School’s Out Till….When? Bruce Rauner’s Policies Squeezing Schools Dry

Rauner’s Continuation Of An “Unnecessary” Crisis May Force Schools To Cut Or Close In Fall

This afternoon, Bruce Rauner’s “historic” speech full of empty rhetoric to an empty room gives way to the cold realities of Rauner’s “unnecessary” crisis. For 720 days, Bruce Rauner has prevented the passage of a budget, leading to unprecedented damage to the state’s economy that could take years to repair.
Governor Rauner touts himself as an education-minded Governor, but Illinois schools are owed $1 billion dollars thanks to his self-imposed budget stalemate, and by offering nothing new in his speech last night the reality could only get worse. This week across the state parents are opening up the newspaper to find their schools districts warning of cuts to and closures of their neighborhood schools.
Northwest Herald: “McHenry County school districts ponder cutoff of state funding without Illinois budget deal”
Daily Herald: “U-46 officials say schools may close without state budget”
Belleville News-Democrat: “How long can Belleville schools operate without state budget solution?”
Daily Herald: “Suburban schools say cuts, closings loom without state budget by July 1”
Chicago Tribune: “Illinois’ bill backlog has state more than $1 billion behind in payments to schools”
Bruce Rauner’s administration infamously stated that the new bipartisan school funding formula bill was not good enough even though it delivered 90% of what the Governor wanted.   Translated, Rauner’s willing to sacrifice our children’s future for political gain. How can Illinois families feel secure about their schools’ future with those demands?
“Under Bruce Rauner, Illinois schools are on the cusp of fiscal failure,” said DGA Illinois Communications Director Sam Salustro, “and Governor Rauner is still more focused on scoring political points than solving the crisis he created. Illinois families deserve an education system that does not careen from one budget problem to another. Governor Rauner failing the children of Illinois.” 

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