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* Press release…
House Speaker Michael J. Madigan, D-Chicago, issued the following statement Thursday announcing hearings to be held by the bipartisan Education Funding Task Force throughout the spring to help craft a legislative plan to equitably fund education throughout Illinois:
“Senate President Cullerton has shown strong leadership on the issue of fair and equitable education funding, which is so important to every community across our state. The President’s commitment to fairly funding our schools and helping all students meet their full potential is one that I share, and I plan to work with him to achieve this goal while making sure that voices from across our state are heard and that all schools and programs are protected throughout this process.
“Beginning February 16 and continuing throughout the spring, House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie will lead hearings of the bipartisan Education Funding Task Force. The House Democratic members of the task force, who represent Chicago, suburban areas and downstate, bring to the discussion the views and concerns of residents from all across Illinois to help ensure a comprehensive approach to any changes in how our schools are funded. The task force will hear input from educators and advocates from throughout the state, and will work with all interested parties to craft legislation aimed at ensuring all students in Illinois receive the excellent education they deserve.”
The Education Funding Task Force will convene Tuesday, Feb. 16 at 10:30 a.m. in Room 114 of the State Capitol.
Rough translation: Thanks, John, but I’ll take it from here.
Several suburban Democrats aren’t exactly thrilled with the direction this topic has been going. As Senate GOP Leader Radogno pointed out the other day, the suburbs are mainly responsible for paying for the funding shift to lower-income schools as it stands right now.
…Adding… As expected…
The president’s commitment to fairly funding our schools and helping all students meet their full potential is one that I share, and I plan to work with him to achieve this goal while making sure that voices from across our state are heard and that all schools and programs are protected,” Madigan added. […]
Steve Brown, Madigan’s spokesman, suggested in a follow-up conversation that protecting “all schools and programs” means that no district would get less than they do now.
“You’re very unlikely to pass a bill that will cost districts money,” Brown said. That means the state would have to come up with potentially hundreds of millions of dollars a year more, and, “You need a source. . . .You don’t know the price tag now.”
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:15 am
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Wonderful!
Task Force,
please remember that my family will
gladly pay a higher income tax rate on all our income over $1,000,000 in exchange for the deletion of the local school district from our property tax bill.
To get a change to the IL Constitution, re progressive or millionaire tax, I believe it has to be passed before the end of April.
Your attention to this is greatly appreciated.
Comment by cdog Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:26 am
At least John and Mike are in the same chapter, if not more or less on the same page. Rauner isn’t even using the same playbook.
Comment by RNUG Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:26 am
Madigan decided to shelve Manar’s old SB 16. That was a mistake. I think it would’ve passed the House, and I bet that Governor Quinn would’ve signed it. Instead, we’re back at square one.
Cullerton has to be fuming. He has members and leadership who take on these tough issues: Sullivan with the 911 rewrite; Manar with education reform; and Biss with the personal info protection and data phishing rules. Yes, some things go through and become law. But a lot of good ideas seem to fall into the House to the die. And keep in mind that I’m a Republican - but I can see that President Cullerton is clearly trying. I respect him immensely. He has to be frustrated.
Comment by Team Sleep Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:29 am
Here comes the pension shift.
Take a look at the wreckage of GRF.
Along with the sweep of that $4 billion in dedicated funds, I’m guessing that laying off the liability of suburban and Downstate teacher pensions on locals is inevitable.
Stuff doesn’t roll uphill. It’s physics.
Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:34 am
The take on suburban Democrats is correct. Suburban constituents in their districts also have challenging funding issues. There is sympathy for CPS but a solution must also address the needs of suburban districts.
Comment by Distant Viewer Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:38 am
And yes - I also realize some big issues come out of the House (med-mar, Narcan/Heroin help, minor pot decriminalization). But when these things come through, there doesn’t seem to be the “pageantry” and shenanigans in the Senate as there is in the House. Cullerton just gets things done and proposals either pass or fail.
Comment by Team Sleep Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:38 am
Majority rules, right?
Rauner just can’t seem to figure that out.
