114 Comments - AC - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:30 pm: Agree, at least it’s something directly related to the budget. - titan - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:33 pm: Looking at what fixes would be appropriate is certainly a good idea, but that could take time and the schools will need money at a set time. If a new formula is in place by then use it. If not, fund them when they need funding and keep working on it - Way Way Down Here - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:34 pm: Reluctantly agree. The formula needs to change, no question about it, but more hostage taking? - Casual observer - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:35 pm: Agree if for no other reason, hijacking the “turn around agenda” is brilliant. - Rich Miller - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:35 pm: Disagree. It validates the hostage-taking formula. - thunderspirit - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:35 pm: I had to vote no. If holding the budget hostage over one political agenda is wrong, holding the budget hostage over another political agenda is wrong — and it shouldn’t matter if I agree with one of the agendas over the other. - Just Lurking - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:35 pm: Disagree. I don’t see any logic in providing no money at all for districts that purportedly don’t get enough money. Those districts likely have lower property taxes and would be in the worst position to be starved of funding. - Anonymous - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:39 pm: Changing the formula is too complex. If there is no funding until the change, the schools will not have the funds to function. As someone in districts that have extra money due to referenda passing for more money for the schools, I struggle to see how this could work unless you wipe out the property taxes for the schools entirely and start from scratch. Especially the extra property taxes they are getting from the referenda. Oh and Sandack has already said he is against the proposed restructuring plan. - Anonymous - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:39 pm: Agree with Rich. Cullerton’s use of the words seems to be an attempt to validate Rauner’s agenda - intentional or not. With Cullerton. I would have to think its intentional. Maybe he has forgotten what side he’s supposed to be on?? - Frenchie Mendoza - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:40 pm: The smart move — and one that’s sort of backdoor hostage taking (but effective — and something Rauner would do in a heartbeat) — is to re-appropriate the rhetoric. Once the “Turnaround Agenda” phrase is diluted — one’s about union busting and local control except when it’s not — and one’s about school funding formula — then it becomes less effective for Rauner to clarify (”I mean, local control — not school funding.”) Again — it’s less about the veracity of what’s being said and more about the ability to say it — and repeat it — is what matters. At least from Rauner’s side. But from Cullerton’s, too. If he’s serious about school funding — and believe he is — that’ a Turnaround Agenda I can agree with — and believe in. - Team Katniss - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:41 pm: Back in the day (early and mid 1990s) I was the person who worked with Dr. Bill Hinrichs on the funding formula. The timeline from January 2016 to July 2016 is probably not a realistic amount of time to design and calibrate a new funding formula. But Bill is now retired from the state, so Sen. Cullerton would be wise to hire him to do a project on it for his own office to have a proposal on what the formula could be. I am not retired yet or I would join in. Should the Senator take the whole budget hostage to change the forumula? no. Not enough timeline. Regards - Anon - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:41 pm: I agree with Cullerton, but I don’t think this was a good idea to do. Rauner has had a hostage for a while now and that hasn’t become the center of anything — worse yet, Rauner is holding a hostage that he needs more than the legislature. So, how about everyone takes a hostage Rauner needs more than the legislature and see how that plays? It’s bad for governing — but I agree with Cullerton simply because I take his action to mean that he doesn’t think Rauner is going to to do anything that demonstrates good faith. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:42 pm: Voted… ===Disagree. It validates the hostage-taking formula.=== You can’t give Bruce Rauner the idea wgst has happened these 12 months is fine, and that is the “new normal” Nope. Can’t do it. Voted “Disagree” - Team Sleep - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:44 pm: I vehemently disagree. We are on here (colloquially, at least) lamenting what is happening to social service and not-for-profit agencies. So now we are going to do the same to our state-sponsored, public schools? What good will that do? Public schools are structured that they must receive public funds from both the state and local funding streams. How else would they operate if half of that equation was cut off? School construction is already years - and, in some instances, a decade - behind schedule. - Ducky LaMoore - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:45 pm: Voted disagree. Yes the formula needs to be changed. No the school funding should not be held hostage. At least, it should only be held hostage to get the Governor