By Greg Bishop/Illinois Radio Network
SPRINGFIELD – Wednesday’s House session was canceled late Tuesday and the leading House Republican says Tuesday’s leaders’ meeting on school funding reform was productive, but more talks are expected.
State Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, considers the canceled vote good news.
PODCAST: Listen to Patti’s interview with State Rep. Dan Brady on WJBC.
“I’m going to take that as a positive sign that the negotiations continue and not a sign that (House Speaker Michael Madigan) didn’t simply lack the votes to override the governor,” Brady said.
After meeting for several hours inside Speaker Michael Madigan’s Springfield office, House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, said there was progress.
“We went through a lot of issues,” Durkin said, “down to the minutia, and to me that is positive. It shows that there is a willingness to bring this to a negotiated settlement.”
Durkin wouldn’t divulge the details being negotiated. However, he said Republicans are unified in opposing an override of the governor’s changes to Senate Bill 1, including removing additional funding that Rauner says is a bailout of Chicago Public Schools pension system by suburban and downstate taxpayers. The House was scheduled to be in session Wednesday, but late Tuesday Madigan’s office said session has been canceled.
“Just know that our members are committed towards bringing this to a resolution, one that reflects the priorities of our party as well as respecting the priorities of the Democratic party,” Durkin said.
State Rep. Peter Breen, R-Lombard, said the Democrats’ plan to bailout for Chicago Public School pensions isn’t reasonable.
“The Democrat education funding plan,” Breen said, “is the greatest theft of taxpayer resources since the deliberate underfunding of our state’s pension plan. There is nothing reasonable about it.”
Breen said the Democrats’ plan would be a multi-decade, multi-billion dollar problem if passed as-is.
The governor’s changes would remove the extra funding for Chicago and instead spread that throughout the rest of the state’s school districts.
The Senate overrode the governor’s veto earlier this month.
Madigan last week said the House has until Aug. 29 to act on an override. If that doesn’t work, then they can take up another bill the Senate passed earlier this month with the same language as the Democrats’ original attempt.
