By Jamey Dunn
There was plenty going on at the Statehouse today, and it’s only the first week of April. A House committee approved a bill to reform Chicago’s pension system for city workers; a group of Democratic senators filed legislation that would make sweeping changes to the way the state funds schools; and the Senate voted in favor of allowing children with epilepsy to use medical marijuana. Here’s a rundown of what happened:
Chicago pension changes
Two days after Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel presented his proposal to stabilize the city’s pension systems for workers, a House committee approved the plan. It would ask workers to contribute more to the system and would reduce their cost of living increases. The city would increase local property taxes to bring in an additional $250 million in property taxes. The legislation is intended to cut the city’s unfunded pension liability of $19.5 billion in half over 40 years. The General Assembly must approve the plan because the city’s systems are governed by state law.
While Emanuel says he has union support for his plan, not all labor organizations are on board. John Cameron, political director for AFSCME Council 31, called the plan “clearly and indisputably unconstitutional.”
Senate Bill 1992 seemed to be set up to move quickly thought the legislature today. House Speaker Michael Madigan popped his amendments onto the bill shortly before the hearing, and the Senate held its own hearing shortly after the House panel voted. But the House adjourned before taking a vote. Republican leaders said that they could not support the proposal because they had not had time to digest its contents, and they said that they would rather see a plan that included the city’s retirement systems for police, firefighters and teachers, too. “We careen from one crisis to the next,” said Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno. “Absent a long term plan, I couldn’t advise our caucus to be in favor of this.”
But supporters said that the city is talks with with those groups, too. “You can say we’ve piecemealed, but they’re different entities,” said Chicago Democratic Sen. Kwame Raoul. “This is about solving a very serious problem that impacts the city of Chicago. ... This is a product of negotiations. It’s been indicated that other negotiations are ongoing and things don’t just come to a point of resolution magically at the same time.”
Medical marijuana for epilepsy
The Senate approved SB 2636, which would allow children with epilepsy access to marijuana as a treatment under the state’s medical cannabis pilot program. Some families have found that a liquid form of the drug helps control the disease in children with frequent seizures. Parents say marijuana oil has helped their children, who may have hundreds or thousands of seizures a day, to cut the number down to just a few. Last month, an Arizona judge ruled that two parents in the state could continue treating their son with the drug. Parents of epileptic children are pushing for legislation similar to SB 2636 in other states.
Campus smoking ban
The House approved SB 2202, which would ban smoking on public college campuses. The measure would apply to all university property and would let universities decide what the penalty would be for those who violate the ban. Opponents to the proposal argued that smoking policy decisions should be left to university trustees.
Education funding
After a committee spent more than a year scrutinizing the way the state distributes funds to schools, Democratic lawmakers unveiled a proposal to revamp the education funding formula today. Bunker Hill Democratic Sen. Andy Manar, who chaired the committee, said that currently only about 44 percent of the state education spending is doled out based on local need. He said SB 16 would change that so financial need would come into play when distributing about 90 percent of funds. The proposal would also eliminate the individual block grant that is given to Chicago schools, something Republicans on the committee have supported. The plan would also require more spending transparency at the district level. Maywood Democratic Sen. Kimberly Lightford said that the debate around school funding has to move away from focusing on which districts would be funding “winners” and which would lose out on funds. “We all win. We all win. All the school districts win when dollars are going to the areas that need it the most,” she said.
Manar agreed. “The idea that we can have a few premier school districts in the state that exceed every expectation ... and have an incredible number that lag behind and call that a win in the state system is not a win in my book.”
Both said that they were introducing the bill now as a jumping point for debate. “We could have waited until the last week of may negotiated behind closed doors, popped a bill out and then had a vote. That’s not the way to do this,” Manar said. “I’m hopeful that we will have a bipartisan set of cosponsors on this bill.”
Republicans in the Senate said that they had not been invited to today’s press conference and that they had not seen the 400-page bill until it was filed last night. “We welcome the discussion of fair education funding. We believe Illinois school children deserve every opportunity for a quality education — in every school in Illinois,” said a statement from Senate Republicans. “Our 2013 look at school funding found Illinois’ current funding formulas to be outdated, skewed to benefit Chicago and not performing as designed by law. We are reviewing the legislation just filed. At first blush — we have dozens of questions and comments to contribute to the discussion as it is reviewed in the Senate and perhaps the House of Representatives. We want educators, superintendents, schools boards and other education professionals to have that opportunity as well.”
Constitutional amendment for victims’ rights
Skokie Democratic Rep. Lou Lang has been pushing for years to get rights for crime victims enshrined into the state’s Constitution. The House today approved his constitutional amendment to do just that. The amendment is part of a crowded field of efforts to get changes to the document before voters. House Speaker Michael Madigan is sponsoring two amendments. One would prevent discrimination against voters in the state and another would charge a 3 percent income tax surcharge on income over $1 million. The revenue from the additional tax would be used to fund education. Both of Madigan’s amendments have been approved by House committees. There are also two separate pushes to put amendments on the ballot through a citizens initiative. One, which is spearheaded by Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Rauner, would impose term limits on legislators. The other, which is backed by a well-funded committee, would change the way the state draws its legislative maps by taking the task out of the hands of lawmakers.
Showing posts with label Higher education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Higher education. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 02, 2014
Monday, December 02, 2013
Politics swirl around pension vote
By Jamey Dunn
The political fallout has begun over a deal reached by legislative leaders to make changes to the state’s public employee pension systems.
The proposal, which is yet another version of Senate Bill 1, is projected to save $160 billion over 30 years and fully fund the pension system by 2043.
The legislation would reduce annual cost of living adjustments (COLAs) for current and future retirees. While previous plans have cut COLAs in a more straightforward way, this bill would apply differently to employees and retirees, depending on how long they worked and which retirement system they are a member. The current COLAs are 3 percent compounding interest. Under the new SB1, the COLA would be determined by 3 percent of salary or 3 percent of the product of years served multiplied by $800 for state employees or $1,000 for teachers and university employees. The COLA would be based on whichever number is smaller. The number for teachers and university employees is larger because workers in both systems generally do not get Social Security benefits. Some annual COLAs would be deferred for current employees upon retirement. The number is contingent of years of service.
Employees younger than 46 would also have to retire later. For each year an employee is younger than 46, an additional four months would be tacked onto the time he or she would have to work to receive full benefits. The proposal would also cap pensionable salary at $109,971, but that number would increase annually based on inflation. The plan would reduce the employee contribution toward retirement benefits by one percentage point and allow the systems to sue the state if it does not make its required payment. However, lawmakers could vote to change the payment schedule and reduce the annual payment. Since the details of the plan were released last week, candidates running in the 2014 elections have been weighing in.
Only one Republican gubernatorial candidate, Bloomington Sen. Bill Brady, came out strongly in favor of the proposal. “I will be voting in support of this legislation, which has been crafted through months of discussion, exhaustive analysis and legislative debate. It will not be an easy vote by any means; in fact it will be one of the most difficult votes I have ever cast,” Brady said in a written statement. Brady served on the conference committee that helped to craft the legislation. “It’s not fair to ask state employees and teachers who have paid every dime they owed to the system to make a sacrifice. It’s necessary, however, because governors and legislators who voted for budgets over the last decade did nothing more than delay the resolution we now have before us.”
Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford, who is running for the Republican nomination for governor, said the plan goes too far by not offering employees legitimate consideration for the benefits they would lose. “I have taken due consideration over the long Thanksgiving weekend to evaluate the proposal for State Public Pension Reform. Having examined the information available, I do not support the current legislation. I do not believe it will withstand judicial review should it pass the Illinois General Assembly,” Rutherford said in a written statement. “Strong beliefs are held in this debate, but fundamental to our rule of law is our Constitution. Our government’s obligation can be changed through a process involving adequate consideration to the employees. In my opinion, the legislation before us fails to address this relationship and offer adequate consideration in exchange for altering the pension benefits.”
Union leaders agree with Rutherford that the plan is unconstitutional. “It’s an unfair, unconstitutional scheme that undermines retirement security,” said a statement issued by the We are One Coalition last week.
University of Illinois leaders also oppose the bill. Previous versions of pension reform were based on proposals from the U of I’s Institute of Government and Public Affairs. “The University of Illinois called for a pension system that would be reasonable, responsible, sustainable and competitive with those offered by our peer institutions,” said an email to employees from U of I President Robert Easter; Phyllis Wise, chancellor of the U of I at Urbana-Champaign; Paula Allen-Meares, chancellor of U of I at Chicago; and Susan Koch, chancellor of the U of I at Springfield. “In our view, the legislation under consideration fails to meet those basic principles. The likely changes arguably lessen the retirement commitments made to employees and retirees, and their net effect also will harm the public higher education sector in Illinois.”
Hinsdale Republican Sen. Kirk Dillard, who also is running for governor, has yet to take a stance on the bill. He has instead called for multiple hearings and time before a vote to ensure that lawmakers understand the legislation. “Addressing pension reform is an essential first step in working our way out of a deep fiscal hole,” Dillard said. “But we must know what's in the bill and not rush a vote merely because we've been assured by the leaders and Gov. [Pat] Quinn that this is the best deal for the people of Illinois.” Dillard is not alone. Other Republican lawmakers have complained that they are being pushed to vote too quickly on the more-than-300-page bill.
Supporters of the plan say the changes in the bill are nothing new to lawmakers who have been debating the issue for years. “We’ve been working on this issue for two years. There’s [been] plenty of time to take a look at every single aspect. It’s been debated, discussed, looked over, analyzed scrutinized — you name it,” Quinn said in Chicago today. “The time for review is fast eclipsing. It’s time now to vote. That’s what the people want. They want their legislators to take this bill that’s been discussed in many different ways and vote on it, and I think a vote ‘yes’ is the best way for our state to go.” Quinn said that the vote would be the “most important” fiscal vote taken by lawmakers during their legislative careers. But he said that anytime there is an important vote, opponents look for ways to block it. “There’s always going to be a do-nothing caucus, and they will say anything in order to continue to do nothing.” The governor added: “I think everyone who is interested in the future of Illinois, the common good, what’s good for taxpayers, should join us in urging a ‘yes’ vote tomorrow for the pension reform.”
Quinn’s own Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon issued a statement today opposing the plan. She says it should do more to protect low-income employees and retirees. “While I congratulate the legislative leaders who came together in a bipartisan way to produce a pension compromise, the proposed legislation puts too much of the burden on lower income workers and retirees,” she said. Simon is also in candidate mode. She is challenging Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka, and the statement was issued by her campaign staff.
Meanwhile, Republican venture capitalist and gubernatorial hopeful Bruce Rauner slammed the proposal, saying it would “guarantee a future of higher taxes.” He said the cuts to benefits do not go far enough and proposes moving workers into a 401(k)-style plan. Rauner and others argue that employee benefits earned to date are protected by the Constitution, but future benefits are not. “Government workers and retirees deserve to be treated fairly. But let’s not forget who pays for this — it’s the hard working taxpayers of our state, who themselves are struggling to make ends meet in an economy that is weighed down by the fiscal blunders in Springfield,” he said in a prepared statement. “We can have a pension system that is fair to both sides of this transaction, the government workers and the taxpayers who pay for it. True reform would cap the current system and fully put in place a 401(k)-style program that is similar to the retirement plans of most Illinoisans. That’s fair to workers and taxpayers, and it ensures we will never face a pension crisis again.”
While Rauner dismissed SB 1, many other business leaders in the state have voiced their support. “The pension crisis is by far the most pressing economic issue facing the state of Illinois today. Despite rapidly escalating pension contributions that are consuming the state’s budget and crowding out funding for critical state services, the fiscal health of the pension funds themselves continues to deteriorate. The bill is a good bill and deserves your support. It incorporates a number of benefit reforms that have been widely discussed and that we have supported in the past,” said a letter sent to lawmakers and signed by several prominent representatives of Illinois business. Those signed on include Tyrone Fahner, president of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, a group that led the charge for pension reform in the state; Gregory Baise, president of the Illinois Manufacturers' Association; David Vite, president of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association; and Doug Whitley, president of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce. “While not a solution to all of the state’s fiscal problems, this bill is a significant step forward. It will stabilize the pension systems and help put Illinois on the path to fiscal stability.”
Northbrook Democratic Rep. Elaine Nekritz, who served on the pension conference committee, said of the letter: “I think that that will be very significant in giving people the security that they need that the business interests in the state line up in support.” Nekritz said that while others might have different ideas about how to tackle the problem, they don’t have the votes needed to pass their plans. “We’ve always been trying to achieve a balance with this legislation, and I think that this is a balanced approach, a moderate approach, a compromise approach that actually can pass. It’s one thing to talk about all the things that you’d like to see, but if you can’t put votes on it, then it isn’t any good.”
Those who would rather not see the bill pass tomorrow say that the opposition coming at the issue from two different sides — some arguing that it does not cut benefits enough and others that it cuts too much — could manage to kill the bill through their combined lobbying efforts. “What happens tomorrow, I don’t know?” said Rep. Raymond Poe, a Springfield Republican. Poe represents many state workers and says he does not support the bill. “If both of those forces get together, we may be back to start over again. So who knows where we’re at for sure. ... It’s going to be funny tomorrow to see how that all shakes out.”
Evanston Democratic Sen. Daniel Biss, who also served on the conference committee, said that the opposition on both sides of the spectrum is to be expected. “It’s a compromise. There are those on the right who oppose compromise, who are hard-line dead-enders and don’t want to see us accomplish something. And so we have those opposing it. And of course there are those in [organized] labor who are very concerned that it gives too much, and I understand where they are coming from. But the bottom line is, this is a reasonable sound compromise that saves a lot of money, shelters the people in greatest need and puts us on a path to sustainability.”
Both the House and Senate plan to hold session tomorrow. A hearing on SB 1 is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. It's difficult to deny the politics of the issue when they may have even had a hand in the timing of a potential vote. The deadline for candidates — including potential challengers to legislators — to file paperwork to appear on the spring primary election ballot passed at 5 p.m. on Monday.
The political fallout has begun over a deal reached by legislative leaders to make changes to the state’s public employee pension systems.
The proposal, which is yet another version of Senate Bill 1, is projected to save $160 billion over 30 years and fully fund the pension system by 2043.
The legislation would reduce annual cost of living adjustments (COLAs) for current and future retirees. While previous plans have cut COLAs in a more straightforward way, this bill would apply differently to employees and retirees, depending on how long they worked and which retirement system they are a member. The current COLAs are 3 percent compounding interest. Under the new SB1, the COLA would be determined by 3 percent of salary or 3 percent of the product of years served multiplied by $800 for state employees or $1,000 for teachers and university employees. The COLA would be based on whichever number is smaller. The number for teachers and university employees is larger because workers in both systems generally do not get Social Security benefits. Some annual COLAs would be deferred for current employees upon retirement. The number is contingent of years of service.
Employees younger than 46 would also have to retire later. For each year an employee is younger than 46, an additional four months would be tacked onto the time he or she would have to work to receive full benefits. The proposal would also cap pensionable salary at $109,971, but that number would increase annually based on inflation. The plan would reduce the employee contribution toward retirement benefits by one percentage point and allow the systems to sue the state if it does not make its required payment. However, lawmakers could vote to change the payment schedule and reduce the annual payment. Since the details of the plan were released last week, candidates running in the 2014 elections have been weighing in.
Only one Republican gubernatorial candidate, Bloomington Sen. Bill Brady, came out strongly in favor of the proposal. “I will be voting in support of this legislation, which has been crafted through months of discussion, exhaustive analysis and legislative debate. It will not be an easy vote by any means; in fact it will be one of the most difficult votes I have ever cast,” Brady said in a written statement. Brady served on the conference committee that helped to craft the legislation. “It’s not fair to ask state employees and teachers who have paid every dime they owed to the system to make a sacrifice. It’s necessary, however, because governors and legislators who voted for budgets over the last decade did nothing more than delay the resolution we now have before us.”
Illinois Treasurer Dan Rutherford, who is running for the Republican nomination for governor, said the plan goes too far by not offering employees legitimate consideration for the benefits they would lose. “I have taken due consideration over the long Thanksgiving weekend to evaluate the proposal for State Public Pension Reform. Having examined the information available, I do not support the current legislation. I do not believe it will withstand judicial review should it pass the Illinois General Assembly,” Rutherford said in a written statement. “Strong beliefs are held in this debate, but fundamental to our rule of law is our Constitution. Our government’s obligation can be changed through a process involving adequate consideration to the employees. In my opinion, the legislation before us fails to address this relationship and offer adequate consideration in exchange for altering the pension benefits.”
Union leaders agree with Rutherford that the plan is unconstitutional. “It’s an unfair, unconstitutional scheme that undermines retirement security,” said a statement issued by the We are One Coalition last week.
University of Illinois leaders also oppose the bill. Previous versions of pension reform were based on proposals from the U of I’s Institute of Government and Public Affairs. “The University of Illinois called for a pension system that would be reasonable, responsible, sustainable and competitive with those offered by our peer institutions,” said an email to employees from U of I President Robert Easter; Phyllis Wise, chancellor of the U of I at Urbana-Champaign; Paula Allen-Meares, chancellor of U of I at Chicago; and Susan Koch, chancellor of the U of I at Springfield. “In our view, the legislation under consideration fails to meet those basic principles. The likely changes arguably lessen the retirement commitments made to employees and retirees, and their net effect also will harm the public higher education sector in Illinois.”
Hinsdale Republican Sen. Kirk Dillard, who also is running for governor, has yet to take a stance on the bill. He has instead called for multiple hearings and time before a vote to ensure that lawmakers understand the legislation. “Addressing pension reform is an essential first step in working our way out of a deep fiscal hole,” Dillard said. “But we must know what's in the bill and not rush a vote merely because we've been assured by the leaders and Gov. [Pat] Quinn that this is the best deal for the people of Illinois.” Dillard is not alone. Other Republican lawmakers have complained that they are being pushed to vote too quickly on the more-than-300-page bill.
