* Chalkbeat Chicago…

Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who is seeking reelection this November, received a key endorsement on his education policies from the state’s largest union this week.

Monday’s announcement marks the third time the Illinois Education Association, which represents more than 135,000 teachers, professors, and support staff statewide, has endorsed Pritzker for governor. The Illinois Federation of Teachers — the other statewide teachers union and the parent organization to the Chicago Teachers Union — has yet to make an endorsement in the race.

The IEA’s endorsement comes at an important crossroads for Pritzker, as two closely watched education issues loom over the final months of his second term.

“This governor is on the right side of history, which means a better future for public education in Illinois,” said IEA president Karl Goeke, citing Pritzker’s policies on minimum teacher salary raises, preventing book bans, and restricting cellphones in schools.

* WGN…

While IEA goes all-in for Pritzker, the Illinois Federation of Teachers is keeping the heat on the governor to close the evidence-based funding formula shortfall.

“We are billions of dollars in the hole from the state,” said Stacy Davis Gates, the president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers and the Chicago Teachers Union.

Chicago is one of the districts short of the funding goal. To stave off cuts and layoffs, the Board of Education assumed $150 million more from the state, money that has not yet been identified or appropriated. Pritzker points out that he’s increased K-12 education, giving it a boost of $350 million this year.

* Tribune…

State Rep. Daniel Didech, a Buffalo Grove Democrat, acknowledged he represents a district with some of the state’s best-funded schools. But he said the Chicago Board of Education, in passing its “unbalanced budget,” was “imprudently relying on the state of Illinois to change our entire budget process to fill the budget hole that they chose to create.”

“It creates a moral hazard, where now every local government, every school district in the state of Illinois, every not-for-profit that does something important, they’re going to pass out-of-balanced budgets over the summer, and force the state of Illinois to upend our entire budget process to resolve a crisis that they created,” Didech said. […]

State Rep. Will Davis, a Democrat from Homewood who heads the House Appropriations Committee for K-12 public education, was among those who said the conversation needs to shift to funding all schools eligible for evidence-based funding, not just Chicago’s.

* From the governor’s Q and A…

Q: A few weeks ago, you said that Speaker Welch must have a plan for the $150 million that CTU and CPS have put in their budget. What discussions have you had with him since then about that? And do you think that that $150 million is going to be a priority in veto session?

Pritzker: I have not heard what the plan will be. I know that the speaker has said publicly that that’s something he’s putting together, and and there’s a little bit of time between now and the veto session. So we hope that there will be a plan or something that’s put forward. And of course, I’m always looking for an opportunity to increase state funding for education. Have done that every year and all the time as governor. Want to always look for opportunities to do that. It’s a hard thing to do, and so that’s why we need a plan.

Q: With that, though, have you talked to him? And with IEA now endorsing you, CTU and IFT may be saying that you might be shortchanging Chicago Public Schools. Are you, I guess, comfortable with the unions. Does that signal a division to you, or are you comfortable with the unions maybe being at odds over this issue?

Pritzker: Look, we haven’t shortchanged anybody. In fact, we’ve increased funding every single year that I’ve been in office, even during the year when we had, you know, all the challenges of COVID. We had lots of federal dollars coming in to substantially improve the funding for our schools. So, you know, from my perspective, there’s always more that needs to be done. We clearly are not at our goal in terms of funding all of our schools. And so it’s not about shortchanging. It’s literally, I mean, if you’d like, I can pull the pockets out of my trousers to show you that the state does not have dollars that are just laying around. And so the question is, where can we find those dollars?

Q: Is there a divide though between the teachers unions and yourself?

Illinois Education Association President Karl Goeke: No, it’s an endorsement process. So we’ve endorsed Governor Pritzker, and CTU and IFT will make an endorsement if they choose to do so.

Q: Are you guys prioritizing the $150 million for CPS this veto session?

IEA Goeke: We are always in favor of schools receiving the funding that they need. So is it our priority? It’s always a priority for schools to receive adequate funding. […]

Q: Back to the… education stuff. You said that they’re going to have to find the money, [$150 million]. I mean, what really is the reality of coming up with 150 million? I mean, you said we’re state of Illinois is empty, there’s nothing else. I mean, what, but you said they’re going to have to find the money. I mean, what’s that reality of finding the money?

Pritzker: Well, the reality, there are only two ways to do that in the short term. In the short term, either reprioritize dollars that are already in the budget for something else, so find $150 million in the budget to move into support Chicago Public Schools. Remember, it’s near impossible to decide you’re going to do that and not also provide resources for schools all across the state of Illinois. So that isn’t just $150 million what they’re talking about, it’s, Chicago Public Schools represent about 20 or 25% of students in Illinois. So think about multiplying the number by three or four, so then the question is where are you finding those dollars? So again, either you’re reprioritizing dollars that are already in the budget, or you’re finding some new revenue source that hasn’t been introduced yet and that has to get passed. Don’t forget that to do it in veto session, you’ve got to get a supermajority to support it if you want those dollars immediately. By the way, imposing revenues and, you know, raising taxes, for example, in veto session, doesn’t mean you’ve got those dollars immediately. It just means that you now can start collecting those. So, I think those are challenges, no doubt about it. I certainly the most immediate thing would be to reprioritize, but I don’t know where you find three or four times $150 million and not shortchange a lot of other important priorities within the budget. I say all that while recognizing that we are not yet funding our schools properly in this state. We’re doing a lot better, a lot better than we were when I took office. But this is a problem that’s persistent, that I want to do more about. […]

Q: [Pritzker asked about a possible CTU endorsement]

Pritzker: You know, I haven’t sought one. I haven’t been, you know, asked if I, you know, would go get interviewed. I haven’t, you know, been part of a process. IEA invited me to be part of their process, and I was happy to do so. I think we’ve done a lot for education in this state.