Rauner announces plan for CPS, property taxes

Governor Bruce Rauner is pushing what he says is a new compromise designed to freeze property taxes, fund the schools and help resolve the state budget crisis, reports WBBM Political Editor Craig Dellimore. The state would contribute $200 million a year for two years toward pension and healthcare costs at CPS without a reduction in the district’s $600 million state grant funding, according to the Republican governor. Yet, like most everything else at the state Capitol these days, they’re split along party lines as to who’s to blame and how to fix it. Twenty other states and the District of Columbia have adopted laws removing the threat of jail time for simple marijuana possession, four of which have made possession legal for adults 21 years of age and older.

Gov. Bruce Rauner signed several bills on Sunday affecting Illinois veterans, including a measure establishing a discount card program and another offering property tax breaks for those with military-related disabilities. Mitchell, whose district lies entirely within CPS boundaries, said the Rauner is holding CPS children and parents hostage to get a right wing, anti-union agenda passed: “There is not a piece of legislation he can offer that we in the House are going to say we are going to sell out working people and the wages and working conditions that they’ve earned in order to get money for school children”, Mitchell said. House and Senate lawmakers voted unanimously in favor of the legislation. Don’t vote for some higher power.

The governor insists the bill gives CPS the ability to solve all its financial problems, but Sharkey says Rauner’s plan hurts Chicago schools.

A spokesman for Democratic Senate President John Cullerton called Rauner’s latest pitch “totally unacceptable”. “Unless the governor has unleashed a new wave of persuasion, I expect the reaction (in the House) will be the same”, said Steve Brown, spokesman for Speaker Michael Madigan, D-Chicago.

“There’s nothing new here”, Jesse Sharkey, vice president of CTU, said. Chicago Public Schools responded to Rauner’s press conference Monday evening, saying, “We have been clear that we will address labor questions at the negotiating table”.