The stopgap budget passed by the General Assembly provides six months worth of funding for government services such as road construction, as well as a full K-12 education budget for the 2016-2017 school year, property-tax-raising authority for Chicago, and more state funding of pensions for Chicago Public Schools teachers.

Until CPS passes necessary spending and pension reforms, giving any additional money to the system will only reward officials’ mismanagement and reckless behavior.

Pension funds aren’t immune to the volatility of the stock market. Even before Brexit, Moody’s warned that low investment returns are already putting Chicago’s pension funds at risk. A major stock market correction or another recession just might put Chicago and CPS over the edge if their already-underfunded pension systems collapse.

Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan’s insistence that Chicago Public Schools receive more than its fair share of state education funding is putting any stopgap budget deal at risk.

Madigan’s record $40 billion spending proposal and its $7 billion deficit revealed he was never serious about reaching a budget deal with Rauner. Instead it was nothing more than an attempt to create a deeper fiscal crisis, force additional tax hikes and create a bailout for the city of Chicago. As long as Madigan and other lawmakers keep prioritizing politics over people, Illinois will continue its downward spiral.

City officials are moving to develop the largest remaining plot of vacant land to ensure huge windfalls for a city-run slush fund.

llinois Comptroller Leslie Munger said Speaker Madigan's budget proposal would increase the state's unpaid bills to $15 billion and cause eight to nine month payment delays for vendors.

Creating new special service areas for the sole benefit of Chicago Public Schools would mean hitting homeowners with an additional $100 million in taxes.