Governor Bruce Rauner’s budget proposal calls for cutting state higher education funding by nearly a third. But at the Illinois State Fair Tuesday, Rauner turned back to his long-term goal of raising state funding for state universities.
The Republican governor repeated the argument he made in his gubernatorial campaign last year - that an increase in funding should come with a change in how that funding is spent.
“I want to make sure our universities shrink their bureaucracy, their overhead, their layers of administration and inefficiency; shrink some of their costs on some of their pensions and compensation levels, they’re quite high; and put that money into the classroom, with the professors, with the researchers and with the students.”
State universities in Illinois have been operating since July 1st without any state funding, because Governor Rauner and legislative Democrats can’t agree on a state budget.
Like the governor, the Democrats also propose a cut in state funding for universities, but at a lower rate than the governor’s proposal.