Post by title1parent on Aug 5, 2010 5:42:37 GMT -5
www.dailyherald.com/story/?id=398585&src=
A U-46 inequity remains an inequity
Daily Herald Editorial Board 8/5/2010
Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn has been on a tear lately, vetoing legislation and rewriting it to suit his purposes.
That typically is a governor's prerogative. Sometimes the revisions and rejections are for the best, but last week, it seemed, Quinn's purposes were perhaps too political.
Quinn took a bill approved by his own party's Democratic majorities in both the Illinois House and Senate that had been sitting on his desk since late May and vetoed it. And that veto will cost 41,000 students, parents, faculty and staff in Elgin Area School District U-46 about $22 million in the 2010-2011 school year.
School officials say the district is designated a Kane County district, but most of its taxable property has been in Cook County since 2004. The legislation Quinn rejected sought to require state officials to fix a calculation that shortchanges U-46 when the Cook County tax rate is set, usually later than the other counties that are home to U-46 schools.
Correcting what those officials and Democratic legislators who represent the district believed was an inequity would have resulted in a boost in state aid to the school. The state education board recognized the problem when it gave U-46 a $7.1 million "administrative fix" this year.
Still, U-46, the state's second-largest school district, is missing $30 million in state aid payments already and will start the school year with a more than $40 million deficit.
Democratic state Sen. Michael Noland of Elgin introduced the bill that corrected the problem. He and state Rep. Keith Farnham, also an Elgin Democrat, worked through opposition from other school districts to eventually see the plan pass the 59-member Senate with 40 votes and the 118-member House with an overwhelming 113 votes.
Democrats and Republicans voted for the legislation. Chicago Democrats who represent the Chicago Public School system, the state's largest district, voted for the proposal.
None of that persuaded Quinn. "I cannot approve a measure that would boost state aid to one district at the expense of others," Quinn wrote in a statement that accompanied his veto.
Farnham vowed to try to override the governor's rejection. "I understand that all schools need more money, but our community has been unfairly losing out," he said.
If this proposal was so unfair to other districts, then why did so many legislators from all over the state vote for it so overwhelmingly? Why did Chicago legislators vote for it?
Either the district is predominantly in Cook or it is not. Either it's been shortchanged or not.
Something smells too political here. Noland noted, "Who, running for governor, would want to alienate 80 percent of the rest of the state...?"
Not Pat Quinn. Not just before an election.
A U-46 inequity remains an inequity
Daily Herald Editorial Board 8/5/2010
Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn has been on a tear lately, vetoing legislation and rewriting it to suit his purposes.
That typically is a governor's prerogative. Sometimes the revisions and rejections are for the best, but last week, it seemed, Quinn's purposes were perhaps too political.
Quinn took a bill approved by his own party's Democratic majorities in both the Illinois House and Senate that had been sitting on his desk since late May and vetoed it. And that veto will cost 41,000 students, parents, faculty and staff in Elgin Area School District U-46 about $22 million in the 2010-2011 school year.
School officials say the district is designated a Kane County district, but most of its taxable property has been in Cook County since 2004. The legislation Quinn rejected sought to require state officials to fix a calculation that shortchanges U-46 when the Cook County tax rate is set, usually later than the other counties that are home to U-46 schools.
Correcting what those officials and Democratic legislators who represent the district believed was an inequity would have resulted in a boost in state aid to the school. The state education board recognized the problem when it gave U-46 a $7.1 million "administrative fix" this year.
Still, U-46, the state's second-largest school district, is missing $30 million in state aid payments already and will start the school year with a more than $40 million deficit.
Democratic state Sen. Michael Noland of Elgin introduced the bill that corrected the problem. He and state Rep. Keith Farnham, also an Elgin Democrat, worked through opposition from other school districts to eventually see the plan pass the 59-member Senate with 40 votes and the 118-member House with an overwhelming 113 votes.
Democrats and Republicans voted for the legislation. Chicago Democrats who represent the Chicago Public School system, the state's largest district, voted for the proposal.
None of that persuaded Quinn. "I cannot approve a measure that would boost state aid to one district at the expense of others," Quinn wrote in a statement that accompanied his veto.
Farnham vowed to try to override the governor's rejection. "I understand that all schools need more money, but our community has been unfairly losing out," he said.
If this proposal was so unfair to other districts, then why did so many legislators from all over the state vote for it so overwhelmingly? Why did Chicago legislators vote for it?
Either the district is predominantly in Cook or it is not. Either it's been shortchanged or not.
Something smells too political here. Noland noted, "Who, running for governor, would want to alienate 80 percent of the rest of the state...?"
Not Pat Quinn. Not just before an election.