A+ Illinois calls on gubernatorial candidates to focus on issues, not “no tax” pledges - Metropolitan Planning Council

Skip to main content

A+ Illinois calls on gubernatorial candidates to focus on issues, not “no tax” pledges

With Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s candidacy announcement this past weekend, the 2006 gubernatorial campaign is officially in full swing. In response, A+ Illinois today issued a call for each of the candidates for governor of Illinois to remain focused on the important issues in this campaign – including how they intend to improve education, health care, and the state’s fiscal health – instead of making indefensible “no-tax” pledges.

( Chicago )… With Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s candidacy announcement this past weekend, the 2006 gubernatorial campaign is officially in full swing. In response, A+ Illinois today issued a call for each of the candidates for governor of Illinois to remain focused on the important issues in this campaign – including how they intend to improve education, health care, and the state’s fiscal health – instead of making indefensible “no-tax” pledges.

“We need leaders who will address the needs of Illinois children, families and communities, particularly our broken school-funding system that denies far too many of our children a chance for a decent education,” said Bindu Batchu, A+ Illinois campaign manager. “At this point, a no tax pledge is irresponsible, cutting off the public’s right to a full discussion on this issue, and prematurely tying the hands of Illinois ’ future governor on ways to solve the most pressing challenges facing our state.”

Illinois is a national poster child for an inadequate and inequitable school-funding system, confirmed by several recent national reports. Education Week 's "Quality Counts 2006" report gave Illinois a dismal D+ for equity in school funding. Meanwhile, the Education Trust's "Funding Gap 2005" report named Illinois among the worst perpetrators of inequitable spending, with the nation’s second largest per-student funding gap between high-poverty and low-poverty school districts. The state continues to under-invest in education, falling over $1,200 short per pupil of providing the bare essentials necessary for a quality education, according to the Education Funding Advisory Board, appointed by the governor to recommend the per-pupil foundation level guaranteed by the state.

As the state continues to underfund its share of school funding, local property taxpayers must bear the burden of funding public schools. The state continues to rank 49th among the 50 states in terms of the state's share of education funding. This arrangement is placing an ever-growing burden on small business owners, seniors on fixed incomes, and thousands of hardworking families across Illinois

who are struggling to afford escalating property taxes.

“ Illinois cannot compete in today’s global economy if we can’t properly educate tomorrow’s workforce,” Batchu said. “School-funding reform based on adequate, sustainable revenue sources and meaningful property tax relief can improve the financial situation of working families and ensure that every school district has the basic resources to invest in programs that help close the student achievement gap.”

In recent years, the governor and General Assembly have relied on a series of unsustainable and one-time revenue sources to close a multi-billion-dollar budget deficit, including diverting payments from teacher and state worker pensions and raiding fund balances from other state programs. The pension deferral is expected to increase the state’s debt by at least $1 billion, requiring future generations to pay more for funding today’s services.

“It’s adding insult to injury to Illinois’ children to pass the bill for today’s services to our future generations while the state fails to guarantee a sound, basic education to every child,” Batchu stated. “Candidates for state office must leave every possible revenue option on the table for discussion in the search for solutions to the puzzle of ensuring a decent education for every child and maintaining strong public services for our children, families and communities.”

In this election year, A+ Illinois urges legislators, the governor and candidates for state office to demonstrate creative, engaged leadership by putting children before politics by committing to fix Illinois' broken school funding system and leaving all options open to address Illinois’ most pressing fiscal problems and policy challenges.

A+ Illinois is a statewide campaign for education quality and funding reform that has more than 100 endorsers, representing a broad range of civic, education, children's advocacy, business, labor, civil rights, faith-based, human services, and community organizations.

Keywords

Education

More posts by Mary Ellen

All posts by Mary Ellen »

MPC on Twitter

Follow us on Twitter »


Stay in the loop!

MPC's Regionalist newsletter keeps you up to date with our work and our upcoming events.?

Subscribe to Regionalist


Most popular news

Browse by date »

This page can be found online at http://archive.metroplanning.org/news/3714

Metropolitan Planning Council 140 S. Dearborn St.
Suite 1400
Chicago, Ill. 60603
312 922 5616 info@metroplanning.org

Sign up for newsletter and alerts »

Shaping a better, bolder, more equitable future for everyone

For more than 85 years, the Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) has partnered with communities, businesses, and governments to unleash the greatness of the Chicago region. We believe that every neighborhood has promise, every community should be heard, and every person can thrive. To tackle the toughest urban planning and development challenges, we create collaborations that change perceptions, conversations—and the status quo. Read more about our work »

Donate »