Instead of spending reform and policies to promote economic growth, Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan proposes the same high-taxing, big-spending plans that got Illinois into its current fiscal mess.
Transcript, provided by Gov. Bruce Rauner’s office, of his 2016 State of the State address, as prepared for delivery, to the General Assembly on January 27, 2016.
The Illinois Department of Innovation and Technology will tackle one of the state’s most important management problems – an outdated IT system that wastes taxpayer money.
CTU President Karen Lewis has acknowledged that CPS is in dire straits – and that her union may have to make concessions in contract negotiations, including ending the practice of the school district – meaning taxpayers – picking up the majority of teacher contributions toward pensions, which has cost $1.3 billion since 2006.
Gov. Bruce Rauner and Republican state lawmakers have proposed bankruptcy for Chicago Public Schools; Mayor Rahm Emanuel has rejected the idea of bankruptcy, repeating his demand that Illinois taxpayers bail out the struggling school district.
Illinois students could soon benefit from scholarship money to help them find a tutor, attend ACT or SAT prep sessions, pay tuition, get special education services or assist with other academic needs. That will happen in Illinois only if Gov. J.B. Pritzker lets the state’s schoolchildren benefit from the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program, established...