Gov urges Dems ‘ to get on board’ GOP’s CPS funding plan

Gov. Bruce Rauner on Friday urged Democrats in Springfield to support a Republican plan he says would provide much- needed funding for the nation’s third- largest school system, avert a crisis and save taxpayers money.

“Let’s get this done because this will then lay the foundation so we can get a broader bargain done that’s good for taxpayers, where we get a balanced budget with other reforms to grow jobs and protect our taxpayers,” Rauner told reporters at the Thompson Center.

It’s the governor’s latest nudge in a public- relations push that began after Chance the Rapper put a national spotlight on Chicago Public Schools’ financial woes.

The plan Rauner was pushing Friday — pension reform legislation originally developed in the Senate that includes $ 215 million in one- time funding for CPS — has the support of 26 House Republicans, the governor said.

Rauner had been set to approve similar legislation last year — providing it included wide- ranging cost- saving reforms to government pension systems. But the governor said those reforms never took shape. So he vetoed the bill that would have contributed $ 215 million in state tax dollars to CPS to help pay its pensions and close the school system’s huge budget gap.

He urged Democrats to get behind the plan, saying it was essentially the same proposal they supported last June, when the Legislature approved a stop- gap budget that Rauner signed.

“What’s unclear is what House Democrats will do on this, even though [ House SpeakerMichaelMadigan] agreed to the deal last time, but we’re encouraging House Democrats to get on board,” Rauner said.

A spokesman for Madigan could not be reached for comment Friday.

Rauner called the proposal a compromise that would avert a “crisis” at CPS and save taxpayers in the state $ 1 billion annually.

CPS CEO Forrest Claypool blasted Rauner’s proposal as “immoral.”

“Gov. Rauner continues to follow the Donald Trump playbook, diverting attention from his immoral racial discrimination against nearly 400,000 children of color at CPS,” Claypool said in a statement. “That is why his administration is in court today responding to a civil rights lawsuit. Equal funding for poor African- American and Latino children is not a bargaining chip for his political agenda.”