Comment by VanillaMan Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:39 am
IASA and the other professional management groups have already developed a research based funding plan for Illinois schools in their Vision 20/20 Plan. I would hope that this task force spends some time reviewing the hard work that was done over multiple years to develop this comprehensive plan. Get rid of the politics and implement a plan. Children only get to be children once and every year they lose due to the incompetence of state government is a year they never get back. It is time to start doing what we say we believe in!
Comment by nobody Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:44 am
You mean the IASA who’s employees are technically state employees with state pensions and lobbying at the same time? They are the front group for wealthy suburban districts plain and simple.
Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:47 am
Before trying to give Rauner fodder, IS Cullerton feeling like Madigan is taking over??? Wedges don’t need to be created if they don’t exist.
Comment by Anon221 Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:47 am
John and Mike might be in the same chapter but Mike is obstructing again. All you can do is blame Rauner keep in mind the architect to most of these problems is Mike. At least John has proposed a solution Mike is clearly playing politics with the education of my children. Now give me the speech about how bad our Governor is when the speaker is causing this delay.
Comment by common_sense Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:48 am
This is a genuine couple questions: Didn’t the Senate hold extensive hearings on this during the debate leading up to SB16? What is this task force going to unearth that hasn’t already been discussed? Can’t they just study the transcripts from those hearings and modify SB 16?
Comment by Curious Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:50 am
Anon - IASB is part of the group along with IASA supporting the Vision 20/20 plan. It is research-based and is about funding based on needs. It also has a hold-harmless. It would fund property poor districts like my rural district more appropriately but not at the expense of suburban districts. It is more objective than the current formula. Don’t dismiss it with some BS statement.
Comment by Hoping for Rational Thought Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:52 am
Anon 221 has a good point. Would like to assume (yeah, I know) that Madigan talked to Cullerton before putting this out.
Comment by downstate commissioner Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 10:53 am
ANON: IASBO, IASA, IASB among other professional organizations have researched the plan. Check it out before making some low level Rauner type comment.
http://illinoisvision2020.org/
Comment by nobody Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 11:07 am
No doubt, this issue is problematic for Madigan’s suburban targets. But if played right, Madigan could use it against downstate Republicans. Manar’s proposed funding formulas make a whole bunch of downstate districts “winners.” Does Dwight Kay want to vote against a bill that sends new dollars into his school districts?
Comment by Phil T Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 11:07 am
Team Sleep makes a good point about all the work that the Senate Dems have done. But the Republicans are the ones who turned Manar’s bill into a land mine when they went after a few candidates using the bill in ‘14.
Education funding reform has been talked about to various degrees since 1994. Perhaps the CPS crisis and the need to raise income taxes will provide the context for a comprehensive overhaul. I can only hope . . .
Comment by siriusly Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 11:11 am
Will yet another Illinois task force on the state’s education funding crisis (like MRE’s police task force) only produce eye rolls and derision from voters that want more substance?
Comment by Flintstones Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 11:12 am
Any way you slice it, the pie is too small. And fighting over the pie just encourages the us vs them mentality of our current property tax based system.
We are all worse off for having underfunded school districts, because we all pay the real and social costs that arise when children don’t get a good education.
Comment by Century Club Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 11:22 am
Equitable funding A/K/A as some win and some lose is a tough sell for suburban legislators and Madigan will never retain his override. The problem is no one likes finding new ways to slice a shrinking pie. Why not sit down with Rauner comromise on his agenda and pass the tax increase? Until Madigan is willing to do,that, unless he has the override, nothing will get thru
Comment by Sue Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 11:26 am
Education Funding.
How do other successful states and countries fund education?
The reason my property taxes are ridiculous, compared to relatives in other states is because nearly 50% of the property tax bill goes to the local district.
A freeze is not good enough. Think big, oh mighty Task Force.
Comment by cdog Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 11:40 am
Adopt an Evidence-Based Funding Model. An evidence-based funding model, such as the model developed as part
of the Illinois School Finance Adequacy Study, takes into account the cost associated with delivering quality,
research-based programming, including allotments for teacher salaries and small class sizes. An evidence-based
model should be used to assign the appropriate foundation level for each district individually, taking into account
geographic conditions and student needs. Fully funding districts based on the model would ensure adequate
funding for districts to locally determine and deliver appropriate and effective educational experiences to every
student. For greatest efficiency, districts should be allowed flexibility to allocate state funds throughout their local
district allowing them to better align resources to student needs. Resource accountability and transparency are
also achievable with this model, especially for districts that have high student needs and do not produce
adequate student outcomes or maintain financial stability.
