Move To Resume Paying Regional School Superintendents Fails In State House
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (CBS) -- An attempt to pay Illinois' regional school superintendents – who have worked almost four months for no pay – has failed in the Illinois House of Representatives.
As WBBM Newsradio's Dave Dahl reports, the bill would have used the Corporate Personal Property Replacement Tax fund to pay the superintendents.
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Gov. Pat Quinn eliminated salaries for the superintendents earlier this year. The 44 elected superintendents and approximately 40 assistants have been working without pay since July 1.
Their duties include certifying teachers, doing background checks and running truancy programs, as well as providing initial training and refresher courses for school bus drivers But Quinn has called them unnecessary bureaucrats.
State Rep. Roger Eddy (R-Hutsonville) stood up for the superintendents at a Thursday hearing.
"Who's going to do GEDs? Who's going to do alternative schools? Who's going to do bus driver training? Who's going to do certification?" Eddy said.
But Rep. Jack Franks (R-Woodstock) agreed with Quinn that the positions might not even be necessary.
"To just kick the can down the road without any analysis of a) whether the office should remain, and b) in what context it should remain, is not fiscally responsible," Franks said.
The bill fell 12 votes short of passage. The sponsor reserves the right to bring it back.
