After a speech to school superintendents at the regional alternative school in Bloomington, Governor Bruce Rauner told one of them "hang on, it's going to get rocky." Rauner was referring to the lack of authorized school funding, something he used in the speech to blast House Speaker Mike Madigan. Rauner several times remarked he refused to bail out Chicago Schools
"They're slow rollin' the process. They want a crisis in the schools. They want a crisis in the government to leverage a Chicago bailout and leverage a big tax hike without any reforms," said Rauner.
Rauner slammed Senate President John Cullerton for a remark that schools should not open without change to the school funding formula.
"That is wrong. That is corrupt. That is a conflict of interest using political leverage to damage other communities and we can't let that happen," said Rauner
Of course, Democrats argue Rauner has been doing just that in his refusal to enact a budget without elements of his turnaround agenda.
Rauner also said he thought lawmakers working on a new school funding formula were within days of a deal with Speaker Madigan put his thumb on the process to slow it down. Rauner said it's all about the November election.
The Governor urged central Illinois residents to put pressure on Democratic lawmakers. Rauner ended the speech by saying the problem is a bipartisan creation over a lot of years and will require that approach to solve.