to sign the rest of the budget. This year, no school funding appropriation should be passed until the rest of the budget is signed. - Blue dog dem - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:45 pm: Agree….but not for the same reason as Cullerton. We need to somehow reduce the dependence on property taxes to support schools. Increases in income or sales taxes, redistribution by the state, graduated income tax rates, anything. - x ace - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:47 pm: Negotiation Tactic , make a proposal as, or more, Outrageous and Onerous than your Adversary. Make him Blink. - nobody - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:49 pm: Disagree: Some schools can’t afford to wait for a formula change before any $s flow. - Liberty - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:51 pm: I voted agree. Rauner needs to bring reason to the table instead of name calling and reason. - Former Hoosier - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:51 pm: Disagree. Revising the formula needs to be done now, to make the funding equitable. But you can’t hold the K-12 funds hostage while the revisions are occurring. - Liberty - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:52 pm: That should be name calling and extremism. - Original Rambler - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:52 pm: Hope the judiciary is taking note of this. Maybe they thought this year was a one off but it may now be morphing into business as usual. The judiciary may want to start removing some of this court ordered spending or it may find itself running the State for the next 3 years. I reluctantly agreed just so the Governor is aware that this can be a two way street. - foster brooks - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:54 pm: will we ever see a budget???? - VanillaMan - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:55 pm: I voted disagree. It is fundamentally counterproductive. We all push forward. Anyone demanding that before they help, they get credit - then they aren’t interest in really helping. We don’t fight fires by refusing to fight them until we all come to an agreement as to who gets credit for putting it out. Rauner wants to play the victim as he refuses to be a part of any solutions. As governor, he is responsible for results regardless of his spin. As governor, Rauner is responsible for anything that happens in Illinois during his time in office. It is the voters who decide, not him. Excuses wash away. - TD - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:56 pm: Disagree. I think the substantive details he points out are worthy of change, but this justifies Rauner’s actions over the past year. It will also play out to the average voter that the GA and Rauner have been equally holding up the budget. I get the gut emotion to pursue this on multiple levels, but you have to play chess, not checkers. - Juice - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:56 pm: Agree, with one significant caveat. My interpretation of what the Senate President said (and not Rich’s question) was that if the Governor is going to have these demands before he will entertain passing a budget, then I have one of my own. I think that position is entirely fair. But if the Governor drops his demands and enacts a budget, then no, I do not think that the President should hold school funding hostage until the formula is reformed. Will just end up doing even more damage to the districts he is trying to help. - Huh? - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:57 pm: Disagree. The political process to come to terms for the new formula will be long and arduous. Withholding funds from poor school districts will harm the defenseless. - Earnest - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:58 pm: Disagree. Hostage taking is immoral. - Phenomynous - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 1:59 pm: Disagree. Hostage situations obviously don’t work. On a side note, Illinois has updated the education funding formula several times since 1997. No one remembers the PTELL adjustment in 99 or the poverty grant reformulation in 03-04? These changes alone were responsible for billions in additional/shuffled spending in an effort to be “equitable”. Chicago is pushing for this now because they are only winning on the poverty grant side of things, whereas they used to get a ton of money from PTELL, foundation, and poverty grant funding. - illinois manufacturer - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:02 pm: It means that with tge state in total chaos by summer that the schools not just the colleges dont open. Real leadership would be to end the hostage taking and put the hostage taker bzck on the street…in his case that would be wall street. - Joe M - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:04 pm: Voted No. Cullerton should draft and push his ideas with legislation. If he has the votes, then he can pass it in the Senate. Then, it goes onto the House. If it passes the House, it goes onto the Governor to sign or not sign. That is how the system is supposed to work. We don’t need any more hostage politics. - Triple fat - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:05 pm: http://jonathanturley.org/2013/03/16charter-schools-and-the-profit-motive/. I voted yes because I believe the only reason the Governor agreed to fun K-12 was to keep State money flowing to the Charter Schools. Read the link and decide if you think his charter school support is based on charity. - Triple fat - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:08 pm: Fund… Freudian slip! - Triple fat - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:08 pm: Fund… Freudian? - NixonHead - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:09 pm: Reluctantly agree. Perhaps Rauner can get some dem votes on collective bargaining reform in exchange for a better school funding formula. Hostage swap - Ferris Wheel - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:09 pm: Normally I would agree with this strategy, but I’m afraid given the current stalemate it wouldn’t actually incentivize the Gov and legislature to do anything - Cassandra - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:10 pm: Previous efforts to improve school funding over the years seem to have been extremely contentious once the public starts to understand the details, so I voted no, because of the short time frame to reach even consensus much less implementation. One problem is that increases in funding would probably required income tax increases. And reluctance to take responsibility for income tax increases is purportedly the number one elephant in the room for both parties. So, good luck with that (school funding increase). - east central - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:10 pm: Using reform of school funding as a basis for selling a budget with increased revenue is a smart approach from Cullerton but he should have avoided the turnaround references. It needs to be the path to revenue changes without looking like a crass political deal. The State desperately needs a revenue increase. Possibly the most palatable justifications that might be used are (a) “It is for the children” school funding version, saying that some districts desperately need a big increase and that all districts should get more than they receive now, (b) “It is for the children” social services version, and (c) “Capital spending” everybody benefits version. Use all these up front while also covering other needs such as pension funding. - My New Handle - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:10 pm: Disagree, but as others have noted, the proposal is a simulation of Rauner’s own tactics. Since K-12 was the only budget Rauner signed, maybe Cullerton’s intent was to hold up a blatant example of “hostage-taking” in hopes that Rauner would recognize the harm of the tactic. Possibly Rauner’s office will spin Cullerton’s proposal as validation for Rauner’s tactic, though. Just to keep those OODA’s looping. - sal-says - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:11 pm: ‘Linking’ is a bad idea. Look at what it’s accomplished so far: Nothing. Then again, ‘can’t we all just get along?’. /s - Enviro - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:12 pm: Cullerton: “Before we appropriate money for education for next [fiscal] year, which starts July 1st, we have to fix this formula.” I agree that we must fix the school funding formula to help close the performance gap that divides rich and poor students, as well as students of color. However school funding reform will take a long time to achieve, so the first thing to do is pass a state budget. Voted no. - The Muse - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:12 pm: I disagreed because then I don’t think there will ever be an end to this mess… BUT, I think what SP Cullerton just did is brilliant. Take on Manar’s proposal which is very popular downstate - the constituency Gov. Rauner needs this year - and make Gov. Rauner do the inevitable and be against Cullerton’s plan. - Triple fat - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:16 pm: Oops forgot a backslash. Sorry about that! http://jonathanturley.org/2013/03/16/charter-schools-and-the-profit-motive/ Now you can access it - East Central Illinois - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:17 pm: Vehemently DISAGREE. School districts will be making staffing decisions for next year (starting July 1, 2016) within the next two months. Program, curriculum, staff, etc. will be budgeted at the local school district level within the next 3 to 6 months. Given the total inability by the general assembly and our great governor (cough, cough) to get ANYTHING done in the past 12 months, there is no when in HE__ that the school funding formula will be changed by the state governing bodies in sufficient time to allow for local school districts to make any types of plans and/or budgets. - Ahoy! - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:17 pm: If you agree that the formula should hold up the education budget than you are essentially agreeing that the Governor is correct that other items can dictate the budget process. I disagreed, but with this caveat, the budget is being held hostage due to the need for a tax increase, and I understand politicians wanting something in return for voting for a tax increase, especially when that something in return is better public policy. This year isn’t like any other budget process because budgeting is determining how the state spends its money, it’s a lot more complicated than that this year. I also found Cullerton’s quote interesting “It’s hard to change an entrenched status quo. It requires true, dedicated leadership, the question is whether today’s leaders are up to the task.”” If you didn’t know who said it, you might have attributed it to the Governor. - Lincoln Lad - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:19 pm: Agree. Now there is a counterpoint to the Rauner