* Sen. Dan McConchie (R-Hawthorne Woods), one of the school funding reform negotiators…

“Today’s override of the Governor’s veto was an unnecessary partisan act,” said McConchie. “I firmly believe we could have come to a bi-partisan agreement on school funding reform had negotiations been carried out in good faith.

“As one of the negotiators, I came to the table fully prepared to come to an agreement on how we can better fund our schools. However, good faith discussions never happened. In fact, the bill’s sponsor admitted in the press that he was never really negotiating with us. Instead the Democrats have decided to pursue a path of bailing out Chicago at any cost. It is now up to the House to reject this partisan, regionalistic politics.”

* Comptroller Susana Mendoza…

We encourage Illinois state representatives of both parties to listen to students, parents, teachers and school officials in their districts and vote to override Governor Rauner’s veto of equitable school funding, as state senators of both parties just did. After the House votes to override, our office can begin sending schools the General State Aid they are owed.

* JB Pritzker…

“Today’s action by the Senate is a step towards getting the school funding our students, parents, and teachers across the state deserve,” said JB Pritzker. “Bruce Rauner’s reckless veto left our state’s 852 public school districts without a way to get state funding and even though Rauner agreed with 90 percent of SB 1, he chose to use school funding as leverage to score a political win. Bruce Rauner’s damage is done and he’s proven once again that he is incapable of governing without throwing our state into a crisis.”

* Sen. Daniel Biss…

“There’s no question that overriding Rauner’s veto was the right thing to do. The better questions are how we got here in the first place—to August without school funding and to a billionaire governor with the arrogance to threaten our schools.

“We took a step forward on fixing an immediate problem today. But like the state’s budget, our education funding system will continue to be a problem until we address the underlying rot: a broken tax system that benefits the millionaires, while punishing the middle class.”

* Mayor Rahm Emanuel…

Governor Rauner’s education funding veto brought together rural, suburban and urban educators and legislators in bipartisan opposition to the governor and in support of today’s veto override. This diverse group of educators and leaders knows the Senate’s education bill is right for Illinois children and the governor’s veto is flat wrong. I want to thank Senate President Cullerton and the state Senators who voted on behalf of students and educators. The Senate’s vote is a bipartisan rejection of the governor’s divisive politics and of his repeated attempts to pit children with different backgrounds and from different parts of the state against one another.

* Sen. Heather Steans (D-Chicago)…

“The governor attempted to remove equity for Chicago from Senate Bill 1 in his amendatory veto and force Chicago Public Schools’ students to pay for a pension problem they did not create. To be truly equitable, school funding reform must recognize the fact that Chicago is the only school district in the state that is responsible for its own pension payments. Senate Bill 1 corrects this inequality and provides pension parity for Chicago Public Schools.

“Today I voted with my colleagues in the Senate to override the governor’s veto and bring Illinois students—both in Chicago and throughout the state—one step closer to a fair school funding formula for the first time in decades. It is time for all Illinois students to have access to a quality education, regardless of where they live.”

* Sen. Tom Rooney (R-Rolling Meadows)…

“We’re supposed to be overhauling our education system to provide equity for all our students and schools. Instead, we’re recrafting a system that preserves the same practice of redirecting state dollars toward one district and burying special deals among the spreadsheets. That’s not equity, that’s disingenuous and ineffective,” said Rooney. “Today’s vote demonstrated that the interest of one district outweighs the needs of the remaining suburban and downstate students. My only hope is that moving forward the House recognizes the importance of fair funding, puts the needs of all students ahead of political agendas and embraces equity as the only path forward for education funding in Illinois.”

I’m sure there will be more.

* Sen. Chris Nybo (R-Elmhurst)…

“I could not support the school funding plan presented in the Senate today, because it does not equitably address funding for all Illinois students. It should not matter where a child is born; every single student has an equal right to earn a quality education. The Governor’s Amendatory Veto made changes to the school funding bill that were both fair and equitable to all 852 school districts in Illinois, and does not unfairly tip the scale toward Chicago schools at the expense of every other school district-like has been done in years past. Senate Bill 1 was not the product of bipartisan negotiations, and that is extremely unfortunate because I truly believe good-faith negotiations and bipartisan progress were possible.”

* Senate President John Cullerton…

“Our students, parents, teachers and taxpayers have waited too long for a needed overhaul of how the state funds public schools. With this bipartisan vote, the Senate moved our state one step closer to getting rid of the worst funding system in the nation. I hope the House will be able to do the same and finally bring the reform Illinois public schools need.”