State Leg.

What's Driving Meeks' Protest

Adam Doster — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 10:14:30 -0700

In her solid recap of the Chicago schools boycott in the Washington Post , Chicago-based reporter Kari Lydersen makes two key insights into what's driving the push for reform. Here's the first:

The nonprofit Education Trust calculates that although the average gap in per-pupil spending across the country between high-income districts and low-income ones was $938 in 2005, the gap was $2,235 in Illinois. Only New York had a larger gap that year.

While the disparity between Chicago districts and its neighboring suburbs is stark -- both economically and spatially -- unequal education funding doesn't just affect city residents; resources aren't distributed equitably to students downstate or in poor suburbs either.

This next point is equally crucial:

A recent analysis by the nonprofit Chicago-based Community Renewal Society found that statewide, lower-income districts have voted for higher property tax rates than wealthier areas, but the resulting funds raised for schools are still inadequate because property values are lower.

Parents, teachers, and neighbors in Illinois' low-income communities aren't dumb. They know the state isn't providing adequate educational resources for their children. These citizens are willing to contribute more of their tax dollars to resolve this problem, too. But along with the dysfunctional Democratic leadership in Springfield, it's resource-rich suburban voters and legislators -- reluctant to reform a fundamentally unfair system because it might ding their pocketbooks a bit -- that are ultimately preventing change.

Thankfully, the governor has agreed to meet with State Sen. James Meeks to discuss the issue. Here's to hoping the meeting will be productive.

House Looks At "Fund Sweeps"

Adam Doster — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:41:47 -0700

As we noted in the Early Bird, the capital bill isn't all legislators will tackle when the House returns to Springfield next week. Representatives are hoping to pass a $300-$400 million “fund sweeps” bill that could help restore some of the $1.4 billion in cuts Gov. Rod Blagojevich made to the state budget this fiscal year.

If approved, where will legislators direct the money? The details are unclear. Hopefully, funding for the state's drug abuse centers will be restored, as will the resources to keep hundreds of employees at a variety of public agencies on the state payroll. The Senate has already passed a $530 million sweeps bill, so if the lawmakers can put their heads together, necessary assistance should be on the way. It's a story we'll be keeping our eye on.

(H/T David Ormsby)

Spilling Ink: Emil Jones' Retirement

Adam Doster — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 09:21:02 -0700

Following the abrupt announcement that Senate President Emil Jones plans to retire at the end of the year, editorial boards and columnists around the state are grappling with the Chicago senator's legacy. The consensus? Jones missed his grand opportunity to bring progressive change to Springfield.

The Tribune remarks that more strident leadership is needed:

Emil Jones never was what his successor desperately needs to be. He has led the Senate in an era of Springfield dysfunction that has misserved and angered citizens by the millions. The damage as measured in problems unsolved, reforms unseized and innocents victimized -- this state can't even pay promptly for the medical care of its poor people -- is incalculable.

Phil Kadner of the Southtown Star wrote that when the chips were down, Jones never delivered on the issue that he ostensibly valued over all others: education funding reform.

When it comes to hypocrisy and double-talk, Jones may be the undisputed champion.

Asked if his endorsement of Blagojevich's gross receipts tax meant that the income tax hike for school funding was dead, Jones smiled and said that bill was in "Hospice Committee."

Very clever. Very funny.

I hope those underprivileged children Jones always talked about appreciated the humor.

Meanwhile, the Sun-Times turns on the sarcasm in response to Jones' effort to have his son succeed him in the Senate.

In this cruel world, we find nothing more heartening than when the mediocre catch a break.

Why can't the D student graduate summa cum laude? Or the tone deaf play Tchaikovsky?

Why must the crippled gazelle fall prey to the tiger?

You can get hung up on how clout in this town can take a nobody from nowhere and set him up for life with money, prestige and a cushy job, based solely on blood.

Or you can learn to respect an old Chicago tradition:

Some folks -- but not you -- are special.

The State Journal-Register wastes no time looking forward, suggesting that with the right choice, the next Senate president could break the Springfield gridlock and forge a more productive future:

The next person to hold that job need not test the limits of that power by waging a pointless war with Madigan that would probably extend the Democrats’ record of failure.

