Much of the Illinois Statehouse appeared to be girding
itself for battle with Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson before his Springfield
visit last week.
After dramatically announcing to Chicago reporters
earlier in the week that the city’s families are “owed” $1 billion from state
government, particularly education, Gov. JB Pritzker sent two distinct messages
to the building.
First, Pritzker notified state agency directors to start
preparing for $800 million in budget reductions next fiscal year because of
lack of legislative support for the governor’s revenue proposals. The directors
were told to focus on “grant programs and other discretionary spending that has
increased in recent years.”
Then, the governor’s office issued an extensive
background memo laying out how much more money Chicago’s school system has
received from the state, including a $265 million increase in its annual
General Revenue Fund outlays since Fiscal Year 2019, which worked out to a
$1,542-per-student hike, or a 30% increase. The annual Early Childhood Block
Grant appropriation was increased by $66.4 million in the same time period.
Plus, more money for teacher pensions and enough money from the state’s
evidence-based funding formula to where Chicago Public Schools is now funded
better than more than 400 Illinois schools and has moved out of the critically
underfunded Tier One level to Tier Two.
And then, the Senate Executive Committee – tightly
controlled by Senate President Don Harmon – unanimously approved Harmon’s bill
opposed by Mayor Johnson to protect selective enrollment schools from closure,
entrance admissions changes and disproportionate budget cuts until a fully
elected school board is seated. The measure was scheduled for a hearing before
Johnson made known that he was coming to Springfield. But instead of delaying
passage out of deference to Johnson, it was put on the agreed bill list, which
was quickly zoomed to the floor without debate, where it may be amended.
Perhaps sensing the headwinds, Johnson’s lobbying crew
belatedly distributed a one-page memo to legislators containing far more modest
budget requests than Johnson had previewed to city reporters, and nothing about
direct public school funding.
The mayor’s office asked for a little more money from the
Local Government Distributive Fund, some lead service line replacement debt
forgiveness and more money for lead removal from licensed daycare centers, a
change in state law to allow the city to collect more for its 911 services, and
money to replace what ultimately turned out to be a federal budget cut for
domestic violence hotline funding.
As a result, the mayor did not bring up the $1 billion
“owed” for schools during meetings with any of the leaders, I’m told. Instead,
he focused on that one-pager, which was used during the discussion.
The governor’s office starts putting the budget together
in the fall, and they work through February to craft it. That’s the best time
period to make initial budget requests. A mayoral visit to Springfield in
May should be for a victory lap, or to shore up last-minute support for the
budget.
Johnson was asked by a reporter if maybe he should be in
town more often or make his budget requests earlier in the process. “Well,
look, we’re at the right time,” Johnson said. “As you all know, you all have
been covering Springfield for a very long time, you know when stuff gets done.
So we’re down at the right time.”
Um, now is when things are finalized. The governor,
advocacy groups and legislators have been pushing their own budgetary
priorities for weeks, even months. Coming to town with two weeks left can mean
settling for leftovers, and if the budget is as tight as the governor says,
there may not be any leftovers.
Meanwhile, the Chicago city council’s Black Caucus was in
Springfield the same day for a long-planned lobby day. For whatever reason, the
mayor did not attempt to coordinate with the caucus after he belatedly announced
his Statehouse trip. That seems odd.
The mayor also held a Springfield press conference. Asked
about education funding, the mayor said he wanted to push for that $1 billion
over time. When asked whether his proposals would “jump the line” ahead of
other school districts, Johnson said, “This is not a zero-sum game. There’s
more than enough for everyone.”
Except there’s not, which is what the mayor’s top allies
at the Chicago Teachers Union will be told when they visit Springfield en masse
for their own lobby day to demand that billion dollars the mayor didn’t bring
up.
This article appears in Turmoil at senior housing complex.
