Click to see the Committee of the Whole's Education Panel answer my questions about SB1's funding of Chicago Public School System at a different level than every other school district in the state.

Representative Avery Bourne (R-Raymond) is pushing legislation that will pick up where Senate Bill 1 failed downstate school districts, skewing school funding to first drive money to one school district - Chicago.

Bourne is a Chief Co-Sponsor of legislation, House Bill 4069, that is an attempt to restore truly equitable funding through a restructured school funding formula that drives more funding to low income students and to school districts that need it most. Bourne’s bill was drafted from agreed language in SB 1 before an amendment was added to bail out the Chicago Public School System.

“Legislators have an opportunity to reopen the education funding reform debate and fix the problems with Senate Bill 1,” said Representative Bourne. “Every downstate district would receive more funding through this plan than through Senator Manar’s Senate Bill and no school district in the state loses money. Without the windfall for Chicago, downstate schools will see major gains. Bourne added, “The State Board of Education data clearly shows this bill is the most fair and equitable plan for all students.”

House Bill 4069 incorporates the agreed upon evidence based model while treating all 852 school districts the same. It also ensures that no districts lose money and creates real equity in the school funding system for every student across the state.

Following the proclamation by the Governor, the General Assembly has been called back to Springfield to be in special session June 21-30. These ten days give the legislature the opportunity to reestablish school funding reform discussions and ensure that reforms are passed that provides fair and equitable funding for all children in Illinois regardless of zip code.

 

Yesterday, Governor Rauner delivered what is deemed to be a historic address at the Old State Capitol in Springfield, calling for unity and bipartisanship from the General Assembly to end our state's budget impasse. The Governor urged the members of the General Assembly to vote on the Capitol Compromise, a plan that was introduced by Senate and House Republican leaders that has the Governor's support.

Representative Avery Bourne joined Governor Rauner in calling for unity, emphasizing the critical importance of coming together to work on and pass a budget that will put Illinois on the right fiscal path moving forward.

"Now is the time for working together. With only ten days before our deadline, we must come together, for the people of Illinois, to pass a bipartisan, balanced budget," said Bourne.

The Capitol Compromise Plan includes:

* Balanced Budget with Spending Caps
* Property Tax Relief
* Worker's Compensation Reform
* Government Consolidation (Already Passed House & Senate)
* Education Reform
* Term Limits
* Pension Reform

Representative Bourne added, "While we won't all agree on every aspect of the plans that have been proposed, we cannot wait any longer. This plan is a full year balanced budget that forces the state to live within its means. It also contains good policies that will get our state growing again and represents much of where the Senate Grand Bargain plan found compromises. I am calling on leadership on both sides of the aisle to come together, resolve the remaining issues in a budget deal and get it done."

House and Senate Republicans held a press conference today to introduce a package of bills to end the budget impasse. The bills represent a compromise balanced budget and include reforms that address the priorities of both parties, and urged the General Assembly to return to Springfield to vote on this proposal.

State Representative Avery Bourne (R-Raymond) is asking the Democratic Majority in both Houses to call the plan for a vote and, finally give Illinoisans a budget after two years without a budget in place. “Our budget proposal is reflective of where the negotiations between the Senate Democrats and Republicans broke down. This should be our starting point. Our plan includes a balanced budget with spending caps and meaningful structural reforms,” said Rep. Bourne. “We’ve included many compromises that were previously agreed to as well as new concessions. Additionally, this legislation would clean up Senate Bill 1, the school funding reform proposal, to provide fair, equitable reform for every school district in the state.”

“Time is running out before the fiscal year ends, and we must act now! Where is the sense of urgency with Speaker Madigan to end this stalemate? Lawmakers should be in Springfield working around the clock until our job is finished. This comprehensive budget package with structural reforms that we are proposing today is the path forward to breaking the budget impasse,” said Durkin.

The comprehensive proposal includes a truly balanced budget, a four-year hard spending cap, lasting property tax relief, and changes to our regulatory system that will create jobs and grow the economy. The bills also include a $250 million increase for the new school funding formula, and fulfilling commitments to restore child care eligibility to 185% of the federal poverty level and a wage increase to Direct Support Professionals. It also includes term limits on legislative leaders and constitutional officers.

"These proposals continue the important work already done in the Senate, where we'd seen significant progress on these issues. I am confident there is still an opportunity for bipartisan compromise on a balanced budget, as well as the critical reforms that will bring a much-needed economic boost to our state," said State Senator Karen McConnaughay. "We need to act expediently to get Illinois back on a path to fiscal stability and security."

The summary of the bills are as follows:

Budget Bill: Comprehensive budget proposal that includes real spending cuts and a four-year spending cap, while providing funding to state agencies like the Department of Human Services to care for our state’s most vulnerable and the Department of Transportation to continue important infrastructure projects.

Property Tax Relief: Four-year freeze for all taxing districts, but would allow residents, through voter referendum, to lower or increase their taxes. Allows for an exemption on existing debt service payments as requested by Senate Democrats.