The next Senate president, if he or she and Madigan work together, also could render the unpopular Gov. Rod Blagojevich mostly irrelevant. In his nearly six years in office, the governor has shown little inclination to work with legislators or govern responsibly. Jones has enabled such bad behavior.

With their complete control of state government, Democrats should have made progress on a whole host of issues from education funding to much-needed state construction money. Jones’ retirement is their second chance.

While less enthusiastic, the Peoria Journal-Star also argues that the exit of Jones -- "who turned state government into something of a personal plaything" -- presents an opportunity for government reform:

That said, Jones is not the fundamental problem here. That would be a system that invests far too much power and money in too few hands - the legislative leaders' - making rank-and-file members all but irrelevant. It's true no matter which party is in charge. Jones' predecessor in the Senate's top spot, Republican Pate Philip, had his bouts with becoming too big for his britches, too.

Experience makes us realists and keeps us from getting our hopes up that state government will get better anytime soon, but this impending change at the top of the Senate does present an opportunity for reform.

Making TIF Transparent

Adam Doster — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 14:34:26 -0700

While more than $1 billion is routed each year into the state's 970 Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts, it's often unclear to taxpayers exactly how the cash gets there. In Chicago, The Reader's Ben Javorsky has done the yeoman's work of documenting the lack of accountability that pervades the TIF system. Cook County Commissioner Mike Quigley has also highlighted the problem, most recently in his Progress Illinois column:

The single worst aspect of the TIF system in Cook County is that taxpayers residing in the districts have no idea how much of their tax payments end up in TIF accounts. Indeed, while TIF is listed on every bill alongside the agencies receiving property taxes, the line always reads $0.00. This is due to a quirk in the way the County Clerk has historically calculated tax rates. But as a consequence, the taxpaying public is misinformed.

Now, a new report (pdf) by the Illinois Department of Revenue suggests how the TIF veil could be lifted.

Published last week, the report notes that the TIF information made available on most property tax bills is confusing taxpayers and examines ways in which the state could ensure greater transparency. Their primary suggestion -- which they call the "simplest and least costly approach" -- is to enact legislation that requires specific TIF information be made available on the Internet at a state-run website. Currently, the TIF amount is listed as a line item on the bill but is not available online; under this option, the state would require counties to print the web address on each tax bill as well.

A second option, which mirrors Quigley's proposed ordinance in Cook County, would require a separate mailing at the county level that "provides aggregated TIF information and includes a state web site address where additional information about TIF redevelopment projects and expenditures is located." The obvious downside to this approach would be additional printing and postage costs.

Either idea would be a huge step forward for this byzantine funding apparatus.

Illinois Establishes Anti-Poverty Commission

Adam Doster — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 10:12:01 -0700

Good news is tough to come by in Springfield these days, but on Friday the governor and General Assembly made a valuable contribution to the fight against poverty:

Gov. Rod Blagojevich signed legislation Friday that creates a panel to study poverty in Illinois and make recommendations on how to eradicate it.

The Commission on the Elimination of Poverty will be tasked with developing a plan to address and reduce extreme poverty in Illinois by 50 percent or more by 2015, according to a news release from the governor's office.

The commission will focus on eight areas, including housing, food and nutrition, health care, education, transportation, wages and child care. State Rep. Robert Pritchard (R-Hinckley) tells the DeKalb Daily Chronicle that the members will determine whether programs the state currently offers are working and should develop new ones if those strategies aren't getting good results.

The Heartland Alliance's Doug Schenkelberg adds that it's an "important victory." As we noted back in April, a study by the Alliance found that "poverty increased in 74 of Illinois' 102 counties" between 2000 and 2006 and now "afflicts more than 1.5 million Illinoisans."

For more on this issue, read John Bouman's recent Progress Illinois column.

