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* JB Pritzker talks about balancing the budget while providing more money for K-12 education…
“We already have a challenge. And I was well aware of it, and I’ve talked about revenue resources and the fact that we have to balance our budget in a real way, and not in ways that, in April you find out you’re short by several billion. So we’re trying to figure that out,” Pritzker said. “You can’t solve all these problems immediately. It’s not like electing a new governor, day one, everything is solved.” […]
Pritkzer on Tuesday talked about trying to “accelerate” [the education funding reform plan, which currently ramps up by $350 million a year over 10 years], saying “we are moving toward a quality education for every child no matter where they live.” […]
He also embraced a contentious plan (Senate Bill 2892) that would require public school teachers be paid a salary of at least $40,000; advocates say it will help address a shortage of teachers, but critics – including Rauner, who vetoed the legislation – believe the expense will put too much strain on districts that already face financial difficulties. […]
Pritzker on Tuesday embraced the plan, saying, “I think the bill that was put forward is the right bill,” and that should the General Assembly fail to override Rauner’s veto, “We’ll be revisiting it in the new administration.”
* Related…
* Pritzker Names Education Advisory Team: These teams serve a purely advisory, unpaid role, although history has shown many transition advisors go on to serve cabinet positions. When Bruce Rauner was elected governor, his six-person education transition team included Tony Smith (then a foundation director), Beth Purvis (then CEO of Chicago International Charter Schools), Al Bowman (then the president emeritus of Illinois State University), and Lazaro Lopez (then an associate superintendent at High School District 214). After Rauner was sworn in, Smith became state superintendent of schools; Purvis became Rauner’s Secretary of Education; Bowman became executive director of the Illinois Board of Higher Education; and Lopez became chair of the Illinois Community College Board. Purvis has since left the state to work for the Kern Family Foundation, a Wisconsin-based philanthropy that has supported Gov. Scott Walker and legislative candidates who back school vouchers.
* Manar named co-chair of Gov.-elect Pritzker’s transition team for education: This is the second of Pritzker’s transition committees to which Manar has been named, as he and Decatur Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe were named earlier this month to Pritzker’s budget committee.
* Former Ottawa, Streator administrator named to Pritzker transition team
* Several area leaders named to Pritzker’s transition teams
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Nov 28, 18 @ 10:23 am
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In his TV ad prior to the election, Manar claimed he was working to freeze property taxes. Hopefully he is a man of his word.
Comment by Pick a Name Wednesday, Nov 28, 18 @ 10:37 am
Keep shaking that magical money tree, JB.
Comment by City Zen Wednesday, Nov 28, 18 @ 11:00 am
If property taxes aren’t frozen, at least give those paying more of the state’s share a bit more tax credit than the 5% (could have a cap on that credit, too). One thing our county is facing is the additional tax revenue industrial wind is saying they will be contributing to the school systems. I believe that may just be offset under the new school funding formula, and thus won’t have any effect on lowering other land/property owners taxes in the long run. We’ll still be paying roughly 60% of our property tax bills to the school systems, with or without wind’s hot air promises. And for those who had SALT deductions previously, that may also cause more pain this year.
Comment by Anon221 Wednesday, Nov 28, 18 @ 11:08 am
Rauner was not included on the Education Advisory transition team?? /s
Comment by thechampaignlife Wednesday, Nov 28, 18 @ 11:43 am
>Pritkzer on Tuesday talked about trying to “accelerate” [the education funding reform plan, which currently ramps up by $350 million a year over 10 years],
I just got that twinge in my stomach that I got when Rauner presented his first budget and made it clear that he wasn’t interested in real numbers and confronting the hard choices in establishing a stable, balanced budget. You’d think, post-election, he’d be lowering expectations regarding the ability to increase state spending.
Comment by Earnest Wednesday, Nov 28, 18 @ 12:04 pm
Pritzker is sounding more and more like a spend and tax Republican.
Comment by Blue Dog Dem Wednesday, Nov 28, 18 @ 12:35 pm
So a 40k wage for a first-year teacher would be great. I would guess the same teacher in the system that has 10 years in and just achieving the 40k would be upset. Now you have first and ten-year teachers making the same salary??
Comment by Nieva Wednesday, Nov 28, 18 @ 12:39 pm
=Manar claimed he was working to freeze property taxes. Hopefully he is a man of his word.=
Hopefully he isn’t until state funding exceeds any rollback. And the state should keep it’s nose out of property taxes all together. That is local revenue not state revenue.
Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Nov 28, 18 @ 12:53 pm
==Now you have first and ten-year teachers making the same salary??==
That’s how it should work, like a “bonus” that gets them to the lowest threshold.
I’m curious as to how they will handle the pension pick-up. A teacher in Taylorville starts at $38,361 but with the pension pick-up, it’s really $42,155. So do they get a bump and keep the full pick-up? I’m sure that what they expect.
I’m sure the IEA and IFT think they’re creating a new baseline that will inflate all other salaries in that school district. But it doesn’t have to be that way. If the concern is the teachers below $40K, then they are the only ones that should be impacted.
Comment by City Zen Wednesday, Nov 28, 18 @ 2:04 pm
Virtually every school district in Illinois is a union employer. If the IEA or IFT have been unable to convince school districts to use a 40k starting base salary- why should the State strong arm less wealthy localities. This is exactly the type of State Mandate that municilaties hate and which drives up local taxes. I guess the IEA/IFT cabal is getting its campaign contributions to pay off and Pritzker isn’t even sworn in yet. This is what the Dems call “pay to Play” when it comes to State contracts.
Comment by Sue Wednesday, Nov 28, 18 @ 2:25 pm
You can rerun this headline for the next 4 years
Pritzker embraces big spending increases on ______________
All financed by people like him and Governor Rauner paying their fair share of taxes.
Comment by Lucky Pierre Wednesday, Nov 28, 18 @ 2:28 pm
== In his TV ad prior to the election, Manar claimed he was working to freeze property taxes. Hopefully he is a man of his word. ==
Right now, only 3 realistic ways to lower local property taxes:
a) increase State level funding
b) consolidate school districts
c) where applicable, renegotiate labor contracts to eliminate picking up the employee portion of the pension contribution
Comment by RNUG Wednesday, Nov 28, 18 @ 2:30 pm
RNUG, they need to definitely consolidate school districts. These ‘ol boys, who still live in the past and don’t want to join forces with another school district, need to go away. They think cause such and such school beat them in basketball in 1961, no way are we going to merge schools.
BTW, I didn’t believe Manar one iota when he made that statement in his ad
Comment by Pick a Name Wednesday, Nov 28, 18 @ 3:47 pm
As to mergers, it will depend in large part where those mergers could efficiently take place. Rural districts may have a harder time doing this just based on the sheer size of the final district that may be created. Also, how much larger may the consolidated school need to be? Will a new school or schools (K-8 for example) need to be built, and where will that money come from? And, if this is in a suburban area, how many thousands of students should a school have in the first place? I’m not knocking the consolidation idea, but it does have some hard factors that need to be considered other than just reverted back to the community identity issue, looming as it may be.
Comment by Anon221 Thursday, Nov 29, 18 @ 8:17 am
== As to mergers, it will depend in large part where those mergers could efficiently take place. ==
What about plsces where there are separate grade school and high school districts? Just merging administration anf support staff could generate some savings.
And you don’t have to build a new school, although it can help overcome identity issues. It may be cheaper in the short run to use multiple buildings divided by grades. And that can also help overcome the identity issues.
Comment by RNUG Thursday, Nov 29, 18 @ 9:30 am