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 The Illinois Senate voted Aug. 13 to
override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s amendatory veto to Senate Bill 1, a school funding
proposal. Rauner’s changes to the bill included stripping it of language that
primarily or exclusively benefited Chicago Public Schools at the expense of
school districts in need across the state.
Members of the Senate rejected those changes and successfully overrode the
governor on a 38-19 vote. The override required a three-fifths majority, or 36
votes, to pass. Democrats hold 37 seats in the Illinois Senate, and all voted in
favor of the override.
A lone Republican, state Sen. Sam McCann of Jacksonville, also voted “yes” on
the override. McCann in July received $53,900 from the political arm of the
Illinois Education Association, or IEA, the state’s largest teachers union. The
IEA supports the override of Rauner’s changes to SB 1.
 SB 1 will now head to the House, where it will need 71 votes to pass. Unlike the
Senate, House Democrats do not hold a supermajority and will need Republican
votes if they are to successfully reject the governor’s changes in favor of the
original version of SB 1.
On Aug. 12, the Illinois State Board of Education released an analysis of
Rauner’s amendatory veto showing more than 97 percent of Illinois school
districts would receive more money compared with the version of SB 1 lawmakers
sent to his desk.
Rauner’s changes stripping special privileges for CPS resulted in 831 of
Illinois’ 852 school districts receiving additional funding, according to the
ISBE analysis, showing the degree to which those districts have been subsidizing
Chicago for more than a decade. Schools within the district of the Senate’s
chief sponsor of SB 1, state Sen. Andy Manar, D-Bunker Hill, would have seen an
$8.7 million windfall under Rauner’s changes.
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Notably, all school districts would have received
more funding than the previous year under the amendatory veto.
Illinois senators gifted Chicago a suite of special
benefits in their override of the governor’s changes, including:
An annual $200 million “block grant” exclusively for CPS, which was
carved out years ago.
Special treatment of CPS in the new funding formula that no other
district receives. This special treatment is tied to the district’s
legacy pension debt.
Special subsidies for districts in property tax-capped jurisdictions
and economic development zones that have disproportionately
benefited CPS for years.
Rather than embracing changes that would have brought greater
fairness and equity to the school’s funding formula, senators voting
to override the governor’s amendatory veto chose to continue a long
history of state bailouts for CPS.
Whether the House will do the same remains to be seen.
Senators voting in favor of the override (38): Aquino, Bennett,
Bertino-Tarrant, Biss, Bush, Castro, Clayborne, Collins, J.
Cullerton, T. Cullerton, Cunningham, Haine, Harmon, Harris,
Hastings, Holmes, Hunter, Hutchinson, Jones, Koehler, Landek,
Lightford, Link, Manar, Martinez, McCann, McGuire, Morrison, Mulroe,
Muñoz, Murphy, Raoul, Sandoval, Silverstein, Stadelman, Steans,
Trotter, Van Pelt.
Senators voting against the override (19): Althoff, Anderson,
Barickman, Bivins, Brady, Connelly, Curran, Fowler, McCarter,
McConchie, Nybo, Oberweis, Rezin, Righter, Rooney, Rose, Schimpf,
Syverson, Weaver.
Senators not voting (2): McConnaughay, Tracy.
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