School Funding Town Hall Monday
Governor Rauner issued an amendatory veto of SB1 on August 1. SB1 now needs a three-fifths vote in the General Assembly to override the Governor’s veto. Some that originally supported the Governor's veto of SB1 are now asking that it be overridden. Columnist Kristen McQueary, a member of the Chicago Tribune editorial board, has just written an opinion piece in which she states, "The Governor has not made, and cannot seem to make, a compelling case for the breadth and scope of his changes to a bill that represented a decade of research on a broken school funding formula. Instead he has delivered only mixed messages and tumult."
State Senator Andy Manar, a Democrat from Bunker Hill has worked for four years creating and then sponsored SB1. Manar says that despite the Governor's talk of bipartisanship, he has never had the opportunity to sit with him to discuss the bill.
Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza directed the payment of $429 million in Mandated Categorical grants to help provide needed cash flow to schools.
Mendoza said via press release, "Our office has been preparing for this contingency. Failure to sign General State Aid funding legislation allowing payment to school districts statewide meant monies reserved this week for that purpose, combined with additional cash management strategies, could be utilized to pay the grants already owed to those districts. Categorical payments cover transportation, special education and other costs."
A document that purports to be a lawsuit to be filed in Cook County has been circulated and can be viewed below. The document has no case number or date stamp. The suit would force payment of overdue school money and block attempts to get around the “evidence-based” funding model
The town hall will share facts about the bill and how it provides fair funding for all school districts in Illinois.
The Carrollton Grade School Commons are located at 721 Fourth Street in Carrollton. The doors will open at 6:00 p.m. The program begins with a welcome by Carrollton Superintendent Kerry Cox at 6:30 p.m. Remarks by Greenfield's Kevin Bowman and North Greene's Mark Scott will follow along with comments (tentative) from elected officials in support of SB1. Teresa Ramos of Advance Illinois will begin her presentation “SB1: an Evidence Based Model of School Funding” at 6:45 p.m. with a question & answer session to follow.
The lawsuit document is below.
- School Payment Lawsuit Document (1.76 MB)
