Observations and comments about state
government by State Representative Robert W. Pritchard.
District Office 815-748-3494 or E-Mail to
bob@pritchardstaterep.com
September
1, 2017
In
This Issue:
·
Historic
School Funding Reform Becomes Law
·
Accountability
Plan Also Approved
·
Illinois
Offers Support for Hurricane Harvey Relief
·
Report
Shows Advantage of Attending Illinois Schools
·
Governor
Signs Act to Improve Safety
·
The
Cost of Corruption
·
IDOT
Recycling Efforts Making Impact
·
Budget
Impasse Has Lasting Effects on NIU
·
More
Bills Signed into Law
·
Activities
of Legislators
Historic School
Funding Reform Becomes Law
When
Illinois celebrated its 100th birthday as a state, officials cut the
ribbon for a new state office building near the Capitol called the Centennial
Building. The gift prepared by the cash-strapped
legislature for our 200th celebration next year just might be the
historic new school funding legislation signed into law this week.
While
voices opposed to parts of the compromised legislation can be loud, we must not
overlook the bigger picture of moving our state toward paying a “majority”
share for the cost of education, offering property tax relief, and lifting the
underfunded districts up to the adequate level needed to help their students
get a quality education. With the law
taking effect, schools will now get access to appropriations in the budget and
avoid a funding crisis that would have caused some schools to be unable to pay
staff next month.
The
road to passage and signing of SB1947 into law began four years ago. At first the attempt to improve adequacy and
equity in funding education did not add new state money but rather just moved
money around from a well-funded district to one that lacked basic
resources.
The
Governor appointed a task force three years ago that fundamentally changed the
discussion and proposed an evidence based model of best practices in programs
and staffing. The resulting law calculates
the cost of educating the students unique to each district and then adding as
much as $7 billion in new state funding to achieve that level of adequacy over
the next dozen or so years.
The
compromise needed to pass the legislation includes the state paying for Chicago
Public School employee pensions much like it does for all other districts and
reforms sought by school administrators and downstate legislators. There are several ways for property tax
payers to see relief, a streamlined school waiver process for responding to
state mandates, and a tax credit for donations to a scholarship fund that will
allow low-income students to attend private schools if the public school they attend
does not meet their educational needs.
Accountability Plan
Also Approved
The State Superintendent of Schools announced
Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Education has approved Illinois’ plan to
implement the federal Every Student Succeeds Act. The plan gathers, examines and responds to
multiple indicators of school quality and student growth.
The
long-term goals of the Illinois plan are for all students to attain by 2032: 90
percent or more of third-grade students are reading at or above grade level; 90
percent or more of fifth-grade students meet or exceed expectations in
mathematics; 90 percent or more of ninth-grade students are on track to
graduate; and 90 percent or more of students graduate from high school ready
for college and career. The Illinois
plan can be found here.
Illinois Offers
Support for Hurricane Harvey Relief
Governor
Rauner has mobilized the Illinois Emergency Management Agency (IEMA) to help
aid the relief efforts for the areas affected by Hurricane Harvey. IEMA will coordinate the Illinois’ response
with the efforts of Louisiana and Texas.
In addition, the Illinois Red Cross has contributed resources to the
areas hit the hardest by the storm and ComEd has deployed electrical repair
teams to support infrastructure recovery.
Our
area certainly knows the importance of outside support following a natural
disaster and it is heartwarming to see so many individuals offer financial help
for the recovery through their favorite charities.
Report Shows
Advantage of Attending Illinois Schools
With
so many high school students considering attending college in another state, they
may find a recent report from the Illinois Board of Higher Education startling. The report compares student success in a
number of areas and demonstrates that Illinois community colleges and public
universities produce among the best outcomes.
According
to the report, Illinois public universities produce more degrees relative to the
number of students enrolled than their peers and perform substantially better
than the national average. Illinois is
also among the national leaders in the rate of bachelor’s degree completion
among transfer students from community colleges.
Illinois
public universities are among the national leaders in completion rates for
adult learners as well. You can find the
full IBHE newsletter here,
and the full graphics on the graduation comparison rates here.
Governor Signs Act
to Improve Safety
Many
people seem to be confused about a bill recently signed by Governor Rauner called
the “Trust Act” or Senate Bill 31. According
to law enforcement officials who negotiated the bill, it is intended to make
everyone in a community—including immigrants—feel comfortable calling on first
responders in an emergency, to report a crime or give eye-witness information
about a crime.
According
to one sheriff, the role of local law enforcement is to protect and to serve,
not scare and harass. The bill does not
offer any legal protection to illegal aliens or prevent local officers from
cooperating with federal immigration officials or executing court orders.
