* AP…

Gov. Bruce Rauner has vetoed school funding legislation, saying it wouldn’t let about three dozen private schools participate in a new scholarship program.

Rauner issued the amendatory veto Monday for legislation that the Illinois State Board of Education requested to move forward with a new school funding formula that would prioritize poor and needy schools. The scholarship program would allow individuals and corporations to give private schools money for scholarships in exchange for a tax credit.

Rauner said “we simply must ensure that we follow through with the appropriate language to get the job done.”

* Tribune…

Rauner used his amendatory veto powers to rewrite the measure, which sponsors said was requested by the Illinois State Board of Education so officials could move forward on a new school funding formula that would prioritize poor and needy schools.

While Rauner has listed the new funding formula as one of his top achievements as he seeks re-election, the Republican governor said Monday that lawmakers failed to address a technicality that would prevent at least 36 Catholic and independent schools from benefiting from a new scholarship program he’s pushed.

Under that program, individuals and corporations can give money for scholarships to private schools in exchange for a tax credit worth 75 percent of their donation.

“Inclusivity was the spirit of this legislation to begin with, and we simply must ensure that we follow through with the appropriate language to get the job done,” Rauner said in a statement.

* From the governor’s press release…

Lawmakers also should fix a defect that would prevent at least 36 Catholic and other independent schools — many of which serve African-American communities — from participating in the Invest in Kids program for up to two years, Rauner said.

Senate Bill 444, as written, does not address the exclusion from program participation of those schools not yet recognized by the Illinois State Board of Education. Invest in Kids creates a scholarship program affording low- to middle-income students opportunities to attend non-public schools through a system of tax credits for approved contributions.

SB 444 should include language that grants program eligibility to ISBE-registered schools, as well as those already recognized, to increase the number of schools affected and broaden the scope of potential applicants, according to the governor.

“Making this adjustment to this bill will maximize the number of schools eligible to participate, and therefore the number of students who may benefit,” Rauner said. “Inclusivity was the spirit of this legislation to begin with, and we simply must ensure that we follow through with the appropriate language to get the job done.”

* Sun-Times…

Meanwhile, the governor’s office said the state Board of Education is still working on the new funding formula and tier funding is still “several months” from being sent out.

“It is unfair for critics to say that this amendatory veto will delay implementation of SB 1947,” Rauner spokeswoman Rachel Bold said in a statement.

State Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, called the amendatory veto Rauner’s version of tossing “his own request in the trash.”

“Here’s what Gov. Rauner accomplished today: absolute chaos while undoing all of the equity components in the school funding reform legislation that he takes credit for passing,” Manar said in a statement. “I am perplexed and puzzled by the motivations of this governor who claims to care deeply about public education in Illinois. “Why would he veto a bill that he sought in the first place?”

Senate Democrats said the bill was intended as a form of “technical cleanup,” which had been requested by the governor’s administration.

* Pritzker campaign…

“Bruce Rauner is forcing students to wait for fair funding so he can expand his back-door school voucher program, once again using Illinois children as pawns in his political games,” said JB Pritzker. “With his amendatory veto of SB 444, this failed governor is manufacturing another crisis by putting equitable school funding on hold, even after he claimed credit for the reform. SB 444 should have been signed the day it landed on Rauner’s desk to ensure Illinois schools were properly funded under the new, more equitable formula. Once again, this failed governor is attacking public education in Illinois and students will pay the price.”

* Daiber campaign…

“School districts waited until Aug. 31 (2017) with uncertainty of funding. The governor’s action delays progress on implementing the new funding formula, for which all districts in Illinois are waiting.”

At issue is language that would prevent private schools not recognized by the Illinois State Board of Education from benefitting from a scholarship program contained in the legislation, under which taxpayers can give money for scholarships to private schools in exchange for a tax credit worth 75 percent of their donation.

“To award public funds to private schools not meeting ISBE recognition status is a move in the wrong direction for school funding reform,” Daiber said. “It lowers the standards by which we operate when you do that.”

Daiber, in his official capacity as regional superintendent of schools for Madison County, conducts the compliance visits for non-public school recognition status.

Daiber opposes the tax credit-for-scholarships program, and has promised to end it if he’s elected governor. “This provision was snuck into school funding legislation when lawmakers were in a must-pass bind. School funding was jeopardized. There were concerns about school districts being able to make payroll. If the scholarship tax credit program is examined on its own merits, it’s an economic and educational disaster,” he said.

…Adding… Ruiz campaign…

As the former president of the Illinois State Board of Education, former vice president of the Chicago Board of Education, and former Interim CEO of Chicago Public Schools, I urge the General Assembly to move immediately to override Governor Rauner’s veto of the historic education funding bill.

It is outrageous that, once again, Gov. Rauner is playing politics with our children’s education. His decision to veto this important bill, which would bring some long-awaited equity to the state’s funding of public education, has pulled the rug out from under school districts in low-income communities across Illinois.

Rauner’s action in vetoing this crucial bill is bad enough – but his hypocrisy is mind-boggling. Just a few short weeks ago, Rauner named “Historic Education Funding Reform” as his top accomplishment during his disastrous term as Governor. Yet now he has brought this overdue school funding reform to a screeching halt.

Again and again, Rauner has shown us he feels absolutely no responsibility or concern for the people of Illinois. We cannot allow Rauner’s radical political agenda to derail this reform and jeopardize the futures of our most vulnerable students.

It is time to end these delays and take action to provide our public schools with the funding they deserve – now.