Gov. Pat Quinn has disappointed progressives by entirely dropping his emphasis on the need for fundamental tax reform, instead calling for a small 1 percent increase in the state's low income tax rate. Talking in front of the Illinois Bureau of Farmers, he added another caveat to his preferred plan: Quinn wants the legislature to pass a bill requiring schools to reduce property tax bills before they could receive additional state support via any income tax increase. Ralph Martire of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability thinks this new plan "misses the point." From an email:

Education funding in Illinois is below the level needed to provide an adequate quality education as defined by the nonpartisan Education Funding Advisory Board. Not only that, but the state’s poverty grant is insufficient to fund the programs needed to overcome the education problems caused by poverty, and state and federal funding of special education is woefully inadequate to cover the huge unfunded mandate foisted on local schools to meet the needs of their special ed students. And this is by no means a comprehensive list of the woeful state of education funding here in Illinois. So even if the state puts a little more money into schools as Quinn proposes, it will come nowhere near the level needed to obviate any portion of the property tax revenue schools currently rely upon.

This spring, the Education Funding Advisory Board recommended that districts bump up the per pupil foundation-level spending by $2,000 a year. HB 174, on the other hand, would bring in $6 billion annually to pay for high-quality education (among many other obligations) while doubling the state's property tax credit for homeowners.