Supporters of the plan say the changes in the bill are nothing new to lawmakers who have been debating the issue for years. “We’ve been working on this issue for two years. There’s [been] plenty of time to take a look at every single aspect. It’s been debated, discussed, looked over, analyzed scrutinized — you name it,” Quinn said in Chicago today. “The time for review is fast eclipsing. It’s time now to vote. That’s what the people want. They want their legislators to take this bill that’s been discussed in many different ways and vote on it, and I think a vote ‘yes’ is the best way for our state to go.” Quinn said that the vote would be the “most important” fiscal vote taken by lawmakers during their legislative careers. But he said that anytime there is an important vote, opponents look for ways to block it. “There’s always going to be a do-nothing caucus, and they will say anything in order to continue to do nothing.” The governor added: “I think everyone who is interested in the future of Illinois, the common good, what’s good for taxpayers, should join us in urging a ‘yes’ vote tomorrow for the pension reform.”
Quinn’s own Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon issued a statement today opposing the plan. She says it should do more to protect low-income employees and retirees. “While I congratulate the legislative leaders who came together in a bipartisan way to produce a pension compromise, the proposed legislation puts too much of the burden on lower income workers and retirees,” she said. Simon is also in candidate mode. She is challenging Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka, and the statement was issued by her campaign staff.
Meanwhile, Republican venture capitalist and gubernatorial hopeful Bruce Rauner slammed the proposal, saying it would “guarantee a future of higher taxes.” He said the cuts to benefits do not go far enough and proposes moving workers into a 401(k)-style plan. Rauner and others argue that employee benefits earned to date are protected by the Constitution, but future benefits are not. “Government workers and retirees deserve to be treated fairly. But let’s not forget who pays for this — it’s the hard working taxpayers of our state, who themselves are struggling to make ends meet in an economy that is weighed down by the fiscal blunders in Springfield,” he said in a prepared statement. “We can have a pension system that is fair to both sides of this transaction, the government workers and the taxpayers who pay for it. True reform would cap the current system and fully put in place a 401(k)-style program that is similar to the retirement plans of most Illinoisans. That’s fair to workers and taxpayers, and it ensures we will never face a pension crisis again.”
While Rauner dismissed SB 1, many other business leaders in the state have voiced their support. “The pension crisis is by far the most pressing economic issue facing the state of Illinois today. Despite rapidly escalating pension contributions that are consuming the state’s budget and crowding out funding for critical state services, the fiscal health of the pension funds themselves continues to deteriorate. The bill is a good bill and deserves your support. It incorporates a number of benefit reforms that have been widely discussed and that we have supported in the past,” said a letter sent to lawmakers and signed by several prominent representatives of Illinois business. Those signed on include Tyrone Fahner, president of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago, a group that led the charge for pension reform in the state; Gregory Baise, president of the Illinois Manufacturers' Association; David Vite, president of the Illinois Retail Merchants Association; and Doug Whitley, president of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce. “While not a solution to all of the state’s fiscal problems, this bill is a significant step forward. It will stabilize the pension systems and help put Illinois on the path to fiscal stability.”
Northbrook Democratic Rep. Elaine Nekritz, who served on the pension conference committee, said of the letter: “I think that that will be very significant in giving people the security that they need that the business interests in the state line up in support.” Nekritz said that while others might have different ideas about how to tackle the problem, they don’t have the votes needed to pass their plans. “We’ve always been trying to achieve a balance with this legislation, and I think that this is a balanced approach, a moderate approach, a compromise approach that actually can pass. It’s one thing to talk about all the things that you’d like to see, but if you can’t put votes on it, then it isn’t any good.”
Those who would rather not see the bill pass tomorrow say that the opposition coming at the issue from two different sides — some arguing that it does not cut benefits enough and others that it cuts too much — could manage to kill the bill through their combined lobbying efforts. “What happens tomorrow, I don’t know?” said Rep. Raymond Poe, a Springfield Republican. Poe represents many state workers and says he does not support the bill. “If both of those forces get together, we may be back to start over again. So who knows where we’re at for sure. ... It’s going to be funny tomorrow to see how that all shakes out.”
Evanston Democratic Sen. Daniel Biss, who also served on the conference committee, said that the opposition on both sides of the spectrum is to be expected. “It’s a compromise. There are those on the right who oppose compromise, who are hard-line dead-enders and don’t want to see us accomplish something. And so we have those opposing it. And of course there are those in [organized] labor who are very concerned that it gives too much, and I understand where they are coming from. But the bottom line is, this is a reasonable sound compromise that saves a lot of money, shelters the people in greatest need and puts us on a path to sustainability.”
Both the House and Senate plan to hold session tomorrow. A hearing on SB 1 is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. It's difficult to deny the politics of the issue when they may have even had a hand in the timing of a potential vote. The deadline for candidates — including potential challengers to legislators — to file paperwork to appear on the spring primary election ballot passed at 5 p.m. on Monday.
Friday, May 31, 2013
Final state budget bills sent to governor
By Meredith Colias and Jamey Dunn
The Illinois Senate today approved the last two budget bills that the House sent over. Republicans echoed the same compliant they have had about the other pieces of the budget for Fiscal Year 2014, which was crafted by Democrats from both chambers.
House Bill 214 is general services spending, the General Assembly’s budget and the constitutional officers' budgets. HB 215 is public safety and transportation spending, Illinois Department of Corrections budget, capital construction spending for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources' budget. “It’s a responsible budget. We live within our means; we fund key programs; we’re paying down our bills,” said Park Ridge Democratic Sen. Dan Kotowski.
Sen. Chapin Rose, a Mahomet Republican, called the budget incomplete because it does not contain funds earmarked to pay back wages owed to state workers. “There’s a $140 million hole in this budget out of the gate,” he said.
“We’ll have to come back in the fall for a supplemental” spending bill to cover the back pay,” said Lake Barrington Republican Sen. Dan Duffy. “We should stay down here as long as we have to — all night and all summer if we have to — to come up with a balanced budget to pay down our bills.”
Meanwhile, Senate Bill 2555 and SB 2556, which contain the funding for K-12 and higher education, passed the House on the final day of the spring session and now go to the governor. K-12 education funding has been cut severely since 2009, and Homewood Democratic Rep. William Davis said that he was pleased that unexpected tax revenues allowed general state aid to be held flat for the next fiscal year because the state has an obligation to fund education. “We have to put our money where our mouths are,” said Davis, who chairs the House education budgeting committee.
Even though the K-12 education budget for Fiscal Year 2014 includes more than $6.6 billion in funding, school districts will still have to make due with an 89 percent proration for general state aid and a 64 percent proration for transportation. Funding for bilingual education and early childhood education will remain flat. Republicans criticized smaller parts of the more than $1.9 billion higher education budget, such as $600,000 for a Quad Cities manufacturing center at Western Illinois University. “If you are going to vote for this budget, I get it. But I am not going to support a budget that is a sham,” Macomb Republican Rep. Norine Hammond said.
The dismal state of funding for universities has forced many to delay maintenance, institute hiring freezes and look for other ways to supplement their budgets, including raising tuition. Rep. Chad Hays, a Republican from Catlin, said he is concerned that tuition increases are pricing Illinois schools out of range for average people. “Public education is getting elbowed off the table,” Hays said. “We are pricing the average family out of the higher education arena. The state can't be everything to everyone. We have to figure out where our priorities are.”
The Illinois Senate today approved the last two budget bills that the House sent over. Republicans echoed the same compliant they have had about the other pieces of the budget for Fiscal Year 2014, which was crafted by Democrats from both chambers.
House Bill 214 is general services spending, the General Assembly’s budget and the constitutional officers' budgets. HB 215 is public safety and transportation spending, Illinois Department of Corrections budget, capital construction spending for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources' budget. “It’s a responsible budget. We live within our means; we fund key programs; we’re paying down our bills,” said Park Ridge Democratic Sen. Dan Kotowski.
Sen. Chapin Rose, a Mahomet Republican, called the budget incomplete because it does not contain funds earmarked to pay back wages owed to state workers. “There’s a $140 million hole in this budget out of the gate,” he said.
“We’ll have to come back in the fall for a supplemental” spending bill to cover the back pay,” said Lake Barrington Republican Sen. Dan Duffy. “We should stay down here as long as we have to — all night and all summer if we have to — to come up with a balanced budget to pay down our bills.”
Meanwhile, Senate Bill 2555 and SB 2556, which contain the funding for K-12 and higher education, passed the House on the final day of the spring session and now go to the governor. K-12 education funding has been cut severely since 2009, and Homewood Democratic Rep. William Davis said that he was pleased that unexpected tax revenues allowed general state aid to be held flat for the next fiscal year because the state has an obligation to fund education. “We have to put our money where our mouths are,” said Davis, who chairs the House education budgeting committee.
Even though the K-12 education budget for Fiscal Year 2014 includes more than $6.6 billion in funding, school districts will still have to make due with an 89 percent proration for general state aid and a 64 percent proration for transportation. Funding for bilingual education and early childhood education will remain flat. Republicans criticized smaller parts of the more than $1.9 billion higher education budget, such as $600,000 for a Quad Cities manufacturing center at Western Illinois University. “If you are going to vote for this budget, I get it. But I am not going to support a budget that is a sham,” Macomb Republican Rep. Norine Hammond said.
The dismal state of funding for universities has forced many to delay maintenance, institute hiring freezes and look for other ways to supplement their budgets, including raising tuition. Rep. Chad Hays, a Republican from Catlin, said he is concerned that tuition increases are pricing Illinois schools out of range for average people. “Public education is getting elbowed off the table,” Hays said. “We are pricing the average family out of the higher education arena. The state can't be everything to everyone. We have to figure out where our priorities are.”
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Senate approves education budgets
By Meredith Colias
Illinois Senate Democrats voted today to give education an extra boost by using unexpected income tax revenue to avoid further cuts next year.
Senate Bill 2555 and SB 2556, funding bills for K-12 and higher education, passed on a party line vote. About $155 million is being added to the K-12 education budget to keep the general state aid pro-rated at 89 percent, which is its current level. The House approved the other pieces of the budget yesterday. Democrats from both chambers reached a budget deal this year after cutting Republicans out of talks a few weeks ago.
Park Ridge Democratic Sen. Dan Kotowski, the sponsor of the legislation, called it a “true, accurate, transparent budget.” Bilingual education and early childhood education funds will remain the same. Transportation will also remain flat, although it has been severely underfunded because of cuts in recent years. At present, the state is only reimbursing schools for 64 percent of their student transportation costs. Under the proposal, the state would fail to meet the recommended per-student funding level for the third year in a row.
Republican lawmakers complained about about the K-12 budget during floor debate, saying their districts are struggling to make do. Currently, two thirds of districts are running deficits. “We’ve done everything we can, and all we do is get cut,” Lebanon Republican Sen. Kyle McCarter said. “We’ve made every cut we can make.” Democrats were criticized for introducing the bill in advance of the budget implementation bill, which is the final blueprint on how the money is going to be spent. “We haven’t seen the full picture, and yet we are voting here today,” Mahomet Republican Sen. Chapin Rose said.
Sen. Kimberly Lightford, a Democrat from Maywood, blasted Republican members on the floor who said they are concerned that their districts are missing funding after Republicans have called for budget cuts for years. “You have fought against” increasing education budgets for the last decade, she said. “All of a sudden, you realize you have poor kids in your districts. Now it is touching home.”
The higher education budget approved today lacked the 5 percent cut called for in Gov. Pat Quinn’s proposed budget. Quinn presented cuts to both K-12 and higher education because he said the growing pension costs were putting pressure on other areas. But a windfall of one-time only tax revenues spared both education budgets. “I'm not going to advocate for a budget that cuts for another year,” Kotowksi said.
Rose said that even though higher education is funded at essentially the same level as this fiscal year, universities would continue to struggle because the state is behind on its payments from the current fiscal year. “When you don’t pay people, it really doesn’t matter,” he said.
Illinois Senate Democrats voted today to give education an extra boost by using unexpected income tax revenue to avoid further cuts next year.
Senate Bill 2555 and SB 2556, funding bills for K-12 and higher education, passed on a party line vote. About $155 million is being added to the K-12 education budget to keep the general state aid pro-rated at 89 percent, which is its current level. The House approved the other pieces of the budget yesterday. Democrats from both chambers reached a budget deal this year after cutting Republicans out of talks a few weeks ago.
Park Ridge Democratic Sen. Dan Kotowski, the sponsor of the legislation, called it a “true, accurate, transparent budget.” Bilingual education and early childhood education funds will remain the same. Transportation will also remain flat, although it has been severely underfunded because of cuts in recent years. At present, the state is only reimbursing schools for 64 percent of their student transportation costs. Under the proposal, the state would fail to meet the recommended per-student funding level for the third year in a row.
Republican lawmakers complained about about the K-12 budget during floor debate, saying their districts are struggling to make do. Currently, two thirds of districts are running deficits. “We’ve done everything we can, and all we do is get cut,” Lebanon Republican Sen. Kyle McCarter said. “We’ve made every cut we can make.” Democrats were criticized for introducing the bill in advance of the budget implementation bill, which is the final blueprint on how the money is going to be spent. “We haven’t seen the full picture, and yet we are voting here today,” Mahomet Republican Sen. Chapin Rose said.
Sen. Kimberly Lightford, a Democrat from Maywood, blasted Republican members on the floor who said they are concerned that their districts are missing funding after Republicans have called for budget cuts for years. “You have fought against” increasing education budgets for the last decade, she said. “All of a sudden, you realize you have poor kids in your districts. Now it is touching home.”
The higher education budget approved today lacked the 5 percent cut called for in Gov. Pat Quinn’s proposed budget. Quinn presented cuts to both K-12 and higher education because he said the growing pension costs were putting pressure on other areas. But a windfall of one-time only tax revenues spared both education budgets. “I'm not going to advocate for a budget that cuts for another year,” Kotowksi said.
Rose said that even though higher education is funded at essentially the same level as this fiscal year, universities would continue to struggle because the state is behind on its payments from the current fiscal year. “When you don’t pay people, it really doesn’t matter,” he said.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
House passes the bulk of its budget
By Jamey Dunn and Meredith Colias
Illinois House Democrats passed several pieces of their budget today as Republicans bemoaned being cut out of the process.
Both higher education and K-12 will be funded at essentially flat levels, compared to the current fiscal year. Human services would see cuts under the plan, but the outlook is not nearly as gloomy as it seemed just a few weeks ago. Sponsors of the various budget bills say that the situation would have been much bleaker if a windfall of $1.5 billion in unexpected revenues had not come in. “In April, there was a large surge because people sold a bunch of assets at the end of [Fiscal Year] '12 in anticipation of capital gains rate changes,” said Rep. Greg Harris, who sponsored the human services budget bill.
House Minority Leader Tom Cross said Republicans do not support the $35.6 billion budget proposal, the bulk of which passed today. He said Republicans had been working on the budget, but Democrats stopped inviting his political party to talks in the last few weeks. “When it comes to spending ... the willingness to work with us goes by the wayside, and that is unfortunate,” Cross said. “Clearly we’re not going in the direction that we need to go if we intend to get our bills paid and if we intend to do away with the tax increase.” Republicans said they saw the budget bills for the first time last night.
While Republicans blasted the spending in the proposal, Harris, who took over the human services budgeting committee this year, said this is the first budget in recent years that will fully fund human services. “We’ve made cuts across the board but we’ve retained funding in core community services such as mental health, substance abuse, homelessness programs,” he said. This year and several other times in recent history, human services agencies have had to come back to the General Assembly midway through the fiscal year and ask for more money to avoid the shutdown of programs. “In other years, they’ve not appropriated for a full year, and they’ve always come back for [supplemental spending bills]. ... We wanted to pass something that was fully reflective of the realities of each department’s need,” he said. “I would say woe betide the department that comes back to us with a supplemental [request] this year.”
The budget does not explicitly include the raises promised to state union workers in a new contract. But personnel costs are provided in lump sums, and each agency is left to figure out how to work in the raises. “What we accounted for was their FY 14 raises, and they way we did that was to give our departments maximum flexibility.” A bill that would appropriate back raises, which Gov. Pat Quinn has said he will now give members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union after earlier freezing them, was not called for a vote in committee today.
Some of the unexpected revenue would be used to immediately pay down nearly $600 million in old human services bills. Harris said many of those payments would be eligible for federal matching funds under Medicaid. Some of the additional revenues were incorporated to the revenue estimate for next fiscal year and will be used to defer cuts to education and corrections. Republicans expressed concerns that the additional revenue projected should not automatically be used to increase spending in the budget. “We were conservative a year ago, and it served us well,” Arlington Heights Republican David Harris said.
Chicago Democratic Rep. Louis Arroyo said that the additional money allowed Democrats to funnel $70 million to the Department of Corrections to prevent the potential closure of more state prisons. “I believe there will be no prisons closing,” Arroyo said in a budget committee hearing this morning. “Corrections is going to be OK.” The House approved a public safety budget sponsored by Arroyo today. Higher education is seeing only a slight drop in funding.
Chicago Democratic Rep. Ken Dunkin said that higher education would avoid the 5 percent cuts the governor called for in his March budget proposal. The extra funds would give "additional breathing room for some of our communities," Dunkin said. The House higher education budget, which was also approved today, calls for the Monetary Award Program, which provides scholarships to low-income students, to be funded at a level slightly less than what Quinn presented in his budget. The program has suffered cuts in recent years.
The House did not approve its K-12 budget, but House Democrats who worked on it say a vote is expected tomorrow. The proposal adds more than $150 million to General State Aid for schools to keep the state's proration at 89 percent of the recommended funding level to schools. The bus transportation budget will be kept at 64 percent of recommended levels for schools. The new budget figures will also keep early childhood education and bilingual education at flat funding, compared to last year's budget.
Illinois House Democrats passed several pieces of their budget today as Republicans bemoaned being cut out of the process.
Both higher education and K-12 will be funded at essentially flat levels, compared to the current fiscal year. Human services would see cuts under the plan, but the outlook is not nearly as gloomy as it seemed just a few weeks ago. Sponsors of the various budget bills say that the situation would have been much bleaker if a windfall of $1.5 billion in unexpected revenues had not come in. “In April, there was a large surge because people sold a bunch of assets at the end of [Fiscal Year] '12 in anticipation of capital gains rate changes,” said Rep. Greg Harris, who sponsored the human services budget bill.