turnaround agenda. It’s not just ‘no’. I’m not sure it will be effective, but at least it demonstrates a willingness to begin a discussion, something that will not happen under what has become a stagnated status quo of two sides unwilling to move an inch. - RNUG - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:19 pm: Didn’t vote but Illinois should work on updating the school aid formula without taking any hostages. My proposal: The State grant a portable per student “voucher” equal to 51% - 55% of the average cost to educate a (non-special needs) K-12 student in the state. It could be adjusted to cover ranges like K-6, 7-9, 10-12 because different levels do have differing costs. This portable voucher would be good at any properly accredited school, public or private. That would cover the state’s responsibility of being the primary funding source. The remaining amounts needed should be raised via the property tax. If that doesn’t provide sufficient property tax relief, consider raising the State percentage or find some alternative local tax. In addition, each public school is granted additional money to cover the higher costs of the special needs population. That additional money would follow the special needs child, moving from public school to public school. I realize this is a simplistic approach and will definitely require more tax dollars, not less. It will also need some more refinement. And if we are going to properly fund both schools and pensions, two areas where the state has been deficit for years, and continue to retain the flat income tax, we need to talk realistically about tax rates in the 7% to 10% range. - Bill White - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:20 pm: - The Muse - @ 2:12 pm: = = I think what SP Cullerton just did is brilliant. Take on Manar’s proposal which is very popular downstate - the constituency Gov. Rauner needs this year - and make Gov. Rauner do the inevitable and be against Cullerton’s plan. = = It would seem two can dance the OODA Loop dance. - SAP - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:21 pm: Revamping the funding formula is a laudable goal, but to stay true to my marketing campaign for SAP-brand Goose AND Gander Sauce, I have to vote against hostage-taking. I hope that President Cullerton is trying to make a point here, rather than drawing a new line in the sand. - illlinifan - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:21 pm: The Tribune recently whined about the Dems not offering a Turnaround Agenda. I agree with Fullerton. Here is an agenda that makes sense, the way we fund schools needs reform and at least the funding model is tied to the very thing it impacts. - olddog - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:25 pm: I clicked on “agree,” but changed my mind as I read the comments. (This happens pretty often.) We need to stop taking hostages. Period. - Under Influenced - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:25 pm: Agree. The formula has a direct and indirect impact on the budget. - Really Simple - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:25 pm: No offense, Governor, but either take the lead on all of this budget mess stuff that weighs on the minds of a lot of people or do the honorable thing, that is, “resign from Office and let someone else do your work”. Hey….before you get toooooo upset I am a Republican and, hate to say now, I voted for you. I am disappointed/frustrated with you and your administration. Sad! - DuPage Bard - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:27 pm: Agreed. I also think it dilutes the phrase Turnaround Agenda. The more people who use the phrase Turnaround Agenda for random things the better. Becomes a running joke at that point. I want new bike lanes downtown to improve speed and efficiency with which people commute and manage their daily lives, thereby creating an increase in productivity and time savings equating to hundreds of millions possibly billions of dollars in savings. This is really needed to grow our economy and Turnaround Illinois. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:30 pm: ===The Tribune recently whined about the Dems not offering a Turnaround Agenda=== That was Eric Zorn whining. Eric Zorn, Friday, here, QOTD, his comment. ===What would Mike Madigan do if he were governor and had unified, lock-step supermajorities in both chambers?=== Besides arguing an unrealistic premise since Madigan isn’t governor, didn’t run for governor, and that usually sophomore, dorm room thinking gets hammer and shook here, that’s more Kristen McQueary and Kass that Zorn found himself wading, not actual problem-solving for Illinois. Rauner wanted the job, so he should do it; Craft a budget, fund his agencies, cobble support, get 60 votes, cobble 30 votes, reconcile the budget and promise to sign it… whole. That’s problem solving and paying attention. Zorn did neither, but the pizza was good, the jams rocked, and the dorm room was epic. - Politix - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:31 pm: It’s shocking to see so many agreeing to this. I do not agree as I don’t want to see a delay in school funding impact our kids. The formula should be phased in beginning FY18. Of course this could play out rather shrewdly for Cullerton as Rauner would surely take the heat if the school year is impacted. Could it be that the President has stumbled upon his own wedge issue? - The Dude Abides - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:31 pm: I voted disagree. While I