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Chicago Tribune: Rauner analysis shows his education veto would cost CPS $463 million
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner’s changes to a major education funding plan would send $463 million less in state money to Chicago Public Schools this year compared with the Democrat-approved version, according to an analysis his administration released late Saturday afternoon.
The governor’s office sent out the long-awaited study less than 24 hours before the Illinois Senate is scheduled to return to the Capitol for a potential vote on overriding Rauner’s amendatory veto of a bill to overhaul the way the state distributes money for schools.
Northwest Herald: ISBE: Harvard, Huntley schools to get more money under Gov. Rauner’s plan
An analysis by the independent State Board of Education finds more than 97 percent of Illinois schools will receive more state money under Gov. Bruce Rauner’s amended funding reform plan than under the Democrats’ Senate Bill 1.
The top beneficiaries in McHenry County would include Harvard District 50, which would get $2,673,914 more than the Democrats’ plan in SB 1. Huntley District 158 would receive $1,648,317 more net. Woodstock District 200 would get $1,041,188 more net. Crystal Lake based Community District 155 would get $880,275 more net, while Crystal Lake District 47 would get $448,442 more net.
Peoria Journal-Star: Spend Governor’s Day at the Capitol this year
That was a nice how do you do for Gov. Bruce Rauner.
The Illinois House, controlled by the man Rauner sees as evil incarnate, Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, will take up the school funding reform issue this week. They’ll do it on Wednesday, which is also Governor’s Day at the Illinois State Fair.
Coincidence? You’ve got to be kidding.
News-Gazette: Procurement changes welcome
If Illinois can make progress on low-profile important issues, why not high-profile important ones?
For those incurable optimists who insist on seeing a glass as one-eighth full rather than seven-eighths empty, there is some good news from Illinois state government.
Gov. Bruce Rauner signed bipartisan legislation last week that should make it easier for the state to make required purchases at lower costs for taxpayers. The Republican governor and Democratic General Assembly actually achieving something positive by working together — who’d a thunk it?
Crain's Chicago Business: Why are so many stores closing in Chicago?
The first to close was the video rental store. It had been there well over a decade, but who still picks up DVDs when you can stream everything? Then it was the picture framing shop—maybe the new owner didn’t have the interest his dad did when he ran it—and then the Sportmart outlet when the chain went out of business, the interiors store that had stuff you couldn’t find anywhere else in Chicago and, a few days ago, storied Melrose Diner.
There were reasons for each of these outfits to shut their doors over the past couple of years. But their demise isn’t the only thing they have in common. Each of those storefronts in Lakeview is still empty, collecting dust and not much else.
Crain's Chicago Business: Time to rein in every mayor's favorite development gimmick
Most of us don’t trust government—local, state or federal—to spend our tax dollars wisely or make sound policy decisions that affect our lives and communities, and that cynicism is reinforced every time we learn about another apparent attempt by public officials to hide their backroom deals, even from their own colleagues.
Exhibit A is a recent investigation by Crain’s Chicago Business and the Better Government Association that uncovered a shell game played by local officials to quietly shift $55 million in Chicago tax-increment financing funds—a program that’s supposed to be limited to economic development in blighted areas—from construction of a hotel near McCormick Place to renovation at Navy Pier, one of the state’s most popular and profitable tourist attractions. “This is unconscionable,” Ald. John Arena said when we told him about it. “We were lied to.”
Northwest Herald: Crystal Lake foreign fire insurance board, firefighters union sue city officials
The firefighters union is taking the city to court for nixing a tax fund firefighters tried to use to buy items ranging from Fitbits to coffee beans.
The lawsuit could add to tensions between the union and city officials. Nine Crystal Lake firefighters, including two who were arrested, face discipline in connection with an off-duty incident in March at a local bar.