Editorial Roundup: Illinois
Chicago Tribune. May 14, 2021.
Editorial: Editorial: Strengthen, rather than gut, a compromise that benefits all schoolchildren
Four years ago, Illinois lawmakers facing chronic complaints about inadequate funding for public schools negotiated a smart and reasonable bargain. Gov. J.B. Pritzker now wants to undercut a crucial part of that deal - a scholarship program that instead ought to be expanded. Legislators, don't renege on your 2017 agreement that benefits schoolchildren statewide.
Politicians and public officials who live and breathe education policy recognize from that paragraph we're writing in support of a popular state program for kids from low-income families. Today, though, we want to involve everyone in the discussion of why those children's scholarships are so important to their futures. So let's revisit why the bargain negotiated four years ago was a good deal for some 2 million students in public and private schools.
For years, public school administrators and teachers union leaders had demanded more state tax dollars for their public schools. At the same time, parochial and other private schools couldn't help, to the extent they wanted, many thousands of poor and working-class families. Those parents had decided private schools would better serve their children but couldn't afford the tuition in addition to their tax dollars that fund public schools. Unfortunately, Illinois hasn't joined in the robust expansion nationwide of school choice programs that let public money follow each student to his or her school of choice.
Democrats and Republicans reached a compromise: Lawmakers would increase tax dollars to public schools, not just for one year, but reliably into the future. They also added Illinois to the roster of states - now about 20 in number - that give a tax credit to donors who contribute to scholarships for kids from low- and middle-income families who want to attend private schools. The Invest in Kids program gives the donors a 75-cents-on-the-dollar tax credit for their contributions to the scholarship funds.
Teachers unions routinely try to kill any program that enhances school choice. The unions don't like competition, even though many public educators - and politicians - send their own children to private schools.
Pritzker, as a candidate for governor in 2018, toed the teachers unions' line and said Illinois should kill Invest in Kids. He was unmoved when members of our editorial board mentioned to him in a 2018 meeting that Invest in Kids merely gives low-income families the same choice of schools that his family and other families with school choice enjoy.
Early this year, Pritzker proposed a budget provision that would slash the program's tax credit to 40 cents on the dollar. Weirdly, he labeled these scholarships for poor children one of several 'œcorporate loopholes'ť he wants to limit.
We never had heard anyone call help for low-income children a corporate tax loophole. But Pritzker did. Naturally, the teachers union bosses smiled. Hey, Pritzker wasn't part of the 2017 statehouse deal. Why should he bother living up to it?
But two chambers of legislators were parties to that bipartisan agreement. And since 2018, donors have contributed a total of $182 million for scholarships. As a result, in this school year, some 7,600 Illinois children from poor and working-class households are receiving scholarships - typically $6,300 or so - to attend any of 640 eligible schools statewide. Many recipients are minority children who live in severely disadvantaged parts of Chicago, its inner suburbs and communities statewide.
These statistics come from Empower Illinois, the largest of several scholarship granting organizations created statewide to manage Invest for Kids. For the school year now ending, Empower Illinois itself is able to assist 5,505 children - out of 32,604 whose families applied. And with the application period still open for the 2021-22 academic year, families of more than 27,000 students are in the process of applying for scholarships.
In this third academic year of scholarships, the children, their parents and their communities have some sense of stability. But apart from Pritzker's current threat to slash the tax credit, Invest for Kids is scheduled to sunset in December 2022.
The obvious risk is that if lawmakers let that happen, thousands of children may well have to quit their current schools and return to public schools, upending their academic and social comfort zones.
Imagine, then, the effects on those financially stressed public schools if they have to absorb additional thousands of students. Not to mention the impact of lost enrollment on private schools that educate their students at virtually no cost to property taxpayers.
The program's vulnerability to the whims of lawmakers worries the parents of these students. That uncertain future also has depressed the amounts donors contribute. Rather than debating whether to gut Invest for Kids, lawmakers should be making the scholarships - and the tax credit that enables them - permanent under Illinois law.
That should be politically popular: A recent poll by ARW Strategies puts statewide support for the program at 61%, a 7-point jump from a similar poll in October. Surveyors found especially strong backing from Black voters (71%), Latino voters (81%) and Democrats (67%). An expanded program also could catalyze new kinds of schools in Illinois; one possibility is the creation of high schools that would prepare low-income students to pursue careers in skilled trades.
The urgent question as legislators approach budget votes this month is whether Pritzker, who says he wants Springfield to give public schools the higher aid promised to them in 2017, really does want to undercut the thousands of scholarship students who attend private schools.
Those students only want the best education they can achieve. Many of them are getting it, thanks to the bargain lawmakers reached four years ago. Now is the time to strengthen Illinois' scholarship program, not gut it.
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Champaign News-Gazette. May 16, 2021.
Editorial: Illinois needs flexibility; feds offer handcuffs
A federal rule could complicate
Illinois' debt issues.
With the General Assembly scheduled to adjourn at the end of the month, it's time to put the finishing touches on the 2021-22 state budget that takes effect on July 1.
Unfortunately, federal officials have thrown a monkey wrench into the budget gears by announcing that none of the $7.5 billion in federal bailout money is to be used to pay down Illinois' substantial debts.
Given that Gov. J.B. Pritzker had made it clear that paying down debt is one of his priorities, there's a potentially big problem.
Pritzker has made it clear that a portion of the $7.5 billion in bailout money will go to pay back the remaining balance ($2.4 billion) of a $3.2 billion loan from a Federal Reserve fund established to assist states in dire financial straits.
