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Pritzker pledges more money for education and child care in his budget address

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker applauds while giving his annual state of the state speech and budget address
Brian Munoz
/
St. Louis Public Radio
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker applauds while giving his annual state of the state speech and budget address on Wednesday at the Illinois House of Representatives chambers in Springfield, Ill.

Building on a “remarkable” fiscal rebound, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker proposed a $49.6 billion state budget Wednesday, prioritizing increased spending on everything from early childhood initiatives to education to reproductive health care.

In the first big swing of his second term, Pritzker also underscored his work the past four years in stabilizing Illinois’ finances after a two-year budget impasse under his GOP predecessor crippled state operations, hollowed out social service agencies and put egg on the state’s face nationally.

“Our budgets are built on a solid foundation of normalized state revenue and more efficient management of state resources,” Pritzker said at the start of his nearly hour-long address to a joint session of the Democratic-led state legislature.

“Which is why, here in Illinois in 2023, I’m confident in saying the state of our state is stronger than it has been in decades, and we’re getting stronger every day.”

Pritzker has steered the state through what seems like the worst of the pandemic that killed 36,000 Illinoisans while state unemployment has remained low and consumer spending hasn’t nosedived. As a result, he’s avoided a governorship defined by the fiscal craters that came after previous jolts like 9/11 and the 2008 financial crash.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker gives his annual state of the state speech and budget address on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, at the Illinois capitol in Springfield.
Brian Munoz
/
St. Louis Public Radio
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker gives his annual state of the state speech and budget address on Wednesday at the state capitol in Springfield, Ill.

Even though revenue from state income and sales taxes are projected to keep growing, overall revenues are forecast to drop during the upcoming fiscal year by about 3%. The governor’s spending blueprint also calls for roughly a 1% decline in overall state spending in the 2024 fiscal cycle that begins July 1.

Despite that slight dropoff, one area the governor put off-limits for any spending rollbacks is early childhood education and child care. The governor proposed allotting $250 million toward that multi-year initiative, helping to increase pay for child care workers and adding thousands of preschool slots.

He also is proposing $100 million in new construction funding to help child care providers to build new or expanded facilities.

“This program will be the beginning of the end of early childhood deserts in Illinois, and working families will have more and better options for their children,” he said.

New spending on public schools would jump by $571 million under Pritzker’s plan, and the state’s fleet of public universities would see a $219 million funding increase.

Within the higher ed budget, $100 million would be set aside to increase funding for the Monetary Award Program, which Pritzker’s administration said would enable “nearly all community college students and 40% of public university students to have their tuition fees covered through MAP and Pell grants.

Bloomington Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe reacts as Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker gives his annual state of the state speech and budget address on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, at the Illinois capitol in Springfield, Ill. “Mboka… you represent the promise of what college affordability can do for someone’s future, and how our state benefits from it,” Pritzker said. “Your success is our success.”
Brian Munoz
/
St. Louis Public Radio
Bloomington Mayor Mboka Mwilambwe reacts as Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker gives his annual state of the state speech and budget address on Wednesday at the Illinois capitol in Springfield, Ill. “Mboka… you represent the promise of what college affordability can do for someone’s future, and how our state benefits from it,” Pritzker said. “Your success is our success.”

And the governor wants lawmakers to earmark an additional $200 million more than required for Fiscal 2024 state pension contributions to chip away at Illinois’ chronically underfunded pension system. That would bring the overall annual commitment toward pensions to $10 billion in the upcoming fiscal year, marking the first time that the state would commit more than required under pension-funding requirements established in 1994.

The governor also proposed increases of $50 million for homelessness prevention programs, $50 million for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program and $20 million to help communities entice grocery stores to open in underserved rural and urban neighborhoods.

Pritzker further called for a $45 million to upgrade the state Public Health Department’s computer systems to better monitor future pandemics.

And the governor urged funding to expand abortion services across the state that have seen triple the demand since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year by the U.S. Supreme Court. He proposed creating a hotline to help patients in need of abortions get risk assessment and find services, like transportation, lodging and insurance coverage and $5 million to provide training for reproductive health care workers.

“Let’s not pull punches. This is the result of a national conservative crusade to legislate against the most intimate matters of a woman’s basic healthcare. I’m sure there are some elected officials who would like us to stop talking about abortion. Well, too bad,” the governor said to applause from Democrats in the audience.

Southern Illinois legislators Sen. Dave Severin (R-Benton), Sen. Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro), Rep. Dave Friess (R-Red Bud), Rep. Dale Fowler (R-Harrisburg), and Rep. Patrick Windhorst (R-Metropolis) listen into Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s budget address on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, in the Illinois House of Representatives chambers in Springfield, Ill.
Brian Munoz
/
St. Louis Public Radio
Southern Illinois legislators Sen. Dave Severin (R-Benton), Sen. Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro), Rep. Dave Friess (R-Red Bud), Rep. Dale Fowler (R-Harrisburg), and Rep. Patrick Windhorst (R-Metropolis) listen into Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s budget address on Wednesday in Springfield, Ill.

The Chicago Democrat’s budget address came after Pritzker won a clear mandate from voters by trouncing his Republican opponent last fall and marked the first time the governor appeared before a joint session of the legislature since the beginning of the pandemic. Last year’s budget speech was remote because of a snowstorm.

The newly seated group of lawmakers he addressed is still heavily Democratic with clear-cut supermajorities in both the House and Senate, meaning Pritzker’s legislative priorities stand a reasonable chance of getting through the statehouse by May relatively unscathed.