House Minority Leader Tom Cross said Republicans do not support the $35.6 billion budget proposal, the bulk of which passed today. He said Republicans had been working on the budget, but Democrats stopped inviting his political party to talks in the last few weeks. “When it comes to spending ... the willingness to work with us goes by the wayside, and that is unfortunate,” Cross said. “Clearly we’re not going in the direction that we need to go if we intend to get our bills paid and if we intend to do away with the tax increase.” Republicans said they saw the budget bills for the first time last night.
While Republicans blasted the spending in the proposal, Harris, who took over the human services budgeting committee this year, said this is the first budget in recent years that will fully fund human services. “We’ve made cuts across the board but we’ve retained funding in core community services such as mental health, substance abuse, homelessness programs,” he said. This year and several other times in recent history, human services agencies have had to come back to the General Assembly midway through the fiscal year and ask for more money to avoid the shutdown of programs. “In other years, they’ve not appropriated for a full year, and they’ve always come back for [supplemental spending bills]. ... We wanted to pass something that was fully reflective of the realities of each department’s need,” he said. “I would say woe betide the department that comes back to us with a supplemental [request] this year.”
The budget does not explicitly include the raises promised to state union workers in a new contract. But personnel costs are provided in lump sums, and each agency is left to figure out how to work in the raises. “What we accounted for was their FY 14 raises, and they way we did that was to give our departments maximum flexibility.” A bill that would appropriate back raises, which Gov. Pat Quinn has said he will now give members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union after earlier freezing them, was not called for a vote in committee today.
Some of the unexpected revenue would be used to immediately pay down nearly $600 million in old human services bills. Harris said many of those payments would be eligible for federal matching funds under Medicaid. Some of the additional revenues were incorporated to the revenue estimate for next fiscal year and will be used to defer cuts to education and corrections. Republicans expressed concerns that the additional revenue projected should not automatically be used to increase spending in the budget. “We were conservative a year ago, and it served us well,” Arlington Heights Republican David Harris said.
Chicago Democratic Rep. Louis Arroyo said that the additional money allowed Democrats to funnel $70 million to the Department of Corrections to prevent the potential closure of more state prisons. “I believe there will be no prisons closing,” Arroyo said in a budget committee hearing this morning. “Corrections is going to be OK.” The House approved a public safety budget sponsored by Arroyo today. Higher education is seeing only a slight drop in funding.
Chicago Democratic Rep. Ken Dunkin said that higher education would avoid the 5 percent cuts the governor called for in his March budget proposal. The extra funds would give "additional breathing room for some of our communities," Dunkin said. The House higher education budget, which was also approved today, calls for the Monetary Award Program, which provides scholarships to low-income students, to be funded at a level slightly less than what Quinn presented in his budget. The program has suffered cuts in recent years.
The House did not approve its K-12 budget, but House Democrats who worked on it say a vote is expected tomorrow. The proposal adds more than $150 million to General State Aid for schools to keep the state's proration at 89 percent of the recommended funding level to schools. The bus transportation budget will be kept at 64 percent of recommended levels for schools. The new budget figures will also keep early childhood education and bilingual education at flat funding, compared to last year's budget.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Higher education leaders agree to pension cost shift
By Meredith Colias
Representatives from universities and community colleges negotiating with House Speaker Michael Madigan have reluctantly agreed to begin gradually taking over the payments for their employee pension costs.
The plan is for the higher education institutions to start to pay .5 percent of employee pension costs in Fiscal Year 2015, which begins July 1, 2014, and gradually increase that amount by an additional .5 percent increment each year until they fully take over the state’s payment, estimated at between 10 to 11 percent under the new plan.
Madigan is pushing the proposal, saying the state is no longer in a financial position to foot the bill for them. “Whenever one person spends money and another person pays the bill, it’s a bad policy, especially for government,” Madigan said. “They would prefer not to do this, but they all acknowledged in their public testimony that they think proposal is fair,” Madigan said. “They think they can manage it.” The proposed cost shift has been a point of controversy throughout the debate over changes to the pension systems. Republicans have argued that it would lead to layoffs, tuition increases and local property tax increases if it were applied to K-12 schools. Democratic leaders decided to remove the issue from the larger debate and deal with it on its own.
Glenn Poshard, president of Southern Illinois University, said the proposal would require sacrifice on the part of the university, but he said it was more important to show employees that there would still be a reliable source for their pension payment. “We’ll just have to do it, because they deserve stability and security in their pensions system.” Poshard said. “We are willing to go forward,” he said. “We know it is not going to be easy.”
Representatives from community colleges expressed more concerns. “We [will] manage, but it will be difficult. We will do the best we can,” said Tom Ryder, who represents the Illinois Community College Trustees Association. A “free lunch is a good thing if you’re consuming, but not if you’re paying,” he said. “We want to manage our way through it.” Ryder said changes made during negotiations with Madigan, including delaying the start of the shift until 2015 and settling on the .5 percent initial shift, “helps us feel comfortable” with the proposal.
University officials and community colleges called on lawmakers during the committee to fix the Tier II pension system. University employees cannot contribute to Social Security, and some have expressed concern that Tier II pension benefits may not be sufficient enough for them to continue to be exempt from the Social Security system. The worry is that sometime in the future, universities could be forced to pay into Social Security in addition to their pension costs. Some key players in the pension debate have proposed a Tier II fix that would give employees a 401(k)-type plan in addition to their defined benefit plans, but it was not included in either the pension proposal that passed in the House or a different one that passed in the Senate.
Poshard said that looking at the long-term consequences, he is concerned that less state funding and more obligations to pay from the state will force universities to raise tuition costs and price students out of a college education. “There is a plethora of things the state is not funding [anymore],” he said. “I think that’s the road we have been going down,” he said. “If we keep going in this direction, we are just going to privatize public higher education. That’s the meal ticket for the middle class,” he said. “We’re still hopeful that we won’t” end up with Quinn’s proposed 5 percent cuts to higher education, Poshard said after the committee meeting. “If we end up with one or two [percent in cuts from last year's funding instead] we would be happy.” Supporters of the cost shift hope to work out a plan for K-12 schools to also pick up future employee retirement costs. Madigan said today that the House would likely have another hearing on that issue next week.
Representatives from universities and community colleges negotiating with House Speaker Michael Madigan have reluctantly agreed to begin gradually taking over the payments for their employee pension costs.
The plan is for the higher education institutions to start to pay .5 percent of employee pension costs in Fiscal Year 2015, which begins July 1, 2014, and gradually increase that amount by an additional .5 percent increment each year until they fully take over the state’s payment, estimated at between 10 to 11 percent under the new plan.
Madigan is pushing the proposal, saying the state is no longer in a financial position to foot the bill for them. “Whenever one person spends money and another person pays the bill, it’s a bad policy, especially for government,” Madigan said. “They would prefer not to do this, but they all acknowledged in their public testimony that they think proposal is fair,” Madigan said. “They think they can manage it.” The proposed cost shift has been a point of controversy throughout the debate over changes to the pension systems. Republicans have argued that it would lead to layoffs, tuition increases and local property tax increases if it were applied to K-12 schools. Democratic leaders decided to remove the issue from the larger debate and deal with it on its own.
Glenn Poshard, president of Southern Illinois University, said the proposal would require sacrifice on the part of the university, but he said it was more important to show employees that there would still be a reliable source for their pension payment. “We’ll just have to do it, because they deserve stability and security in their pensions system.” Poshard said. “We are willing to go forward,” he said. “We know it is not going to be easy.”
Representatives from community colleges expressed more concerns. “We [will] manage, but it will be difficult. We will do the best we can,” said Tom Ryder, who represents the Illinois Community College Trustees Association. A “free lunch is a good thing if you’re consuming, but not if you’re paying,” he said. “We want to manage our way through it.” Ryder said changes made during negotiations with Madigan, including delaying the start of the shift until 2015 and settling on the .5 percent initial shift, “helps us feel comfortable” with the proposal.
University officials and community colleges called on lawmakers during the committee to fix the Tier II pension system. University employees cannot contribute to Social Security, and some have expressed concern that Tier II pension benefits may not be sufficient enough for them to continue to be exempt from the Social Security system. The worry is that sometime in the future, universities could be forced to pay into Social Security in addition to their pension costs. Some key players in the pension debate have proposed a Tier II fix that would give employees a 401(k)-type plan in addition to their defined benefit plans, but it was not included in either the pension proposal that passed in the House or a different one that passed in the Senate.
Poshard said that looking at the long-term consequences, he is concerned that less state funding and more obligations to pay from the state will force universities to raise tuition costs and price students out of a college education. “There is a plethora of things the state is not funding [anymore],” he said. “I think that’s the road we have been going down,” he said. “If we keep going in this direction, we are just going to privatize public higher education. That’s the meal ticket for the middle class,” he said. “We’re still hopeful that we won’t” end up with Quinn’s proposed 5 percent cuts to higher education, Poshard said after the committee meeting. “If we end up with one or two [percent in cuts from last year's funding instead] we would be happy.” Supporters of the cost shift hope to work out a plan for K-12 schools to also pick up future employee retirement costs. Madigan said today that the House would likely have another hearing on that issue next week.
Thursday, May 09, 2013
Madigan pushes ahead with cost-shift talks
By Meredith Colias
Representatives from public schools, higher education and community colleges testifying before a House committee today warned Speaker Michael Madigan that gradually picking up the cost for their pensions would burden their already strained budgets.
Supporters of a cost shift on pensions are framing the debate as matter of fairness. Chicago Public Schools pays for most of its pension costs, and legislators supporting a cost shift want other districts, as well as public universities and community colleges, to begin to do the same for future retirement costs for employees. Seeing the cost-shift issue as a liability for the state, Madigan said he wanted to push through with a plan. “There has been a full year for everyone to absorb” this notion, he said. “This is going to happen.” Districts outside of Chicago set salaries that determine pension benefits the state has to pay. Madigan said he wants to see “the people that are spending the money pay the bill.”He did not offer specifics on how such a plan might be phased in out over time.
The fear among opponents is that making cash–strapped school districts outside of Chicago pick up the costs for pensions will force districts to lay off more teachers or raise local property taxes if they are not already at their maximum limit in counties with property tax caps. A spokeswoman for Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno, who is opposed to a cost shift, said in a statement that it would “add insult to injury to downstate and suburban school districts and property taxpayers.”
“It changes the game in terms of the school district’s bottom line,” said Mike Jacoby, executive director of the Illinois Association of School Business Officials. Universities taking on pensions of their own might be forced to raise tuition rates. Avijit Ghosh, representing the University of Illinois, said a university pension cost shift would affect its ability to retain high quality faculty and conduct research. “We cannot hide” from the impact of cuts universities would have to make to cover pensions costs, he said. Steve Cunningham of Northern Illinois University said administrators would be willing to work with legislators, but the transition would have to be phased in slowly enough for the university to able to absorb the cost.
Rep. Elaine Nekritz, a Northbrook Democrat, said that if pensions changes such as the plan the House passed last week, becomes law, the cost of future benefits would decrease. Nekrtiz said that SB 1 would also reduce the state’s liability, freeing up money that could be spent on education.
Madigan has said he hopes to get cost shift legislation passed this session, while keeping the plan as a separate proposal from the other pension reform bills the legislature is considering. The cost shift issue helped to sink efforts at pension reform in the final days of spring session last year.
“As much as we would like to think he controls everything around here, there is the necessity of putting 60 votes on something,” Nekrtiz said. “We’ll see whether 60 legislators are willing to support that when it comes up.”
Representatives from public schools, higher education and community colleges testifying before a House committee today warned Speaker Michael Madigan that gradually picking up the cost for their pensions would burden their already strained budgets.
Supporters of a cost shift on pensions are framing the debate as matter of fairness. Chicago Public Schools pays for most of its pension costs, and legislators supporting a cost shift want other districts, as well as public universities and community colleges, to begin to do the same for future retirement costs for employees. Seeing the cost-shift issue as a liability for the state, Madigan said he wanted to push through with a plan. “There has been a full year for everyone to absorb” this notion, he said. “This is going to happen.” Districts outside of Chicago set salaries that determine pension benefits the state has to pay. Madigan said he wants to see “the people that are spending the money pay the bill.”He did not offer specifics on how such a plan might be phased in out over time.
The fear among opponents is that making cash–strapped school districts outside of Chicago pick up the costs for pensions will force districts to lay off more teachers or raise local property taxes if they are not already at their maximum limit in counties with property tax caps. A spokeswoman for Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno, who is opposed to a cost shift, said in a statement that it would “add insult to injury to downstate and suburban school districts and property taxpayers.”
“It changes the game in terms of the school district’s bottom line,” said Mike Jacoby, executive director of the Illinois Association of School Business Officials. Universities taking on pensions of their own might be forced to raise tuition rates. Avijit Ghosh, representing the University of Illinois, said a university pension cost shift would affect its ability to retain high quality faculty and conduct research. “We cannot hide” from the impact of cuts universities would have to make to cover pensions costs, he said. Steve Cunningham of Northern Illinois University said administrators would be willing to work with legislators, but the transition would have to be phased in slowly enough for the university to able to absorb the cost.
Rep. Elaine Nekritz, a Northbrook Democrat, said that if pensions changes such as the plan the House passed last week, becomes law, the cost of future benefits would decrease. Nekrtiz said that SB 1 would also reduce the state’s liability, freeing up money that could be spent on education.
Madigan has said he hopes to get cost shift legislation passed this session, while keeping the plan as a separate proposal from the other pension reform bills the legislature is considering. The cost shift issue helped to sink efforts at pension reform in the final days of spring session last year.
“As much as we would like to think he controls everything around here, there is the necessity of putting 60 votes on something,” Nekrtiz said. “We’ll see whether 60 legislators are willing to support that when it comes up.”
Thursday, March 21, 2013
Universities ask legislators to restore Quinn's proposed cuts
By Meredith Colias
The presidents of four of Illinois' public universities testified today before the Senate Appropriations Committee, hoping to avoid Gov. Pat Quinn's proposed budget cuts for higher education.
The universities said they were operating with growths in enrollment over the past decade, growing costs for employee health care and millions in deferred maintenance, all while facing cuts and delayed payments from the state. In his budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2014, Quinn proposed to further cut 4.9% in state funding for higher education. Al Bowman, president of Illinois State University, said reduced state funding had a direct impact on ISU and the ability of many students seeking a college education. “The impact on affordability is certainly something that we can’t ignore,” he said. He said more money is needed to provide some salary increases and maintenance updates.
The state has only paid about 20 percent of what it owes to public universities at this point, three months from the end of the current fiscal year. Even though the payments are slow coming, Bowman said the payment schedule is predictable and “something we’re able to deal with.”
Recently, Moody’s bond rating agency revised credit ratings for some state universities, including the University of Illinois, the state's largest university system, citing debt concerns and reliance on state funds for their operating budgets.
The U of I, with campuses in Chicago, Urbana-Champaign and Springfield, estimated it would lose $32 million in the next fiscal year under Quinn’s budget. University President Robert Easter said the U of I is still waiting on $480 million in late payments. He said the university hopes to receive flat funding this year instead of the cut in Quinn’s proposed budget.
Several committee members pushed back against some salaries at U of I, noting the university budgeted for a $1.1 million total salary increase for its top 10 officials. “The increase in that could probably pay for three additional faculty members,” said Sen. Michael Hastings, an Orland Hills Democrat. Easter said some of the increased salaries were for medical faculty who are also being compensated for their work in medical facilities. Some of the employees who received raises, including Easter, had moved from temporary status to permanent employment.
Easter said after the committee meeting that the U of I is left to figure out how to continue research and provide quality faculty with a reduction in state funds. The university has had to raise tuition, delay building maintenance and increase class sizes, he said. “Every one of these requires us to recalibrate.”
Governors State University asked lawmakers for additional funding beyond the $24.6 million it received this fiscal year. The university wants $2.5 million for a new building that would house classrooms. However, President Elaine Maimon said administrators would be glad just to avoid Quinn’s proposed reduction. “We requested a modest increase in the budget because we need it. However, we would be really pleased with a flat budget,” she told committee members. She said the school limited the freshman class that they plan to admit in 2014 and would like to be able to expand admission in the future. “Even with all we are doing to increase enrollment ... we really believe that if you could give us a flat budget, we could manage all of this and make the state proud of us."
The president of Southern Illinois University, Glenn Poshard, said his university needed to continue to be able to provide a college education to students from more impoverished areas of the state. He spoke of the growing difficulty for families in southern Illinois to send their kids to college, due in part to the historic rise in tuition rates.
Poshard said regional disparities in income and K-12 education leave many students not as academically prepared to attend college or as financially stable as students from more affluent areas. “The other Illinois struggles to make ends meet,” Poshard said. “Illinois’ prosperity here is uneven and declining.”
He said for an average family in southern Illinois, the cost of in-state tuition for a single student was about half of the family’s annual income. The affordability gap “risks pricing students out of post-secondary education,” he said. SIU expects to see a $10 million decline in funds from the state in the next fiscal year. Poshard said the state has paid about 21 percent, or $42.8 million, of the $204 million it owes the university the current fiscal year.
The presidents of four of Illinois' public universities testified today before the Senate Appropriations Committee, hoping to avoid Gov. Pat Quinn's proposed budget cuts for higher education.
The universities said they were operating with growths in enrollment over the past decade, growing costs for employee health care and millions in deferred maintenance, all while facing cuts and delayed payments from the state. In his budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2014, Quinn proposed to further cut 4.9% in state funding for higher education. Al Bowman, president of Illinois State University, said reduced state funding had a direct impact on ISU and the ability of many students seeking a college education. “The impact on affordability is certainly something that we can’t ignore,” he said. He said more money is needed to provide some salary increases and maintenance updates.
The state has only paid about 20 percent of what it owes to public universities at this point, three months from the end of the current fiscal year. Even though the payments are slow coming, Bowman said the payment schedule is predictable and “something we’re able to deal with.”
