund education.
Advertisement
IL has the dubious distinction of being the only state in the country without a budget for the current fiscal year, which began July 1. Writing on her Facebook profile, Cassidy said that Republicans about-faced on working with Democrats on a deal, and used that to try to give them the legislative ultimatum which could be unconstitutional. As far back as September of 2015, a Rauner aide called a stopgap measure proposed by Democrats to fund beleaguered social services at the time “the same cynical attempt to stick the taxpayers of IL with a massive tax hike without reform”. Republicans also raised concerns about the relatively large amount of funding that would be steered specifically to cash-strapped Chicago Public Schools.