While Republicans lack the numbers to build any kind of meaningful roadblocks to Pritzker and the Democrats, that didn’t stop them from attacking the governor’s budgetary blueprint for the state’s 2024 fiscal year.

House Minority Leader Tony McCombie, R-Savanna, criticized the new spending the governor proposed, saying it would “require future tax increases or cuts to vital programs serving our most vulnerable.”

And state Rep. Dan Ugaste, R-Geneva, said Pritzker’s spending blueprint will hurt Illinois businesses.

“In response to the glaring issues which Illinois faces – sky high property taxes, endless regulations, and other unnecessary costs – Gov. Pritzker is proposing new spending on Illinois’ budgetary house of cards,” he said. “This budget proposal will do nothing but hinder our terrible climate for job creators and cause Illinois families to find moving trucks out of our unaffordable state.”

Sen. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) listens as Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker gives his annual state of the state speech and budget address on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, in the Illinois House of Representatives chambers in Springfield, Ill.
Brian Munoz
/
St. Louis Public Radio
Sen. Jil Tracy (R-Quincy) listens as Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker gives his annual state of the state speech and budget address on Wednesday in the Illinois House of Representatives chambers in Springfield, Ill.

Metro East and Quincy-area GOP lawmakers said they’d support Pritzker’s measures for early childhood education, higher education and funding independent grocery stores in food deserts. However, they felt like his outlook on the budget was “too rosy.”

Sen. Jil Tracy, R-Quincy, pointed to the difference between the proposed state budget of $50 billion and Pritzker’s plan.

“His spending plan was $49.6 billion, with only a $300 million cushion,” said Tracy, who is also the Republican whip in the Senate. “I've been around long enough to know that $ 300 million of a cushion is never enough.”

Newly-elected Rep. Kevin Schmidt, R-Millstadt, echoed Tracy’s sentiment regarding the budget.

Pritzker said he hoped many of his higher education proposals would keep younger Illinoisans from leaving the state. Schmidt disputed the governor’s portrayal of the state.

“If the state was so great, why are all these people leaving year after year after year?” Schmidt asked.

Metro East Democrats, on the other hand, said they were impressed with Pritzker’s proposals.

Officials applaud as Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch (D-Westchester), center left, makes note of this being the first time a Black man and woman have presided over a State of the State speech in Illinois while standing next to Majority Leader Kim Lightford (D-Hillside) on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, at the end of Pritzker’s address in Springfield, Ill.
Brian Munoz
/
St. Louis Public Radio
Officials applaud as Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch (D-Westchester), center left, makes note of this being the first time a Black man and woman have presided over a State of the State speech in Illinois while standing next to Majority Leader Kim Lightford (D-Hillside) on Wednesday at the end of Pritzker’s address in Springfield, Ill.

Rep. Jay Hoffman, D-Swansea, said he welcomed another proposed balanced budget – something that didn’t always happen in the past.

“Talking about budgets is kind of dry and boring – but, really, it is establishing our priorities for our state not only in the next fiscal year but also long term.”

Hofmann and Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, said they look forward to sorting through the budget in the coming months.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, right, shakes hands with legislators as he walks next to his wife M.K. Pritzker, in red, on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, following his budget address in Springfield, Ill.
Brian Munoz
/
St. Louis Public Radio
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, right, shakes hands with legislators as he walks next to his wife M.K. Pritzker, in red, on Wednesday following his budget address in Springfield, Ill.

With all the talk about early childhood education, Stuart said she hoped to hear Pritzker make a proposal regarding paid family leave.

“It doesn't mean that those conversations are off the table,” Stuart said. “I was just hoping that it would have been at least mentioned today.”

Despite criticism from Republican lawmakers, Illinois’ financial footing has undeniably improved on Pritzker’s watch. He and Democrats in the legislature eliminated an $8 billion unpaid bill backlog inherited from GOP predecessor Bruce Rauner. A rainy day fund that stood at $60,000 when Pritzker took office in 2019 now sits at $1.9 billion.

Those improvements contributed to six bond-rating upgrades for the state since 2019 after Illinois’ credit rating hovered at near junk-bond status during Rauner’s fiscally turbulent time in office.

Rep. Mary Beth Canty (D-Arlington Heights) embraces Sen. Ann Gillespie (D-Arlington Heights) on Wednesday, Feb. 15, 2023, following Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s budget address at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, Ill.
Brian Munoz
/
St. Louis Public Radio
Rep. Mary Beth Canty (D-Arlington Heights) embraces Sen. Ann Gillespie (D-Arlington Heights) on Wednesday following Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s budget address at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, Ill.

Pritzker ended his speech Wednesday with a denunciation of the “virulent strain of nationalism plaguing our nation” that has resulted in attacks on school board members and library trustees.

“This afternoon, I’ve laid out a budget agenda that does everything possible to invest in the education of our children. Yet it’s all meaningless if we become a nation that bans books from school libraries about racism suffered by Roberto Clemente and Hank Aaron and tells kids they can’t talk about being gay and signals to Black and Brown people and Asian Americans and Jews and Muslims that our authentic stories can’t be told,” the governor said.

“Our nation has a great history and much to be proud of. I want my children to learn that history. But I don’t want them to be lied to,” he said to applause. “I want them to learn our true history, warts and all. Illinois’ young people shouldn’t be kept from learning about the realities of our world.”

Dave McKinney covers Illinois state politics for WBEZ. Will Bauer of St. Louis Public Radio contributed to this report.

Dave McKinney is an Illinois politics reporter at WBEZ after spending 19 years as the Chicago Sun-Times Springfield bureau chief with additional stops at Reuters and the Daily Herald.
Will Bauer is the Metro East reporter at St. Louis Public Radio.