Illinois schools will be able to open on time this fall, despite an ongoing budget stalemate at the statehouse.
Schools not having the money to operate had been a worry, given Gov. Bruce Rauner's condemnation of the spending plan passed by Democratic legislators.
It isn't anymore. Democrats' budget is broken into some 20 different pieces. And Rauner has signed one of them -- the bill that funds education.
From the onset, Rauner has tried to position himself a champion of education.
"For years, state support for education has been cut, even when it didn't have to be. It's time to make education our top priority again," he said during his budget address earlier this year.
The measure he's signed into law gives millions of dollars more to preschool through high-schools.
Even as he slashes state funding elsewhere, Rauner says in a press release that he'd prefer even more money go toward schools.
The budget for everything else -- including money for state universities (which Rauner has recommended be cut 30-percent) -- remains in limbo.
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