* Another flip-flop, or just good due diligence?…

Just a day after Republican Senate candidate Mark Kirk said he was “inclined” to vote for a $26 billion “jobs bill” to funnel federal money to the states to stave off teacher lay-offs, Kirk voted against it.

The Democratic-sponsored bill passed anyway.

“When I returned to Washington for this special session, I read [Senate] Leader Reid’s bill and found it spent more, taxed more and borrowed more than any of the past bills I supported,” Kirk said in a written statement. “I did not support the Reid bill because it added $16 billion in new Medicaid spending and levied another $9 billion in new, permanent tax increases. According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the bill adds over $12 billion to our deficit. As a fiscal conservative, I could not support this bill and will work to cut spending, taxing and borrowing in this and future Congresses.”

Just about every story I’ve read about this issue says the CBO scoring found that it would reduce the deficit by $1.4 billion over ten years. That’s one part of the CBO scoring. Another part, dealing with the Pay as You Go statue, which you can read by clicking here, says the bill adds $12.6 billion to the deficit over ten years. But a footnote says this…

Excludes savings in Titles II and III that would result from changes to programs and rescissions of funds previously designated as emergency, which total about $14 billion over the 2010-2020 period.

It’s all DC Speak, but it looks like that $14 billion in savings more than wipes out the $12.6 billion deficit spending that Kirk pointed to. The Sun-Times talked to the CBO yesterday and was told the bill adds only $5 billion to the deficit in ten years. That’s $500 million a year, on average. Pennies to the feds. And Kirk is the same guy who is demanding an infinite extension of the Bush-era tax cuts, which if not paid for with corresponding budget cuts will deprive the federal governor of $3.5 trillion over ten years. Kirk hasn’t said how he’d like to pay for those tax cuts, by the way.

* Now, remember this ad?…

That ad attacking Giannoulias which is running this month is being paid for by the US Chamber of Commerce. The Chamber opposed the state aid bill because it’s partially paid for with a closure of an overseas business tax loophole. It would be tough for Kirk to vote against the Chamber while the Chamber was spending big bucks on his behalf. Just sayin…

* Alexi Giannoulias responded quickly…

“I am stunned that he would vote against an emergency bill to keep teachers in the classroom - a bill that is completely paid for and will save at least 5,700 teaching jobs right here in Illinois,” Giannoulias said.

* But will this bill actually save all those teacher jobs? Maybe not…

Three Southland superintendents say they believe the extra money coming into the state will be used to pay the general state aid they have already been promised. General state aid is money set aside for districts by the state, and is based on the number of students and the income-levels of each district.

In Mokena School District 159, 14 teachers were laid off earlier this year. District 159 Supt. Karen Perry believes the federal dollars will be used to pay money the district is already owed.

General state aid payments at District 159 have dwindled from $4 million five years ago to $900,000 this school year, she said, which amounts to only $500 per student.

“We don’t think we will see an extra dollar,” Perry said. “This will just help them meet their $500 obligation.”

Supt. Lawrence Wyllie also doubts the bill would be a big financial boon for Lincoln-Way High School District 210.

Lincoln-Way, which fired 35 teachers earlier this year, should receive an estimated $825,000 from the feds, according to preliminary estimates the state gave to U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson’s office.

“If they gave me that money, would I hire new teachers? Absolutely not. I would use it to fill the (district’s) deficit,” Wyllie said.

* Related…

* Quinn to review federal funding before acting on furloughs: The passage of a $26 billion federal jobs bill Tuesday failed to persuade Gov. Pat Quinn to immediately rescind a furlough order affecting 2,700 non-union state workers. The bill, which includes $550 million in additional federal Medicaid funding for Illinois, reverses most of the $750 million federal funding cut cited by Quinn as the reason he ordered 24 unpaid days off for the non-union employees in the current fiscal year. But Kelly Kraft, spokeswoman for Quinn’s budget office, said the governor’s furlough order still stands.

* Kirk flip-flops on jobs bill

* Kirk Changes Course on Jobs Bill, Votes Against It

* Kirk flips on stimulus vote

* Federal Bill Gives CPS Cash to Prevent Layoffs

* Dist. 220 looking to cuts, teachers contract for savings

* Parents ante $4.3 mil to save Cary District 26

* Kane County cuts half of its Health Department workers

* Ralph Martire: Pension debt a symptom of state’s problems — not cause