think the funding formula needs changed, this is the wrong way to go about it. Get a budget passes, get a school funding bill passed, then negotiate the particular items. - Bogey Golfer - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:32 pm: Voted disagree. While I side with Cullerton the school funding scenario needs to be revised, this would use the kids as pawns until this is in agreement. - All the king's men - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:33 pm: I can’t argue with the need for change in how we fund schools, which is why I voted yes. However I also question whether this is the appropriate time to be doing this. I was looking at data on this topic the other day and while I feel bad for those schools who stand to lose a little funding they will still have more funding overall than the schools who will truly benefit from a new formula, assuming this new formula doesn’t get hijacked in some way that makes the funding discrepancy worse of course. - Federalist - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:34 pm: “As a result, the performance gap that divides rich and poor students, as well as students of color, ranks among the worst in the nation. Illinois is 42nd in terms of the gap in reading scores among these students, and it falls among the bottom 10 in the achievement gap between black and white students.” Always the race factor thrown in! More equalized funding? A worthwhile goal. But do not assume that all schools with many minorities spend less per student than do those in many rural downstate areas. - Cassandra - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:35 pm: If I recall correctly, school funding reform proposals tend to entail reduced state funding for some wealthier districts. Not the wealthiest, who, I believe, are already pretty much independent, although they don’t mind somebody throwing some money their way. So now you are taking from middle class communities, who will have to make it up from even higher property taxes. That’s where it gets bogged down. Yet increased funding for all would be awfully expensive. - @MisterJayEm - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:36 pm: Disagree. I long ago had my fill of legislative extortion and political brinkmanship. – MrJM - Anonymous - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:36 pm: A way to save CPS? - Anon 2 - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:39 pm: Well Cullerton could write a bill and then call it for a vote. Both the Senate and House are Dem controlled and can over ride a veto. But do the Dems really want to lose all the suburb and collar counties they worked so hard to get into. Remember Cullerton doesn’t need Rauner. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:42 pm: ===Both the Senate and House are Dem controlled and can over ride a veto.=== No. Ken Dunkin. Not possible. Try again. - Anon 2 - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:43 pm: Perhaps the state could equalize administrative funding while we are at it. Pay teachers and staff the same state wide. - ArchPundit - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:43 pm: ===Disagree. It validates the hostage-taking formula. Ding Ding Ding. Let’s get away from taking hostages and into responsible governing. Adding more irresponsibility doesn’t help. Unless you are heightening the contradictions of the system. And then it still doesn’t help. - Anon 2 - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:45 pm: Oswego, Dunkin would not go against the Dems on this. It is something he has supported in the past. Now trying to get the suburban Dems to commit political suicide might be a challenge. - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:47 pm: ===Pay teachers and staff the same state wide.=== Nope. No way. Lowering wages will offset higher wages in higher cost markets. Lowering wages is a Raunerite dream, and not very Republican. Even prevailing wage is based around localities. Ugh. - Anonymous - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:48 pm: Let’s just throw another major problem on the table with all the others. More on the table the more overwhelming and impossible it is to fix anything. Is that the objective? - Oswego Willy - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:49 pm: ===Oswego, Dunkin would not go against the Dems on this. It is something he has supported in the past. Now trying to get the suburban Dems to commit political suicide might be a challenge.=== Nope. Dunkin is. “Why?” If Madigan got 70 on his own, Rauner has already proven Dunkin’s switch isn’t Dunkin’s. Proven. Please keep up. - Carhartt Representative - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:49 pm: I do agree about the formula, but I think the Governor’s approach is wrong and it’s wrong in this case too. Fight like Hell to get this past, but don’t do what the Governor has been doing. We’ve seen the effects. - NeverPoliticallyCorrect - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:50 pm: I rarely agree with Cullerton but do here. The whole system is a mess and needs reform. But not just funding, we need to give schools more flexibility in spending, lets get rid of the fund categories schools have to force their money into. - Springfieldish - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:53 pm: Agree. It’s called detante’; it’s called ‘one good hostage deserves another’; it’s called, “High road? We don’t need no stinkin’ high road!”