Illinois Issues: The Man With The Education Reform Mission
A closer look at what drove State Senator Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill) to push for education funding reform, a push that finally yielded results this summer.
A closer look at what drove State Senator Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill) to push for education funding reform, a push that finally yielded results this summer.
The Illinois House approved a new school funding plan Monday that will increase state money for all districts and provide $75 million in tax credits for people who donated to private school scholarships.
With schools set to open in just a few weeks, Illinois still doesn't have any way to send money to schools. K-12 funding has become the latest partisan battleground at the statehouse, and yesterday, one procedural misstep may have inadvertently made the gridlock even worse.
After the first day of a special session on education, Democratic lawmakers and the Republican Governor Bruce Rauner appear no closer to resolving the dispute that could hold up money for school districts. Rauner continues to demand Democrats send him the funding plan so he can change it and remove additional money for Chicago teacher pensions.
Wednesday is the last day of the Illinois General Assembly's annual legislative session. It also happens to mark 700 days since Illinois last had a real budget. Majority Democrats still aren’t saying whether they plan to do anything about that.