* Gov. Rauner speaking to reporters today in Mt. Zion about his plan to use his amendatory veto powers on SB 1 and about Speaker Madigan…

[Madigan] doesn’t want to do education funding reform. He doesn’t care about the teachers. He cares about political power. He wants to manipulate the pensions in Chicago, that’s the reason he’s doing it. And we’ve gotta stand against it and say no.

And, I tell ‘ya, I’ve talked to school superintendents around the state, principals, and they’ve said ‘Gosh, governor, maybe we’ve just gotta go along and let’s support SB 1. At least it’s a little bit more money for us.’

And you know what? You know why they say that? They’re scared. They know that Speaker Madigan is powerful and he’s ruthless and he’s cold blooded, he doesn’t care about them. He’s cut their money for years. And they’re scared. If they don’t go along and get a tiny bit more money from him, then he’ll give them nothing. That’s what they’re scared of.

We shouldn’t let a tyrant do that to our teachers. Don’t just take a little bit, get what’s fair for you in Decatur, in Springfield, in Champaign-Urbana, in Mount Zion. Don’t live on Madigan’s crumbs. He wants to just give every school district, some school districts a little bit more and then a ton more to Chicago pensions? No. Mt. Zion deserves a lot more. Decatur deserves a lot more. Springfield deserves a lot more.

And I call on our superintendents, many of whom said ‘I’m scared governor, I think I gotta go along with SB 1 because otherwise Madigan will take my money away.’

No. Don’t give in to him. Don’t give in to a tyrant. Stand up for your districts. Support my amendatory veto and you’ll get what you deserve and you’ll be treated equitably. Don’t give in to fear. Don’t give in to fear and just take a little penny because it’ll hurt your districts for years if you give in today.

Raw audio is here.