. Fight the OODA Loop with the Rope-A-Dope! The problem with pleading that someone act like an adult is that Gov. Trump Jr. doesn’t think or act on that level. The only respect he ever demonstrated in business was to anyone as cold, calculating, and cut-throat opportunistic as Rauner. No surprise that there weren’t many that he respects. The dog chases the rabbit down the hole and catches it 100 times. Why would anyone believe this time will be different? Operate on his level; suspend your concept of right and wrong and expand your concept of permissible collateral damage. In the ring with Rauner, you better be ready to give a low blow because, brother, that’s about all you’re gonna get from him. Lying on the mat, even with the certain knowledge that you took the high road, hasn’t served your constituency one little bit. Think Inspector Kemp: “A riot is an ugly thing. And it’s just about time we had one!” - BIG R. Ph. - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:53 pm: Disagree. It requires true, dedicated leadership,” Cullerton said. I thought he was a leader? Obviously he doesn’t see himself as THE leader. Bowing down to MM - veritas - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:54 pm: ==The State grant a portable per student “voucher” equal to 51% - 55% of the average cost to educate a (non-special needs) K-12 student in the state.== The current Foundation Level is $6119 and NO DISTRICT GETS THAT! NONE. Most district receive under $2000 per year from the state in GSA. The mean instructional expense per pupil last year in Illinois was $7419. (Average operating expense per pupil was $12,521). There is just not enough revenue to substantiate your plan without a HUGE tax increase. Just sayin’. - Anonymous - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:54 pm: Oswego. Look at Dunkins record he votes Dem most of the time. I know you hate for anyone to not vote lock step party line but hey it happens. Now try and sell this to the Burbs and collar counties - Carhartt Representative - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:57 pm: ==Pay teachers and staff the same state wide.== So Chicago teachers have to live in Chicago where home prices are $157,000. Meanwhile, teachers in other parts of Illinois where the median home price is $40,000 get paid the exact same. That seems fair. - Downstate Hack - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 2:59 pm: The funding formula needs to be changed it is unfair. However we need to also create some accountability from our teachers and administrators. Illinois schools are not producing near the results we deserve from the high costs. - Dance Band on the Titanic - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 3:05 pm: Voted no. If we were dealing with entirely rational actors this approach might actually work. Unfortunately, we are not. Kudos to Cullerton for at least making this a centerpiece of the discussion going forward. - All the king's men - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 3:09 pm: I don’t think that in any version of this, short of cullerton saying that the school with the greatest financial need is CPS and therefore they need more help than anyone, which while true would infuriate pretty much everyone who feels that it’s CPS problem they need to fix it without other schools money. - All the king's men - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 3:17 pm: Sorry incomplete thought cullerton would not use updating the aid formula as a backdoor to bail out CPS. It just doesn’t make sense. Still that said all this requires funding the state just doesn’t have anyway. We have too much debt to pay first to be worried about equality of funding for schools. There I said it. - Enviro - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 3:18 pm: @ 2:59 pm.” However we need to also create some accountability from our teachers and administrators.” How can only 2% of children in one Illinois neighborhood meet math standards while 95% of children meet math standards in another Illinois neighborhood? The answer is poverty. - Enviro - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 3:24 pm: We can’t afford not to be worried about equality of funding for schools. - Cheryl44 - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 3:26 pm: What happens to the schools while we figure something out? - Carhartt Representative - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 3:29 pm: =The funding formula needs to be changed it is unfair. However we need to also create some accountability from our teachers and administrators. Illinois schools are not producing near the results we deserve from the high costs.= Illinois schools rank pretty high nationally. This site using 13 metrics rated them 8th in the country. https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-the-best-schools/5335/ Illinois funds their schools worse than any other state in the entire country. We’re 50th out of 50 states in the percent of funding provided to our schools by the state. That’s actually pretty remarkable success considering how badly the schools have been funded. - All the king's men - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 3:31 pm: Sorry, but I sat in a city council session in peoria not long ago and watched a math teacher who teaches in peoria district 150 which with much love for peoria schools isn’t a top flight school in terms of education, get recognized as teacher of the year in illinois. Being an effective teacher and adapting your methods to work for students is just as important as how