Gov. Pat Quinn and his Republican rival, Bruce Rauner, settled into comfortable chairs at a recent Illinois Education Association forum. Watching their exchange later, I nearly fell off mine.

The educators in the audience — teachers, staff and union stewards representing IEA — uproariously favored Quinn during the hourlong discussion April 11. They pumped their fists when he championed his education record. They whistled when he boasted of his commitment to public schools. They applauded when he dogged charter schools.

The IEA stewards snapped at his red meat like alligators to antelope.

Quinn repeatedly pummeled Rauner for supporting a rollback of the state's income tax, which is scheduled for Jan. 1. The personal income tax rate by current law will drop to 3.75 percent from 5 percent. The total corporate rate is scheduled to drop to 7.75 percent from 9.5 percent.

"My opponent wants to roll back the income tax and starve our schools, underfund our schools," Quinn said incredulously. "I don't believe in starving education."

I'm pretty sure someone in the audience started "the wave" at that moment. Quinn was a rock star. He could have crowd surfed.

Earth to stewards: Quinn signed the tax rollback. The rollback he now reviles belongs exclusively to him and his Democratic Party. He signed into law in January 2011 a bill that would temporarily raise the personal income tax to 5 percent from 3 percent, then gradually drop it back down.

Expecting Democrats to keep their word on a temporary income tax increase doesn't make Rauner an enemy of public education. It makes him responsible.

But as you'll hear from Quinn and the Democratic-controlled legislature from now until they adjourn May 31, services for the disabled, the mentally ill and the vulnerable could be cut further if the tax doesn't stay put. Democratic legislative leaders in the House and Senate already launched their doomsday road show to justify keeping it in place.

Mind you, those cuts aren't all fiction.

By if they occur, they'll be the fault of the leaders in Springfield — and Republicans aren't blameless — who mismanaged state pensions for more than a decade, drove this state to the brink of collapse and then perjured themselves with a "temporary" tax. They can't pin that on Rauner.

Educators at the IEA forum seemed convinced the income tax hike must stay to help schools. Quinn was, if nothing else, repetitious. If we played the game of sipping our cocktails every time he spoke of "investing in education," no one would be able to stand by the end.

Here are the facts: The state has collected roughly $25 billion in new revenue since the tax hike was passed. Yet schools have gotten less money under the income tax hike. To this day, the state can't meet its own recommended per-pupil costs and has prorated money to schools since 2012. The Illinois State Board of Education has been given millions less each year since the tax passed in 2011.

Schools aren't getting paid on time. Some districts have borrowed to the point of collapse. Taxpayers are stuck picking up those interest payments on top of everything else.

But Quinn insists keeping the income tax in place will ensure — We promise this time! — schools get more money.

I wouldn't bet on it. Pensions and a legislature unwilling to do massive restructuring — reducing the number of state agencies, mandating school consolidation, shrinking the state's workforce, forcing budget cuts on all statewide officeholders — will continue the squeeze on state resources.

Teachers: You may decide Quinn is a better choice. He may have convinced you that he inherited a mess. (Never mind the recession officially ended in June 2009). Quinn may win your vote.

But know the facts: The governor who is proud of his record on school funding, who says he wants to pay teachers more, invest more in education and close the funding gap between rich and poor districts, has had more than five years to do it. Even with the single, largest tax hike in this state's history, education funding went down.

The gap between rich and poor districts is an issue finally being taken up by a lone state senator, Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, with no heft from Quinn's office or the IEA. A kid in Calumet City continues to get far fewer resources than a kid on the North Shore.

The president of the IEA, Cinda Klickna, was a delightful moderator during the forum. But it didn't go unnoticed that of 19 questions she asked, one was on the school funding gap; 11 were on teacher pay, pensions, benefits and collective bargaining rights. Yes, IEA is a labor organization. It shouldn't pretend to be a champion for kids.

To another round of vigorous applause, Quinn told teachers his opponent was "the biggest threat to public education" in this state.

He might want to rethink that.

Kristen McQueary is a member of the Tribune Editorial Board.

Kmcqueary@tribune.comm

Twitter @statehousechick