Governor Rauner: Put kids in front of politics, send me the education bill

CHICAGO – Today, Gov. Bruce Rauner again demanded that lawmakers put the children of Illinois first and send him Senate Bill 1, the education funding bill. Public schools in Illinois may not open in time for the new school year if Democrats in the Illinois Senate don’t send this bill to the governor’s desk. Democratic senators are using a procedural quirk to prevent this measure from reaching the governor’s desk, which puts every public school student in Illinois at risk.

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“I’m determined to get our kids back to school on time. It’s my No. 1 priority,” Gov. Rauner said. “That’s why I again insist that lawmakers send me Senate Bill 1 so I can take immediate action. The bill is being held hostage by Democrats in the Senate. They’ve been holding this bill for six weeks now. It’s shameful. Stop putting politics and pensions before our kids. We don’t have any more time to waste. Send me SB 1 now.”

As written, the bill includes a bailout of Chicago’s broken teacher pension system. Gov. Rauner plans to issue an amendatory veto that will eliminate the Chicago Public Schools’ bailout and result in higher state funding for almost every school district in Illinois.

A new website launched by Gov. Rauner shows how much additional money each school district will receive as a result of the amendatory veto: https://www.illinois.gov/gov/SitePages/SchoolDistrictFunding.aspx

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