“The political war between Rauner and House Speaker Michael Madigan has been confounding and unconscionable”, the State Journal-Register’s editorial said.
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Robert Martwick, D-Chicago, left, and Rep.
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.
“To leave this building today without having some sense of accomplishment with respect to fundamental, vital services that we owe to citizens in IL would be atrocious”, House GOP Leader Jim Durkin said during Thursday’s votes. The plan is to give those hardest hit – Eastern Illinois University, Western Illinois University and Chicago State University – an extra funding boost after they document their funding woes, Syverson said. If Illinois enters another year without a budget by Thursday, cash will s.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – Republican Gov.
CHICAGO, June 30 IL lawmakers broke a historic year-long budget impasse on Thursday, approving legislation to complete the current fiscal year, fund fiscal 2017 through December, and ensure schools will open in the fall.
Signaling some potential progress in the state budget mess, legislators say they have reached tentative agreements with Gov. Bruce Rauner on bills to fund education, state operations and capital projects. About a dozen IL newspapers used their front pages Wednesday to publish editorials demanding that the two sides strike a deal.
After approving the stopgap measures earlier in the day, members of the House ultimately voted to appropriate money for the stopgap funding Thursday afternoon. She said newspapers are taking the step because lawmakers appear to have stopped listening. The legislation does nothing to reduce the state’s $8 billion bill backlog and is likely to add to it because there are no new ways to pay for the additional spending. The district, which has a huge budget deficit, had faced a reduction of state aid under the current school funding formula.
“I don’t want that to happen anymore”, Rauner said during a June 7 stop in Ogle County.
“Mark my word that it will be articulated in the fall by various entities”, he said.
Democrats have cast blame on Rauner who called for a package of pro-business reforms they said were meant to weaken unions.
“We can pass a budget when the governor’s demands relative to his personal agenda that hurts families are dropped”, Madigan said.
“This election will largely determine that outcome”, he said. But Rauner advocates say they aren’t giving up on the governor’s controversial plans.
Both sides remain about $600 million apart on school spending, including whether to boost Chicago Public Schools’ pensions. It also provides a full year of money for elementary and secondary education, including hundreds of millions of dollars for financially struggling Chicago Public Schools. Two CPS-related bills were also signed into law: a $215 million pension pickup for the Chicago teachers’ pension fund, and a bill that allows Chicago to raise property taxes earmarked for teacher pension.
“Tomorrow morning, Chicago taxpayers are going to pay almost $700 million in their teachers’ pensions – more than all other 922 school districts because not a penny is coming from the state”.
$1 billion goes to higher education, $151 million of that to fund MAP grants.
Various state agencies, including the Department of Corrections, are getting $709 million to cover operational expenses.
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Even before the partial budget agreement, a large chunk of Illinois’ spending was on autopilot because of court orders requiring payments to Medicaid and state employees. “Our debt will continue to grow”.
