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It’s a little after 8 pm on Friday and we recently convened to power through and complete our work by working through the night so that members can return to families for the Memorial Day holiday. As I write this, I’m tuned into hearing testimony on amendments to some of the last pieces of legislation to complete our work. The late-breaking downward revision to your revenue projections after April’s tax receipts necessitated adjustments to spending plans which kept us in session beyond our planned early adjournment on May 19th.
We’ll have a special overview edition early next week sharing details on the budget and other key provisions once we’ve had a chance to pull together details. At this point in the process, there appear to be at least a couple of items that have been the subject of a great deal of attention from constituents that will not be addressed in this session.
At this time, the question of whether to repeal or extend the sunset on the Invest in Kids tax credit scholarship program is not expected to be addressed in the budget at this time. In spite of intense lobbying by scholarship receiving schools, there simply isn’t consensus on how it should be addressed. Many members spoke passionately in support of the program, particularly members with high usage rates in their districts. At the same time, members from across the state expressed concern over diverting public funds to support schools that are freed from the requirements we place on public schools while we are also attempting to implement the evidence based funding formula that will bring our public schools into an equity based model. In addition, the lack of transparency and data sharing in the program brought questions from other members who cited studies in states which had the program in place longer where it was discovered that very few of the scholarships actually represented students new to private schools, in contrast to the claims of these programs creating new opportunity for students in need. Ultimately, these questions, combined with questions over what would happen to families if the program were to end, meant that there was not sufficient support for any changes at this time.
Similarly, the effort to craft the new election maps for the newly created elected Chicago school board hit a snag over questions over how to craft a map that both meets Voting Rights Act statutory requirements while also reflecting the diversity of the city in a meaningful way as well as the complication of the first election in 2024 requiring election of 10 members out of 20 newly created districts with the remaining 10 being appointed until the next election. Rep. Ann Williams who chairs the working group charged with mapmaking announced that the group will continue their work this summer and ensure that the maps are complete in time for the first non-partisan election in November 2024.
Once we complete our work, I’ll finish closing down my Springfield apartment and get back to the district where I hope to find a way to finish planting my vegetable garden one handed given my recently acquired splint from a dog walking incident. Look for an official office opening soon, as well as our traditional series of legislative updates around the district.
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