Stories by Ted Dabrowski, Illinois Policy Institute on Madison - St. Clair Record

Defenders of Senate Bill 1 are putting a bailout of Chicago Public Schools ahead of their own local school districts.

Defenders of Senate Bill 1 are putting a bailout of Chicago Public Schools ahead of their own local school districts.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner won the 2014 gubernatorial election on a 44-point Turnaround Agenda meant to “shake up Springfield.”

The Illinois General Assembly is scheduled to adjourn for the summer on May 31 – which means lawmakers have less than three weeks to pass a state budget. State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, has proposed what he hopes may be the big “compromise” to end the impasse.

For years, Illinois lawmakers have prioritized government-worker pay and benefits over social services. Between 2000 and 2015, contributions to Illinois state-worker pension funds shot up 586 percent, while state payments for human services increased by only 10 percent.

Illinois’ growing pension costs – not the state budget gridlock – are taking away funding for essential government services, such as education.

Chicago Public Schools, or CPS, needs to issue $875 million in long-term bonds to help the district avoid bankruptcy – but on Jan. 27, the school district backed out of the planned sale.

Sky-high debt and a meager rainy day fund make Illinois the second-least prepared state in the U.S. for its capacity to weather a recession.

Illinois’ monthslong budget gridlock, $111 billion in government-worker pension debt, and more than a decade of unbalanced budgets have resulted in credit downgrades for Illinois and the highest borrowing costs of any state in the nation.