Illinois Achievement Gap Grows As Legislators Bicker

Adam Doster — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 09:56:47 -0700

There was both good news and bad news on the education front yesterday. While Illinois students’ scores on ACT college entrance exam inched upward this year -- to the highest level since the state began requiring the test -- the gap between black and white high schoolers’ scores grew steadily as well:

An improvement in white students’ performances mostly fueled the gains in the 2008 scores, and the disparity between black and white students’ scores continued to widen, the report said. White students who graduated this spring scored 5.2 points higher on average than their peer black students. That’s up from a low spread of 4.5 points in 2003. [...]

“We know high schools are struggling with that issue,” [State School Superintendent Christopher Koch] said, adding that Illinois is working on it by requiring summer school and pre-testing before some students enter high school.

The report is perfect fodder for the education reform debate fermenting in Illinois. Critics like State Sen. James Meeks have lamented our state's reliance on local property taxes to fund education -- a system that creates a disparity between the funds available to property-poor school districts and wealthy ones. In a recent column here at Progress Illinois, Illinois state rep candidate Will Burns pointed to Michigan's 1994 education funding overhaul as evidence that a centralization of funding (the Wolverine State pays 57.3 percent of the total education costs) can save taxpayers money and improve education equity.

Is Michigan's plan perfect? Not in the least. On his Daily Herald blog yesterday, John Patterson reprinted his own 2005 story pointing out some of the reforms' shortfalls.

Ten years after Michigan embarked on the nation's most dramatic education funding swap, its state budget is awash in red ink and, as a result, schools there have been forced to close buildings, end programs, and cut staff. [...]

"The problem with this method of funding is it's dependent on sales tax and sin taxes and income tax, all of which become very unstable when the economy is down and that's what's happened in Michigan," said Shirley Bryant, spokeswoman for Birmingham Public Schools, a suburban Detroit district annually ranked among the state's best. As state funds have come up short, the district closed buildings and is considering cutting the programs it offers students. "All the districts in Michigan are drowning," Bryant said.

An analysis from earlier this year bears out Patterson's predictions: the annual school aid budget gap in Michigan could reach $3.9 billion by 2017 because tax revenues won't be able to keep up with spending pressures.

But rather than simply discard Michigan's plan, let's take a look at some specifics. While things aren't too rosy economically in Illinois, our situation isn't nearly as bad as in Michigan -- one of only two states to lose population in 2007 and home to the nation's highest unemployment rate. Moreover, there are ways to dampen the effect of an economic downturn on school funding. For instance, provisions in the plan proposed by Center for Tax and Budget Accountabiliy executive director Ralph Martire are aimed at preserving stability. From Patterson's piece:

Martire believes his version is far more stable, largely because it keeps property taxes in the mix. But also because the state tax increases would be far broader.

To begin with, the state would pay 25 percent of the local property tax bill that goes to schools.

On the flip side, the state personal income tax would raise to 5 percent from 3 percent. That's a 67 percent increase. The corporate income tax goes up too. And you'd pay sales tax on car repairs and other services. For instance, now when someone gets a muffler fixed, they pay tax on the muffler, but not on the labor.

That last provision is key, said Martire. Because even in slow economic times people still get cars fixed and pay for other services. So the plan is far more sustainable, he argued. Just extending the sales tax to such services would bring in $1.5 billion a year.

In addition, the proposal asks lawmakers to grant education funding special protection in the budget, ensuring that dollars for schools are doled out no matter what. It would mean that in tough budget times schools automatically get their state dollars while cuts occur elsewhere or taxes increase.

Of course, these are the types of proposals suburban Republicans like Rep. Peter Roskam (a one-time state Senator from Wheaton) have repeatedly rejected since at least 1997. In fact, as Patterson reminds us, Roskam spent $40,000 on radio commercials rallying opposition to such reforms on the basis that suburban residents would "see nothing but tax increases ... in this trade." Educational equality be damned.

Unfortunately, while yesterday's special session was intended to address education funding, the House adjourned after only 21 minutes. Let's hope they force the issue when they meet again this fall.

Inching Forward?

Josh Kalven — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 09:05:56 -0700

Via Capitol Fax, comes some possibly encouraging news from the state fair:

House Speaker Michael Madigan drew applause at Wednesday morning’s Democratic county chairmen's brunch when he said "good progress" had been made among his members exploring the lease of the Illinois Lottery to fund a new statewide construction program.

