Reis: School Construction Grants turn into Political Game

April 11, 2006

Springfield.….State Representative David Reis (R-Ste. Marie) said funding for school construction grants has turned into a game of politics with the House Democrats now moving forward with a half-billion dollar plan that again offers no identified revenue source for repayment and unfortunately uses our children as pawns in an attempt to gain votes.

"For the past three years the state has held hostage $149-million in school construction projects for 24 schools districts throughout Illinois," said Reis.  "Now, in an attempt to garner votes for a much larger bonding proposal, they are again holding back on our prior approved projects and asking us to approve a much larger program and this is unacceptable.

In addition to the additional borrowing Reis is concerned about the lack of trust with this administration and would like to see assurances that the governor and his Democrat colleagues won't just allocate the entire half-million dollars to Chicago schools."

"While these projects, including Fairfield Elementary School, are on the list right now, we have yet to see any memorandums of understanding that the districts in our area will actually get their money, Reis said. "It took us three years to get the money for the Senior Citizens Center in Albion and the fire department in Cisne. They definitely have a track record and it's not a very good one."

There is also no indication from House Democrats as to where the other $350-million will be spent and there is no reliable source of revenue to pay off this large of a bond offering.

"This is a rehash of the same old story from this administration - too much borrowing and too much spending," said Reis. "In the last three years, the states long term debt has nearly tripled from $7 billion to nearly $21 billion, we now have the worst funded pension system in the country, and have accumulated $2 billion in unpaid Medicaid bills. Now they want to add another half-a-billion dollars to the states credit card. This sort of spending spree, using the hard earned money of Illinois taxpayers has to end."

In response, the House Republicans have filed legislation that will fund just the $149 million dollars for the 24 schools that have been put on hold. Many of these schools have already been constructed and a lot of the districts have already gone to the taxpaying bodies of their districts and have passed referendums. The 108 th District State Representative said the Republican bill ensures that the state lives up to its prior commitments without additional borrowing.

"We somehow need to find a way to fund the 24 school districts that have been waiting for three years now and feel that this scaled back version is both fiscally responsible and obtainable," said Reis. "If the Democrats are really serious about ending the political games in Springfield and provide these desperately needed funds to our schools, they will support our plan and refrain from additional borrowing for what is sure to be yet another Chicago spending spree."