Respectfully submitted by Lawrence E. Rafferty (rafflaw) Weekend Contributor
I have to give Governor Bruce Rauner credit for not taking long to show his hand and publicly attack the Higher Education system in Illinois. It has only been a few weeks since he was inaugurated and he recently unveiled his budget. A budget plan that slashes over $200 million just from the University of Illinois alone.
At the very time Gov. Rauner announced he wants to slash the Higher Education budget for all universities in the State of Illinois by almost a third, he claimed that his budget makes education a priority!
“Higher education is set to take a major hit in Illinois.
Following similar announcements by the Republican governors of Wisconsin and Louisiana, newly-sworn in Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner released what he called a “turnaround” budget, that would slash nearly $209 million from the University of Illinois.” Think Progress
“It’s time to make education our top priority again – and that’s what this budget does,” he told lawmakers Tuesday night, touting his plan to give about $25 million more to early childhood education. “With reform, we will be able to invest more in education and give our kids world class schools.” Think Progress
While the proposed budget increases some funding for K-12 education, the University of Illinois system will lose one-third of its state financing under this budget. This very same proposed budget makes absolutely no mention of any increased revenue sources or plans. What will happen to the University system if these cuts are retained in the final budget?
One can expect the cuts to cause increased fees being charged to students as well as the loss of many educational programs. The result of these massive reductions in state financing will be to transfer the costs to students who are already paying high tuition and fee costs. The loan balances of many students already into the 6 figures and Gov. Rauner’s actions will make sure that student debt will continue to climb in Illinois.
So often the claims that all areas of the State have to share in the burden of digging out of a financial hole ends up with some of the most vulnerable bearing the brunt of that burden. If the Governor is convinced that we all have to sacrifice in this job to balance the budget, why wouldn’t new tax sources be considered along with reasonable cuts?
Will these draconian cuts make it more difficult for students from poor and middle class families to obtain a college education? In this very same budget proposal, Gov. Rauner biggest cuts are aimed directly at those who are least able to afford them.
“Yet the state would spend $400 million less on higher education, $600 million less on local governments, and $1.5 billion less on Medicaid, which handles health care costs for poor residents. University leaders and mayors said they were worried, and advocates for the poor said they feared medical needs would go unmet under deep cuts to Medicaid.” New York Times
When the cities, counties and municipalities raise their taxes to pay for basic services for their residents, who has to pay for those increases? “In many cases, Rauner’s state budget cuts could simply end up shifting costs: local governments could choose to raise property taxes, state universities could raise tuition and the CTA could increase fares.” Chicago Tribune
For a man who spent at least $37 million of his own money to get elected governor, he sure has no problem making the middle class and poor pay more for a college education and for health care and local taxes and transportation costs.
Rauner seems to be following the economic model that worked so “well” for Gov. Brownback in Kansas and Gov. Walker in Wisconsin.
Just how has that austerity approach worked out for Kansas and Wisconsin?
Additional Sources: Examiner.com; Crains Chicago Business
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Sandi,
So are you now clear on your question about why we are treating Israel so poorly?
Just in case you missed it – it’s because the Indians are pimp slapping the Hispanics.
Or something like that…
Sandi, Well, the teeny tiny ballerina mayor of Chicago fashions himself the first Jewish prez. He has little chance, but he is committed. Losing his fiefdom of Chicago would be devastating. The runoff is now elitist Dem v populist Dem. Sorta like Hillary v Betsy “Cherokee Princess” Warren. I would love to see Garcia pimp slap the ballerina. Hispanics are becoming a big force in Chicago politics.
Nick, If there is support for a Jewish President, why are we treating Israel as we are? If Hillary is elected there are a lot more stupid women than I think. Would that Republicans could pull together and creat a machine? Just dreamin’
Inga,
LOL Bonding over food. Thanks. 🙂
Eh PR, here’s a hug. You’re one of the good ones. I knew that from the first time we discussed nutrition.
Inga,
“I have said so and I still believe it, perhaps you missed some of the things Mespo is referring to. Best to just drop it.”
Apparently I have. 🙁
The Great Kreskin now sees unicorns. Lesbian ones at that. How insightful of him.
Methinks mespo’s research got under someone’s skin…
This guy keeps repeating himself. Lots of bloviating about fraud in Cook County – for the thousandth time. Nothing but bile – no stats – nothing.
