Rauner Comments on House Passage of State Aid to Education Bill, Roll Call

A press release from Governor Bruce Rauner:

Gov. Rauner’s statement after House vote

Rauner issued the following statement after the House vote:

“Today, members of the Illinois House of Representatives voted to bring historic education reform to Illinois children and their families.

“I want to thank Speaker Madigan, Leader Durkin and their staff members for finding common ground that will reverse the inequities of our current school funding system.

“Aligned with the framework provided by the Illinois School Funding Reform Commission – a bipartisan, bicameral working group chaired by the Secretary of Education – this bill has much to celebrate.

  • “First, every district in Illinois will have an adequacy target based on 27 elements brought forth through an ‘evidence-based model’ of school funding.
  • “Second, new state funds will be distributed to ensure that those districts with the largest gap between current spending and adequacy will be funded first.
  • “Third, no district will lose state funding as compared to last year.

“The compromise includes the much-needed flexibility for school districts through mandate relief, while providing avenues for property tax relief.

“It increases transparency related to how districts are funded through local, state and federal resources.

“It protects the rights of parents to choose the school that best meets the needs of their children – providing more school choice for children from low-income families. By setting yearly minimum funding targets, this bill also ensures that Illinois will continue to invest in our most important resource – our children’s education.

“I encourage members of the Senate to also pass this bill, which I will sign quickly in order to ensure that our schools – many of which have already opened for the 2017-2018 school year – receive their much-needed resources.”

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The House roll call on Senate Bill 1947 is below:

The House roll call on the State Aid to Education bill, Senate Bill 1947.

State Reps. Steve Reick and Barb Wheeler voted in favor; David McSweeney and Allen Skillicorn were in opposition.


Comments

Rauner Comments on House Passage of State Aid to Education Bill, Roll Call — 5 Comments

  1. According to the Illinois General Assembly bill status, the SB 1947 has not yet been sent back to the State Senate.

  2. To keep things in perspective, pension reform including the unfunded liability of the pensions, is a bigger problem than the main purpose of the bill in this post (SB 1947, the formula to determine how the state funds local school districts).

    The minor pension reforms in the state budget laws this year do not come close to solving the pension problems.

    The unfunded liability of the 5 state pension funds is $141 billion according to a July 7, 2017 Pension & Investments article titled, “Illinois Budget Implements Pension Reforms for Certain State, Chicago Plans.”

    http://www.pionline.com/article/20170707/ONLINE/170709934/illinois-budget-implements-pension-reforms-for-certain-state-chicago-plans

    The average interest rate (discount rate) for those funds is about 7%.

    $141 billion x .07 = $9.870 billion.

    Thus taxpayers accrue an additional $9.870 billion dollars for pensions in one year.

    If pensions were fully funded, instead of about 40% funded, the taxpayers would not accrue that additional interest.

    That interest goes into the pension formula.

    A high level overview of the formula:

    Beginning balance

    + investment returns (or subtract investment losses)

    + employee contributions

    + employer contributions

    + state contributions

    – payouts to current pensioners

    – interest on unfunded liability

    = ending balance.

    ++++++++++

    Next, the main reason the pensions are underfunded is because salaries and benefits were hiked.

    Not because the state spent the money elsewhere.

    Which comes first, the cart or the horse?

    First come the benefit and salary hikes, then comes the bill to the state to pay for the resulting hiked pension contributions.

    Pension benefits should have been frozen (no more legislative benefit hikes) until pensions were fully funded.

    That would have resulted in fully funded pensions.

    The Chicago Public Schools pension fund is an exception to that wish.

    CPS pensions were fully funded, until Mayor Daley wanted the City to be responsible for the pension funding.

    The result was pension funding went to salary hikes and some pet projects, and pensions became grossly underfunded.

    Did the CPS ever go on strike over the underfunding?

    No, because one of the many changes to the state constitution that was approved by voters on December 15, 1970 was a sentence which states pensions are contractual and cannot be diminished or impaired.

    Left unsaid was benefits and salaries can be hiked even if pensions are underfunded.

    And collective bargaining negotiations and legislative bills don’t take into account pension funding status during the processes to approve those documents.

    The water is over the dam, with mass destruction, obligating taxpayers to $141 billion principal and $9.8B annual interest.

    That is a massive problem costing taxpayers a lot of money in interest.

    There is no serious proposals to solve that problem.

    They keep chipping away at the fringes with tax hike here, minor pension reform there.

  3. Time for Illinois Republicans to call Peter Geraci.

    The quicker Illinois can declare insolvency and get.

    a receiver appointed in place of legislature the better residents will be.

    Illinois has been insolvent for years and this hammer should have been brought down ten years ago!

    In the meantime, any time spent by legislators on issues other than entitlement reform is wasted time or a diversion, including this sanctuary nonsense.

  4. The annual interest on unfunded pension liabilities is a major problem.

    As explained above the comment from yesterday, the interest goes into unfunded liability calculation that occurs once a year.

    The unfunded liability interest does not show up as a discrete item anywhere.

    So few people realize it exists.

    A key concept is that unfunded liabilities have interest, just as credit cards have interest, and just as bonds have interest.

    Taxpayers are paying a lot of money in interest on unfunded pension liabilities and bonds, and it is driving up the cost of government.

  5. Look how “Mr. Independent” Reick voted!

    Or Wheeler-Dealer!

    Shame on those rats!

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