24 Comments - Perrid - Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 10:08 am: Well yes, Mr. Cox says the number in their lawsuit comes from ISBE. I assume you are asking if someone in ISBE is pulling the strings behind the scenes here, which is a bit tinfoil hat-like in my opinion. ISBE made a public declaration of what they think adequacy is, and the superintendents are trying to use that as leverage; there’s no need for actual collusion. - Oswego Willy - Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 10:12 am: Dear Dan Cox, superintendent of Staunton District 6, Please call Mr. Barickman and Ms. Bourne. They are the point people for the governor. If you have a beef, and it appears it’s a legal beef now, Mr. Barickman and Ms. Bourne assured us all that this was a rock solid deal… even if Mr. Barickman learned he’s not apt at speaking to this, or that Ms. Bourne had no idea what her own school districts were getting in relation to She-Caw-Go schools… Good luck, update us all if you hear back from them. Oswego Willy - phocion - Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 10:14 am: They want $7 billion now, and expect to be taken seriously? Pick one or the other, ISBE. - BlueDogDem - Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 10:15 am: Can someone explain to me how this ends? - Truthteller - Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 10:24 am: I applaud these superintendents for pushing the issue. At $350 million a year, the state will not reach adequacy by 2027, which is the statutory target. But I’m not sure a lawsuit will do any better than those that came before. The Constitution says it’s a “goal” and courts have held that as long as the state is working on achieving the goal, they are not in violation. Maybe this time will be different and children will not have to wait a decade or more for adequate educational opportunities. - Old and In The Way - Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 10:28 am: How does it end? Unless the ISC wants to take it up again it probably ends up the way other similar suits have ended up with the court ducking out. I suspect this was filed for the benefit of the court of public opinion and not the state courts. I look forward to reading the suit! - Occam - Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 10:30 am: ==Can someone explain to me how this ends?== S&P downgrades State credit rating to Junk, followed by severe cash flow problems, followed by debt service defaults, followed by severe State budget cuts, followed by useless protests by now-unemployed State workers and teachers, followed by huge property tax increases to make up for State funding shortfalls, followed by a mass migration out of the State by people that can’t afford the significantly higher taxes, followed by Governor Pritzker’s open heart surgery brought on by the stress caused by the State’s financial death spiral, followed by a financial bailout by the US Congress. - VanillaMan - Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 10:32 am: It seems that with state leadership disrespectful of reality, we now witness school boards infected by a similar belief that reality can be suspended, budgets magically doubled, billions instantly discovered where none existed before, and a trough mentality demanding to be first in line knowing that it is all magic and unrealistic. These lawsuits are being taken because of the wide-spread belief that the plan will fail, but they just might get theirs before it all hits the fan. Years of political instability has negatively impacted all Illinois governments. Rauner’s duty was to create change with stability, but he failed at both, hasn’t he? - Tequila Mockingbird - Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 10:34 am: Occam, I agree with your prediction, all but the last. There won’t be a congressional bailout. Other states have lots of congresspersons with no sympathy for the Illinois self induced train wreck. - NeverPoliticallyCorrect - Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 11:11 am: IF they wanted to achieve equity in student funding ISBE would immediately begin to reduce state aid from districts with larger EAV base. But, the state doesn’t have the courage to do this. Here’s reality-unless we are willing to give up local control of schools we will never have equity. But as the state with greatest number of school districts, who really believes that would happen. And given how the state can’t run it’s own budget who would want it to happen. - 47th Ward - Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 11:14 am: Anybody seen James Meeks lately? Somebody should put his picture on milk cartons or something. Talk about missing in action. I wonder what the ISBE chairman thinks of all of this. - Anon. - Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 11:22 am: Hemingway: “How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked. “Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.” - Old and In The Way - Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 12:08 pm: But as the state with greatest number of school districts Not even close. Both Texas and California have more districts. Illinois does rank number 1 in the number of communities with 5,000 or less population. This is of course the underlying reason for both the large number of government bodies and school districts. Reducing the number of school districts has been a goal in Illinois since at least 1968 when I got involved. Good luck on that one. - Anonymous - Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 12:11 pm: ==But Dan Cox, superintendent of Staunton District 6, says…== When you only have 3 schools to manage in your district, you have time to scratch that legal itch. - NoGifts - Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 12:27 pm: observations 1) do you reward schools that are already doing well, or do you provide more funding to schools that are failing? 2) caution - metrics are an irresistible lure to stretching the definitions or outright fraudulent reporting. - anon - Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 12:42 pm: Old and Weg - per wikipedia, Illinois has 852 public school districts to California’s 1,050 boards. That seems reasonably close to me considering the significantly greater population in California. - Lester Holt’s Mustache - Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 12:44 pm: ==S&P downgrades State credit rating to Junk, followed by severe cash flow problems, followed by debt service defaults, followed by severe State budget cuts, followed by useless protests by now-unemployed State workers and teachers, followed by huge property tax increases to make up for State funding shortfalls, followed by a mass migration out of the State by people that can’t afford the significantly higher taxes, followed by Governor Pritzker’s open heart surgery brought on by the stress caused by the State’s financial death spiral, followed by a financial bailout by the US Congress.== Hyperbole. Every single one of these things (except Pritzker’s heart surgery) was predicted by republicans when Quinn raised taxes years ago. Then they were all predicted by the dems when Rauner wanted taxes to go back to 3% and refused to offer cuts to offset. Then they were all predicted again by Raunerites and the IPI when taxes were raised last year by the GA. More likely: this suit will be dismissed, schools will keep operating on less-than-adequate funding. Illinois institutes graduated tax plan, schools still get less-than-adequate funding because GA can’t do anything right. Repeat cycle ad infinitum. - Demoralized - Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 12:53 pm: I don’t believe they think they’ll be getting the money. But what they can get is a court ruling stating that the state is not fulfilling the Constitutional requirement with regard to school funding. Doesn’t mean much, I know. - RNUG - Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 2:27 pm: == But what they can get is a court ruling stating that the state is not fulfilling the Constitutional requirement with regard to school funding. == Don’t think they will manage that. Remember, the State’s TRS pension fund contributions will be counted as part of the State’s school funding. - Ron - Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 2:51 pm: Anon, if illinois had the same proportion as California, the number would be less than half. That’s a mighty big pension payment there. - Ron - Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 3:32 pm: Why doesn’t the state just require school district consolidation in order to receive any state funds, including pension contributions? - Laurie - Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 4:58 pm: School consolidation is not the magic answer. Many rural schools are 20 to 30 miles apart. How long do you expect students to be on a bus everyday. Then you have to account for transportation and the money that goes into that. The state got itself in this mess when it stopped addressing its money obligations to pensions. It used the money for other things even though the state constitution requires this contribution. Teachers in Illinois do not get social security because they are in the pension system. So you can’t blame the teachers who have been paying into their pensions all this time. You can’t blame the Superintendents who keep fighting to keeps their schools running. You can’t cut taxes and expect to keep paying the bills. - Ron - Wednesday, May 23, 18 @ 11:18 pm: I blame the kleptocracy that has run illinois for decades. - John 56 - Thursday, May 24, 18 @ 6:15 pm: Why doesn’t the State require e-verify? Non-citizens cost the state $3 billion a year. http://www.fairus.org/issue/publications-resources/fiscal-burden-illegal-immigration-united-states-taxpayers Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.