Just the Great Kreskin shouting he ‘knows’! He lived there thirty-five years ago.
PR, I think you are fair in most of your observations. I have said so and I still believe it, perhaps you missed some of the things Mespo is referring to. Best to just drop it.
Wait till you see how the Chicago white Dem machine go after the Hispanic. The gloves will come off big time, because the teeny tiny mayor cannot lose. He is supposed to be the first Jewish prez, after the first woman lesbian prez, that is.
LOL!
Nicky
Time to study up. Rahm is forced to a runoff. You don’t live there.
“Funny, everyone misses “calling it out” when the professional does it but those same moralists have much less compunction to point fingers when the crass insult is responded to in kind by another. You sit by, happily mute, when someone’s child or widowhood takes an unwarranted and below-the-belt hit, but leap to the ramparts, weapon in hand when a simple counter-example to a mindlessly global assertion upsets your apple cart.
I’ll take my moralizing from the consistently and impartially moral if you don’t mind. Call me cynical — or simply willing to extend to each commenter his due.”
Mespo,
I am not on here as often as you apparently think, so I guess I miss stuff. I don’t “follow” blog posts. I am not “notified” of any new comments in my email.
I have called out people on both sides of the aisle for incivility. If that’s all I did, that’s all this blog would be–and what fun is that?! I’d rather discuss the topics, as DBQ has said.
Did you bother to read what I said to Elaine? That I thought what was said to her was unkind? Sheesh. It’s funny, Inga has complimented me in the past for being fair. I give up.
chick, Great to see you! We now have another very smart and great commenter here, folks. Along w/ being a chemist, he is a music guru and a gentleman.
Cook County is a monster of votes, where voter fraud is rampant and 114% of precincts vote Dem only. NO Rep. votes. So, it takes every other county to overcome the corrupt and evil Cook County. This was an unexpected victory for Rauner. The Cook County goons crapped their pants and stuffed the ballots as much they could. Mespo knows nothing about Illinois politics. I lived there during the Harold Washington election. You want to see racists. You should see how white Dems treated Harold. I had the honor of voting for him.
No one has a clue about Chicago politics and how much it controls the huge state of Illinois unless you have lived there. 101 out of 102. Rauner won. WTF else needs to be said. Dixie lawyers love to spin. The choir will buy it. No one else does.
Sandi,
People ‘chipping in’ does not explain the public education policy of the United States.
‘Chipping in’ may have been sufficient when we were an agrarian society but changed considerably with the Industrial Revolution and the growth of cities. (Cities play an important role because rural areas could not afford high schools and kids were needed to work on the farm. Besides which, as has been frequently pointed out here, cities harbor all those communists promulgating their evil socialist plans.)
Anyway, it’s a great story about which we can all be proud. Why not google it?
Hello Inga.
Inga wrote:
I think Republicans are nothing better than criminals, robbing the poor and middle class to make life even better for the already rich.
I believe this true in part, but there’s the other half — the under half — being done by Democrats. As I wrote elsewhere:
Democrats and a silent majority of Republicans are squeezing the American middle class from the bottom by holding out essentially limitless importation of unskilled labor; now Republicans and a silent majority of Democrats are squeezing the American middle class at the top by offering essentially limitless importation of highly-skilled labor.*
*link
Well hello Chickie, nice seeing you here.
Inga (Annie) wrote:
Sandi, it’s “advanced placement”. The kids get college credits for successfully completing the course. Saves them money and time .
Yes and no.
I tutored AP Chemistry for a year at a local California high school and continue to do so privately. My two high school aged kids have taken several AP classes. The courses all work the same in all the subjects. Students don’t get college credit for merely taking the course but rather for taking a nationally administered exam and scoring at least a 3 out out of 5. In other words, kids can still not get college credit despite the effort. This works at a national level because the hard sciences are the hard sciences and curricula are not fungible, particularly from state to state. This works differently in a course such as US History. US history is a patchwork of individual states’ histories. There is only so much that can be covered.
The problem in Oklahoma (as I see it) is that the legislators don’t like the ‘revisionist history” that they claim the exam tests. This is compounded by a refusal of the board to release the exam for scrutiny because, well, releasing any exam ahead of time sort of ruins that exam. The problem as I see it is the age-old one that we read about — curricula which emphasized civics and “white people’s based” viewpoints inter alia being replaced with ones which emphasize the explicit “evils” of the nation’s past.