Recently, Moody’s bond rating agency revised credit ratings for some state universities, including the University of Illinois, the state's largest university system, citing debt concerns and reliance on state funds for their operating budgets.
The U of I, with campuses in Chicago, Urbana-Champaign and Springfield, estimated it would lose $32 million in the next fiscal year under Quinn’s budget. University President Robert Easter said the U of I is still waiting on $480 million in late payments. He said the university hopes to receive flat funding this year instead of the cut in Quinn’s proposed budget.
Several committee members pushed back against some salaries at U of I, noting the university budgeted for a $1.1 million total salary increase for its top 10 officials. “The increase in that could probably pay for three additional faculty members,” said Sen. Michael Hastings, an Orland Hills Democrat. Easter said some of the increased salaries were for medical faculty who are also being compensated for their work in medical facilities. Some of the employees who received raises, including Easter, had moved from temporary status to permanent employment.
Easter said after the committee meeting that the U of I is left to figure out how to continue research and provide quality faculty with a reduction in state funds. The university has had to raise tuition, delay building maintenance and increase class sizes, he said. “Every one of these requires us to recalibrate.”
Governors State University asked lawmakers for additional funding beyond the $24.6 million it received this fiscal year. The university wants $2.5 million for a new building that would house classrooms. However, President Elaine Maimon said administrators would be glad just to avoid Quinn’s proposed reduction. “We requested a modest increase in the budget because we need it. However, we would be really pleased with a flat budget,” she told committee members. She said the school limited the freshman class that they plan to admit in 2014 and would like to be able to expand admission in the future. “Even with all we are doing to increase enrollment ... we really believe that if you could give us a flat budget, we could manage all of this and make the state proud of us."
The president of Southern Illinois University, Glenn Poshard, said his university needed to continue to be able to provide a college education to students from more impoverished areas of the state. He spoke of the growing difficulty for families in southern Illinois to send their kids to college, due in part to the historic rise in tuition rates.
Poshard said regional disparities in income and K-12 education leave many students not as academically prepared to attend college or as financially stable as students from more affluent areas. “The other Illinois struggles to make ends meet,” Poshard said. “Illinois’ prosperity here is uneven and declining.”
He said for an average family in southern Illinois, the cost of in-state tuition for a single student was about half of the family’s annual income. The affordability gap “risks pricing students out of post-secondary education,” he said. SIU expects to see a $10 million decline in funds from the state in the next fiscal year. Poshard said the state has paid about 21 percent, or $42.8 million, of the $204 million it owes the university the current fiscal year.
Thursday, March 14, 2013
Eastern Illinois University looking for flat funding
By Meredith Colias
After Gov. Pat Quinn asked for a 5 percent reduction in higher education spending, the first university to appeal to lawmakers during the budgeting process asked to avoid cuts.
For the past several years, funding for higher education has remained both static and slow in coming. The state delayed higher education payments owed to universities because it did not have the money to immediately pay them. Universities have been waiting in line for payments, as have K-12 schools, Medicaid providers and vendors that provided services to Illinois. With this in mind, Eastern Illinois University’s president, William Perry, said he came to the Capitol attempting to show good faith by asking to keep the university’s general state funding at the same level as last year, about $44 million.
Eastern is also asking for $80 million in capital funding to build a science center on campus. Perry said the university increased student fees to cover some of the construction costs. This request was not included in Gov. Quinn’s proposed budget, according to his office.
Perry said the university is trying to control its own costs by reducing some administrative positions. He also noted that students voluntarily increased some campus fees to raise money for a portion of the proposed building’s estimated cost. He said EIU has simply worked around the state’s delayed payments and that its first priority was continuing to offer its degree opportunities to students in a tightening fiscal climate. “The quality of our programs has not been diminished, so we’re managing it,” he said. Perry said the university had to pre-plan for some uncertainty with various sources of funding. “As with any state agency, you do what you can with where you are, and if state funding goes down, we’ll figure out a way to work with it and manage it,” he said.
The committee’s chairman, Sen. Dan Kotowski, a Park Ridge Democrat, said he was grateful the university “did their homework” and did not ask for extra appropriations from the state budget. “Unfortunately, we're in a really difficult position financially,” he said. "We are going to do our best to make sure that [avoiding cuts] happens. Education can't keep taking these hits that it has,” he said. “What is realistic is the level of support for funding, a stable level of funding for education."
Sen. Chapin Rose, a Mahomet Republican, said the pension issue was a "missing" piece to the discussion that would crowd out funding for items such as higher education if not properly addressed. “To be brutally honest, if the pension payment keeps going up … each year, it’s not just higher education, it’s everything [facing cuts],” he said.
After Gov. Pat Quinn asked for a 5 percent reduction in higher education spending, the first university to appeal to lawmakers during the budgeting process asked to avoid cuts.
For the past several years, funding for higher education has remained both static and slow in coming. The state delayed higher education payments owed to universities because it did not have the money to immediately pay them. Universities have been waiting in line for payments, as have K-12 schools, Medicaid providers and vendors that provided services to Illinois. With this in mind, Eastern Illinois University’s president, William Perry, said he came to the Capitol attempting to show good faith by asking to keep the university’s general state funding at the same level as last year, about $44 million.
Eastern is also asking for $80 million in capital funding to build a science center on campus. Perry said the university increased student fees to cover some of the construction costs. This request was not included in Gov. Quinn’s proposed budget, according to his office.
Perry said the university is trying to control its own costs by reducing some administrative positions. He also noted that students voluntarily increased some campus fees to raise money for a portion of the proposed building’s estimated cost. He said EIU has simply worked around the state’s delayed payments and that its first priority was continuing to offer its degree opportunities to students in a tightening fiscal climate. “The quality of our programs has not been diminished, so we’re managing it,” he said. Perry said the university had to pre-plan for some uncertainty with various sources of funding. “As with any state agency, you do what you can with where you are, and if state funding goes down, we’ll figure out a way to work with it and manage it,” he said.
The committee’s chairman, Sen. Dan Kotowski, a Park Ridge Democrat, said he was grateful the university “did their homework” and did not ask for extra appropriations from the state budget. “Unfortunately, we're in a really difficult position financially,” he said. "We are going to do our best to make sure that [avoiding cuts] happens. Education can't keep taking these hits that it has,” he said. “What is realistic is the level of support for funding, a stable level of funding for education."
Sen. Chapin Rose, a Mahomet Republican, said the pension issue was a "missing" piece to the discussion that would crowd out funding for items such as higher education if not properly addressed. “To be brutally honest, if the pension payment keeps going up … each year, it’s not just higher education, it’s everything [facing cuts],” he said.
Wednesday, March 06, 2013
Quinn pushes pension changes in somber budget speech
By Jamey Dunn
Gov. Pat Quinn laid out some concepts for changes to the state's underfunded pension systems in a budget that he says is the “most difficult” he has presented to lawmakers. However, the House has already decided that when a final budget is enacted, it will contain less spending than Quinn’s plan.
“This is the most difficult budget that I have ever submitted to you,” Quinn said in his budget address today. “But this is also an honest budget that reflects our fiscal challenges, pays down the backlog of bills and addresses funds that have been under-appropriated for too long, There are no gimmicks or fake numbers in this budget,” He said the difficulty was a product of the legislature’s “inaction on pension reform.”
Pension Changes
Quinn took a stern tone when calling on lawmakers to pass a pension proposal that would change benefits for state workers, teachers outside of Chicago and university and community college employees. “Today, our budget is being squeezed more than ever, and that will continue until we put a stop to it. The most important thing we can do to repair Illinois finances right now is to reform our public pension systems,” Quinn said. “ We all know that we must reform the Illinois public pension systems. So, members of the General Assembly, what are you waiting for?”
Quinn said he was willing to work with lawmakers, but he emphasized that there is only so much he can do. “I stand ready to sign comprehensive pension reform immediately. Today. But I cannot sign what I do not have on my desk. The people of Illinois need your immediate action.”
“I thought he was pretty firm in his tone,” said House Minority Leader Tom Cross. He likened Quinn’s address to a parent giving a lecture. “His tone was fairly strong, and I think he focused on where he need to on the need to reform the pensions system. It is the issue of the day. ... I think he was right in making that the focus of his speech. I agree with him.” Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno said that she “agreed with the governor” that it is “time to vote” on changes to the pension system. However, she said it was unfair of Quinn to lay the blame on lawmakers. “Most of the work that has been done on pensions has come out of the General Assembly, and not out of the governor’s office,” she said.
Union leaders said that creating an impression that the only choices out there are deep education cuts or reductions to retiree benefits is dishonest. “It is unfair for Gov. Quinn to present this false choice between pensions or pencils. Springfield lawmakers created the massive pension debt by skipping payments and borrowing more. To call that debt an education expense is not only a gimmick, but an insult to teachers everywhere. We are not to blame, and our students shouldn't suffer,” Illinois Federation of Teachers President Dan Montgomery said in a prepared statement.
Quinn laid out some concepts that he said should be part of a pension reform plan. He said he wants a funding guarantee that would require the state to make the annual contribution to the pension systems. He also wants money that is currently being used to pay off pension bonds, which were issued to make past payments, to go toward the unfunded liability once the bonds have been paid off. Such a move would direct almost $1 billion annually to the liability once the bonds expire in 2020. He said the plan should include an increased pension contribution from employees, but he did not give a specific figure on the increase. He also called for a freeze on cost of living adjustments for “those with higher pensions.” He called the current 3 percent compounded COLAs “unsustainable for taxpayers.”
Quinn also said lawmakers should “consider additional solutions to break the gridlock.” He said he would support a gaming bill with “tough ethical standards” and a ban on campaign contributions from casino operators. He has vetoed two gaming bills that he said did not have strong enough protections against corruption. Quinn has demanded for some time now that any money from gambling expansion be spent on education, but for the first time, today he brought up the idea of using gaming revenues on pension costs. “Any enhancement that we enact to gaming revenues this year should be dedicated to education, which could include teachers' pensions.”
Senate President John Cullerton said he plans to push members of his chamber to present pension reform proposals. “This reality reinforces why pension reform remains my top priority this session. For that reason. I have notified all pension reform Senate sponsors to present their bills before the Senate Executive Committee within a week,” Cullerton said in a prepared statement. “I am also working to identify new revenue sources for education and priority programs. I believe that a gaming plan that is structured to address the ethical and regulatory concerns of Governor Quinn can be part of a new revenue mix. I look forward to working with each caucus to advance more solutions for our funding shortfall.” A Senate committee approved a gaming bill after Quinn’s speech. According estimates from Senate Democrats, the proposal could bring in $200 million to $400 million in revenue for schools, more than $50 million each year for pension costs and almost more than $300 million in upfront licensing fees that could be spent on overdue bills. The plan calls for a ban on campaign contributions from gaming licensees. The proposal is also a massive expansion that would create five new casinos, allow slot machines at horse racing tracks and airports and create an online gambling system under the Illinois Lottery. Under the so-called i-gaming proposal, residents could bet online. In the past, Quinn has recoiled at large expansions. A spokesperson said that he is “reviewing” the proposal.
Northbrook Democratic Rep. Elaine Nekrtiz, who has been spearheading the pension issue in her chamber, said: “There’s a lot of finger pointing and blame game going on in this whole discussion, and we just need to stop all that and just get about the business of solving it.” She said she thinks that has happened in the House, where she and Cross have presented legislation. She noted that the changes Quinn said he would like to see in the pensions systems are in that plan. “Those are the pieces that are in the Cross-Nekritz bill. By no means are they in every proposal out there. I was very pleased to see that.”
Cuts
Quinn is proposing a $400 million cut to education, which includes K-12 and higher education. Under the proposal, K-12 spending would be cut by more than $275 million. The bulk of the reduction would fall on general state aid to schools, which would be reduced by $150 million. General aid was cut by $161 million under the current state budget. Higher education would take an $83 million hit. In his speech, Quinn did not focus on the details of what the reductions would mean for schools.
Children’s advocates were disappointed with the proposal. “Gov. Quinn’s budget proposal demonstrates that Illinois’ fiscal crisis is far from over and that children, families and communities continue to pay the price for a history of unwise fiscal decisions made by our elected officials. Nearly every area of the budget that impacts children has been subject to deep cuts over the past few years,” Gaylord Gieseke, president of Voices for Illinois Children, said in a prepared statement.
Quinn's plan would not cut early childhood education or Monetary Assistance Program (MAP) grants for low-income college students.
But the cuts may be even deeper in the plan that is ultimately approved by lawmakers because Quinn and the House started their budget planning from two different points. The governor’s budget office estimated the state would have $35.6 billion to spend, but the House yesterday approved a resolution intended to cap spending at $35.08 billion. Quinn’s plan also calls for lawmakers to reassess automatic transfers out of the General Revenue Fund “Our revenue estimates are based on real numbers. ... They’re based on facts. They’re based on evidence. They’re cautious numbers. They take a pragmatic and reasonable approach, and I don’t know where the governor’s numbers come from,” said Marion Democratic Rep. John Bradley, who chairs the committee that produced the House’s estimate.
Quinn’s budget staff said he plans to call on lawmakers to scrutinize money that is automatically transferred out of the General Revenue Fund before the budgeting battle begins. The largest transfer distributes income-tax revenues to local governments. Other transfers are spent on mass transit or are the result of budget deals made in past years. “We haven’t even considered that,” Bradley said. “When you talk about the transfers out, what you’re really talking about is the local government distributive fund. Fifty percent of the transfers out go to local governments, and the other [large] percentage of that goes to mass transit, both upstate and downstate. So that’s going to be a fight between him and the city of Chicago, and Cook County and all the local municipalities throughout the state.”
The idea has been floated in the past by Senate Democrats, and some support it again this year. “Nobody wants to see a $400 million reduction in education. ... We can’t let that happen,” said Park Ridge Democratic Sen. Dan Kotowski, who chairs a Senate budgeting committee. “People come to our state for a number of reasons, not just because we have good roads, because we have great schools. No business in their right mind will want to come to the state of Illinois if we don’t fund education at the level it should be funded. If we were to tell people out there in the general public that there’s $1 billion that’s out there that’s automatically spent, and it's not reviewed, and it doesn’t face the same kind of scrutiny as education, health care, human services and public safety, people would say, ‘That’s crazy.’ Well it is. And it needs to be fixed. It’s wrong. It’s broken.”
Gov. Pat Quinn laid out some concepts for changes to the state's underfunded pension systems in a budget that he says is the “most difficult” he has presented to lawmakers. However, the House has already decided that when a final budget is enacted, it will contain less spending than Quinn’s plan.
“This is the most difficult budget that I have ever submitted to you,” Quinn said in his budget address today. “But this is also an honest budget that reflects our fiscal challenges, pays down the backlog of bills and addresses funds that have been under-appropriated for too long, There are no gimmicks or fake numbers in this budget,” He said the difficulty was a product of the legislature’s “inaction on pension reform.”
Pension Changes
Quinn took a stern tone when calling on lawmakers to pass a pension proposal that would change benefits for state workers, teachers outside of Chicago and university and community college employees. “Today, our budget is being squeezed more than ever, and that will continue until we put a stop to it. The most important thing we can do to repair Illinois finances right now is to reform our public pension systems,” Quinn said. “ We all know that we must reform the Illinois public pension systems. So, members of the General Assembly, what are you waiting for?”
Quinn said he was willing to work with lawmakers, but he emphasized that there is only so much he can do. “I stand ready to sign comprehensive pension reform immediately. Today. But I cannot sign what I do not have on my desk. The people of Illinois need your immediate action.”
“I thought he was pretty firm in his tone,” said House Minority Leader Tom Cross. He likened Quinn’s address to a parent giving a lecture. “His tone was fairly strong, and I think he focused on where he need to on the need to reform the pensions system. It is the issue of the day. ... I think he was right in making that the focus of his speech. I agree with him.” Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno said that she “agreed with the governor” that it is “time to vote” on changes to the pension system. However, she said it was unfair of Quinn to lay the blame on lawmakers. “Most of the work that has been done on pensions has come out of the General Assembly, and not out of the governor’s office,” she said.
Union leaders said that creating an impression that the only choices out there are deep education cuts or reductions to retiree benefits is dishonest. “It is unfair for Gov. Quinn to present this false choice between pensions or pencils. Springfield lawmakers created the massive pension debt by skipping payments and borrowing more. To call that debt an education expense is not only a gimmick, but an insult to teachers everywhere. We are not to blame, and our students shouldn't suffer,” Illinois Federation of Teachers President Dan Montgomery said in a prepared statement.
Quinn laid out some concepts that he said should be part of a pension reform plan. He said he wants a funding guarantee that would require the state to make the annual contribution to the pension systems. He also wants money that is currently being used to pay off pension bonds, which were issued to make past payments, to go toward the unfunded liability once the bonds have been paid off. Such a move would direct almost $1 billion annually to the liability once the bonds expire in 2020. He said the plan should include an increased pension contribution from employees, but he did not give a specific figure on the increase. He also called for a freeze on cost of living adjustments for “those with higher pensions.” He called the current 3 percent compounded COLAs “unsustainable for taxpayers.”
Quinn also said lawmakers should “consider additional solutions to break the gridlock.” He said he would support a gaming bill with “tough ethical standards” and a ban on campaign contributions from casino operators. He has vetoed two gaming bills that he said did not have strong enough protections against corruption. Quinn has demanded for some time now that any money from gambling expansion be spent on education, but for the first time, today he brought up the idea of using gaming revenues on pension costs. “Any enhancement that we enact to gaming revenues this year should be dedicated to education, which could include teachers' pensions.”
Senate President John Cullerton said he plans to push members of his chamber to present pension reform proposals. “This reality reinforces why pension reform remains my top priority this session. For that reason. I have notified all pension reform Senate sponsors to present their bills before the Senate Executive Committee within a week,” Cullerton said in a prepared statement. “I am also working to identify new revenue sources for education and priority programs. I believe that a gaming plan that is structured to address the ethical and regulatory concerns of Governor Quinn can be part of a new revenue mix. I look forward to working with each caucus to advance more solutions for our funding shortfall.” A Senate committee approved a gaming bill after Quinn’s speech. According estimates from Senate Democrats, the proposal could bring in $200 million to $400 million in revenue for schools, more than $50 million each year for pension costs and almost more than $300 million in upfront licensing fees that could be spent on overdue bills. The plan calls for a ban on campaign contributions from gaming licensees. The proposal is also a massive expansion that would create five new casinos, allow slot machines at horse racing tracks and airports and create an online gambling system under the Illinois Lottery. Under the so-called i-gaming proposal, residents could bet online. In the past, Quinn has recoiled at large expansions. A spokesperson said that he is “reviewing” the proposal.
