Springfield – State Rep. Randy Frese (R-Paloma) is pleased to announce that bipartisanship has finally won a day in Springfield, and schools in Illinois can expect to see the funding they require in order to educate Illinois’ students come this fall. A historic investment to education will fund schools at 100% for the first time in seven years, which means a majority of school districts will receive more than they did the past year.
The plan also includes $75 million for early childhood education, a new statewide $250 million grant for the poorest school districts, $151 million for students that rely on MAP grants for their college costs, $742 million in vital funding to human service providers that care for Illinois’ most vulnerable, and a large investment in road programs to ensure that over 800 active projects continue uninterrupted, thereby keeping 25,000 workers on the job.
Rep. Frese stated, “This bipartisan funding plan will provide important state services in order to bridge us toward a full balanced budget. From day one I have been working for responsible compromise, and today that persistence paid off, and Illinois’ taxpayers have seen victory. While this is only a stopgap measure, and not a full compromised budget, it heads off Chicago politicians’ attempts to pass a budget that would again make broken promises to Illinoisans, and send spending plans to the Governor that would overspend the State’s revenues and expect Illinois’ families to foot the bill.
Instead, this measure responsibly sees that vital state services remain operating, including educational institutions, infrastructure, Quincy Veterans Home, mental health centers, state police, and state parks. We have seen real compromise today, and I hope it continues as we push towards the most necessary goal, a full balanced budget.”
