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Herald & Review: Panel needs to ace this school test
If fixing school funding had a due date, Springfield’s answer likely would be “the dog ate my homework.”
It appears some time in detention turned some heads in the right direction, with Gov. Bruce Rauner announcing last week that he has convened a bipartisan panel to propose an overhaul of how the state distributes money to public school districts.
It’s a welcome idea whose time came years ago, but the current idea, at least, is a step forward. Illinois residents are sick and tired of inactivity in Springfield, especially on the things that matter. The panel will start meeting in August with the goal of providing its proposal by Feb. 1, just before the General Assembly starts its spring session.
PJStar: Stopgap budget better than House Democrats' plan, Rauner says
Gov. Bruce Rauner said Friday the state is better off with a six-month, stopgap budget passed late last month than a plan House Democrats were pushing that he said was $7 billion out of balance.
The Republican governor made the statement despite a report this week from the legislature’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability that says the state’s budget deficit this year will be close to $8 billion. Also, Comptroller Leslie Munger said Thursday that the state’s bill backlog will reach a record $10 billion by the end of the year, with vendors waiting longer than ever to get paid.
Crain's: How Rauner can show up Edgar: Change school funding
Former Gov. Jim Edgar publicly endorsed Bruce Rauner for governor in 2014 and traveled the state to help Rauner win.
But less than six months after Rauner was inaugurated, Edgar began to criticize his fellow Republican. It was gentle at first, saying in early June of last year that Rauner should maybe stop calling the Democratic legislative leaders “corrupt” if he wanted to get a budget deal, and suggesting that he set aside his anti-union/pro-business “Turnaround Agenda” to make that deal.
By August, Edgar again urged Rauner to cut a deal on the budget, saying there were just some things in his proposals that no Democrat would ever agree to.
Greg Hinz: This Democrat's turnaround agenda
It’s not every politician who declares that his goal is to “take on some of our most problematic policy anomalies.” Or who, with total seriousness, will write an essay that takes a good 30 minutes to read on “the difference between transactional and transformative” politics and why Illinois is foundering. (Spoiler alert: We’re fixated on only the “transactional.”)
But then, not too many politicians are professional mathematicians and sons of classical musicians, and have a flair for fire juggling, to boot.
Meet Illinois Sen. Daniel Biss, D-Evanston, the unofficial leader of the egghead caucus in a Legislature rarely known for even common sense.
BND: Illinoisans suffer, politicians get paid
The past year has been a rough one for many Illinoisans.
During the recent budget impasse, residents were inundated with stories of anguish throughout the state. And while a stopgap budget has answered some cries for help, the Land of Lincoln remains mired in sluggish growth, high taxes and low expectations.
But a select few Illinoisans have shielded themselves from the pain they’ve inflicted upon others: state politicians.
Despite failing to pass a balanced budget or any significant economic reforms for more than a year, state lawmakers the week of July 4 received paychecks and per diem money. This was the first check lawmakers had seen since Comptroller Leslie Munger temporarily threw lawmaker salaries into the state’s $8 billion pile of unpaid bills three months ago.