Northbrook Democratic Rep. Elaine Nekrtiz, who has been spearheading the pension issue in her chamber, said: “There’s a lot of finger pointing and blame game going on in this whole discussion, and we just need to stop all that and just get about the business of solving it.” She said she thinks that has happened in the House, where she and Cross have presented legislation. She noted that the changes Quinn said he would like to see in the pensions systems are in that plan. “Those are the pieces that are in the Cross-Nekritz bill. By no means are they in every proposal out there. I was very pleased to see that.”
Cuts
Quinn is proposing a $400 million cut to education, which includes K-12 and higher education. Under the proposal, K-12 spending would be cut by more than $275 million. The bulk of the reduction would fall on general state aid to schools, which would be reduced by $150 million. General aid was cut by $161 million under the current state budget. Higher education would take an $83 million hit. In his speech, Quinn did not focus on the details of what the reductions would mean for schools.
Children’s advocates were disappointed with the proposal. “Gov. Quinn’s budget proposal demonstrates that Illinois’ fiscal crisis is far from over and that children, families and communities continue to pay the price for a history of unwise fiscal decisions made by our elected officials. Nearly every area of the budget that impacts children has been subject to deep cuts over the past few years,” Gaylord Gieseke, president of Voices for Illinois Children, said in a prepared statement.
Quinn's plan would not cut early childhood education or Monetary Assistance Program (MAP) grants for low-income college students.
But the cuts may be even deeper in the plan that is ultimately approved by lawmakers because Quinn and the House started their budget planning from two different points. The governor’s budget office estimated the state would have $35.6 billion to spend, but the House yesterday approved a resolution intended to cap spending at $35.08 billion. Quinn’s plan also calls for lawmakers to reassess automatic transfers out of the General Revenue Fund “Our revenue estimates are based on real numbers. ... They’re based on facts. They’re based on evidence. They’re cautious numbers. They take a pragmatic and reasonable approach, and I don’t know where the governor’s numbers come from,” said Marion Democratic Rep. John Bradley, who chairs the committee that produced the House’s estimate.
Quinn’s budget staff said he plans to call on lawmakers to scrutinize money that is automatically transferred out of the General Revenue Fund before the budgeting battle begins. The largest transfer distributes income-tax revenues to local governments. Other transfers are spent on mass transit or are the result of budget deals made in past years. “We haven’t even considered that,” Bradley said. “When you talk about the transfers out, what you’re really talking about is the local government distributive fund. Fifty percent of the transfers out go to local governments, and the other [large] percentage of that goes to mass transit, both upstate and downstate. So that’s going to be a fight between him and the city of Chicago, and Cook County and all the local municipalities throughout the state.”
The idea has been floated in the past by Senate Democrats, and some support it again this year. “Nobody wants to see a $400 million reduction in education. ... We can’t let that happen,” said Park Ridge Democratic Sen. Dan Kotowski, who chairs a Senate budgeting committee. “People come to our state for a number of reasons, not just because we have good roads, because we have great schools. No business in their right mind will want to come to the state of Illinois if we don’t fund education at the level it should be funded. If we were to tell people out there in the general public that there’s $1 billion that’s out there that’s automatically spent, and it's not reviewed, and it doesn’t face the same kind of scrutiny as education, health care, human services and public safety, people would say, ‘That’s crazy.’ Well it is. And it needs to be fixed. It’s wrong. It’s broken.”
Tuesday, March 05, 2013
Quinn to propose education cuts and pension changes
By Jamey Dunn with Meredith Colias contributing
In his budget proposal tomorrow, Gov. Pat Quinn is expected to lay out substantial cuts to education and press lawmakers for changes to public employee pensions.
“This is a difficult budget. It holds the line on spending and reflects the state’s fiscal challenges. This budget doesn’t propose any new taxes fees or programs. It’s an honest budget that’s based on actual costs, and continues to eliminate gimmicks. This budget is a direct result of the inaction on stabilizing the pensions,” Jack Lavin, Quinn’s chief of staff, said at a briefing for reporters this evening. Quinn plans to propose a nearly $400 million cut education. CORRECTION: Quinn's budget staff gave this figure as a cut to K-12. They later revised that statement to cover all education, including higher ed.) General State Aid to schools would be reduced by $150 million. Quinn also plans to call for cuts to transportation funding. Funding for higher education would be reduced by almost 5 percent. Early childhood education and Monetary Awards Program (MAP) grants for low-income college students would be safe from cuts. “Here we have a series of reductions that the governor does not want to do. These are outside of his vision of where we ought to be as a society. These reductions are a direct result of no action on pension reform,” said Jerry Stermer, director of Quinn’s budget office.
Quinn’s general revenue estimate of $35.6 billion comes in higher than the $35.08 billion that the House approved today. The House's number is based on analysis from the bipartisan legislative Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. Quinn's budget calls for a total of $62.4 billion, including federal revenue and spending from other funds, but the bulk of the appropriation process focuses on general revenue. Quinn’s budget is predicated on the idea that lawmakers would get on board with taking some money that is typically automatically transferred out of the General Revenue Fund (GRF) before the budget battle each year and instead toss it into the appropriations process. Quinn’s representatives at a budget briefing this evening said he does not intend to make specific suggestions about which transfers to tap into but will instead call upon lawmakers to assess all of the transfers out on an annual basis. “It is an autopilot kind of an appropriation. It just goes by itself without an annual review by the General Assembly. … It just goes out the door,” Stermer said. “All of those dollars in FY 13 are on autopilot, according to existing statutes. The only way you can make a change is to change the statute.”
The largest transfer, more than $1 billion, is of income tax revenues that are funneled to local governments based on their populations. In 2011, Quinn proposed delaying payments to local governments as part of a plan to cut some of the backlog of unpaid bills. That plan was met with vocal opposition and lobbying from local mayors and was quickly dropped. A budget plan that Senate Republicans proposed that same year called for a $300 million cut to revenues shared with local governments.
Stermer said one fund at the Department of Revenue has a surplus that will be automatically dumped into the GRF at the start of the next fiscal year. “So that’s $150 million that COGFA did not account for.”
The budget calls for reducing the backlog by $2 billion over the current fiscal year and Fiscal Year 2014. The governor’s budget projection estimates the backlog, which is now more than $8 billion, will be $6.8 billion by the end of FY 14.
Quinn spokeswoman Brooke Anderson said the governor does not plan to propose billions in borrowing to pay down the backlog, an idea he has advocated in the past. However, she said, “He will propose a way to pay down the bills faster,” although she declined to share details. “We’ll leave that” for tomorrow’s budget address, she said.
In his budget proposal tomorrow, Gov. Pat Quinn is expected to lay out substantial cuts to education and press lawmakers for changes to public employee pensions.
“This is a difficult budget. It holds the line on spending and reflects the state’s fiscal challenges. This budget doesn’t propose any new taxes fees or programs. It’s an honest budget that’s based on actual costs, and continues to eliminate gimmicks. This budget is a direct result of the inaction on stabilizing the pensions,” Jack Lavin, Quinn’s chief of staff, said at a briefing for reporters this evening. Quinn plans to propose a nearly $400 million cut education. CORRECTION: Quinn's budget staff gave this figure as a cut to K-12. They later revised that statement to cover all education, including higher ed.) General State Aid to schools would be reduced by $150 million. Quinn also plans to call for cuts to transportation funding. Funding for higher education would be reduced by almost 5 percent. Early childhood education and Monetary Awards Program (MAP) grants for low-income college students would be safe from cuts. “Here we have a series of reductions that the governor does not want to do. These are outside of his vision of where we ought to be as a society. These reductions are a direct result of no action on pension reform,” said Jerry Stermer, director of Quinn’s budget office.
Quinn’s general revenue estimate of $35.6 billion comes in higher than the $35.08 billion that the House approved today. The House's number is based on analysis from the bipartisan legislative Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. Quinn's budget calls for a total of $62.4 billion, including federal revenue and spending from other funds, but the bulk of the appropriation process focuses on general revenue. Quinn’s budget is predicated on the idea that lawmakers would get on board with taking some money that is typically automatically transferred out of the General Revenue Fund (GRF) before the budget battle each year and instead toss it into the appropriations process. Quinn’s representatives at a budget briefing this evening said he does not intend to make specific suggestions about which transfers to tap into but will instead call upon lawmakers to assess all of the transfers out on an annual basis. “It is an autopilot kind of an appropriation. It just goes by itself without an annual review by the General Assembly. … It just goes out the door,” Stermer said. “All of those dollars in FY 13 are on autopilot, according to existing statutes. The only way you can make a change is to change the statute.”
The largest transfer, more than $1 billion, is of income tax revenues that are funneled to local governments based on their populations. In 2011, Quinn proposed delaying payments to local governments as part of a plan to cut some of the backlog of unpaid bills. That plan was met with vocal opposition and lobbying from local mayors and was quickly dropped. A budget plan that Senate Republicans proposed that same year called for a $300 million cut to revenues shared with local governments.
Stermer said one fund at the Department of Revenue has a surplus that will be automatically dumped into the GRF at the start of the next fiscal year. “So that’s $150 million that COGFA did not account for.”
The budget calls for reducing the backlog by $2 billion over the current fiscal year and Fiscal Year 2014. The governor’s budget projection estimates the backlog, which is now more than $8 billion, will be $6.8 billion by the end of FY 14.
Quinn spokeswoman Brooke Anderson said the governor does not plan to propose billions in borrowing to pay down the backlog, an idea he has advocated in the past. However, she said, “He will propose a way to pay down the bills faster,” although she declined to share details. “We’ll leave that” for tomorrow’s budget address, she said.
Friday, September 28, 2012
Study: Public research universities increased tuition while reducing per-student spending
By Jamey Dunn
Yet another study warning about state cuts to public universities came out this week, and Illinois was in the top 10 list of the worst offenders.
The National Science Board, which oversees the National Science Foundation and advises the federal government, published a study this week that focused on funding at the country’s 101 major public research universities. Between 2002 and 2010, per-pupil spending declined by an average of 20 percent nationwide. Illinois’ spending declined by 37 percent, which was the fourth largest decline in per- student spending. Colorado topped the list with a 48 percent decline in per-student spending. Only seven states did not decrease per pupil spending over the same time period.
In Illinois, state funding reductions and tuition increases have been the norm for higher education in recent years. Public research universities — including the state’s three schools, University of Illinois campuses in Urbana and Chicago and Southern Illinois University Carbondale — took an $80 million hit in the current fiscal year budget. U of I, the state’s largest university system, saw the biggest cut. The university system, which also included the University of Illinois at Springfield, sustained a $42.5 million reduction in state funding. Spending on day-to-day operations increased by 3.7 percent under the U of I’s current budget, but the state’s share of the spending went down.
Illinois has also been slow to make payments to schools. According the SIU President Glenn Poshard, The state still owes SIU, which also has a campus in Edwardsville, $54 million from the fiscal year that ended in June. Poshard said that the state is already behind on its payment for the current fiscal year as well.
Students who started at SIUC and the U of I this fall saw a 4.8 percent tuition increase. State law requires that tuition be fixed over four years for incoming freshman. U of I officials say the increase is comparable to 1.9 percent annual increase over four years, and that they plan to keep tuition increases tied to inflation to avoid big jumps. In 2011, before that policy announcement, tuition jumped by 6.9 percent.
The Science Board study found the trend in tuition increases repeated across the country. Over the last decade, students have been asked to pay more while universities in turn spent less per student. “In recent years, public research universities have raised tuition and fees at rates that have exceeded inflation and rates of increase at private universities, in part due to declining state appropriations.” Between in 1999 and 2009, tuition revenue from full-time students at public research schools increased by 50 percent.
John Koropchak, vice chancellor for research at SIUC, is not surprised by the results of the study. “Accounting for inflation, state support in the state of Illinois has dropped by about 27 percent in the last decade," he said. “Pretty much nationwide, state universities have seen a dramatic drop in support for public higher education.” He said other recent reports on funding for research schools have had similar results.
The Science Board report warns that if public schools lose their competiveness when it comes to recruiting, faculty and staff and fighting it out for research grants and contracts, it could have a negative impact on their surrounding communities. “Reductions in revenue of public research universities and gaps in salary between public and private research universities have the potential to lead to an outflow of talent at public research universities and reduced research capacity. These could result in greater concentration of talent and [research and development] in fewer geographical locations, and at fewer universities, with smaller and less diverse student bodies. This could have a substantial impact on economic and workforce development at the local, state, and national levels.” The prediction is especially alarming for a school like SIUC, which a major employer and economic driver in the region. “For the most part for the southern half of the state, there’s only one research university, and that’s us. That’s SIU,” Koropchak said.
He added, “There is some indication that there is a tendency right now for the private universities to be, in a sense, cherry picking the best faculty away from the public universities.” Koropchak said when institutions lose faculty it hurts also student recruitment because many graduate students are recruited by specific faculty members.
Koropchak said that research universities are also concerned about cuts on the federal level. He said that about $80 million of SIUC’s external budget comes on the form of government grants and contracts with industry, and some of that money is in danger. “These federal programs are projected to have something like 10 percent reductions in their budgets.” He said SIUC, along with most other research universities, is pushing for more collaboration with private industry in the form of research contracts. While such funding has increased in recent years, he said that the public perception that the private sector is filling the gap left by government cuts might be overblown. “It is still a pretty small fraction of most research universities’ portfolios.”
While many university officials in Illinois seem resigned to the fact that state higher education spending will probably not see a significant increase in the short term, Koropchak said there are things that can be done at the state level to increase the competitiveness of Illinois’ research universities. He suggests a statewide council with representatives from the research arms of the three schools. Such a group could help schools collaborate on research projects bringing together multiple niche experts to tackle a larger project, such as water conservation. He said that an open channel to joint research would allow the three schools to bring perspectives from different geographic locations of the state to address a statewide issue, or allot for fresh eyes on a regional problem.
Koropchak believes the idea would help all three schools become more competitive when seeking federal grants and contracts. He points to similar entities in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania. “I think the more collaboration we have between the different research universities, the better we are going to take advantage of the assets that we have.”
Yet another study warning about state cuts to public universities came out this week, and Illinois was in the top 10 list of the worst offenders.
The National Science Board, which oversees the National Science Foundation and advises the federal government, published a study this week that focused on funding at the country’s 101 major public research universities. Between 2002 and 2010, per-pupil spending declined by an average of 20 percent nationwide. Illinois’ spending declined by 37 percent, which was the fourth largest decline in per- student spending. Colorado topped the list with a 48 percent decline in per-student spending. Only seven states did not decrease per pupil spending over the same time period.
In Illinois, state funding reductions and tuition increases have been the norm for higher education in recent years. Public research universities — including the state’s three schools, University of Illinois campuses in Urbana and Chicago and Southern Illinois University Carbondale — took an $80 million hit in the current fiscal year budget. U of I, the state’s largest university system, saw the biggest cut. The university system, which also included the University of Illinois at Springfield, sustained a $42.5 million reduction in state funding. Spending on day-to-day operations increased by 3.7 percent under the U of I’s current budget, but the state’s share of the spending went down.
Illinois has also been slow to make payments to schools. According the SIU President Glenn Poshard, The state still owes SIU, which also has a campus in Edwardsville, $54 million from the fiscal year that ended in June. Poshard said that the state is already behind on its payment for the current fiscal year as well.
Students who started at SIUC and the U of I this fall saw a 4.8 percent tuition increase. State law requires that tuition be fixed over four years for incoming freshman. U of I officials say the increase is comparable to 1.9 percent annual increase over four years, and that they plan to keep tuition increases tied to inflation to avoid big jumps. In 2011, before that policy announcement, tuition jumped by 6.9 percent.
The Science Board study found the trend in tuition increases repeated across the country. Over the last decade, students have been asked to pay more while universities in turn spent less per student. “In recent years, public research universities have raised tuition and fees at rates that have exceeded inflation and rates of increase at private universities, in part due to declining state appropriations.” Between in 1999 and 2009, tuition revenue from full-time students at public research schools increased by 50 percent.
John Koropchak, vice chancellor for research at SIUC, is not surprised by the results of the study. “Accounting for inflation, state support in the state of Illinois has dropped by about 27 percent in the last decade," he said. “Pretty much nationwide, state universities have seen a dramatic drop in support for public higher education.” He said other recent reports on funding for research schools have had similar results.
The Science Board report warns that if public schools lose their competiveness when it comes to recruiting, faculty and staff and fighting it out for research grants and contracts, it could have a negative impact on their surrounding communities. “Reductions in revenue of public research universities and gaps in salary between public and private research universities have the potential to lead to an outflow of talent at public research universities and reduced research capacity. These could result in greater concentration of talent and [research and development] in fewer geographical locations, and at fewer universities, with smaller and less diverse student bodies. This could have a substantial impact on economic and workforce development at the local, state, and national levels.” The prediction is especially alarming for a school like SIUC, which a major employer and economic driver in the region. “For the most part for the southern half of the state, there’s only one research university, and that’s us. That’s SIU,” Koropchak said.
He added, “There is some indication that there is a tendency right now for the private universities to be, in a sense, cherry picking the best faculty away from the public universities.” Koropchak said when institutions lose faculty it hurts also student recruitment because many graduate students are recruited by specific faculty members.
Koropchak said that research universities are also concerned about cuts on the federal level. He said that about $80 million of SIUC’s external budget comes on the form of government grants and contracts with industry, and some of that money is in danger. “These federal programs are projected to have something like 10 percent reductions in their budgets.” He said SIUC, along with most other research universities, is pushing for more collaboration with private industry in the form of research contracts. While such funding has increased in recent years, he said that the public perception that the private sector is filling the gap left by government cuts might be overblown. “It is still a pretty small fraction of most research universities’ portfolios.”
