SPRINGFIELD — The Rauner administration and state school officials have reached an agreement that could finally allow more money to start flowing to public schools.
The agreement also should remove a contentious issue from the table as Gov. Bruce Rauner prepares to deliver his re-election year State of the State speech. Rauner is scheduled to deliver the speech at noon Wednesday before a joint session of the House and Senate.
The administration announced Friday a compromise that will allow more schools to participate in a newly created scholarship program that is designed to help more students afford the costs of attending private and parochial schools.
The compromise speeds up the process for the state Board of Education to notify the Department of Revenue when a school meets the criteria for participating in the scholarship program. It will allow more schools to participate in the scholarship program this year.
Rauner’s concern that some schools would be excluded from the program this year led him to rewrite Senate Bill 444. That’s a bill passed overwhelmingly by the House and Senate to clear up an error discovered in the school funding reform bill approved by lawmakers last summer. State education officials said the error needed to be corrected so that the new school funding formula could be put into place. The new formula is designed to direct more state money to districts most in need of financial aid.
Lawmakers increased K-12 funding by $350 million in the current state budget. That extra money is supposed to be distributed using the new formula. However, none of it has yet been sent to school districts because the new formula hasn’t been enacted.
Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, sponsored both the school funding reform bill and the follow-up bill. He said Senate Democrats will discuss how to proceed on implementing the funding reform bill when they return to Springfield next week.
Manar said there was no way Rauner’s changes would have been accepted. He said he thinks the changes Rauner made to the follow-up bill are unconstitutional. The Senate could try to override the amendatory veto or could choose to put pass a separate bill that fixes the error in the new funding formula.
Announcement of the compromise comes days before Rauner delivers his fourth State of the State speech, which will outline his legislative goals for the upcoming session. The speech also can serve as a platform of sorts for Rauner to recount his accomplishments and make a case for another term.
“I think it’s important for the governor to set a tone on how we get through a contentious election year trying to work together,” said Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield. “Obviously, we’ve learned from the last couple of years that with divided government it’s hard to get solutions on things like the budget.”
Kent Redfield, retired professor of political science at the University of Illinois Springfield, said he expects Rauner will talk about education funding, early childhood education and criminal justice reform as accomplishments during the speech.
“Everything gets dicey beyond that,” he said. “He’s certainly not going to take a victory lap in terms we normally think of that.”
A big part of that, Redfield said, was Rauner’s vow to shake up the system when he assumed office in 2015. Yet, most of Rauner’s agenda remains unfulfilled.
“I think it’s a difficult speech because of the fact that he clearly presented himself as being able to overwhelm the opposition and the resistance to his agenda,” Redfield said.
Plus, one of Rauner’s favorite foils may be largely off limits this time. Rauner has made House Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago, the focal point of the state’s problems the last few years. However, Redfield said Rauner can’t afford to be too direct in blaming Democrats for things that haven’t happened because that will remind listeners of his infamous remark that he isn’t in charge. That statement has been used against Rauner by both Democrats and his Republican primary opponent.
This also marks Rauner’s first major speech since the two staff shake-ups last summer. The people responsible for the speeches and vision of Rauner’s first three years are no longer there.
“The people who were around him, that focused his message, that made him such a good candidate, those people are gone,” Redfield said.
Redfield said “part of this floundering around he’s been going through” is the result of those staff changes.
“This is a very difficult speech to write, to present it in a way that isn’t just a negative campaign ad,” he said. “I don’t know that (the speech) will help him, but it could hurt him.”
Asked for a comment about the upcoming speech, Rauner’s office said, “The governor looks forward to talking about progress made by the administration and laying out his agenda for the coming year at the State of the State Wednesday.”
Contact Doug Finke at doug.finke@sj-r.com, 788-1527 or twitter.com/dougfinkesjr.