much you get to spend per student. That lady is proof since I am sure she doesn’t have as much funding as she wishes she did. But she is still effective. Side note to that I have also met and remember myself having teachers who did a terrible job teaching the subject because they didn’t care about the quality of the teaching in their classroom. Quality teachers from the time they are hired to the time they retire are more important than all the funds in the state. - Anonymous - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 3:36 pm: “How can only 2% of children in one Illinois neighborhood meet math standards while 95% of children meet math standards in another Illinois neighborhood? The answer is poverty.” Certainly poverty plays a role but it is far more complex of an issue than just pointing out ‘poverty’. Shipping jobs overseas, automation and the entire matter of using cheap global through globalization play a role. However, the high illegitimacy rate and massive importation of poverty through both legal and illegal immigration into this nation and state only makes poverty much, much worse. Unfortunately, few are willing to address these issues in an open and honest matter. - Federalist - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 3:40 pm: Anonymous did not submit the message of Jan 25th 16 @3:36pm I did. Have no idea as to how his/her byline was attached to mine. Probably I did something wrong but I can not imagine what. - Mouthy - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 3:44 pm: Agree simply because it may blow up the hostage taking formula. Something had to be done to get things going. Haven’t seen any better suggestions. - veritas - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 3:44 pm: ===Sorry, but I sat in a city council session in peoria ==== Really? Have you looked at any statistics regarding the relative wealth of a school district in relation to the academic success of its students? The one-to-one relationship is almost unvarying. Can we please get past the “I once saw a good teacher make something out of nothing mentality” and look at the facts? - Mama - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 3:50 pm: Disagree - The legislators & the governor should work on updating the PreK-12 school aid formula without taking any hostages. If Rauner &/or Madigan do not want the new funding formula, the kids & the schools get screwed! Taking hostages should be discouraged at all cost. - Timmeh - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 3:51 pm: I think it’s the necessary political move. I don’t like the strategy of “hostage taking”, but Rauner already has the hostage. I think Rauner will make it unpopular enough that other politicians will be hesitant to use it after Rauner is out of office. In the meantime, this issue needs to be on the table. It’s a good issue for Cullerton and Democrats. It’s easily understandable to voters. I don’t see the average voter seeing this as “more hostage taking”. They’ll see it as countering Rauner and his demands. - Anonymous - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 3:53 pm: No. I disagree because it’s Rauneresque hostage-taking. I suspect that was the point Cullterton was trying to make. Also, people over the age of 10 should not be able to say “structural reforms” without explaining in detail — if they can — what they’re talking about. - Wensicia - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 3:58 pm: At least Durkin admits Rauner’s Turnaround Agenda is at the heart of the “impasse”. Disagree. Enough with the hostage taking. - JS Mill - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 3:59 pm: = However we need to also create some accountability from our teachers and administrators.= Find a group of public employees with more “accountability” measures. Seriously. =Illinois schools are not producing near the results we deserve from the high costs.= Based on what? Metrics? We get the schools we deserve. How about a system that considers desired outcomes and then works to determine what that might cost versus funding based on essentially nothing but what politicians have the will or lack the will to do. Our current foundation level of $6119 is not being met and is far below the EFAB recommendation so, essentially we are using a formula that is based on the whim of the ILGA and governor. Which is to say no formula at all. Don’t get me started on mandated categoricals… - flea - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 3:59 pm: The Farmland Tax Assessment algorithm just changed to limit the amount this assessment could increase, all of which goes to schools. Systemic change needs to occur and such carve outs, by any other interest groups in play need to be watched very closely to achieve an equitable sharing of the cost from all payees. - Anon III - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 4:00 pm: The root of the school financing problem is the partition of the student population into 860 separate school districts. The principal function of this is to create tax islands, some of which do not have a sufficient wealth to support the school children on the “island”. So as commenter’s above have noted, we have rich districts and poor districts. The initial purpose of GSA was to remedy the mismatch between student populations in the many separate school districts on one hand and the value of local real estate available to support those districts on the other. Over time, additional payments have been added to the GSA