While many university officials in Illinois seem resigned to the fact that state higher education spending will probably not see a significant increase in the short term, Koropchak said there are things that can be done at the state level to increase the competitiveness of Illinois’ research universities. He suggests a statewide council with representatives from the research arms of the three schools. Such a group could help schools collaborate on research projects bringing together multiple niche experts to tackle a larger project, such as water conservation. He said that an open channel to joint research would allow the three schools to bring perspectives from different geographic locations of the state to address a statewide issue, or allot for fresh eyes on a regional problem.
Koropchak believes the idea would help all three schools become more competitive when seeking federal grants and contracts. He points to similar entities in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania. “I think the more collaboration we have between the different research universities, the better we are going to take advantage of the assets that we have.”
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Quinn signs law ending legislative scholarships
By Jamey Dunn
Gov. Pat Quinn signed a bill today eliminating legislative scholarships, as federal investigators appear to be pushing forward on a probe of the scandal-ridden program.
“It’s a very good day for Illinois. It’s a very good day for reform. It’s a good day for the taxpayers of our state. It’s a good day for education and for students who work hard and do their very best in order to try and get a scholarship that they deserve,” Quinn said at a bill signing event in Chicago today.
The program, which lets all members of the General Assembly hand out tuition waivers for state universities to students in their districts, has been under fire for years. Reports have surfaced of lawmakers giving the waivers to children of the politically connected or to students living outside of their districts. “I can understand if it happens once, might be a mistake. Twice? May be a mistake. But we are beginning to see a pattern, a trend, and that’s a problem,” said Rep. Fred Crespo, a sponsor of House Bill 3810. Because of allegations of corruption in the program, many lawmakers have opted not to give out the scholarships. Others call on independent panels to award them.
Lawmakers will no longer be able to hand out the waivers starting September 1. Students who have already been chosen to get the waivers for the upcoming school year will still receive them.
The newest development in the ongoing story of potential abuses of the program came yesterday when the Chicago Sun-Times reported that then-U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s office issued a subpoena in June to Sen. Annazette Collins for records related to her awarding of scholarships over her more than a decade-long stint in the General Assembly. The Sun-Times reported in March that Collins had awarded scholarships to students who used her home as their place of residence for the applications, while other documentation showed their residences as being outside of Collins’ district. Collins has denied any wrongdoing through her lawyer. Collins lost her primary election bid last February.
“Everyone has to follow the rules. So if there have been any rules that have been broken, they have to pay the consequences,” Quinn said today when asked about Collins. Prosecutors have also sought information about the scholarship program from the State Board of Education.
“Legislative scholarships are a perfect example of a program created with the best of intentions and then sadly hijacked by a small band of craven lawmakers with the worst of intentions,” said Andy Shaw, president and chief operating officer of the Better Government Association. “This is not about depriving needy students of educational opportunities. This is about depriving greedy lawmakers of unethical patronage opportunities.”
Crespo, a Hoffman Estates Democrat, said that while the program is often called a scholarship program, the cost is actually passed on to the universities. “We call this the legislative scholarship. It is not a scholarship. It’s a tuition waiver. A scholarship means that there is money or funding behind it. There was never any funding for this,” he said at today’s bill signing. Crespo said the program cost universities $13.5 million last year. “What does that mean for the state colleges? They need to cover that cost somehow. Consequently, I’m pretty sure the tuition for some of the paying students had to cover this privilege for state legislators.”
However, supporters of the program say it is an equitable and inexpensive way to make sure that financial assistance is spread throughout the state. “This is not a significant cost to the universities,” said Rep. Jim Sacia, who has local superintendents choose the students who receive waivers in his district. “What a shame that some of our colleagues have abused this system. This is one of the finest opportunities for young people out there. It gives kids the opportunity to go [to college] who don’t have the financial wherewithal,” Sacia, a Pecatonica Republican, said when the House voted to end the program.
But Shaw said the message sent by ending the program is more substantial than the savings. “This involves a very small amount of money in the scheme of things, less than $15 million a year, but it sends a very big symbolic message that better government is indeed possible in the state of Illinois.”
The new law also calls for a task force to scrutinize all waivers handed out by universities, which totaled $414 million last year. Such waivers are handed out for a variety of reasons, such as to graduate students who work in exchange for some or all of their tuition costs. Critics say that such waivers are handed out with little oversight and come at the expense of paying students. Those opposed to eliminating legislative waivers said the program should have gone through the same vetting under the task force as other waivers will face. “It’s almost [putting] the cart before the horse that we have this commission to take a look at scholarship waivers and at the same time abolish this program. Why not wait until we get findings that will determine the legitimacy of this program?” said Maywood Democratic Sen. Kimberly Lightford.
Gov. Pat Quinn signed a bill today eliminating legislative scholarships, as federal investigators appear to be pushing forward on a probe of the scandal-ridden program.
“It’s a very good day for Illinois. It’s a very good day for reform. It’s a good day for the taxpayers of our state. It’s a good day for education and for students who work hard and do their very best in order to try and get a scholarship that they deserve,” Quinn said at a bill signing event in Chicago today.
The program, which lets all members of the General Assembly hand out tuition waivers for state universities to students in their districts, has been under fire for years. Reports have surfaced of lawmakers giving the waivers to children of the politically connected or to students living outside of their districts. “I can understand if it happens once, might be a mistake. Twice? May be a mistake. But we are beginning to see a pattern, a trend, and that’s a problem,” said Rep. Fred Crespo, a sponsor of House Bill 3810. Because of allegations of corruption in the program, many lawmakers have opted not to give out the scholarships. Others call on independent panels to award them.
Lawmakers will no longer be able to hand out the waivers starting September 1. Students who have already been chosen to get the waivers for the upcoming school year will still receive them.
The newest development in the ongoing story of potential abuses of the program came yesterday when the Chicago Sun-Times reported that then-U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald’s office issued a subpoena in June to Sen. Annazette Collins for records related to her awarding of scholarships over her more than a decade-long stint in the General Assembly. The Sun-Times reported in March that Collins had awarded scholarships to students who used her home as their place of residence for the applications, while other documentation showed their residences as being outside of Collins’ district. Collins has denied any wrongdoing through her lawyer. Collins lost her primary election bid last February.
“Everyone has to follow the rules. So if there have been any rules that have been broken, they have to pay the consequences,” Quinn said today when asked about Collins. Prosecutors have also sought information about the scholarship program from the State Board of Education.
“Legislative scholarships are a perfect example of a program created with the best of intentions and then sadly hijacked by a small band of craven lawmakers with the worst of intentions,” said Andy Shaw, president and chief operating officer of the Better Government Association. “This is not about depriving needy students of educational opportunities. This is about depriving greedy lawmakers of unethical patronage opportunities.”
Crespo, a Hoffman Estates Democrat, said that while the program is often called a scholarship program, the cost is actually passed on to the universities. “We call this the legislative scholarship. It is not a scholarship. It’s a tuition waiver. A scholarship means that there is money or funding behind it. There was never any funding for this,” he said at today’s bill signing. Crespo said the program cost universities $13.5 million last year. “What does that mean for the state colleges? They need to cover that cost somehow. Consequently, I’m pretty sure the tuition for some of the paying students had to cover this privilege for state legislators.”
However, supporters of the program say it is an equitable and inexpensive way to make sure that financial assistance is spread throughout the state. “This is not a significant cost to the universities,” said Rep. Jim Sacia, who has local superintendents choose the students who receive waivers in his district. “What a shame that some of our colleagues have abused this system. This is one of the finest opportunities for young people out there. It gives kids the opportunity to go [to college] who don’t have the financial wherewithal,” Sacia, a Pecatonica Republican, said when the House voted to end the program.
But Shaw said the message sent by ending the program is more substantial than the savings. “This involves a very small amount of money in the scheme of things, less than $15 million a year, but it sends a very big symbolic message that better government is indeed possible in the state of Illinois.”
The new law also calls for a task force to scrutinize all waivers handed out by universities, which totaled $414 million last year. Such waivers are handed out for a variety of reasons, such as to graduate students who work in exchange for some or all of their tuition costs. Critics say that such waivers are handed out with little oversight and come at the expense of paying students. Those opposed to eliminating legislative waivers said the program should have gone through the same vetting under the task force as other waivers will face. “It’s almost [putting] the cart before the horse that we have this commission to take a look at scholarship waivers and at the same time abolish this program. Why not wait until we get findings that will determine the legitimacy of this program?” said Maywood Democratic Sen. Kimberly Lightford.
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Republicans balk at pension cost shift
By Jamey Dunn
Supporters of pension reform legislation approved by a House committee today say they want to see the bill called for floor vote. However, it may be difficult for them to find the support needed to pass the plan.
A House committee today approved Senate Bill 1673. Under the plan, state employees and others would have to choose between trading their current cost of living adjustments (COLAs) for less generous increases that would not kick in for five years after retirement or until age 67, or keeping their current COLAs but losing access to state health insurance. Employees who opt to keep the current 3 percent compounding interest COLA also would not have any future raises counted in figuring pension benefits. Retirees also would have to choose between their COLAs and their health care. The bill would apply to teachers outside of the Chicago Public Schools system, state employees, university employees, legislators and state officials. It would not apply to judges. House Speaker Michael Madigan said that judges are not included in the plan because some judges would likely have to rule on its constitutionality. He said if judges benefits were reduced under the measure, it would set up a conflict of interest for any judge who may have to rule on the plan in the future.
Union officials say that state workers, teachers and university employees faithfully made contributions to the retirement systems while the state skipped its pension payments. They argue that the bill violates a constitutional protection of pension benefits. Supporters of the plan say offering workers a choice allows the bill to pass constitutional muster. “This bill seeks to take from … workers their already hard earned and already paid for benefits in the guise of reform. I don’t think this bill is pension reform. I think it’s theft of earned benefits used to pay the state’s bills,” said Dan Montgomery, president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers. “It fails the constitutional test. … There’s no free choice here but a coercive dilemma where public servants choose between harm on the one hand or more harm on the other.”
Supporters argue that changes must be made to ensure that the pension system remains solvent for future retirees. “There are those that contend that the talk of disaster in our pension fund is just talk, that it would frankly never happen. I can tell you they are dead wrong,” said Rep. Elaine Nekritz, a Northbrook Democrat. Nekritz said that reducing the amount the state must spend on pensions would ease pressure on Illinois’ strained budget and free up money to spend in other areas, such as education and human services. “With this change, we can move away from being a financial laughing stock,”
However, some Republicans said that they cannot support a bill that would push costs onto local school districts that have been coping with state budget cuts in recent years. The measure would require school districts outside of Chicago to pick up the state’s portion of pension costs moving forward, but the change would be phased in gradually over years. The state would still be responsible for the unfunded liability already incurred. Beginning in 2013, colleges and school districts would pay an additional 1 percent of payroll cost into the pension system for six years. After that, they would pay an additional half a percent until they reach the point of covering all costs. They would also take on the liability if pension investments fail to perform as expected.
While the bill did not come up for a vote in the full House, some drama and shouting ensued on the House floor today as Republicans tried to push an amendment to the floor that would have taken the cost shift to schools out of the bill. House Minority Leader Tom Cross pointed to bipartisan efforts made in the House to pass Medicaid reform and work toward balancing the state’s budget. But Cross said that pension reform is a different story. “I had the false sense and hope that we were going to actually do something on pensions, a collaborative effort,” Cross said. Cross accused Madigan of inserting the “poison pill” of the cost shift in the bill to kill it because he says Madigan wants to stall on scaling pensions back for teachers until after the November election. “It became clear over the last couple of days that he was going to go down a route that reminded me of the old days of Mike Madigan. No more collaboration. No more bipartisanship,” Cross said. “And the biggest issue of the day, the biggest liability the state’s ever seen — we’re on the verge of getting it done, and he says: ‘No more. I’ve got a different idea. Take it or leave it.’”
Democrats used House rules to block Republicans efforts to have the amendment heard. “Total power in one person's hands is not the American way,” shouted Rep. Mike Bost, a Murphysboro Republican.
Madigan said that most in the chamber recognize that the state’s pension system is “financially unsustainable” and has to be changed and characterized the situation as one of simple disagreement. He warned that lawmakers should not get “swept up in the emotion of the minute.” “There’s a lot of frustration here in the House of Representatives and the General Assembly. We experience it all the time on a whole variety of issues — frustration, tension, interaction with different personalities pursuing different agendas. That’s life in the General Assembly. That’s life in the House of Representatives,” Madigan said. “Many people have worked on the question of pension changes, pension reform, for several several weeks — I being one of them. I’ve adopted a certain position on pension changes. Some of you agree with me; some of you don’t. That’s what happens here legitimately, and that’s what should happen. That’s why we come here. That’s why we’re sent here.”
Madigan added: “But it doesn’t serve any purpose to let our frustration and our disappointment get away with us. It doesn’t help. We have several major issues to get resolved before we end the session. I plan to work deliberatively on all of those issues. I don’t plan to issue any threats.”
Nekritz, who served on a pension working group, said she does not understand how Cross can oppose the cost shift to local school districts but not the shift to universities and community colleges. Cross’ amendment would only have eliminated the cost shift to K-12 schools. “I don’t quite understand how they can draw a distinction.” Update: According to a spokeswoman for Cross, he plans to file another amendment that would remove the cost shift to universities and community colleges. She said said of SB 1673: “It would still be my hope that we would move forward. It’s still the right public policy.”
“Our hopes are to pass the bill,” said Madigan spokesman Steve Brown. Brown said the speaker is giving groups that support the bill time to lobby House members. Neither Nekritz nor Brown wanted to discuss what would happen if the bill were not approved. “I feel so committed to this [proposal] that I don’t know what the Plan B might be,” Nekritz said. “I would encourage people to focus on Plan A,” Brown said.
Supporters of pension reform legislation approved by a House committee today say they want to see the bill called for floor vote. However, it may be difficult for them to find the support needed to pass the plan.
A House committee today approved Senate Bill 1673. Under the plan, state employees and others would have to choose between trading their current cost of living adjustments (COLAs) for less generous increases that would not kick in for five years after retirement or until age 67, or keeping their current COLAs but losing access to state health insurance. Employees who opt to keep the current 3 percent compounding interest COLA also would not have any future raises counted in figuring pension benefits. Retirees also would have to choose between their COLAs and their health care. The bill would apply to teachers outside of the Chicago Public Schools system, state employees, university employees, legislators and state officials. It would not apply to judges. House Speaker Michael Madigan said that judges are not included in the plan because some judges would likely have to rule on its constitutionality. He said if judges benefits were reduced under the measure, it would set up a conflict of interest for any judge who may have to rule on the plan in the future.
Union officials say that state workers, teachers and university employees faithfully made contributions to the retirement systems while the state skipped its pension payments. They argue that the bill violates a constitutional protection of pension benefits. Supporters of the plan say offering workers a choice allows the bill to pass constitutional muster. “This bill seeks to take from … workers their already hard earned and already paid for benefits in the guise of reform. I don’t think this bill is pension reform. I think it’s theft of earned benefits used to pay the state’s bills,” said Dan Montgomery, president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers. “It fails the constitutional test. … There’s no free choice here but a coercive dilemma where public servants choose between harm on the one hand or more harm on the other.”
Supporters argue that changes must be made to ensure that the pension system remains solvent for future retirees. “There are those that contend that the talk of disaster in our pension fund is just talk, that it would frankly never happen. I can tell you they are dead wrong,” said Rep. Elaine Nekritz, a Northbrook Democrat. Nekritz said that reducing the amount the state must spend on pensions would ease pressure on Illinois’ strained budget and free up money to spend in other areas, such as education and human services. “With this change, we can move away from being a financial laughing stock,”
However, some Republicans said that they cannot support a bill that would push costs onto local school districts that have been coping with state budget cuts in recent years. The measure would require school districts outside of Chicago to pick up the state’s portion of pension costs moving forward, but the change would be phased in gradually over years. The state would still be responsible for the unfunded liability already incurred. Beginning in 2013, colleges and school districts would pay an additional 1 percent of payroll cost into the pension system for six years. After that, they would pay an additional half a percent until they reach the point of covering all costs. They would also take on the liability if pension investments fail to perform as expected.
While the bill did not come up for a vote in the full House, some drama and shouting ensued on the House floor today as Republicans tried to push an amendment to the floor that would have taken the cost shift to schools out of the bill. House Minority Leader Tom Cross pointed to bipartisan efforts made in the House to pass Medicaid reform and work toward balancing the state’s budget. But Cross said that pension reform is a different story. “I had the false sense and hope that we were going to actually do something on pensions, a collaborative effort,” Cross said. Cross accused Madigan of inserting the “poison pill” of the cost shift in the bill to kill it because he says Madigan wants to stall on scaling pensions back for teachers until after the November election. “It became clear over the last couple of days that he was going to go down a route that reminded me of the old days of Mike Madigan. No more collaboration. No more bipartisanship,” Cross said. “And the biggest issue of the day, the biggest liability the state’s ever seen — we’re on the verge of getting it done, and he says: ‘No more. I’ve got a different idea. Take it or leave it.’”
Democrats used House rules to block Republicans efforts to have the amendment heard. “Total power in one person's hands is not the American way,” shouted Rep. Mike Bost, a Murphysboro Republican.
Madigan said that most in the chamber recognize that the state’s pension system is “financially unsustainable” and has to be changed and characterized the situation as one of simple disagreement. He warned that lawmakers should not get “swept up in the emotion of the minute.” “There’s a lot of frustration here in the House of Representatives and the General Assembly. We experience it all the time on a whole variety of issues — frustration, tension, interaction with different personalities pursuing different agendas. That’s life in the General Assembly. That’s life in the House of Representatives,” Madigan said. “Many people have worked on the question of pension changes, pension reform, for several several weeks — I being one of them. I’ve adopted a certain position on pension changes. Some of you agree with me; some of you don’t. That’s what happens here legitimately, and that’s what should happen. That’s why we come here. That’s why we’re sent here.”