Madigan has blocked Gov. Rod Blagojevich's proposed $25 billion public works program largely due to a lack of trust of the governor among House Democrats. But the powerful Madigan, who also chairs the state Democratic Party, said House Democrats have been meeting for the past two days to discuss a lottery lease—the basis for funding Blagojevich’s plan.

"Today, the prospects look very, very good," Madigan said to applause, largely from representatives of labor organizations who back the construction bill. Madigan said "good progress" has been made in reviewing the details of a lottery lease but also said work remains in developing an agreement.

The article goes on to quote Senate President Emil Jones saying, "The good news today is we’re going to move a capital bill forward."

Spilling Ink: Legislative Pay Raises

Josh Kalven — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 07:32:13 -0700

This morning, editorial pages across the state gave their take on the legislative pay raise that will go into effect this week if the State Senate does not vote to block it. Let's just say there wasn't much disagreement on this one ...

From the Sun-Times:

Regular folks across the state are working extra hard, often doing their own job plus the work of the guy who just got laid off. Meanwhile, our brilliant statesmen are doing . . . what exactly? They can’t even pass a bill to improve the state’s roads, bridges and transit systems, jeopardizing billions in matching federal money — a situation Sen. Dick Durbin on Monday called “disgusting.”

One thing that was accomplished this year was cutting $1.4 billion out of the state budget, thanks to the governor’s hatchet, cuts that stuck it to some of the most vulnerable residents of the state.

We can’t force the legislature to vote down those big payraises, no matter how richly they are undeserved. But we can remember — and name names — come the next election.

From the State Journal-Register:

Sen. Susan Garrett, D-Lake Forest, said lawmakers should not get a raise because the state is hurting from budget cuts.

“Substance abuse shelters can’t get funding, but we’re going to give ourselves the biggest pay raise in history,” Garrett said. “It’s very clear and obvious we need to take a vote.

THAT'S TRUE, but the General Assembly’s record of failure goes beyond the budget to its inability to cobble together a capital plan, its decades-long failure to reform education funding and a structural deficit that leaves the state’s vendors waiting months for payment, just to name a few issues.

Few businesses would reward such a record. Illinois should not either.

From the Peoria Journal-Star:

Already this year, lawmakers received 3.8 percent cost-of-living hikes to their more than $65,000 base salaries. We won't quibble with the raises that took effect July 1, as they aren't wildly out of whack with private sector COLAs. But even greater pay hikes - of 7.5 percent - are on the way if senators don't expressly say no.

C'mon, what have lawmakers done to merit that kind of compensation boost, especially at a time when Illinois is scraping to make ends meet? This is the most dysfunctional state government in memory.

From the Rockford Register-Star:

Let’s put the pay issue in perspective for those of you in the private sector. All you have to do is show up for work; you don’t even have to do anything — and you still get paid. Pretty good gig.

But not as good as your co-worker’s. He doesn’t even have to show up for work — and he’ll get a raise and make sure you’ll get one, too.

Meanwhile Illinois’ roads are falling apart, its schools are struggling, its citizens are losing their jobs and the economy is heading south faster than migrating birds.

From the Southtown Star's Phil Kadner:

Elected officials should take a stand on something as outrageous as a pay increase when personal bickering has escalated to the point that lawmakers neglect the needs of the people of this state.

Real people are hurting.

Why shouldn't legislators feel their pain?

From the Belleville News-Democrat:

Most taxpayers would agree, lawmakers and Gov. Rod Blagojevich haven't earned raises considering their accomplishments or lack thereof. And it's unbelievable they would give themselves raises when $1.4 billion has been slashed from the budget and programs like substance abuse shelters have been decimated as a result.

But if senators think they deserve higher pay, they should at least have the intestinal fortitude to say so in a roll call vote. Senate President Emil "I need a pay raise" Jones supposedly has agreed to allow the vote to be called. Good. The coward's approach of letting these raises go into effect by default would be yet another insult to the people of Illinois.

