Metro East Sun

Rep. Charlie Meier (R-Highland) is urging the General Assembly to send Senate Bill 1 to Gov. Bruce Rauner so that schools will have funding in place before the start of the school year, according to a press release. 

Rauner has vowed to issue an amendatory veto of the bill, stripping it of funds allocated to pay for Chicago Public Schools' (CPS) massive pension debt. Instead, that money would go to schools throughout the state.

“SB 1 in its current form is nothing more than a bailout for Chicago schools at the expense of schools in our region,” Meier said in the statement. “I support the Governor’s plan to fix SB 1 because his plan will provide more funding for downstate schools and it will not bailout Chicago. Governor Rauner’s fix for SB 1 will provide $3.6 million for schools in my district.”

As of Tuesday, it remained unclear whether Rauner would see SB1 in its current form. The governor called another special session beginning on Wednesday to address public school funding.

Rauner agrees with the evidence-based formula contained in SB1, but he believes it currently heavily favors CPS.

“I stand in strong support of the Governor’s plan to fix SB 1,” Meier said in the statement. “I urge the Senate to send their education funding bill to the Governor’s desk immediately in order for the Governor to fix the bill in time for our schools to receive the funding they need to open as scheduled in August.”