Eight years after Illinois approved a massive capital plan for university campuses in the state, half of the largest new projects at state schools never began construction and are now canceled or indefinitely halted.

In all, the state put more than $14 million toward five major higher education projects that were approved but never made it out of the planning phase, according to a review of the state’s capital budget by the Tribune.

Illinois faces a long, difficult road ahead in addressing its widespread public pension woes.

There’s a reason why many of Illinois’ public pension systems — including each of the state’s pension systems — are financial basket cases.

And it’s not just because the overseers of these pensions have failed to meet their fiduciary responsibility of properly funding them.

We are national leaders in taxing districts, debt and kicking the cans down the road.

Depending on which report you look at, in addition to mortgages, car payments, student loans and credit card bills, every household in Illinois is also on the hook for another $50,000 because of our state’s debt. Maybe you don’t mind extra toil, exertion, struggle, effort and even drudgery when it means you get to live in a nicer house or drive a new car, but that extra $50,000 gains you nothing. It exists simply because our state’s leaders have done such a poor job for so long saying “no” to their desires of the moment. That reality stings like a cold wind.

You got the money, administrators, principals, teachers. No more excuses. Now deliver a better education for your students. Help every child learn, and succeed in life.

That’s the goal of our Schoolchild’s Bill of Rights. At the beginning of the 2016-17 school year, we introduced a set of crucial principles as part of our New Plan of Chicago series. We later reaped an additional bounty of smart amendments proposed by Tribune readers — including principals, teachers, parents and students.

Democratic-leaning Illinois is the latest state to direct taxpayer money to private schools, a development that’s caught some by surprise and brought condemnation from politically powerful teacher unions and Democrats looking to defeat the Republican governor in 2018.

Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democratic-controlled Legislature last week approved a sweeping overhaul of the way Illinois funds schools. It included a new $75 million tax credit for people and companies that donated to private school scholarships.

The rate of Chicago Public Schools students who graduated within five years of starting high school climbed past 77 percent this year, a four percentage point gain from a year ago that district officials credited in part to marked improvement by African-American boys, according to figures provided by the district.

“Every time we talk about student performance metrics, the achievement gap is always a focal area for both us as well as the public,” CPS chief education officer Janice Jackson said, referring to the ongoing disparity between black and white graduation rates.

Soon Illinois schools will be required to teach financial skills, like how to balance a check book and how to save.

The Illinois State Board of Education adopted revised social science standards in 2015.

Got one I-PASS transponder but multiple cars? It could cost you in 2018 as the Illinois tollway cracks down on I-PASS users that drive through tolls without transponders.

“As of Jan. 1, no transponder, no discount,” states an email from the tollway to a small number of I-PASS users in August.

Circus elephants, long a premier act in shows under the big top, will be banned in Illinois beginning next year.

Last month, lawmakers made Illinois the first state in the country to outright ban elephants from performing in traveling shows, eliciting boos from circus managers and cheers from animal welfare advocates.

State officials said last week they are in the process of seeking another extension to comply with the federal Real ID act, the last one they believe will be necessary before Illinois can comply with the law.

Nathan Maddox, senior legal adviser to Secretary of State Jesse White, said the office expects to submit the request to the Department of Homeland Security later this month.