IFT Responds to Governor’s Budget Address

In response to Governor Pritzker’s 8th budget address, and the day after hundreds of Illinois Federation of Teachers members rallied at the capitol, IFT Secretary- Treasurer Pankaj Sharma issued the following:

“Ask an educator if the budget does what is needed for our students and the answer will be ‘no.’ Any math teacher can look at the state’s budget and tell you, we need to tax the ultra-rich in Illinois to give children the schools they deserve from Pre-k to PhD, to make our state number one in education, and to take the burden off the backs of Illinois’ working families. And any history teacher will tell you now is the moment to do it without delay.

“The Governor and lawmakers have a choice in his ‘maintenance budget’ to maintain inequality and giveaways to billionaires or to help Illinois’ working families who are struggling to maintain under higher costs and fewer supports.

“The $6 billion that Illinois has promised but not delivered to its students is still less than the tax cut that President Trump put back into the bank accounts of the top 5% in our state. If we have to choose between taxing the ultra-rich or funding our students’ education, that’s an easy decision any day of the week.

“Each day that our Governor and members of the General Assembly fail to deliver valuable resources to students, educators, and their families, they are shortchanging our young people according to their own funding formula. It is another day where a student’s zip code - not state policy - determines whether they have what they need to succeed. 

Pleae read the full message here.