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Quinn wants to work out regional school superintendent pay

Ill. Gov. Peter Quinn.
(UPI/Bill Greenblatt)
Ill. Gov. Peter Quinn.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn says he wants to work with regional school superintendents on who should pay their salaries.

Superintendents across Illinois are working for free after Quinn in early July eliminated the funds that pay them and their assistants. That's because there's a budget dispute over where the money to pay them should come from.

Quinn said Monday he thinks "we can work that out" but provided no details.

He maintains that superintendents should be paid from the "personal property replacement tax" that corporations and business partnerships pay instead of local property taxes.

He has characterized superintendents' jobs as "administrative overhead" and called them "bureaucrats" that aren't central to teaching process. He contends the state should spend its money in the classroom.