Towards An Equitable School Funding System

Will Burns — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:56:58 -0700

Yesterday, I joined members of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus in a press conference on school funding reform. Recent calls for a boycott of the Chicago Public Schools have, predictably, focused new attention on an old problem: Illinois’ overreliance on local property taxes to fund public schools.

This is not a new issue for me.

In 1998, I was the staff analyst for the Senate Education and Appropriations Committee.

Two years later, I organized a statewide coalition on school funding reform that included unions, businesses, civil rights groups, and civic organizations. We brought in outside experts to demonstrate the state's failure to devote adequate resources to high quality education for our children. We showed how the lack of state support for public schools increased district's reliance on local property taxes, and how the need for property tax reform skewed economic development decisions and created perverse incentives for urban sprawl. All to no avail.

The guaranteed minimum of per-child education spending in the state is still significantly lower than what is needed to adequately serve our children. On the national level, Illinois ranks 49th in state support for public education.

As I learned on the campaign trail this past fall and winter, the consequences are pernicious. Renters struggle to pay rising rents fueled by gentrification and escalating property values. Homeowners are palpably angry about high property tax bills and underperforming schools.

Parents know that their children -- through no fault of their own -- will not reach their full academic potential, because their schools are horribly underfunded. The effects last a lifetime in the form of underemployment, unemployment, and lost wages.

The ramifications are equally bad for the state. Our failure to substantially invest in public education imperils the quality of Illinois' future workforce and its economic competitiveness.

There is an education funding crisis in this state, but it is not readily visible and it lacks the urgency of last year’s transit meltdown.

Districts won’t close their doors anytime soon.

Classrooms are overcrowded, but teachers are still teaching.

No district faces a serious threat of a state takeover.

The key to education funding reform is to make the school funding crisis urgent.

That’s why I support legislation to prohibit the collection of local property taxes for education expenditures and to repeal the school aid formula by 2010. The system is broken and it must be fixed. We should therefore abolish it, by a date certain, so that the General Assembly and governor will be forced to develop an alternative, equitable, and just school funding system.

Some will call this proposal radical. But it is an approach that has worked. In 1993, the Michigan legislature and governor took this unprecedented step and a year later emerged with a new school funding system that boosted state resources for poor school districts and dramatically reduced inequalities between the wealthy and the poor.

Maybe, just maybe, this approach will get us closer to high quality schools for all Illinois children.

Will Burns is the Democratic nominee for state representative in Illinois' 26th District.

Illinois' Top 20 Payday Loan Contribution Recipients

Josh Kalven — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 10:07:09 -0700

Last week, the National Institute on Money in State Politics (NIMSP) identified Illinois lawmakers as having received more campaign contributions from the predatory lenders than in any other state. Their research found that the payday and title loan industry had poured over $2.5 million into Illinois campaign coffers between 1999 and 2006 -- almost twice as much as Florida, the second highest recipient state.

This should come as no surprise. While Illinois passed a law aimed at curbing predatory lending in 2005, it included a crucial loophole. In his feature article on this topic, Mose explained how the state has since become a "dumping ground" for payday loan stores:

After they realized they could exploit this loophole, payday lenders were back in business and Illinois reformers were out of luck. And there were more clouds on the horizon. As other states started cracking down on predatory lending (many simply capping interest rates at 36 percent) more and more payday loan operations began popping up in Illinois.

"We've become the dumping ground," says [Citizen/Action co-director Lynda] DeLaforgue. "It's just the wild wild west. Whatever goes, goes." As of 2005, there were more payday loan storefronts in Illinois than McDonald's franchises.

As the NIMSP report noted, Gov. Rod Blagojevich is the largest recipient of contributions from predatory lenders, accepting over $450,000 from the industry during the previous four election cycles. However, there are numerous other Illinois politicians from both sides of the aisle that have taken the payday lenders' money as well. With NIMSP's assistance, we've compiled a list of the top 20 recipients in Illinois during this time period:

Over these four election cycles, 68 percent of predatory lending contributions went to Illinois Democrats, while 32 percent flowed to Republicans. For more information on which specific companies are sending the most money to Illinois candidates, check out this release (PDF) from the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform.