Prospects for Illinois Schools' Capital Construction Budget Questionable

Most Illinois lawmakers are anxious to vote for a capital construction bill, Rep. John Bradley said, but that doesn't mean districts should be expecting school construction funds anytime soon.

The Illinois Senate has passed a construction bill and sent it to the House, but it may face major hurdles before it gets to the governor's desk and is signed into law.

The problem, Bradley said, is two-fold. First, the current plan ties the construction budget to the expansion of gambling and second, there is a significant lack of trust for the governor's administration.

"The bill that came to us is basically a blank check, $15 billion to $25 billion for construction and very little specifics about where the money will be sent," he said. Of the specifics that he has seen, Bradley is not impressed.

"They have guaranteed us $193 million for school construction, but that's less than one percent of a $25 billion budget," he said.

And, under the governor's proposal, the road construction portion of the capital construction bill would be divided 60 percent to the Chicago-area and 40 percent to downstate. "In the past, those figures have always been reversed," Bradley said. "We're going to want to verify that any construction plan includes a fair share for Southern Illinois."

Bradley also wants to consider where the money for the construction will come from. The proposal sent over from the senate calls for the expansion of casino gambling, including 3 new casino licenses. Bradley has actively campaigned for the elimination of casino gambling in Illinois and said he will not support this funding mechanism.

Rep. Mike Bost, R-Murphysboro, said that Bradley's concerns are shared by both sides of the aisle. "Most of us are dying to vote for a capital construction bill, but the real issue is going to be in funding it," he said. That, most likely, will come down to a structured roll call vote of the House.

"Every vote will be accounted for before it is every brought to the floor," he said. House leadership will negotiate and find exactly the number of votes they need to pass whatever funding source is determined to be a plan for building Illinois.