* One of the weirdest developments of the spring session…

Despite Chicago Public Schools’ financial straits, a state investigation concluded the district’s books don’t warrant an intervention from Springfield.

The Illinois State Board of Education’s finding that CPS is not in “financial difficulty” as defined by state law represents a blow to Gov. Bruce Rauner’s efforts to give the state greater control over district finances. […]

“It’s clear in our analysis CPS has financial challenges and a spending problem,” ISBE spokeswoman Laine Evans said in a statement. “However, at this time they do not meet the criteria for certification of financial difficulty, as defined per statute. ISBE will continue to monitor the situation and the district’s finances.”

CPS spokeswoman Emily Bittner said in a statement that ISBE’s “decision demonstrates that Gov. Rauner’s attempts to drive CPS into bankruptcy are misguided and wrong.”

* Sun-Times…

“The district has not realized two consecutive years of negative operating fund balances, nor is it forecasted in this model,” ISBE wrote in the report.

CPS faces a $1.1 billion deficit in the new fiscal year starting July 1, and has been hoarding cash to make a massive pension payment on June 30. It passed last year’s budget with a $480 million gap and has been begging Springfield to help ever since, borrowing hundreds of millions at sky-high interest rates in the meantime. The district has also argued it is exempt from ISBE oversight and has been lobbying for a change to the state funding formula for schools. […]

In February, when the investigation was announced, Rauner said “The state’s going to be ready to come in and take action.”

Blaming CPS’ spending woes on its contracts with the Chicago Teachers Union, he continued, “I believe a state takeover is appropriate.”

He even began looking for a superintendent to replace CPS CEO Forrest Claypool.

* And…

The district must make a $675 million pension payment next month. Officials say they can only cover that bill with short-term borrowing and that the Legislature must rectify problems with the statewide school-funding formula.

“You don’t need an actuary or an accountant to know CPS has financial problems,” Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said in a statement. “Otherwise, the district wouldn’t be repeatedly asking the state for an additional half a billion dollars.”

* One more…

The decision not to declare the district in financial difficulty could suggest recognition by the Rauner-appointed state school board that it lacked proper legal footing to take over CPS in the first place, a Democratic legislative source said.

In April, Democratic Attorney General Lisa Madigan issued an opinion that the state lacks the authority to take control of the school system’s finances, including its ability to borrow to help fund operational costs.

OK, so CPS got Rauner off its back, but isn’t it tougher to get money from Springfield if they’re not actually on the verge of chaos?

* Meanwhile…

“Suburbanites don’t want to bail out Chicago, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want to see Chicago succeed,” [Sen. Matt Murphy, R-Palatine] said. “And if there’s a way to make our education funding system better, we’re open to that. But understand, part of the reason Chicago is getting less money than last year is that they have fewer students. You know, when we talk about closing schools, (Emanuel) did close 50 schools and I give him credit for standing up and fighting to do that. I think he did the right thing when he tried to do that last time. But they have 100 more that are really, you know, adult employment centers serving as schools. They need to do more in that regard.”

Murphy is resurrecting the kind of scorched-earth rhetoric from a quarter-century ago at the Capitol, when the city-versus-suburbs dynamic raged mightily. Then-Republican Senate Minority Leader James “Pate” Philip of Wood Dale famously likened the flow of state money to CPS to pouring “money down a rat hole.”

For Murphy, Emanuel’s argument doesn’t hold water in light of the Democrats’ long-held control of the legislature.

“Ask yourself, do you really think this system is set up to be to the detriment of Chicago, when Chicago Democrats have run Illinois for years? It just doesn’t pass the smell test,” Murphy told WLS-890 AM reporter Bill Cameron on the “Connected to Chicago” program that aired Sunday and can be listened to here.

*** UPDATE ***  The governor’s react…

A staff report for the ISBE says CPS may be in potential difficulty, but not so bad that it qualifies for the state takeover that Governor Rauner has been threatening. He is shaking his head.

“To say that I was a bit surprised by that decision would be an understatement,” he said. “On one hand, we’ve got Forrest Claypool and Mayor Rahm Emanuel screaming fire, disaster, mass layoffs, huge financial crisis and on another hand we’ve got a state agency, a state bureaucracy, saying things aren’t so bad.”

The governor says he wants to get to the bottom of that.