The
governor made clear the bill does not create a sanctuary state but rather
allows police to focus on crime and violence reduction.
The Cost of
Corruption
Few
will deny that Illinois has a reputation for corruption in state and local
politics but there is no agreement about its apparent or hidden costs. The latest issue of Tax Facts
provided
by the Taxpayer’s Federation of Illinois seeks to quantify those costs that can
be identified and discuss the hidden costs of corruption which the author
characterizes as much greater.
Author
Jim Nowlan begins by defining corruption as “personal gain at public expense.” He notes that reports of corruption occurred
even before Illinois became a state and hundreds of convictions have occurred
since then including judges and four governors.
The
newsletter discusses the costs of agencies, boards and attorneys created to
deter and prosecute corruption which exceed $500 million. The hidden costs include difficulty in
attracting businesses and new residents to the state, the cost of delays in
receiving permits and licenses, difficulty in attracting job applicants and
vendors, and, of course, voter cynicism.
The
report concludes that Illinois appears more corrupt because it has adopted a
“culture of accepting corruption.” According to the author, citizens can affect
the amount of corruption through several actions: 1) watch out for it, 2)
investigate and prosecute it, 3) pass tough punishment for violators, and 4)
change the culture in which it breeds.
IDOT’s Recycling
Efforts Making Impact
The
Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) has made significant strides over
the past few years to reduce its carbon footprint and achieve cost savings
through the use of recycled materials. A
recent Illinois Highway Sustainability Materials report documents the use of recycled
materials to supplement aggregates, concrete, hot-mix asphalt, steel, and sealants
as well as for soil modification and pavement markings.
The
report noted that nearly 1.8 million tons of recycled materials were used in
building Illinois highways in 2016 which is an 11 percent improvement compared
with 2015 and a fourfold increase over the amount of recycled materials used in
2009 construction projects.
The
amount of recycled materials used is largely dependent on the funding
availability as well as the project type.
IDOT’s recycling efforts have reduced carbon dioxide emissions by 46
percent or 166,195 tons in 2016.
Budget Impasse
Has Lasting Effects on NIU
Northern
Illinois University’s (NIU) Interim President Lisa Freeman recently shared the
challenges facing the institution following two years without a state budget
and plans for rebuilding confidence and stability. Speaking at a DeKalb Area Chamber of Commerce
function recently, Freeman said the lack of state funding and the uncertainty
about funding the state’s Monetary Award Program (MAP) for students contributed
to the decline in student enrollment over recent years and difficulty in hiring
faculty and staff.
Freeman
said support for students is the top priority and noted several strategies to
help raise enrollment rates. Among her
plans are a focus on increasing scholarship funding, aggressive marketing
strategies to attract more students to NIU, reorganization of some student
services and engaging alumni to help share the value of an NIU experience.
These
efforts and the fact the legislature passed a budget are already having
positive effects according to the Interim President. Fall enrollment numbers that will be released
soon are expected to show a stop in the decline of enrollment. Staff morale is also improving. Freeman said it will take years for the
University to fully recover, and the institution must prioritize resources for
the future should any other fiscal uncertainties arise.
More Bills Signed
Into Law
The
Governor continues to review legislation passed this spring and sign many of
them into law. Here are a few you should
know:
HB3110 increase
the notice requirements for social services contracts. The bill provides that any contract between a
State agency and an authorized service provider may be terminated, suspended,
or reduced by either party to the contract upon 30 days prior written notice. Moving
forward, service providers will have greater
notification if State agencies do not have funds or plan to reduce, terminate
or suspend contracts.
HB3139 will
require every school district, charter school,
alternative school and school receiving public funds to collect and review its student
chronic absentee data. These schools
must also determine what systems of support and resources are needed to engage all
students in daily attendance and learning.
While schools in my legislative district already do this, unfortunately
not all districts focus on absenteeism.
SB204
creates the Thriving Youth Fund. This
initiative is designed to provide an additional funding source to programs the
Department of Human Services currently administers, such as TeenREACH, Redeploy
Illinois, Homeless Youth, and Comprehensive Community-Based Youth Services.
Activities of
Legislators
Now
that many major state issues have been addressed, the General Assembly has not
scheduled any meetings. Legislators can
continue their regular activities like community events, parades and meetings
with constituents. A group of us recent
met with the Fox Valley Chapter of Credit Unions to discuss legislative issues
and learn about their efforts to help customers.
Have a great weekend;
and call my district office if we may be of assistance. I’ll look for you at the Maple Park Festival
and Sandwich Fair!
-Bob
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