Local Government Consolidation: Strengthens and improves the already passed SB 3, and will allow for citizens-initiated consolidation on units of local government.

Education Funding: Changes to the K-12 education funding formula that treats every district equitably that is consistent with the bipartisan framework of the Governor’s School Funding Commission. Funding for early childhood education, K-12 education, community colleges and universities.

Workers’ Comp: Uses previously negotiated language between Senate GOP and Senate Democrats, like changes to the medical fee schedule, but does not reduce benefits to workers or include a causation standard.

Pension Reform: Accepts SB 16, which has previously passed the Senate, including President Cullerton’s consideration model and the state’s pickup of Chicago Public School’s pension payments.

Term Limits: Constitutional amendment to impose 10-year term limits on legislative leaders in the General Assembly and eight-year limit on Constitutional Officers (Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, Comptroller, Treasurer, and Secretary of State)

“We all agree that we need to fix our broken school funding formula right now," said State Senator Jason Barickman. "This legislation contains much of the priorities Democrats advanced in Senate Bill 1, provides meaningful help for Chicago, ensures that no districts lose money, and treats all of our schools fairly and equitably under the evidence based model."

“Passing an unbalanced budget like the Senate Democrats did and the House Democrats choosing to not even take up a budget is beyond unacceptable and a complete failure from the majority party,” State Sen. Dale Righter said. “We must return to Springfield, put party differences aside, work together, and pass an actual budget that is not only balanced, but moves Illinois forward economically and fiscally. The fact we need 3/5 vote now to pass a budget is a good thing in that it forces Democrats to finally work with Republicans in complete good faith to pass a true and real balanced budget – one that is good for schools, social services, and taxpayers.”

“The comprehensive balanced budget we are offering today will provide care for our state’s most vulnerable citizens,” said Deputy Republican Leader Patti Bellock. “With last week’s court ruling on the $2 billion backlog of unpaid Medicaid bills, it is critically important we take immediate action to address this backlog. Our plan includes more than $4 billion in bonding to help pay off old bills. We must address this crisis now. The consequences of not taking action now would be devastating to human services.”

“Our plan will allow for citizens-initiated consolidation of units of local government,” State Rep. Tom Demmer said. “Our nearly 7,000 units of local government contribute to why Illinois residents pay some of the highest local government taxes in the nation, including the 2nd highest in property taxes. On pension reform, we accept Senate Bill 16, which has previously passed the Senate and includes President Cullerton’s consideration model. Pension reform and local government consolidation will save taxpayers billions of dollars.”

My entire time in the General Assembly, I have been working on fixing the school funding formula. What I will not support is a masked effort to rig the school funding formula. This week, House Democrats passed Senate Bill 1 (SB 1) - a bill to change the way we distribute state money to our schools.  

This bill was a version of the evidence-based funding model which is an excellent blueprint for us to follow when we discuss overhauling our broken state funding formula. This model, in theory, is significant to Illinois for many reasons, not the least of which is that it was specifically designed to send money to the schools that need it most, first. 

What’s so disappointing, however, and why I could not support SB1 is that the bill sponsored by Senator Manar and Representative Davis corrupts the evidence-based model and skews its results in favor of driving money to one school district - Chicago. 

For months, we have been negotiating, on a bipartisan basis, a new funding model that recognizes the unique characteristics of each school district, sends money first to the schools who need it most, and that appropriately considers the needs of schools across the state - including Chicago. However, the recent legislation that passed the House and the Senate is not reflective of our negotiations. As is often the case in Springfield, at the last minute they added in special deals and went with what was politically expedient instead of what was fair. 

To be clear, I am not denying that students in Chicago need a high quality education too. But, when politicians choose to rig the system to send more money to Chicago, it comes at the expense of every other student in the 850 other districts in the State. That includes us. 

Here is a snapshot of schools in the 95th District under our plan for school funding reform and then after the changes to benefit Chicago: 

All of these numbers seem like a benefit to our schools. You may ask - isn’t something better than nothing? The problem is, if we make all of these deals for Chicago permanent, we will lose money that we deserve every year from here on out. Also, if education funding is cut in the future like we've seen in the past, Chicago will automatically get more while everyone else suffers losses. That is not a system that is “fixed,” that is a system that is rigged. 

Also, let’s not forget about the financial condition of the state. Our schools across the state are already owed $1.1 billion from the state for this year alone. We’re broke. This bill assumes that the state will be able to pay another $350 million more next year than we did this year. Also, while House and Senate democrats wave this bill around as a victory, the House majority failed to even bring a budget up for a vote. That means, so far, not a single dollar is headed to schools next year. 

We truly were close to a historic agreement on reforming the school funding formula, but the House and Senate Democrats sold out to Chicago again. It’s time that Springfield got its priorities right. Let’s truly fix the formula for every school in the state - not rig the system for one school district at the expense of the rest of us.