Tryon Reports

A communication from State Rep. Mike Tryon:

General Assembly Passes 495 Bills Prior to May 31 Deadline

Little Bill

Little Bill

Close to 500 bills are on their way to the Governor for his signature. Of those, 269 are House bills and 226 are Senate bills.

This accounts for only a small fraction – 7.8 percent – of the 6,375 bills (4,226 House, 2,149 Senate) filed by House and Senate members so far in 2015.

The Sunday, May 31 deadline significantly governs actions taken by the General Assembly. Under Article IV, section 10 of the Constitution of Illinois, a bill must be acted upon before this date by both houses if it is to take immediate effect by simple majority.

On June 1 and following, a bill – to be effective immediately – must win an extraordinary three-fifths majority in both houses. This gives a potential space at the table to members of the Illinois House and Senate minority party and to lawmakers from less-populated regions of Illinois.

This 495-bill total does not include 28 bills that were passed and then immediately held up by motions filed to reconsider the vote by which the bill was passed.

Bills on the order of Motion to Reconsider have, by a parliamentary maneuver, been locked in the desk drawer of the respective party leaders of both chambers, the House Speaker and the Senate President.

They cannot be sent to the Governor until the party leaders release them. In 2015, bills in this category include measures to implement the Democrats’ unbalanced FY16 budget and a Chicago pension “fix.”

House Republicans Look for Path Forward as FY16 Budget Pressure Points Approach

With House and Senate Democrats refusing to pass an honest, workable budget, the Illinois budget process has temporarily reached a point of impasse. Future funding deadlines will create additional pressures for lawmakers, who at this point are very divided on the best path forward. Key dates include:

  • June 30: End of FY15
  • July 1: First day of FY16
  • July 15: First payroll of FY16
  • August 10 and August 20: General State Aid payments due to school districts

FY16 begins on July 1, 2015.

If any money is left over within any State line items from FY15, a two-month “lapse period” begins, during which remaining FY15 funds can be spent.

It is not expected there will be very much roll-over money.

With the State’s first payroll deadline scheduled for July 15, 2015, there will be intensifying pressure to reach a budget deal prior to this date.

If the impasse continues into August, two more important dates will add to the pressure for lawmakers to come to consensus on a budget.

General State Aid (GSA) payments from the State to local school districts are due on August 10 and August 20, 2015.

Few, if any, schools within Illinois will open for fall classes without the cash flow represented by these GSA payments.

It is important to note that some items within the State budget are protected by what is called “continuing appropriation” authority.

Areas of spending or money transfer that are mandated by federal law or by existing contracts and bond indentures are areas where money will continue to flow even in the absence of a year-to-year budget. Examples include:

  • Bonded debt service
  • Certified pension payments
  • Teachers’ Retirement Insurance Program
  • College Insurance Program
  • Income tax payments and sales tax payments shared with local governments
  • TANF welfare program

AABD aid to the aged program, and stipends paid to parents and guardians of adopted/process-of-adoption/guardianship children by the Department of Children and Family Services

Budget negotiations are ongoing.


Comments

Tryon Reports — 11 Comments

  1. Republicans have been demonizing school teachers since 2000 so if schools don’t open you should be as happy as a clam.

  2. Karma, teachers aren’t helping much with the pension mess are they? The fact their lobby went for more pay and less in the pension fund looks bad also.

  3. Karma still believes in kabuki theater.

    There is no such thing as Republicans OR Democrats OR Libertarians.

    They are all the same.

    Good luck with those clams.

  4. “Bills on the order of Motion to Reconsider have, by a parliamentary maneuver, been locked in the desk drawer of the respective party leaders of both chambers, the House Speaker and the Senate President.”

    Is there a legitimate purpose for that maneuver that benefits taxpayers?

    ++++++++

    Exactly how do Republicans demonize teachers.

  5. Republicans hate the public school system, love charters where they can select the students they take instead of trying to take all students to help.

    Republicans love business and money and only that.

    Cindy if they are all the same vote for Bernie Sanders for president.

  6. The nob why did the school boards give the raises to teachers.

    Why didn’t they fire them all during 2008 and say this is what our budget is and this is what we are paying.

    Also politicians did not pay the pension funds and they passed the rules to allow double dipping of pensions and building up pensions before retiring.

    You can’t just blame teachers. Most of them don’t retire multi millionaires but a lot of politicians do.

    Look at Hastert.

  7. Ha Ha

    good luck with all of your kids at home if school does not start.

  8. Karma and others may want to spend a little bit of time at this link:

    http://www.taxpayereducation.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/McHenry-County-Government-School-Retirees.pdf

    Show me a business type in the private sector where:
    the average retirement age is 59;

    average pension is $58,441;

    average lifetime pension payout is $1,718,382;

    average employee contribution to avg. lifetime payout is 5.8 percent.
    ———————–
    There are 12,154 state pensioners collecting more than $100,000 per year in Illinois.

    There are 85,893 state pensioners collecting more than $50,000 per year in Illinois.

    I wonder how many of them still live in the taxing district which is providing their retirement income?

  9. School Boards are really not always responsible for the pension / salary increases in Illinois.

    In Districts where the School Board does not contain a majority of ‘teacher friendly’ Board members, frequently negotiations go to a State arbitrator.

    Anyone know of any instance where the arbitrator totally sided with the School Board?

  10. People watch entirely too much fox or msnbc and then adopt their messaging whole.

    Teachers are not the problem except in their unlimited malleability in following union nonsense.

    Without the mindless support of their adherents public unions wouldn’t be able to do the public damage they do.

    Union sycophants, whether teachers or police or firemen (all very sympathetic professions for the general public) are not good citizens of a free nation as they appear, through their unfettered support of insane public policy, to be incapable of free thought.

