I have a suggestion for college students whose grant funding is being held hostage by the budget stalemate.
Sue the state of Illinois.
A court ruling seems to be the only way to keep state funds flowing these days. As we approach the ninth month without a state budget, let’s recap a few examples of how lawsuits have pried out money.
As soon as the fiscal year began July 1, lawsuits were filed over whether state workers should be paid. One judge ruled they should get only minimum wage payments. An appellate court decided that not paying state workers would violate collective bargaining agreements, and full paychecks have been issued ever since.
Social service providers receiving Medicaid payments in Cook County filed a federal lawsuit, and a judge ruled the state had to pay them. Another judge later threatened to hold the state in contempt if it didn’t cough up the dough it owed, but the ruling didn’t cover all social service agencies doing business with the state.
Even lottery winners got in on litigation. You’ll recall the state suspended payments to winners for five months until Gov. Bruce Rauner in December signed a bill to pay them. The prize winners sued in January, demanding interest on the money the state should have paid them sooner.
Under threat of legal action, the state continues to make pension payments and pay health insurance costs of retirees. Rauner, at the onset of the budget void, authorized funding for K-12 education. All told, more than 90 percent of the state’s bills are being paid, per court order or threat of legal consequences.
All of this creates a business-as-usual climate and removes any sense of urgency over budget negotiations. Rauner and other Republicans won’t even sit down to talk with House Speaker Michael Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton.
Rauner wants his Turnaround Agenda before he’ll talk about a budget, and the Democrats say no dice to the governor’s agenda until there’s a budget. Round and round we go.
People really feeling the pain from this stalemate are those served by care providers not covered by Medicaid, along with state universities and about 130,000 college students who receive grants through the Illinois Monetary Assistance Program (MAP).
If they want relief, they’d better lawyer up, because there’s no end in sight to the budget impasse.
Democrats passed a $721 million bill that would have authorized $397 million for MAP grants and $274 million for community colleges. Rauner vetoed it, saying there was no money to pay for it. Republicans put forth a proposal to spend $1.6 billion on higher education, but Democrats refused to call the bill, which also would have given the governor more authority to shift funds around and cut spending.
The latest proposal by state Rep. Ken Dunkin seeks $200 million in emergency funding for higher education. Dunkin is the turncoat preventing Madigan from having a veto-proof supermajority, so don’t expect that measure to go anywhere soon.
Meanwhile, higher education in the state is suffering real and permanent damage. Many colleges and universities used reserve funds to absorb the costs of MAP grants this year, but are unable to do that again. Colleges are setting classes for next year and telling students it’s going to cost them an extra $4,400 — the value of the typical MAP grant — to come back in the fall.
A lot of students will take out more loans or find a way to pay it, but a lot will decide they can no longer afford college. They’ll set aside their educations to work. Enrollments will decline. Academic programs will be cut. Faculty and staff positions will be eliminated.
Compared to starving children, elderly who rely on social services and other hostages of this budget standoff, college students are the most expendable casualties. We sacrifice our brightest and strongest on the front lines.
I think of college students as caught in the middle of a nasty, prolonged divorce. Mom and dad are before the judge with their lawyers. The difference is, in court there’s an advocate for the children. The system doesn’t let the kids starve while the immature parents stubbornly fight it out.
That’s why I say the college kids should take legal action. Surely the parents of the 130,000 MAP grant recipients include some attorneys who would take the case.
Turns out, it’s not an original idea. On Friday, I spoke with David Tretter, president of the Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and Universities, an advocacy organization that represents public policy interests of Illinois’ nonprofit colleges and universities.
I asked him if suing the state for MAP funding was a rational strategy.
“We have looked into it and we haven’t moved forward yet,” he said. “Most legal counsel say it would be an uphill legal battle. It could be an option, but we don’t see that as a path to resolution.”
I want college students to get their money. I want the state to have a budget. But demanding negotiations between legislators and the governor seems like an empty cry in the wilderness. No amount of traffic-stopping protests seems to matter, either.
The political leadership of this state no longer responds to shaming. The only thing that seems to get their attention and force action is a court order.
Twitter: @tedslowik
