To subscribe to Capitol Fax, click here. *** UPDATED x6 - Madigan, Kennedy, Pritzker respond - Rauner oops *** Gov. Rauner issues AV of SB1 Tuesday, Aug 1, 2017 *** UPDATE 1 *** Click here for the full text of the governor’s AV. And, again, watch our live coverage post for constant updates. *** UPDATE 2 *** Here’s the relevant excerpt from the AV… *** UPDATE 3 *** Gov. Rauner told reporters today that the Senate and House could accept his amendatory veto with a “simple majority.” Not true, says the Senate. Since we’re past the May 31st deadline for simple majorities, an acceptance motion would require three-fifths in each chamber. The governor seemed surprised about this and dodged a follow-up question from a reporter who asked whether his staff should have known such a thing. Oops. …Adding… The governor’s office is now admitting that accepting the AV requires a three-fifths vote. *** UPDATE 4 *** Most react will be on the live coverage post. But this is from the Pritzker campaign… In response to Bruce Rauner issuing an amendatory veto on Senate Bill 1, a bill that funds schools and ensures they open on time, JB Pritzker released the following statement: “Apparently 736 days worth of damage done by Bruce Rauner wasn’t enough. Now he is holding school funding for Illinois children and families hostage and pitting communities against each other again by vetoing Senate Bill 1,” said JB Pritzker. “Bruce Rauner is so blinded by his crusade against Chicago’s children and families that he seems incapable of understanding a very simple fact: every child and every school district benefits under SB 1. Even though he supports 90% of the bill, Rauner and his new team of radicals once again chose to use our kids, parents, and teachers as leverage to try and score a political win.” *** UPDATE 5 *** Kennedy campaign… This is a stunning low point in the history of our state. SB1 is a product of the governor’s own School Funding Reform Commission and his characterization of the bill as a bailout for Chicago has been debunked by the BGA and Politifact. Yet, Bruce Rauner chose political games over our children. We need fundamental change in Springfield, including ending our reliance on a property tax system that inadequately funds our public schools. Today’s veto proves that Springfield is broken and Rauner will not lead Illinois toward real change. *** UPDATE 6 *** Press release… House Speaker Michael J. Madigan issued the following statement Tuesday: “Governor Rauner’s decision to pit one child against another is disappointing, especially as Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate continue to meet and negotiate. The governor has yet again chosen crisis over compromise, but Democrats will continue to work with legislative Republicans in order to enact education funding that is fair to every student, every school and every community.” [ *** End Of Updates *** ] * Keep an eye on the live coverage post for updates. Here’s the full press release… Today, Gov. Bruce Rauner issued an amendatory veto to Senate Bill 1, the school funding bill. The matter now heads to the Illinois General Assembly, where the governor has respectfully requested that lawmakers uphold his changes. If these changes are upheld, Illinois will achieve historic education funding reform. “It doesn’t matter where you come from or who your family is. With a great education, you can go anywhere in life and be whomever you want to be. You can grow up, get a good job and provide for your family. That’s why the changes I have made to the education funding bill are so important,” Gov. Rauner said. “With my changes, our state ensures that enough resources flow to children in the poorest and most disadvantaged school districts across the entire state. And my changes ensure that the education funding system in our state is fair and equitable to all students in Illinois.” More than a year ago, Gov. Rauner established the Illinois School Funding Reform Commission. This group came together on a bipartisan basis to study the way Illinois funds its public schools, and to chart a path to a fairer and more equitable system. “These changes included in my amendatory veto reflect years of hard work by our education reform commission and our ability to overcome our political differences for the good of our young people’s futures,” Gov. Rauner said. “I urge the General Assembly to act quickly to accept these changes and let our students start school on time.” The governor’s amendatory veto makes the following changes to ensure an adequate and equitable school funding formula: • Maintains a per-district hold harmless until the 2020-2021 school year, and then moves to a per-pupil hold harmless based on a three-year rolling average of enrollment. • Removes the minimum funding requirement. While the governor is committed to ensuring that the legislature satisfies its duty to fund schools, the proposed trigger of one percent of the overall adequacy target plus $93 million artificially inflates the minimum funding number and jeopardizes Tier II funding. • Removes the Chicago block grant from the funding formula. • Removes both Chicago Public Schools pension considerations from the formula: the normal cost pick-up and the unfunded liability deduction. • Reintegrates the normal cost pick-up for Chicago Public Schools into the Pension Code where it belongs, and finally begins to treat Chicago like all other districts with regards to the State’s relationship with its teachers’ pensions. • Eliminates the PTELL and TIF equalized assessed value subsidies that allow districts to continue under-reporting property wealth. • Removes the escalators throughout the bill that automatically increase costs. • Retains the floor for the regionalization factor, for the purposes of equity, and adds a cap, for the purposes of adequacy. The amendatory veto also removes the accounting for future pension cost shifts to districts in the Adequacy Target. This prevents districts from ever fully taking responsibility for the normal costs of their teachers’ pensions. Raw audio of the presser is here. - Posted by Rich Miller

83 Comments Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.