Illinois, which was the only state to tap the fund, rightfully wants to get the debt - and the costs that go with it - off its books.
So state officials received with considerable dismay a U.S. Treasury Department announcement that the bailout money is to be used 'œto help meet pandemic response needs and provide relief for households and businesses facing near- and long-term negative economic impacts.'ť
The Treasury emphasized that approved uses 'œwould not include the payment of interest or principal on outstanding debt.'ť
Money is, of course, fungible. So it's not beyond the means of state budgeteers and legislators to devote the bailout money to one approved purpose while redirecting state revenues intended to support various programs to debt payments.
But budget gamesmanship is not without risk.
That's why Pritzker and others are pushing members of this state's congressional delegation, principally, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, to see if he can get the tentative rules changed.
There has been considerable discussion about what to do with the bailout money.
Comptroller Susana Mendoza has been adamant that the money should go to debt reduction and must not go to establish new programs. It's good advice, and the state should endeavor to follow it. Needless to say, that approach is complicated by the feds' stance.
It's a long-established rule that he who pays the piper calls the tune. But considering the overall health of the state affects the health of the citizenry, the feds' approach is unnecessarily restrictive.
Different states have different priorities. While Illinois needs money to maintain its current level of services, it does not need new spending on new initiatives. Further, the federal and state governments already have received billions of dollars in coronavirus relief money
Surely in the midst of the ongoing federal appropriations, there is - and ought to be - room for allowing states in desperate financial shape the flexibility to do what they think is best - within limits, of course - with federal aid.
Arguments like that would be better received if state legislators didn't continue to spend money as if there was no tomorrow. Some of them, in fact, may be privately celebrating the treasury department's announcement. But the current approach cannot endure.
The state's budget situation is not as bad today as it was a couple of months ago thanks to unexpected, multibillion-dollar increases in tax revenue. But hard times persist, and easing the debt burden must remain a top priority.
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Moline Dispatch. May 16, 2021.
Editorial: More discussion, less provocation
Over the past couple weeks, there has been a lot of controversy over Rock Island Alderman Dylan Parker's comments in the aftermath of the decision by the Rock Island County State's Attorney's office to clear police in the fatal shooting of DeShawn Tatum on April 1.
Parker called for a review of foot pursuits, for the sake of police and those who are being pursued. But he punctuated that call by referring to police as 'œagents of state violence.'ť
The Illinois Fraternal Order of Police objected to the phrase, calling on Parker to apologize. He didn't. Instead, Parker issued a rather lengthy explanation for his original call, but didn't back down from the language he used.
Frankly, we think the use of phrase 'œagents of state violence'ť was needlessly provocative. If Parker, who represents the 5th Ward, wanted to start a discussion about the wisdom of foot pursuits and the possibility of limiting their use in some instances, then this was the wrong way to go about it.
Unfortunately, what has transpired since then looks like a standoff of sorts. At last Monday's council meeting, dozens of members of the city's police force showed up, in uniform, and stood at the back of the council chambers. Parker was not at the council meeting, but their silent protest was unmistakable.
The officers' presence at the council meeting, and their right to stand up for themselves, cannot be disputed. But many in the community saw this as an attempt at intimidation. And the divide over Parker's comments, not to mention policing in general, was on full display in the comments from people who spoke to the council.
One person called Parker's comments 'œanti-police.'ť Another called on him to resign. Still another person said that it was Parker who was on the right track, and that it is right to challenge the status quo. This person characterized Parker's remarks a 'œmild statement.'ť
Our view is that this is the time for dialogue, not provocative rhetoric or demonstrations.
That may seem obvious, and it only goes so far. But right now what we are seeing is confrontation, which to us seems even less likely to yield solutions.
It did not escape our attention that, just as these events were happening in Rock Island, law enforcement agencies across the river, in Scott County, were formalizing an agreement with the Davenport NAACP and Davenport LULAC Council 10 to enhance relationships between law enforcement and the community.
The partnership will include the Davenport and Bettendorf police departments and the Scott County Sheriff's office. It is called the Iowa Quad Cities Law Enforcement Community Partnership.
The groups have been talking since the killing of George Floyd last year in Minneapolis by Police Officer Derek Chauvin, who was convicted by a jury last month. Their announcement Tuesday was a formalization of their efforts.
'œOur communications aren't focusing on one policing agency in one community. We're focusing on our region, our Scott County, Quad-Cities, region, and it's an ongoing, consistent conversation,'ť Davenport Police Chief Paul Sikorski said during the press conference.
Make no mistake, there has been dialogue in Rock Island County, too, though the efforts undertaken last year seem to have foundered.
But dialogue is what is needed right now. Rather than let the bitterness created by this incident simmer, Rock Island officials should use it as an opportunity to try to resolve, or at least explore and explain, the obvious differences that exist.
Former mayoral hopeful Thurgood Brooks said it is time to 'œcreate a forum for the difficult conversations we need to have.'ť
We agree with that sentiment.
Brooks was critical of Mayor Mike Thoms for not stepping up to do that. We do not want to foment further division, we would simply say the idea of an honest, respectful community discussion is one that is desperately needed. And it requires leadership to make it happen.
This incident reveals the tensions that undoubtedly exist in the community, and not just between the city's police department and one of its aldermen. Those divisions must be confronted. Not with provocation, but with reason, respect, understanding and continued dialogue.
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