Barickman: Passing education formula with no budget a ‘joke’

Posted on June 1, 2017

State Sen. Jason Barickman voted against a school funding formula which he said would be a bailout for Chicago Public Schools. (Photo courtesy Facebook/Jason Barickman)

By Eric Stock

SPRINGFIELD – While Illinois lawmakers didn’t take any budget votes on deadline day, the state Senate approved a school funding bill, which Republican Senator Jason Barickman of Bloomington predicts will never pass.

“The joke of the night yesterday is that the Democrats couldn’t come together on an agreement on a budget, yet the came together to bail out the Chicago Public School system,” Barickman said.

PODCAST: Listen to Scott’s interview with Barickman on WJBC.

Barickman told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin the formula would give Chicago Public Schools an additional $500 million annually and the rest of the state about $200 million.

Illinois has the widest spending gap between low- and high-income school districts in the United States.

Minimum wage

The Illinois Senate has sent a $15 per-hour minimum wage increase to Gov. Bruce Rauner’s desk.

Barickman said Democrats have no intentions of passing such a hike, they are simply trying to embarrass the governor by forcing him to veto it.

“Under Blagojevich, under Quinn the Democrats completely controlled the legislative process, they could have passed any minimum wage increases then, but chose not to,” Barickman explained.

Rauner has said he won’t only approve an increase in the minimum wage unless it is tied to other reforms.

Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].

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