You will be asked to vote for or against two amendments that would change the 1970 Illinois Constitution. These will be the first items on the ballot on Nov. 3.
EDUCATION AMENDMENT
(Amend Section I of Article X)
This amendment would modify the current constitution by incorporating the following provisions:
1. Education of all persons is a fundamental ”right,” not just a
”goal” of the state government.
2. It is the ”paramount duty” of the State to:
a) provide a thorough and efficient system of high quality public education, and;
b) guarantee equality of educational opportunity as a fundamental right.
3. The State has the ”preponderant financial responsibility” for financing public education.
PROPONENT
Isn`t it time to take education funding out of the hands of politicians and give it back to the people? Illinois lawmakers have resliced the state`s funding pie for education from one-half to only one-third. Illinois has fallen to 47th among the nation`s 50 states in per capita expenditures on education. School funding is out of whack. That`s why we must pass the education constitutional amendment.
With tougher competition from the Germans and the Japanese, we need a well-trained workforce to compete in world markets. Yet, many high school graduates can not enter competitive universities to obtain higher educations because their high school could not offer the college prerequisites of foreign language, calculus and physics. We must invest out resources in education to guarantee the future survival of our jobs and markets.
Children are growing up today in a much tougher world than when we were kids. Drugs, gangs, crime, divorce, fewer good paying jobs. Given the seriousness of these problems, teachers often have to deal with the children`s problems, even before learning can take place. The local public school has traditionally been the focal point of our neighborhoods. In these troubled times, particularly in distressed urban areas, we must maintain this social and cultural anchor. Neither parents nor schools alone can save our youth. But the cycle of inner-city poverty will certainly not be broken without the foundation of a strong school system.
Passage of the proposed education constitutional amendment guarantees children all across Illinois, no matter how rich or poor their parents are, the right to equal access to high quality public education. Knowledge is power. Without power there is no hope. Let`s give our children hope.
Committee for the Future of Our Children
OPPONENT
The Blank Check Amendment is a tax time bomb ready to explode in the faces of Illinois taxpayers. Here are the facts:
– Unless we vote down the Blank Check Amendment, we will receive a 50 percent increase in our state income taxes, according to Gov. Jim Edgar.
– The Blank Check Amendment will mean at least a 50 percent increase in state corporate taxes. Business taxes will increase from 4.8 percent to 7.2 percent. Add in the corporate property replacement tax and Illinois businessmen will be taxed at the ruinous rate of 9.2 percent. Many companies will close their doors or move to a more sensible state, resulting in even higher Illinois unemployment.
– The horrendous tax on businesses means that the businesses that will still be able to stay open will have to pass costs on to customers. This will kick off an inflationary cycle, starting right here in Illinois.
– Changing the constitution so that the state would have ”preponderant” (51 percent or more) responsibility for elementary and secondary education would force slashes in other services. For example, this would mean drastic cuts in health care, services to children, elderly, the mentally handicapped- even colleges and universities.
– The Blank Check isn`t needed. The Illinois Constitution gives full authority to the legislature for funding education. In 1976, the state funded 46 percent of education costs. Today the total is about 36 percent. All the legislature has to do to raise money for education is to vote for it.
– Proponents of the Blank Check Amendment claim that somehow, somewhere, there will be property tax relief. But those same proponents TWICE VOTED AGAINST laws that would have guaranteed property relief being tied to the amendment.
– There are no limits to the Blank Check Amendment. Education will be the state priority. This sounds good, but if this amendment were law in Florida, the state could not go past 49 percent to help its devastated citizens. In Illinois, the amendment would allow education to override the checks and balances system, which is an integral part of our constitution and political philosophy.
Give the Blank Check Amendment what it deserves. Vote NO.
Coalition for Accountable and Responsible Education
CRIME VICTIM`S RIGHTS AMENDMENT
(Add Section 8.1 to Article I)
This amendment would add the following list of victim`s rights to the Illinois constitution:
1. Be treated with fairness and dignity.
2. Be notified of court proceedings.
3. Communicate with the prosecution.
4. Make a statement at sentencing.
5. Be informed about the assailant`s conviction, sentence, imprisonment, and release.
6. Have a timely disposition of the case.
7. Be protected from the accused during prosecution.
8. Be present at trial.
9. Bring an advocate to court proceedings.
10. Receive restitution.
PROPONENT
Vote Yes for Victims
The constitution preserves only the most fundamental of rights.
For more than 200 years, the nation`s constitution protected those accused of a crime, but was silent on victim`s rights. Illinois also failed to include victims in its constitutional protections. Throughout the years, victims were virtually ignored by the criminal justice system. Treated as
”pieces of evidence,” they often were not informed of proceedings until afterwards and did not have the right to participate in the process. Sometimes victims learned of a defendant`s release from custody by reading about it in the newspaper!
Recently, some states including Illinois enacted legislation known as
”Victims Bill of Rights” laws. These ”rights” are really fair treatment guidelines, but enforcement has been uneven and in some cases ignored. It is time that victims are treated with the same concern for fairness and dignity that the constitution preserves for defendant`s rights. No one would suggest that due process or equal protection should be less than a constitutional right for defendants. Why should a guarantee of fairness and dignity for victims be given any less than constitutional protection?
Passage of the Crime Victim`s Constitutional Amendment will elevate victims into a more permanent place within the criminal justice system. No longer will victims be dismissed as playing a bit part in the prosecution. They are central to the ability of the state to prosecute and their basic human rights to information and participation should be recognized and protected. Let`s balance the scales of justice to make the system more
”just” for victims.
Vote YES on Nov. 3.
Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault
OPPONENT
Adoption of the crime victim`s bill of rights would further stretch the limited resources of the criminal justice system, require more tax dollars to pay an increased bureaucracy, and in the end, provide no significant additional benefit to crime victims.
No one objects to the concepts contained in the amendment; in fact, the specific protections already exist in Illinois law. Making it part of the constitution, however, would cause prolonged and more expensive criminal proceedings.
Crime victims should, when feasible, receive notices of hearings, sentencing, etc. But by making these communications a constitutional right, voters will be mandating additional bureaucracy to perform the work.
By constitutionalizing a victim`s right to be present at trial, voters will be requiring additional court hearings in every case in which a victim is to testify so the court can determine whether the victim`s testimony might be colored by hearing other witnesses.
Worse yet, the victim will be required to give often painful testimony twice in the presence of the accused, raising the possibility that
discrepancies between the victim`s testimony in the hearing and at trial could be used to discredit the victim.
The criminal justice system, from police station to prison cell, is grossly overburdened. This amendment piles new requirements on its mountainous caseload.
A vote against this amendment is not a vote against victims. Victims would reap a slight benefit at a tremendous cost if this amendment passes.
Illinois State Bar Association
ADVISORY REFERENDUM
There will be one statewide advisory referendum on the Nov. 3 ballot. Local areas may have additional referendums for voters to consider. An advisory referendum is not binding, which means that legislators will know how their constituents feel about an issue but are not required to implement the provisions of the measure. These referendum questions will appear at the end of the ballot following the section on candidates.
ADVISORY REFERENDUM ON UNFUNDED MANDATES
This referendum urges the General Assembly to place a constitutional amendment on the ballot at the next general election. The amendment would prohibit the state government from imposing new mandates on local governments that are not funded by the state and whose costs would then be paid by the local governments. For example, the legislature has required municipalities to provide pensions and has set benefit levels, but the burden for paying for the pensions falls on the municipalities rather than the state.
The ultimate goal of this referendum is to prevent the legislature from passing mandates that it does not fund fully. Local governments argue that they should not have to pay for programs over which they have no control. Others say that some services need to be required of local governments who might not otherwise adopt necessary programs.
