Nothing we have heard from Chance the Rapper suggests he is suggesting pension theft as a solution to the school budget crisis. That comes from the politicians.
Update:
Chance the Rapper announced Monday he plans to donate $1 million to help better fund Chicago public schools, calling it a “call to action.”
The rapper, speaking at Westcott Elementary on the South Side, called on other companies and corporations across Chicago — and the public — to also donate to the cause, according to the Sun-Times.
I love Chance the Rapper. He’s a Chicago guy who has become a star without big corporate money and he genuinely seems concerned about Chicago’s public schools.
Last week he met with Governor Rauner and left the meeting about as impressed as most of us are with the Governor. And tweeted as much.
Today he says he has some suggestions to fix the school funding mess and will release them later.
Meanwhile Rauner is back to the original plan he cooked up with Democrat Senate President John Cullerton.
The governor’s pension plan Monday is one he first pushed last year, but he ultimately vetoed a plan to send money to CPS after Democratic Senate President John Cullerton publicly suggested there had never been a deal linking the two concepts.
Rauner later acknowledged he was “a little emotional” when he vetoed the legislation not long after Cullerton made his comments. Without the $215 million, CPS has made moves to cut costs, furloughing employees and freezing school budgets. Last week, the district announced it may make cuts to summer school and shorten the school year by about three weeks — for a savings of about $96 million — if the state or the courts don’t intervene.
While Senate lawmakers are already weighing the pension changes, they are tied to a larger effort to pass sweeping legislation to end the state’s unprecedented budget impasse. Those efforts hit a road block last week amid lagging support from Republicans, which Cullerton blamed on interference from Rauner.
Rauner’s office now says said the pension changes should be considered apart from the broader budget deal, a move that could be seen as him acknowledging those efforts won’t go anywhere.
The Twitter version (less than 140 characters) of the pension deal is that current teachers get to choose between two bad options. It is a choice between two diminishments.
The Illinois Supreme Court has ruled in Kanerva and then again when the legislature passed and Governor Quinn signed Senate Bill 1.
The Constitution has said plainly and simply that our pensions cannot be diminished or impaired. The law also says that a change in a contract must provide consideration. If they want to renegotiate our pension agreement the state must provide something of equal or greater value.
Love Chance, but no chance.
Fred Klonsky 