SPRINGFIELD - Statement by Illinois Senate President John J. Cullerton regarding the governor’s budget address:

“I want to focus on the positive, so I’m going to applaud the governor for making education a priority. We all know our current school funding system is broken. Now we need to summon the courage to fix it. The governor can be a vital ally in resolving what’s become the defining crisis of our time. But reform won’t come by simply throwing more money at the existing system. We need a complete overhaul.

However, while I welcome his interest in education fairness, I am troubled by proposals that would appear to return to the days of skipping pension payments and raiding local funds to prop up state spending. That won’t help our state and it won’t help our local communities.
And with all due respect to the governor, his budget speeches don’t help Illinois. At this point the courts are running more of the state than our governor. It’s going to require real plans and real action on his part to resolve the impasse he created. I want to work with him to find practical solutions to our problems because nothing Governor Rauner did in his first year worked for anyone.”

Earlier on Wednesday the Senate President appeared on IL Lawmakers.  You can listen to audio from that appearance here: