A group of Chicago-area Democratic representatives on Thursday challenged Gov. Jim Edgar to allow consideration of more than one education funding bill during the special session of the legislature he has scheduled for Dec. 2.
While acknowledging the governor is unlikely to do so, the lawmakers want him to amend his proclamation calling for the special session so other funding possibilities can be discussed, including his bill that was approved by the House in May. It called for a reduction in property taxes, combined with an increase in state income taxes, but stalled in the Republican-controlled Senate.
During the veto session that ended last weekend, the Democratic-controlled House rejected a less ambitious Senate-passed bill that would have generated $485 million for schools by raising the telephone, cigarette and casino gambling taxes.
“I don’t really expect Edgar to amend his proclamation,” Rep. Louis Lang (D-Skokie) said at a news conference at the Thompson Center. And, he conceded that if push-came-to-shove, some of those who voted against the latest bill would likely change their votes.
The bill fell just four votes short of passage, causing an outcry of criticism from Chicago-area political and civic leaders over the failure of local House members to back it.
It was in response to that criticism that more than a dozen legislators gathered to brand that measure a “Band-Aid” approach that guarantees funding levels for only three years.
“The kids deserve the whole loaf, which is a permanent fix,” said Assistant Majority Leader Art Turner (D-Chicago). “The debate is not with or against the mayor or the Chicago City Council, this is a last stand for the children, whom I believe we all want to help.”
“We need to go back to the drawing board,” Lang said. “The bill that would have gotten us out of this mess is sitting in the Senate.”
State Rep. Arline Fantin (D-Calumet City) said she was skeptical of the latest bill because of its reliance on “sin taxes,” which she said provided an unstable revenue stream.
Fantin said school officials representing Thornton Fractional North and School District 157 had urged her to vote against it because of concerns that schools may eventually get less funding if insufficient funds are raised from the new taxes.
Rep. Howard Kenner (D-Chicago), chairman of the Black Caucus, called the measure hypocritical. “We try to discourage our children from smoking–but cigarettes fund their schools. We tell our children not to gamble–but casinos fund their schools. What kind of a lesson does it send to our kids when sin taxes are used to fund their schools?”
In a related action Thursday, state School Supt. Joseph Spagnolo unveiled a proposed budget for next year that relies on passage of the latest funding bill to guarantee a minimum of $4,225 will be spent on the education of each of the state’s 2 million public school students. About half of them do not currently receive that much.
The total proposed $5.2 billion spending plan is up about 12 percent from the current budget.
Under the spending plan, Chicago schools would receive a 17 percent increase in state aid, from $558 million to $661 million.
“I’ll take it,” said Paul Vallas, chief executive officer for the Chicago Public Schools.
