IFT and CTU President Stacy Davis Gates on End of Legislative Session Where Progressive Legislators Demonstrated Taxing the Ultra-Rich is Possible but Governor’s Budget as a Whole Leaves Schools Under

The Governor and IL General Assembly had every opportunity to implement solutions that prevent students from going hungry or families from losing health care and provide for world-class education across the state.  At the end of session, that work is yet to be finished.

Springfield, IL — In response to the end of the scheduled legislative session in Illinois, President of the Illinois Federation of Teachers and Chicago Teachers Union, Stacy Davis Gates, issued the following:

“The end of session in Illinois marks a tale of two Democrats that is causing people to really pause and evaluate the state of politics in Springfield.

On one hand, the power of coalition and the courage of legislators like Rep. Will Davis, Sen. Graciela Guzman, and those in the Affordability and Tax Justice Coalition pushed for the inclusion of the digital ads tax, one of several revenue proposals that were on the table to make some of the wealthiest companies in the world pay some of what they owe to generate funds for schools and services.

On the other, the Governor and others balked at taxing millionaires even as other states set it as an example. Instead, they left most everyone else to figure out how to survive the impacts of Trump’s assault on working families and our state's safety nets. 

At the same time, legislators are making a last ditch effort to please a multi-billion-dollar enterprise that is spilling over into June. What that shows is that legislative deadlines aren’t set in stone. The urgency we’ve seen given to pleasing one corporate enterprise should be applied to the state’s students and the hundreds of thousands of families who are having their access to food and health care taken away by the President.

Without further action from the General Assembly, our students will be hungrier. Our families will have less access to healthcare. Schools will be saddled with more unfunded mandates in a Blue state. Leaving Springfield with those results would be as backwards as anything can be.  

There’s at least $3B in proposals sitting on the table to make life easier for the people of Illinois by taxing the ultra-wealthy and large corporations who have been benefiting from cuts from Washington without having to pay what they owe at home. Legislators like Sen. Graciela Guzman, Rep. Lindsey LaPointe, Sen. Karina Villa, Rep. Norma Hernandez, Sen. Robert Peters, Rep. Will Davis and others have shown that it is possible and that it doesn’t have to be rushed through the night when done transparently and publicly.

We are still reviewing the language of both the budget and the new Bears bill.  But what is clear is that there is progress to be made so that the final votes don’t leave Illinois with not enough compliance with the evidence-based formula, not enough revenue for schools and services, and not enough courage from legislators at a time when it is so deeply needed.” 

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