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SPRINGFIELD – Democrat lawmakers continued to play politics with higher education during the week, voting to add more than $700 million to the deficit. With their only concern political self-preservation, Democrat legislators continued to ignore Republican proposals that would adequately fund MAP grants for Illinois college students, as well as fund community colleges and universities.    Though Republican lawmakers repeatedly

“This is one of those actions that will make college students feel good briefly, right up until the point they find out that the money isn’t actually there to fund their MAP grants. This is another empty promise from a Democrat majority that is all too fond of making them,” said State Sen. Dave Syverson (R-Rockford). “We offered multiple alternatives

SPRINGFIELD – Even as Gov. Bruce Rauner tours the state talking about his proposals to improve education quality and services in Illinois, Democrat lawmakers are actively working against Republican-led efforts to increase fiscal accountability at Chicago Public Schools (CPS). Instead, these Democrat legislators have stood aside as their leaders call for a $500 million CPS bailout—at the expense of the

Governor Bruce Rauner used his annual budget address to extend an olive branch to legislative leaders, offering two paths to achieve a balanced state budget. Though the Governor underscored his preference would be to work across party lines on a budget compromise, Governor Rauner said he is ready to unilaterally make the deeper cuts needed to balance the budget if

On Wednesday, February 17, Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner presented two paths during his annual budget address, offering two alternatives to balancing the state budget. “The Governor made it very simple, House Democrats need to choose whether they want to help him make massive cuts, or they can work together to make some changes to improve Illinois’ job climate to stop

SPRINGFIELD – Gov. Bruce Rauner has begun working with lawmakers to implement reforms from his Jan. 27 “State of the State” address, focusing his efforts during the week on improving the way state agencies purchase goods and services.   Also this week, an economic-development group was created via executive order to attract businesses and encourage jobs growth in Illinois, and

SPRINGFIELD – Gov. Bruce Rauner presented his vision for Illinois on Jan. 27 in the annual “State of the State” address, focusing on transformation and reform during the speech, and also asking lawmakers to break from partisan politics and do what is right for Illinois’ long-term future. Continuing with the theme of “transformation,” Gov. Rauner also announced the formation of

SPRINGFIELD – Democrats in the Illinois General Assembly pushed through legislation Jan. 28 purported to fund community colleges and MAP grants for students, but did so without providing any revenue or means to pay for it.  State Sen. Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) described the bill as more empty promises for higher education. “They could have tied in spending reductions or attached

SPRINGFIELD – Governor Rauner laid out a series of bold initiatives in his second “State of the State” address that State Sen. Dave Syverson (R-Rockford) describes as the type of ideas that will finally turn Illinois in the right direction.  “The Governor is continuing his push to improve our business climate and grow good-paying jobs, but he’s also working to

SPRINGFIELD – Governor Rauner’s recent order to bring all of Illinois’ information technology (IT) systems under the newly created Department of Innovation and Technology is major step toward finally modernizing the state’s IT infrastructure says State Sen. Dave Syverson (R-Rockford). “Finally we have a Governor that is addressing an issue I have been raising concerns about for over a decade,”