Madigan added: “But it doesn’t serve any purpose to let our frustration and our disappointment get away with us. It doesn’t help. We have several major issues to get resolved before we end the session. I plan to work deliberatively on all of those issues. I don’t plan to issue any threats.”
Nekritz, who served on a pension working group, said she does not understand how Cross can oppose the cost shift to local school districts but not the shift to universities and community colleges. Cross’ amendment would only have eliminated the cost shift to K-12 schools. “I don’t quite understand how they can draw a distinction.” Update: According to a spokeswoman for Cross, he plans to file another amendment that would remove the cost shift to universities and community colleges. She said said of SB 1673: “It would still be my hope that we would move forward. It’s still the right public policy.”
“Our hopes are to pass the bill,” said Madigan spokesman Steve Brown. Brown said the speaker is giving groups that support the bill time to lobby House members. Neither Nekritz nor Brown wanted to discuss what would happen if the bill were not approved. “I feel so committed to this [proposal] that I don’t know what the Plan B might be,” Nekritz said. “I would encourage people to focus on Plan A,” Brown said.
Cross to Madigan: Take cost shift out of pension reform
By Jamey Dunn
A plan to reform most of the state’s pensions systems appears to have hit a snag.
House Republican Leader Tom Cross says he cannot support Senate Bill 1673 because it would shift pension costs to local school districts, universities and community colleges. “I support a pension reform bill, not a [cost] shift,” Cross said. “Let’s do a pension bill, not a shifting bill.” Cross filed an amendment (Amendment 4) that he says would take the cost shift out of the bill. Update: Republican's tried to get Cross' amendment pushed out onto the floor for a vote
Amendment 3 of the bill, which passed a House committee this morning, would require school districts outside of Chicago to pick up the state’s costs moving forward, but the change would be phased in gradually over years. The state would still be responsible for the unfunded liability already incurred. Beginning in 2013, colleges and school districts would pay an additional 1 percent of payroll cost into the pension system for six years. After that, they would pay an additional half a percent until they reach the point of covering all costs. They would also take on the liability if pension investments fail to perform as expected.
The proposal would also require employees to choose between trading their current cost of living adjustments (COLAs) for less generous increases that would not kick in for five years after retirement or until age 67, or keeping their current COLAs but losing access to state health care. Employees who chose to keep the current COLA also would not have any future raises counted in figuring pension benefits. The measure would apply to teachers outside of the Chicago Public School system, state employees, university employees, legislators and state officials. It would not apply to judges.
Some Republican committee members and one Democrat said they would not support the bill because it is unclear how much schools would have to pay under the plan. Opponents said that there was not time for lawmakers to figure out how the proposal would affect their local school districts or get feedback from school officials. “How do I get input from my local school districts?” asked Rep. Karen May, a Highland Park Democrat.
But Speaker Michael Madigan, who sponsored the amendment, said that it is lawmakers' job to look out for state government, which is facing substantial budget challenges. “Service this year in the General Assembly is not for the faint of heart,” Madigan told the committee.
Cross said the shift would result in “uncertainty” for school districts and “that nobody knows how to quantify … their potential liability.” He added: “If you take out the shift, we can pass a pension bill. There [will] be no delay, and we can move forward and put it on the governor’s desk. And we’re willing to do that today, if [Madigan] will take out the shift.” But Cross said he thinks Madigan is running a bill that he knows will not get enough support to pass. “It really begs the question, what’s the speaker up to and is he really serious about pension reform?” He said Madigan is trying to avoid passing a bill that would reduce benefits for teachers. “He told me three weeks ago he didn’t want to do teachers,” Cross said. “So this is his way to not address the teacher problem.”
“There were a lot of hurdles to pension reform. … It’s very complicated, very convoluted,” Madigan said. “We’re just attempting to move forward with a very difficult piece of legislation.” He said of Republicans who did not support the bill: “I think they are concerned with the shift of the normal cost to the local school districts. My view, what we’re saying is, that the people that are spending the money ought to be responsible for paying the bills.”
A plan to reform most of the state’s pensions systems appears to have hit a snag.
House Republican Leader Tom Cross says he cannot support Senate Bill 1673 because it would shift pension costs to local school districts, universities and community colleges. “I support a pension reform bill, not a [cost] shift,” Cross said. “Let’s do a pension bill, not a shifting bill.” Cross filed an amendment (Amendment 4) that he says would take the cost shift out of the bill. Update: Republican's tried to get Cross' amendment pushed out onto the floor for a vote
Amendment 3 of the bill, which passed a House committee this morning, would require school districts outside of Chicago to pick up the state’s costs moving forward, but the change would be phased in gradually over years. The state would still be responsible for the unfunded liability already incurred. Beginning in 2013, colleges and school districts would pay an additional 1 percent of payroll cost into the pension system for six years. After that, they would pay an additional half a percent until they reach the point of covering all costs. They would also take on the liability if pension investments fail to perform as expected.
The proposal would also require employees to choose between trading their current cost of living adjustments (COLAs) for less generous increases that would not kick in for five years after retirement or until age 67, or keeping their current COLAs but losing access to state health care. Employees who chose to keep the current COLA also would not have any future raises counted in figuring pension benefits. The measure would apply to teachers outside of the Chicago Public School system, state employees, university employees, legislators and state officials. It would not apply to judges.
Some Republican committee members and one Democrat said they would not support the bill because it is unclear how much schools would have to pay under the plan. Opponents said that there was not time for lawmakers to figure out how the proposal would affect their local school districts or get feedback from school officials. “How do I get input from my local school districts?” asked Rep. Karen May, a Highland Park Democrat.
But Speaker Michael Madigan, who sponsored the amendment, said that it is lawmakers' job to look out for state government, which is facing substantial budget challenges. “Service this year in the General Assembly is not for the faint of heart,” Madigan told the committee.
Cross said the shift would result in “uncertainty” for school districts and “that nobody knows how to quantify … their potential liability.” He added: “If you take out the shift, we can pass a pension bill. There [will] be no delay, and we can move forward and put it on the governor’s desk. And we’re willing to do that today, if [Madigan] will take out the shift.” But Cross said he thinks Madigan is running a bill that he knows will not get enough support to pass. “It really begs the question, what’s the speaker up to and is he really serious about pension reform?” He said Madigan is trying to avoid passing a bill that would reduce benefits for teachers. “He told me three weeks ago he didn’t want to do teachers,” Cross said. “So this is his way to not address the teacher problem.”
“There were a lot of hurdles to pension reform. … It’s very complicated, very convoluted,” Madigan said. “We’re just attempting to move forward with a very difficult piece of legislation.” He said of Republicans who did not support the bill: “I think they are concerned with the shift of the normal cost to the local school districts. My view, what we’re saying is, that the people that are spending the money ought to be responsible for paying the bills.”
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
Cullerton reverses support for legislative scholarships
By Jamey Dunn
After pressure from lawmakers and years of public scrutiny, Senate President John Cullerton is sponsoring a bill to end the legislative scholarship program.
Cullerton said he had hoped the program could be reformed. But after the majority of the Senate signed on to a bill to eliminate the program, he said he decided to move ahead with the idea. “There have been some abuses of the program, and yet a lot of young people have received scholarships and benefited from that,” he said. However, Cullerton said that the issue is becoming too great of a distraction during a legislative session when lawmakers hope to reform the state’s Medicaid and pension systems. Calls to end the legislative scholarship program, which allows lawmakers to hand out tuition waivers for state universities to students in their districts, came after reports of lawmakers awarding waivers to the children of politically connected individuals or campaign contributors.
House Bill 3810 was approved by a Senate committee today with Cullerton as a lead sponsor. The measure, which passed in the House, has an added provision. Cullerton is calling for a task force to study all tuition fees and waivers doled out by state universities. “Many people have questioned whether or not there should be some standards applied to those. … because they cost the state a lot of money.” Cullerton said about $356 million in such waivers are given out annually. Legislative scholarships account for $13.5 million of that total.
House Minority Leader Christine Radogno said that lawmakers should scrutinize such waivers because they allow some students to avoid paying a portion of tuition and fees while other must pay the full cost. “In addition to the abuses, though — and I understand that not all of the [legislative] scholarships have been abused — we have to understand that this is a cost shift,” Radogno said. “It is high time we do it.” The bill would not apply to the 2012-2013 school year, but no new waivers would be handed out after September. “Some people have already started the process of awarding the scholarships,” Cullerton explained.
Opponents say the program gives opportunities to students who might not otherwise have the chance to go to college. “I’m not glad to see this happen,” said Maywood Democratic Sen. Kimberly Lightford.“I think it’s a travesty for education in the state of Illinois.” Lightford said the program ensures that financial help for higher education is being evenly distributed across the state, since the waivers can be doled out in each legislative district. “I believe the General Assembly scholarship program was fair. It was consistent across the state.” She said lawmakers should wait to hear what the proposed task force says about the legislative program before deciding to abolish it.
After pressure from lawmakers and years of public scrutiny, Senate President John Cullerton is sponsoring a bill to end the legislative scholarship program.
Cullerton said he had hoped the program could be reformed. But after the majority of the Senate signed on to a bill to eliminate the program, he said he decided to move ahead with the idea. “There have been some abuses of the program, and yet a lot of young people have received scholarships and benefited from that,” he said. However, Cullerton said that the issue is becoming too great of a distraction during a legislative session when lawmakers hope to reform the state’s Medicaid and pension systems. Calls to end the legislative scholarship program, which allows lawmakers to hand out tuition waivers for state universities to students in their districts, came after reports of lawmakers awarding waivers to the children of politically connected individuals or campaign contributors.
House Bill 3810 was approved by a Senate committee today with Cullerton as a lead sponsor. The measure, which passed in the House, has an added provision. Cullerton is calling for a task force to study all tuition fees and waivers doled out by state universities. “Many people have questioned whether or not there should be some standards applied to those. … because they cost the state a lot of money.” Cullerton said about $356 million in such waivers are given out annually. Legislative scholarships account for $13.5 million of that total.
House Minority Leader Christine Radogno said that lawmakers should scrutinize such waivers because they allow some students to avoid paying a portion of tuition and fees while other must pay the full cost. “In addition to the abuses, though — and I understand that not all of the [legislative] scholarships have been abused — we have to understand that this is a cost shift,” Radogno said. “It is high time we do it.” The bill would not apply to the 2012-2013 school year, but no new waivers would be handed out after September. “Some people have already started the process of awarding the scholarships,” Cullerton explained.
Opponents say the program gives opportunities to students who might not otherwise have the chance to go to college. “I’m not glad to see this happen,” said Maywood Democratic Sen. Kimberly Lightford.“I think it’s a travesty for education in the state of Illinois.” Lightford said the program ensures that financial help for higher education is being evenly distributed across the state, since the waivers can be doled out in each legislative district. “I believe the General Assembly scholarship program was fair. It was consistent across the state.” She said lawmakers should wait to hear what the proposed task force says about the legislative program before deciding to abolish it.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
University of Illinois president to step down
By Jamey Dunn
Almost a month after several high-profile faculty members called for his resignation, University of Illinois President Michael Hogan has decided to step aside.
The university announced today that Hogan will step down July 1, when Robert Easter, a long time University of Illinois employee and current interim vice chancellor for research on the Urbana-Champaign campus, is slated to take his place. A news release from the U of I said that after he resigns from the presidency, Hogan plans to continue working for the university as a tenured professor.
“It has been a distinct honor and privilege to serve as president of the University of Illinois,” Hogan said in a prepared statement. “While the university has faced some significant organizational and budgetary challenges over the past several years, we have initiated the reforms necessary to modernize and streamline our business functions and redirect the savings to academic purposes. The underpinnings of this great institution are sound." Hogan took the job at U of I in 2010 after then-President B. Joseph White resigned as part of the fallout from an admissions scandal. Before coming to Illinois, Hogan was president of the University of Connecticut.
The news of Hogan’s resignation comes after the U of I Board of Trustees received a letter in February signed by more than 125 of the university’s faculty members calling for Hogan to resign. Several endowed professors, a Nobel Prize winner and a Pulitzer Prize winner were among those who signed the letter. “We wish to state for the record that we have no confidence in Michael J. Hogan as president of this university. In our view he lacks the values, commitments, management style, ethics, and even manners, needed to lead this university, and his presidency should be ended at the earliest opportunity,” the letter said.
The faculty members said Hogan should step down because, among other issues, he used bullying tactics when dealing with university administrators and “exempted himself and those who immediately serve him from the financial discipline to which the rest of this University has been subject in times of frozen salaries and tight budgets.” Hogan was criticized by legislators and others for his more-than-$600,000 salary and additional perks that came with his job.
Hogan came under fire last January when his chief of staff, Lisa Troyer, resigned amid allegations that she posed as a member of the faculty Senate in emails that seemed intended to influence the group’s debate. She denied those allegations. The university later announced that Troyer would work as a faculty member in the Department of Psychology. Hogan has denied any involvement with the fraudulent emails, but the faculty letter chastised him for a “failure of ethical leadership” in the incident.
Christopher Kennedy, president of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees, said in a letter to U of I faculty and staff announcing Hogan’s resignation: “President Hogan joined the university at a very challenging time, when it had just weathered a long and very public controversy around admissions and enrollment practices, had major gaps in the administrative team, and was under such significant financial constraint that furloughs and salary freezes were required. Th board sought out a reform-minded leader and was glad to find Mike Hogan, a veteran and accomplished educational leader with a distinguished record, who was committed to carrying out an exhaustive mandate of change with a sense of necessary urgency." Kennedy touted some of Hogan’s accomplishments during his short time in the office, including budget cuts and efficiencies that Kennedy said resulted in $30 million in annually recurring savings. “It has not been easy. Some of what Mike Hogan was compelled to do was not popular, but he did what this University needed over the past 20 months, and we thank him for his hard work, perseverance and achievement.”
The Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees is scheduled to meet tomorrow to vote on the terms of Hogan’s resignation and to appoint Easter as president-designate. The full board is expected to vote on both actions during its May 31 meeting.
Easter has worked on the Urbana-Champaign campus for 36 years. He started there as a doctoral student. He was dean of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Science for seven years and later served as interim provost for the campus and also served as interim chancellor. He was appointed to his current post as interim vice chancellor of research last October.
Kennedy said the board thought the next president should be “a proven administrator with a track record of collaboration and success within our university.” Easter said in a written statement that he plans to “move forward energetically and collaboratively with an agenda that reaffirms the University of Illinois’ special place among the very best of institutions of higher learning in the United States.
Almost a month after several high-profile faculty members called for his resignation, University of Illinois President Michael Hogan has decided to step aside.
The university announced today that Hogan will step down July 1, when Robert Easter, a long time University of Illinois employee and current interim vice chancellor for research on the Urbana-Champaign campus, is slated to take his place. A news release from the U of I said that after he resigns from the presidency, Hogan plans to continue working for the university as a tenured professor.
“It has been a distinct honor and privilege to serve as president of the University of Illinois,” Hogan said in a prepared statement. “While the university has faced some significant organizational and budgetary challenges over the past several years, we have initiated the reforms necessary to modernize and streamline our business functions and redirect the savings to academic purposes. The underpinnings of this great institution are sound." Hogan took the job at U of I in 2010 after then-President B. Joseph White resigned as part of the fallout from an admissions scandal. Before coming to Illinois, Hogan was president of the University of Connecticut.
The news of Hogan’s resignation comes after the U of I Board of Trustees received a letter in February signed by more than 125 of the university’s faculty members calling for Hogan to resign. Several endowed professors, a Nobel Prize winner and a Pulitzer Prize winner were among those who signed the letter. “We wish to state for the record that we have no confidence in Michael J. Hogan as president of this university. In our view he lacks the values, commitments, management style, ethics, and even manners, needed to lead this university, and his presidency should be ended at the earliest opportunity,” the letter said.
The faculty members said Hogan should step down because, among other issues, he used bullying tactics when dealing with university administrators and “exempted himself and those who immediately serve him from the financial discipline to which the rest of this University has been subject in times of frozen salaries and tight budgets.” Hogan was criticized by legislators and others for his more-than-$600,000 salary and additional perks that came with his job.
Hogan came under fire last January when his chief of staff, Lisa Troyer, resigned amid allegations that she posed as a member of the faculty Senate in emails that seemed intended to influence the group’s debate. She denied those allegations. The university later announced that Troyer would work as a faculty member in the Department of Psychology. Hogan has denied any involvement with the fraudulent emails, but the faculty letter chastised him for a “failure of ethical leadership” in the incident.
Christopher Kennedy, president of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees, said in a letter to U of I faculty and staff announcing Hogan’s resignation: “President Hogan joined the university at a very challenging time, when it had just weathered a long and very public controversy around admissions and enrollment practices, had major gaps in the administrative team, and was under such significant financial constraint that furloughs and salary freezes were required. Th board sought out a reform-minded leader and was glad to find Mike Hogan, a veteran and accomplished educational leader with a distinguished record, who was committed to carrying out an exhaustive mandate of change with a sense of necessary urgency." Kennedy touted some of Hogan’s accomplishments during his short time in the office, including budget cuts and efficiencies that Kennedy said resulted in $30 million in annually recurring savings. “It has not been easy. Some of what Mike Hogan was compelled to do was not popular, but he did what this University needed over the past 20 months, and we thank him for his hard work, perseverance and achievement.”
The Executive Committee of the Board of Trustees is scheduled to meet tomorrow to vote on the terms of Hogan’s resignation and to appoint Easter as president-designate. The full board is expected to vote on both actions during its May 31 meeting.
Easter has worked on the Urbana-Champaign campus for 36 years. He started there as a doctoral student. He was dean of the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Science for seven years and later served as interim provost for the campus and also served as interim chancellor. He was appointed to his current post as interim vice chancellor of research last October.
Kennedy said the board thought the next president should be “a proven administrator with a track record of collaboration and success within our university.” Easter said in a written statement that he plans to “move forward energetically and collaboratively with an agenda that reaffirms the University of Illinois’ special place among the very best of institutions of higher learning in the United States.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
U of I officials eye Medicaid and pension reform
By Jamey Dunn
University of Illinois officials say they are worried about more than just their line item in the state’s budget for next fiscal year.
