SE Illinois News

Sen. Dale Fowler (R-Harrisburg) recently updated constituents on the effects of the recently passed budget and the General Assembly’s upcoming work on school funding with a post on his website.

According to the post, the budget has allowed the state to release over $700 million in funds for educational institutions entities like universities and community colleges. While these funds are crucial to those institutions and were desperately needed, they are only a portion of the state’s backlog of $14.8 billion in unpaid bills.

Further, the income tax hike included in the budget is already beginning to affect Illinois residents, who have just received their first pay checks of the new fiscal year with the hike in effect, according to the post. Not only are residents receiving less take home pay, they are also potentially paying more for fuel and consumer products thanks to the budget’s elimination of a retailer’s sales tax exemption on E-10 fuel.

In addition to updating constituents on the affects of the budget, Fowler’s post also laid out the General Assembly’s upcoming work. Fowler said the Legislature is likely to tackle school funding formula changes soon, as a provision in the budget ties K-12 funding to a transition to an evidence-based model.