    If one subscribes wholly to the messaging of the unions, NRA, Republicans, Democrats, pick a group…

    Then the individual is essentially superfluous and clearly lacks any ability for critical thought.

    We are losing our representative democracy due to enormous selfish pressures (it takes unselfish sacrificial service to others for our system of government to work) which are neither the fault of teachers nor are they absolved of any public sin.

    Just because this is a sympathetic profession doesn’t give anyone the right to use or abuse them for their group or messages gain.

    As for the love or loathing of Producers…

    No society or culture would exist at all without someone creating food, shelter, clothing, goods, art…

    Neither would a society survive without non producers who underpin producers with education, protection, roads…

    As with everything in life moderation is best in all things. When non producers are destroying a society or culture producers get angry and non producers get jealous.

    Only those cultures throughout history who negotiate this rough patch well survive.

    We may not if Bernie Sanders, a wholly owned subsidiary of special interests, is our nations hope.

  11. Woodstock CUSD 200

    (According to Edfin.ed.gov)

    Spends $1805 per year per student on administration. Peer
    Average is $942.

    Spends $14,248 per year per student. Peer Average is
    $10,868.

    $1516 Capital Outlay per year per student. Peer Average is $1063.

    $1386 Construction per year per student. Peer Average is $835.

    $896 Interest on Debt per year per student. Peer Average is $410.

    D200 Debt is over $150 million when accrued unpaid interest is included.

    One example:

    A 2006 CAB which borrowed $14 million principal.

    In 2015 the total accrued interest on the $14 million debt exceeds $14 million, so the total debt TODAY is almost $30 million.

    Yet the debt is listed on reports as $14 million. (That is the principal amount. Accrued unpaid interest is allowed to be obscured from public reports).

    This debt is accruing interest at nearly $3 million a year now.

    There will be a balloon payment due in 2023-2026.

    The latest tax extension was $60 million.

    When THIS ($14 million) debt comes due it will be $64 million owed ($50 million interest on a 20 year $14 million loan).

    That would be DOUBLE the latest tax extension—JUST TO PAY THIS ONE BOND DEBT!!!

    The latest tax extension caused a property tax rate of 2.7% of home value (JUST FOR THE SCHOOOL!!! NOT including all other taxes due for other County taxing bodies).

    Can ANY HOMEOWNER IN WOODSTOCK AFFORD a TAX RATE OF 6.5% of total home value? (2.7% doubled, plus another 2% for all the other taxing bodies)???

    Put another way, can any homeowner in Woodstock afford a 13% tax rate… as a function of 6.5% rate on a home value dropping in half again because of tax-to-value disparity between the prudent budgeting of all the rest of America compared to the irrational spending practices in this District in this County?

    In 2005, D200 had $55.7 million principal debt. The District borrowed over $100 million to build 2 schools.

    After 9 years of debt service, we owe about the same amount as 10 years ago.

    Bond Refinancing has been extensive, to keep extruding the debt and debt payments, and each time it occurs it incurs about 1.5% fees to lawyers and financial firms.

    For the past 9 years, the schools have operated at low capacity ratios.

    By the District’s reported numbers, two High Schools are operating at 54% and 58% capacity.

    Another school is operating at 23% capacity. (This for at least the past 6 years).

    By the capacity ratio of:

    “School Construction Law Project Standards
    State of Illinois Capital Board”

    (“List of Eligible School Construction Program Expenditures For Construction of School Facilities October 2001 Revised October 2010”):

    For one example:

    A High School listed by D200 with capacity of 1600 students (and stated enrollment of 929 in 2014) actually has a capacity of 2223 students.

    (600 students per 96000 sq. feet; remaining 211,000 square feet another 1623 students).

    That High School has a stated enrollment of 929.

    929 out of Capacity of 2223 is operating at 42% of Capacity.

    EAV in the District:

    (per Bond Official Statements)

    2005 $878 million

    2013 $758 million

    2014 forward…lower EAV

    Spending rose and rose despite 8 years declining EAV
    number of employees rose

    Admin spending rose at anomalous rates.
    total employees 2013 over 1000.

    2005 vs. 2014 Total expenses/cost per pupil/teaching staff/pupil-teacher ratio

    2014: $97.8 million/$14,686/ 412/ 16.17

    2005: $58 million/ $9496/ 350/ 17.72

    2014: 10120 employees

    2005: 797 employees

    enrollment

    2014: 6661 per D200; per ISBE INCLUDING PRE-Kindergarten: 6569 (EXCLUDING Pre-K: 6215)

    2005/06: 6395 per D200; per ISBE INCLUDING PRE-Kindergarten: 6258 (EXCLUDING Pre-K: 5992)

    (That’s a lot more teachers and employees per student than average alleged enrollment increase ratios indicate)

    There are also disparities between what D200 claims as enrollment and what Illinois State Board of Education claims as enrollment in D200.

    Much disparity centers around Pre Kindergarten students.

    The tuition (and the cost at Montessori school by comparison) is around $2200 per school year for thi9s Pre-K enrollment.

    But D200 COUNTS about 400 students in their general calculation of cost per pupil per year.

    If you take $14,686 (cost represented by District per student per year) minus $2200 (actual cost per Pre-K student at Montessori or the tuition charged by D200)you get 400 (student) multiplied by $12486 (cost of students beyond Pre-K) and you get about $5 million to amortized over about 6200 students (ISBE enrollment figure) and you find each student is actually costing $800 more per year than the District has stated.

    D200 has taxed 2.7% of total home value this year.

    Woodstock property tax is 4.6% of total home value this year.

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