Comment by nobody Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 11:44 am
Residential property assessments are way lower in Cook County then everywhere else in the state. This should be changed. If their assessments were treated the same as the rest of the state, a good portion of the CPS budget problem would be solved.
Comment by DuPage Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 11:52 am
Cdog - you seem to miss the point of the Madigan/Cullerton exercise. Them aim to stiff the suburbs in order to shift state funds to CPS and maybe a few other less wealthy districts. Don’t count on your property taxes doing anything other then going up since the suburbs have only one place to make up lost revenues. If you want to do anything to stop this vote R in november
Comment by Sue Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 12:21 pm
@DuPage said — assessments are way lower in Cook County –
That’s true as related to residential property. But Cook taxes commercial property way higher than the rest of the state. Homeowners pay less, businesses pay more in Cook. The law could be changed to level the residential/commercial rate like it is in the rest of the state, but I’m not sure that solves CPS’s budget problem, in fact it might result in CPS collect less tax revenue.
Comment by Ricardo Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 12:44 pm
Unfortunately if this is the same as the house education task force bipartisan democrats and Republicans represent primarily suburbs and chicago. There is I think 1 person that was actually from a downstate area. Correct me if I am wrong.
Comment by All the king's men Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 1:23 pm
Sue, I am not missing the point. Your lack of empathy for the plight of less wealthy districts, and your obviously elite mindset worried about being “stiffed,” make you a POSTER CHILD of the GOP. (Greedy Old People)
Not interested but thanks for the invitation. /s
I will continue to be hopeful that a bi-partisan task force, searching for a new funding formula, with the children/families/taxpayers’ best interest in mind, will be successful.
(I do think we live in a world where redistribution of income will be increasingly necessary due to the elimination of jobs to please shareholders, and many other macro/micro economic realities.)
See you in church.
Comment by cdog Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 1:37 pm
Sue -
You wanna see lower property taxes in the burbs?….maybe some school districts could cut back a little on the spending:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-batavia-football-stadium-st-1119-20151118-story.html
Batavia needs state support….why?
Comment by Under Influenced Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 1:39 pm
The fact is IASA is more powerful and influential in central and southern Illinois than up north.
Comment by Buzzie Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 2:05 pm
Things go to the House to die in obscurity in House Committees and sub committees
Comment by All the king's men Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 2:27 pm
CPS is a rat hole. More money shifted towards it will not do anything beneficial.
Comment by ILSUX Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 2:29 pm
–CPS is a rat hole. More money shifted towards it will not do anything beneficial.–
I’m sure you have all sorts of good ideas for the benefit of mankind. ILSUX.
Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 2:31 pm
a good start is if people would stop having so many kids they don’t take care of. A reduction in government subsidies to funding this procreation would help
Comment by IL Taxpayer Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 2:36 pm
gov benefit for one child but then stop it there.
Comment by socialist Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 2:38 pm
–gov benefit for one child but then stop it there.–
–a good start is if people would stop having so many kids they don’t take care of. A reduction in government subsidies to funding this procreation would help–
The Illinois Maoists are on the march.
Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 2:43 pm
Il Taxpayer says, “stop having so many kids they don’t take care of.”
Does that door swing both ways?
Are you ready to be means tested for your Soc Sec benefits, Medicare, taxed at a higher rate because you make too much money and don’t have more children, etc?
Comment by cdog Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 3:20 pm
“… while making sure that voices from across our state are heard and that all schools and programs are protected throughout this process.”
Does that mean that the status quo shall persist? Of course it does. So we will continue to have 860 school districts at the table, 6,000 school board members and thousands of redundant school administrators.
If what you do is perpetuate bureaucracy and broker power, then of course you will keep the circus going. Bring on the clowns!
Comment by Anon III Thursday, Feb 4, 16 @ 5:32 pm