* From the ILGOP…

As the Madigan Machine continues to stall, refusing to call Governor Rauner’s amendatory veto of SB1 for a vote, Rauner blitzed editorial boards this week, highlighting how his amendatory veto delivers more money to schools across the state and removes Madigan’s Chicago pension bailout.

The Kankakee Daily Journal: Governor firmly rejects Chicago school bailout
“They stopped paying their pensions,” Rauner said. “Chicago’s teacher pension was basically fully funded 17 years ago. Now, it’s woefully underfunded. Now, [House Speaker Mike] Madigan and Mayor [Rahm] Emmanuel said they have a pension mess. They dumped it on the state by including it in this funding formula. That’s not fair to the taxpayers of Illinois.”
Rauner said his amendatory veto would generate an additional $1 million for Kankakee School District 111.

Northwest Herald: Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner on SB1 veto: Make school funding fair for the whole state
Gov. Bruce Rauner accused Democrats in the General Assembly of sitting on Senate Bill 1 twice, risking state funding for Illinois schools to pass the bill in its current form.
Rauner on Tuesday vetoed SB 1, expecting the General Assembly to then discuss an alternate plan, override the veto or accept the changes to the bill that seeks to revamp a 20-year-old school funding formula that many critics call the worst in the nation.
Rauner, who met Thursday morning with the Northwest Herald Editorial Board, said he believes that lawmakers instead are waiting out time until school starts to generate pressure to pass the bill without the amendments, which he said would take billions of dollars from schools around Illinois and give it to Chicago Public Schools.

Dispatch Argus: Rauner: Legislature must act on school bill
Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner said he is encouraging Republicans and Democrats to work together on a school funding bill that is a compromise for both sides.
Gov. Rauner issued an amendatory veto to Senate Bill 1 on Tuesday, legislation that would change the way school districts are funded to one based on need.

* Check out this part of the Dispatch-Argus story…

When asked why he removed language on minimum funding levels from the bill through his amendatory veto, Gov. Rauner denied it would hurt neediest school districts the most.

“I’ve asked for more school funding in my first year — $700 million — and I asked for more this year — $720 million,” Gov. Rauner said. “The Democrats cut school funding four times in the prior 10 years before I became governor. Right now the bill says the state has to put $340 million extra, compounded in the future. Only a handful of districts get all the incremental money. That’s not fair.”

Gov. Rauner said it wasn’t appropriate to have a law mandating minimum funding levels.

“If the General Assembly puts it in, that’s fine,” he said. “But to put it in as law requiring that is completely unfair to taxpayers and the majority of school districts.”

So, it’s OK if the GA puts it in the bill, but not into law? I’m a bit confused here.

* From the Northwest Herald story…

State Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, also opposes SB 1, but is concerned with the overall amount of spending, and not just the funds allocated to CPS.

“It doesn’t have any real reforms. It doesn’t require school districts to cut administrative expenses,” McSweeney said. “It doesn’t require them to look at consolidation and it also doesn’t do anything about property taxes and we’re just sending a lot of money back to the schools, but there’s no requirement to cut property taxes.”

Good points and the governor’s AV doesn’t address those issues, either.

* From the Daily Journal story…

“I am frustrated by the fact that we can’t do anything right now,” said Scott Wakeley, superintendent of Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School District 307. “In that part, I am not a fan of the amendatory veto. At some point, we have to move on.

“At the same time, it’s a shame that kids are being used as a political pawn to help CPS. We all have low-income students. Sometimes, I feel like everything has to be taken care of in Chicago before everyone downstate can be taken care of.”

Kankakee Superintendent Genevra Walters said her district hasn’t even considered how much more they would make through the governor’s veto because of all the numbers that are being used. Throughout the past couple years, the district has cut its way out of what was once a $3.5 million budget crisis.

“I can’t say whether or not we should help CPS, but we cannot abandon any kids in Illinois,” Walters said. “Every change has always benefited our school district. I just want to stop the uncertainty. We need to be able to plan long term. It’s very hard to do that with how state and national politics are going.”