U of I President Michael Hogan said that Gov. Pat Quinn’s recommendation for flat funding to the state’s universities is a positive development. “We are grateful for that recommendation.” But Hogan said flat funding levels do not ensure that the U of I is safe from cuts. He said university officials are closely watching the legislature’s actions, especially when it comes to Medicaid and pension reform.
He told a Senate budgeting committee Monday in Chicago that retirement benefits are “critical part of the overall compensation package” that must be competitive so the university can “recruit and retain” sought after faculty and staff. Hogan said that faculty members bring in millions of dollars of research funding. However, he said, “I understand there will be shared pain as we wrestle with this issue.” Legislative leaders and Quinn have tossed around the idea of asking universities to chip in on employee pensions. It is unclear how much cost would be shifted to universities under such a plan.
Walter Knorr, chief financial officer and vice president of U of I, said the possibility of Medicaid cuts “puts us at the edge of our seats.” He said that almost 40 percent of those seeking treatment at the university’s hospital in Chicago are Medicaid patients, and the hospital also administers about $42 million annually in charity not covered by Medicaid. Knorr said that Quinn’s call for legislators to cut more than $2 billion from Medicaid costs next fiscal year is “another uncertainty added to our list.” Hogan said the hospital serves many who otherwise would not have convenient access to health care. “There’s literally no other place for them to go that’s easily accessible to them.”
Some lawmakers have targeted tuition waivers given to university employees as a potential area for savings. Knorr gave the breakdown for the cost of all the waivers the school gave out in Fiscal Year 2011. Mandatory waivers that the school must give included: $9 million for veterans, $4 million for faculty and staff who have been on the job for seven years and $9 million for General Assembly scholarships doled out by legislators. General Assembly scholarships have been the focus of controversy after some have been given to the children of big political donors and other politically connected individuals. Legislation to eliminate the program has failed to gain the needed support. However, many lawmakers now use independent panels to award the waivers, and some have stopped giving them out altogether.
The U of I also gave $20 million in discretionary waivers to undergraduate students and $175 million to graduate students, much of which is compensation for working as teaching and research assistants.
Sen. John Mulroe, a Chicago Democrat, said he is worried about the increasing costs for public education in the state. “[Tuition rates are] going up and up and up and up,” he said. “We have to find some ability to flatten them or to keep them flat so we don’t price out education for the average kid.”
In January, the U of I approved a 4.8 percent tuition increase for incoming freshman. Knorr said that under the increase, a semester at Urbana-Champaign campus would cost about $5,800, at the University of Illinois Chicago campus about $5,100 and at the University of Illinois Springfield about $4,500 for in-state students. Under state law, tuition rates for each year's class of incoming freshmen are guaranteed to remain the same for four years.
University of Illinois officials say they are worried about more than just their line item in the state’s budget for next fiscal year.
U of I President Michael Hogan said that Gov. Pat Quinn’s recommendation for flat funding to the state’s universities is a positive development. “We are grateful for that recommendation.” But Hogan said flat funding levels do not ensure that the U of I is safe from cuts. He said university officials are closely watching the legislature’s actions, especially when it comes to Medicaid and pension reform.
He told a Senate budgeting committee Monday in Chicago that retirement benefits are “critical part of the overall compensation package” that must be competitive so the university can “recruit and retain” sought after faculty and staff. Hogan said that faculty members bring in millions of dollars of research funding. However, he said, “I understand there will be shared pain as we wrestle with this issue.” Legislative leaders and Quinn have tossed around the idea of asking universities to chip in on employee pensions. It is unclear how much cost would be shifted to universities under such a plan.
Walter Knorr, chief financial officer and vice president of U of I, said the possibility of Medicaid cuts “puts us at the edge of our seats.” He said that almost 40 percent of those seeking treatment at the university’s hospital in Chicago are Medicaid patients, and the hospital also administers about $42 million annually in charity not covered by Medicaid. Knorr said that Quinn’s call for legislators to cut more than $2 billion from Medicaid costs next fiscal year is “another uncertainty added to our list.” Hogan said the hospital serves many who otherwise would not have convenient access to health care. “There’s literally no other place for them to go that’s easily accessible to them.”
Some lawmakers have targeted tuition waivers given to university employees as a potential area for savings. Knorr gave the breakdown for the cost of all the waivers the school gave out in Fiscal Year 2011. Mandatory waivers that the school must give included: $9 million for veterans, $4 million for faculty and staff who have been on the job for seven years and $9 million for General Assembly scholarships doled out by legislators. General Assembly scholarships have been the focus of controversy after some have been given to the children of big political donors and other politically connected individuals. Legislation to eliminate the program has failed to gain the needed support. However, many lawmakers now use independent panels to award the waivers, and some have stopped giving them out altogether.
The U of I also gave $20 million in discretionary waivers to undergraduate students and $175 million to graduate students, much of which is compensation for working as teaching and research assistants.
Sen. John Mulroe, a Chicago Democrat, said he is worried about the increasing costs for public education in the state. “[Tuition rates are] going up and up and up and up,” he said. “We have to find some ability to flatten them or to keep them flat so we don’t price out education for the average kid.”
In January, the U of I approved a 4.8 percent tuition increase for incoming freshman. Knorr said that under the increase, a semester at Urbana-Champaign campus would cost about $5,800, at the University of Illinois Chicago campus about $5,100 and at the University of Illinois Springfield about $4,500 for in-state students. Under state law, tuition rates for each year's class of incoming freshmen are guaranteed to remain the same for four years.
Thursday, March 08, 2012
Universities hope to keep guns off campuses
By Jamey Dunn
Proponents of concealed carry hope that it’s their year to end the state’s ban on carrying firearms in public, but a provision aimed at universities is causing some tension.
Illinois is the last state in the nation to bar any form of concealed carry for residents. A bill that would have allowed concealed carry came up for a House vote last year but failed to reach the three-fifths majority that it needs to pass. “I think we’re very close. I think it’s the closest we’ve every been, actually,” said Rep. Brandon Phelps, a Democrat from Harrisburg who sponsored that bill and a new incarnation being considered now. (For more on the push to pass concealed carry in Illinois, see the current Illinois Issues.)
University presidents and chancellors came out hard against concealed carry legislation last year, sending an opposition letter to legislators that asked for an exemption for university and college campuses. “We fully support the concept of individual rights, a core value at each of our universities, but we also must uphold the security of our campuses. We believe that, at the minimum, an exemption to any future law that permits the carrying of concealed weapons on all college and university campuses within the state is fundamental,” the letter said.
Under the new legislation, House Bill 5745, universities would have the option to ban concealed carry on campuses. However, if they did, they would be opening themselves up to potential lawsuits. The bill says: “If a community college, college or university elects to prohibit the carrying of firearms on its campus, it shall be civilly liable for any injury from a criminal act upon a person holding a permit for carrying a concealed firearm who was prohibited from carrying a concealed firearm on the premises.”
Supporters said they wanted to give colleges the option to prohibit guns on campus. However, Todd Vandermyde, a lobbyist for the Illinois Rifle Association, said, “You can’t have it both ways.” Vandermyde explained the liability provision to a House committee that approved the bill this week. “If I’m there and I have a carry permit and because of college campus policies, I can’t have my firearm on me and something like [the ]Northern Illinois [school shooting] happens and I’m injured, they bear all liability for my injuries because I was disarmed and unable to protect myself.” In February 2008, a former NIU student shot more than 20 people — killing five students and himself — on the school’s campus.
Not surprisingly, university officials are unhappy with the new bill. “Our view is that is has no basis or precedent at all. It turns the issue of civil and criminal liability on its head,” said Paul Palian, a spokesperson for Northern Illinois University. “That would be like Ford’s Theatre being held responsible for John Wilkes Booth shooting Abraham Lincoln.”
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, last year, lawmakers in 18 states considered bills that would allow for some version of concealed carry on campuses. Conversely, recent school shootings also led to calls for greater restriction of guns on campuses. Last year, two states considered bills banning concealed carry on campuses, but neither bill passed. Twenty-five states allow universities to decide whether students can carry guns on campus, while 21 states ban guns on campus, and four require campuses to allow concealed carry.
A recent court ruling overturned university rules in Colorado that barred concealed carry on campus. The state’s law did not include an exemption for universities, but the University of Colorado Board of Regents argued that it had the right to ban guns on campus. “We are disappointed the Colorado Supreme Court determined that the Board of Regents does not, in this instance, have the constitutional and statutory authority to determine what policies will best promote the health and welfare of the university’s students, faculty, staff and visitors, whose safety is our top priority,” Bruce Benson, president of the University of Colorado at Boulder, told Inside Higher Ed. “The Board of Regents is in the best position to determine how we meet that imperative. We will abide by the ruling and determine how it affects our campuses.”
A study from Arizona's three public universities found that allowing concealed carry on campus would cost them $13.3 million in upfront spending for signs to inform students of areas that they cannot carry weapons and lockers to hold guns while students are in classrooms. Lawmakers in the state are considering legislation that would allow guns on campus. The study also found that universities would have to spend about $3.1 million in annual costs such as additional security. But Arizona proponents of concealed carry on campus said that the study overestimated costs.
Southern Illinois University President Glenn Poshard said he is concerned that allowing guns on campus would mean big costs to universities during tough budget times. “The accommodations to this — I’m telling you we’ve had our budget cut $30 million per year since 2002. How are we going to afford additional millions of dollars in spending, when the state owes us $112 million right now as we speak?” Poshard asked.
University representatives say they have other logistical concerns, as well. “I’m sure that what is on university administrators’ minds is how do you implement this situation,” Palian said. He said that Northern would not support a provision in the bill that would allow for concealed carry on roads that pass through universities, even if the institution had opted to ban concealed carry on campus. “We have a thoroughfare right through central campus,” he said. “That would mean people could transport guns through there.”
David Steelman, director of government relations for Western Illinois University, said he is concerned that a provision that allows for concealed carry on public transit would allow students to carry guns on the university’s bus system that is set up through the local transit district. “Keeping in mind that that bus operates very late on a Friday night and picks up many students downtown … that makes some people very nervous.”
Steelman said that he does not understand why universities are the only entities in HB 5745 that would be subject to liability if they opted against concealed carry. “We’re all a little bit puzzled and uncertain as to why that language was included. It seems a little punitive to us.” Under the proposal, guns would be barred from other state-owned buildings, such as the Statehouse, courts and schools.
During the hearing, some lawmakers in support of the bill warned that the liability clause might hurt the legislation’s chances of passing. “This just from the guy who’s been around the track quite a few times. The objective here is to move toward concealed carry, and I support that,” said Gilson Republican Rep. Donald Moffitt. “I have voted for it every time. We look kind of silly here in Illinois now that we’re the only state not to have it. The added provision in here about the liability … that may not be building support.”
Vandermyde said that other entities do not fall under the liability provision because many of those groups have come forward to negotiate on the bill. “The position of the universities, community colleges and everybody has been just an absolute flat out no. And so they don’t want to have a dialogue, so maybe this will push the dialogue,” he said.
But Steelman said the universities have been at the table. “I think we did a considerable amount of negotiations last year when this came up. We spoke specifically about exemptions we had hoped might be contained.” He added, “Sometimes people’s interpretation of failure to negotiate is that it’s not what they want.”
Poshard said that he thinks there is still plenty of time to work on finding compromises. “We would like the ability to continue to discuss this,” he said. “Because we do believe that universities represent an exempted area.”
Phelps said during the House hearing on the bill this week, “This is deadline week [to get bills approved by committees], and we want to get this out … so it is a work in progress.” Phelps says he is open to negotiate. “Here’s the deal: We just found out really not too long ago where they stood,” Phelps said. “We’re willing to sit down with anybody.”
Representatives from the University of Illinois, Illinois State University and Northeastern Illinois University all said their institutions oppose concealed carry on campus. Calls to Eastern Illinois University and Governors State University were not returned.
Proponents of concealed carry hope that it’s their year to end the state’s ban on carrying firearms in public, but a provision aimed at universities is causing some tension.
Illinois is the last state in the nation to bar any form of concealed carry for residents. A bill that would have allowed concealed carry came up for a House vote last year but failed to reach the three-fifths majority that it needs to pass. “I think we’re very close. I think it’s the closest we’ve every been, actually,” said Rep. Brandon Phelps, a Democrat from Harrisburg who sponsored that bill and a new incarnation being considered now. (For more on the push to pass concealed carry in Illinois, see the current Illinois Issues.)
University presidents and chancellors came out hard against concealed carry legislation last year, sending an opposition letter to legislators that asked for an exemption for university and college campuses. “We fully support the concept of individual rights, a core value at each of our universities, but we also must uphold the security of our campuses. We believe that, at the minimum, an exemption to any future law that permits the carrying of concealed weapons on all college and university campuses within the state is fundamental,” the letter said.
Under the new legislation, House Bill 5745, universities would have the option to ban concealed carry on campuses. However, if they did, they would be opening themselves up to potential lawsuits. The bill says: “If a community college, college or university elects to prohibit the carrying of firearms on its campus, it shall be civilly liable for any injury from a criminal act upon a person holding a permit for carrying a concealed firearm who was prohibited from carrying a concealed firearm on the premises.”
Supporters said they wanted to give colleges the option to prohibit guns on campus. However, Todd Vandermyde, a lobbyist for the Illinois Rifle Association, said, “You can’t have it both ways.” Vandermyde explained the liability provision to a House committee that approved the bill this week. “If I’m there and I have a carry permit and because of college campus policies, I can’t have my firearm on me and something like [the ]Northern Illinois [school shooting] happens and I’m injured, they bear all liability for my injuries because I was disarmed and unable to protect myself.” In February 2008, a former NIU student shot more than 20 people — killing five students and himself — on the school’s campus.
Not surprisingly, university officials are unhappy with the new bill. “Our view is that is has no basis or precedent at all. It turns the issue of civil and criminal liability on its head,” said Paul Palian, a spokesperson for Northern Illinois University. “That would be like Ford’s Theatre being held responsible for John Wilkes Booth shooting Abraham Lincoln.”
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, last year, lawmakers in 18 states considered bills that would allow for some version of concealed carry on campuses. Conversely, recent school shootings also led to calls for greater restriction of guns on campuses. Last year, two states considered bills banning concealed carry on campuses, but neither bill passed. Twenty-five states allow universities to decide whether students can carry guns on campus, while 21 states ban guns on campus, and four require campuses to allow concealed carry.
A recent court ruling overturned university rules in Colorado that barred concealed carry on campus. The state’s law did not include an exemption for universities, but the University of Colorado Board of Regents argued that it had the right to ban guns on campus. “We are disappointed the Colorado Supreme Court determined that the Board of Regents does not, in this instance, have the constitutional and statutory authority to determine what policies will best promote the health and welfare of the university’s students, faculty, staff and visitors, whose safety is our top priority,” Bruce Benson, president of the University of Colorado at Boulder, told Inside Higher Ed. “The Board of Regents is in the best position to determine how we meet that imperative. We will abide by the ruling and determine how it affects our campuses.”
A study from Arizona's three public universities found that allowing concealed carry on campus would cost them $13.3 million in upfront spending for signs to inform students of areas that they cannot carry weapons and lockers to hold guns while students are in classrooms. Lawmakers in the state are considering legislation that would allow guns on campus. The study also found that universities would have to spend about $3.1 million in annual costs such as additional security. But Arizona proponents of concealed carry on campus said that the study overestimated costs.
Southern Illinois University President Glenn Poshard said he is concerned that allowing guns on campus would mean big costs to universities during tough budget times. “The accommodations to this — I’m telling you we’ve had our budget cut $30 million per year since 2002. How are we going to afford additional millions of dollars in spending, when the state owes us $112 million right now as we speak?” Poshard asked.
University representatives say they have other logistical concerns, as well. “I’m sure that what is on university administrators’ minds is how do you implement this situation,” Palian said. He said that Northern would not support a provision in the bill that would allow for concealed carry on roads that pass through universities, even if the institution had opted to ban concealed carry on campus. “We have a thoroughfare right through central campus,” he said. “That would mean people could transport guns through there.”
David Steelman, director of government relations for Western Illinois University, said he is concerned that a provision that allows for concealed carry on public transit would allow students to carry guns on the university’s bus system that is set up through the local transit district. “Keeping in mind that that bus operates very late on a Friday night and picks up many students downtown … that makes some people very nervous.”
Steelman said that he does not understand why universities are the only entities in HB 5745 that would be subject to liability if they opted against concealed carry. “We’re all a little bit puzzled and uncertain as to why that language was included. It seems a little punitive to us.” Under the proposal, guns would be barred from other state-owned buildings, such as the Statehouse, courts and schools.
During the hearing, some lawmakers in support of the bill warned that the liability clause might hurt the legislation’s chances of passing. “This just from the guy who’s been around the track quite a few times. The objective here is to move toward concealed carry, and I support that,” said Gilson Republican Rep. Donald Moffitt. “I have voted for it every time. We look kind of silly here in Illinois now that we’re the only state not to have it. The added provision in here about the liability … that may not be building support.”
Vandermyde said that other entities do not fall under the liability provision because many of those groups have come forward to negotiate on the bill. “The position of the universities, community colleges and everybody has been just an absolute flat out no. And so they don’t want to have a dialogue, so maybe this will push the dialogue,” he said.
But Steelman said the universities have been at the table. “I think we did a considerable amount of negotiations last year when this came up. We spoke specifically about exemptions we had hoped might be contained.” He added, “Sometimes people’s interpretation of failure to negotiate is that it’s not what they want.”
Poshard said that he thinks there is still plenty of time to work on finding compromises. “We would like the ability to continue to discuss this,” he said. “Because we do believe that universities represent an exempted area.”
Phelps said during the House hearing on the bill this week, “This is deadline week [to get bills approved by committees], and we want to get this out … so it is a work in progress.” Phelps says he is open to negotiate. “Here’s the deal: We just found out really not too long ago where they stood,” Phelps said. “We’re willing to sit down with anybody.”
Representatives from the University of Illinois, Illinois State University and Northeastern Illinois University all said their institutions oppose concealed carry on campus. Calls to Eastern Illinois University and Governors State University were not returned.
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