Rauner says raising taxes not only options to generate education funding

Posted on May 15, 2016

*Gov. Bruce Rauner (left) spoke at Normal West High School on Thursday, along side Unit 5 Superintendent Mark Daniel (right). (Adam Studzinski/WJBC)*

By Adam Studzinski

NORMAL – Gov. Bruce Rauner wants to put more money into education, but where does the state get the money to do that?

During his trip to Normal West High School this week, Rauner said funding could come from a number of sources and raising taxes isn’t one of them.

“Number one: procurement reform,” said Rauner. “We could save a billion dollars from that. That’s a lot of school funding.”

Pension reform was another way Rauner said Illinois can save money.

“We can do it where we protect everybody’s pension – everything they’ve earned so far they get protected – but future work can have different options that may be more cost effective,” said Rauner. “That could save $1-2.5 billion.”

The governor added consolidating units of governments is an option as well. He said Illinois has 7,000 units of government.

Adam Studzinski can be reached at [email protected].

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