* Shoring up allies…
* Transcript…
Welch: I fully support more revenue for CPS schools. This should not be happening. I do think that the state of Illinois can do better should do better. This should be, and I’m going to keep fighting for you, so that we can get the more revenue to get to CPS schools.
Q: And so with your leadership role, would you be willing to be the first one of the Chicago delegation to commit to calling a special session in order to fund our schools?
Welch: Can I tell you what I just committed to the [CTU] executive board? I strongly committed in the veto session to supporting the supplemental funding because I know we’re all going to be there for veto session. I don’t know if we can get them all down for a special session.
And so I strongly committed to that. I will lead that effort in the veto session. We’ve got two weeks in November that we can get it done, and you’ve got my support, 110 percent.
…Adding… The governor’s office did not directly respond, but pointed instead to an answer he gave yesterday on EBF…
Well, we need more funding for schools that are not at appropriate adequacy levels. I mean, I’ve said that from day one, from before I became Governor, and we were much further behind. I might add, before I became Governor. When I became Governor, I mean, we had schools that were less than 60% of adequacy, and we don’t have that. We now have schools that are at 70% and above, so we’re making progress. Meanwhile, it’s never fast enough for me, if you ask me. Meanwhile, I’d also point out that our schools are, you know, our school districts are challenged by wealth disparities in general. It’s why EBF got put in place in the first place. That you’ve got places like East St. Louis and like the City of Chicago, where you’ve got more kids who are in need than in other places. I pick on New Trier, but you know it’s one of the great school districts that’s doing very well. But it’s in part because of that wealth disparity that you are highlighting, so we’re always working on it. I’m not. I would never suggest that we have tackled all of the problems of school finance in the state. And I will always say, as you’re sort of suggesting, that we need to do more. The reality is, you know, we are limited in resources, we’re always challenged. I think you know to make sure that we’re balancing the budget and putting money into our priorities. I think the key thing is that I and the legislators that are here today have regularly put education funding as a top priority, despite the fact that we have had so many challenges. Now, just one more thing, because when we talk about funding, there is always a great need. I will just remind everybody that when I came into office, we literally had a massive structural deficit in the state, not to mention $17 billions of unpaid bills that I got left with from my predecessor, and we had suffered 21 credit downgrades over the last 25 years in the state. Not a single credit upgrade in that time period. So, you know, we’ve had to not only fill in a hollowed-out government, pay off old bills, deal with structural deficit, but also make sure that we’re balancing the budget and running surpluses so that we can invest in the things like education, like teacher vacancy programs that have helped us to hire more teachers across the state.
…Adding… Senate President Don Harmon’s spokesperson…
You will find no greater supporter of public education than the Senate Democratic caucus. The Senate President looks forward to working with our allies and partners to identify resources, and he shared this with the IFT executive board earlier this week.
