Suburban day cares, court reporters hold out hope for Rauner's plan
Low-income families that use suburban day care providers hope to find out Wednesday whether there will be state funds to rescue the program that helps them pay for it.
And court officials want to know on Wednesday, when Gov. Bruce Rauner gives his first budget proposal, whether they'll be able to keep suburban trial courts operating after state funds run out at the end of March.
It's unclear whether either will find out.
Rauner is set to publicly unveil his plans for the state's finances after mostly avoiding specifics during his campaign and first month in office.
In his speech he is supposed to lay out a proposal for the 2015-16 budget year that doesn't start until July. But some state programs are at the end of their funding for the budget year that doesn't end until June 30, so some hope Rauner will offer immediate relief.
Owners of Kiddie Junction, a day care center in Des Plaines, are waiting for Rauner to make a move in his speech. If he doesn't, they say they'll have to start charging low-income parents full price because money for state subsidies ran out at the beginning of February.
“I have parents at the door every day,” Kiddie Junction staff member Lisa Szplit said. “I've got parents that pay $25 a week now who can't afford the full price.”
The full rate is $250 to $400.
“We have several day care providers in our district, including park districts that offer day care, and they're concerned about the funding,” said state Rep. Fred Crespo.
During a visit to Elmhurst Friday, Rauner did not give details on how he would fix day care funding.
“This is an important issue,” he said. “We need to fund day care support for our low-income families. I support that. The problem that we have today in Illinois is dishonest budgeting, fundamentally overspending beyond our means — spending beyond our resources.”
Meanwhile, a suburban chief judge said “havoc” looms if money for Illinois court reporters runs out early, as is projected to happen by March 31.
The program needs about $14.3 million to pay about 550 court reporters to document trials and other court proceedings through June 30.
“Anybody around courtrooms knows there are mandates that legislation has established where you have to have a court reporter in the room,” Illinois Court Reporters Association attorney Dwight O'Keefe said.
All told, the state budget in place now faces a $1.5 billion deficit. Then comes the challenge of stretching funds to last all of the next budget year.
Republicans think Rauner is up to the task.
“Everybody knows it's not going to be a budget we would like to see, but it will be a budget we need,” said state Sen. Chris Nybo, an Elmhurst Republican.
Crespo says lawmakers knew about the shortfall in this year's budget and decided to leave it in Rauner's hands.
“As a courtesy to the governor it was decided we would wait until he took office to see how he would deal with it,” he said.