formula to proportionally supplement the GSA grant for districts with populations of low income students and otherwise disadvantaged students. At the get-go, GSA is a back-end attempt to fix the economic differences inherent in splitting Illinois into 860 separate school districts, a quarter of which have fewer than 400 pupils attending in the whole district. Reforms similar to SB 16 would revise the GSA so that payments to school districts take more account of “student need”. This sort of “reform” is not a simplification, but a further complication of already strange school financing. I voted to agree, but would go further. As I have commented before, the solution is not to further complicate the GSA formula in the name of “reform,” but to consolidate the 860 school districts to a smaller number of more equally balanced districts, perhaps sixty districts, to simplify school funding. - Union Leader - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 4:06 pm: With all due respect Rep. Durkin, structural reforms should not mean decimating unions and lowering wages for working Illinoisans. - CrazyHorse - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 4:17 pm: I hesitantly voted agree. Although I agree with Rich and others that hostage taking is wrong, and I do not actually want Cullerton to act out that threat but it’s a pretty nice piece of gamesmanship on his part. I guess I should’ve voted No for the actual hostage taking but Yes for making the statement. - wordslinger - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 4:20 pm: No more hostages. It’s illegitimate and undemocratic. If Quinn had tried to sabotage core responsibilities for raising the minimum wage or a millionaire’s surtax, I would had said the same thing. - Mama - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 4:28 pm: “to consolidate the 860 school districts to a smaller number of more equally balanced districts, perhaps sixty districts, to simplify school funding” Anon III, this is a bad idea for multiple reasons. I’ll spare you by only listing one: Some of the rural schools are OVER 100 square miles. The cost of transporting students to schools further away from their homes would make your plan’s cost sky-rocket (no cost savings here). - Anon - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 4:33 pm: Structural change . . . code for destroy collective bargaining. - Anonymous - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 4:38 pm: ==pay teachers the same statewide== Can’t catch my breath for laughing! So in Dupage county, those teachers would have to live in a sleeping bag under a bridge( for the honor of serving) because housing is double that of even Chicago! - Buzzie - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 4:39 pm: Education and educational funding—–the “death” fields for almost all politicians. - Juice - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 4:39 pm: Mama, with all due respect, districts can be consolidated without closing or consolidating schools. You could in theory knock out a lot of districts by combining elementary districts with the high school districts they feed into to make new unit districts. (That’s not to say there aren’t other complications with doing that, just that the geography of districts could be relatively maintained with a lot fewer districts.) - Yo - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 5:03 pm: Nope, everyone should keep the kids out of this….already proven that hostages in a fight like this produce casualties, don’t let it be the kids education - Champaign Teacher - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 5:22 pm: What SP Cullerton did today was a brilliant move. Gov Rauner has already tipped his hand to be for Sen Manar’s bill. Throw in “pension parity” and that’s one heck of a bill. The Governor better get ahead of this or its going to be on his desk. If he vetoes that bill, he’ll wear the jacket in Downstate and for CPS layoffs. - sal-says - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 5:23 pm: == about the state’s broken school funding formula. == JC, son. Howz about the State’s NO-Budget? Get that done; then we’ll talk. Is ANYBODY thinking in Spfld? - sal-says - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 5:25 pm: == I remain open to working with the Democrats to fix our archaic school funding formula. == Oh please. I’m headed right now to the….china….I’m gonna puk……. - cdog - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 5:29 pm: Durkin’s response is laughable. An educated professional, that has been keeping up with the conversation, would never say such over-used rhetorical garbage. That is, unless, …. “You Watch” has something to do with it. Btw, what flavor is that Kool aid that turns people into Raunerbots? Must be green. /s - Young State Worker - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 6:06 pm: Voted no because the hostage tactic must be rejected wholesale. Giving it credence is a major rhetorical and tactical blunder by Cullerton. - burbanite - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 8:27 pm: “structural reform” Ugh. Say what you mean already, “union obliteration” or bust. Ugh - All the king's men - Monday, Jan 25, 16 @ 11:29 pm: Ultimately,one way or another there shouldn’t have to be this hostage taking narrative anyway. After all you would think people would be unselfish enough to think of the good of all cholden not just your own. But heck what do I know. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.