Republican Illinois Senate members are suing their Democratic peers over the last-minute rush to OK a $55 billion state budget few people had seen – just like they do every year. The lawsuit aims to block the budget before Gov. J.B. Pritzker signs it in to law.
State lawmakers built Illinois’ record $55.2 billion budget for 2026 on gimmicks, one-time fixes and piecemeal tax hikes. They left pension debt, transit cliffs and real reform for another day.
The Chicago Teachers Union and its cronies destroyed Illinois’ only private school choice program. Now they are out to kill charter schools and public-school choice, leaving parents with no option but CTU’s failing product.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s record $55.2 billion budget relies on Illinoisans paying over $394 million in new or higher taxes on sports bets, tobacco, short-term rentals and more. At the same time, he’s set to take away a property tax break.
Illinois lawmakers got creative with state budget proposals to overhaul pensions and raise new revenue, many of which would have hit consumers and small businesses hardest. They also failed to intrude on how families choose to educate their children.
With only 10,100 of the Chicago Teachers Union’s 27,216 active members voting to retain Stacy Davis Gates as president, she doesn’t have support from nearly two-thirds of the teachers the union represents.
Published June 3, 2025 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The best path to empowerment and success, especially for poor people, is work. Work allows us to prosper while providing dignity, upward mobility, the means to support ourselves and create value for others. It’s how we become thriving members of our community. Central to this process is our education...
With the Illinois state legislative session ended, bills will start crossing the governor’s desk, some containing tax hikes, unaffordable spending and needless regulation. Here’s how Gov. J.B. Pritzker can stop these bad policies from becoming law.
Illinois state lawmakers’ spending plan surpasses last year’s budget by $2 billion, requiring taxpayers to pay over $800 million in additional costs for yet another year of record spending.
State leaders rely on budget gimmicks and short-term fixes and they assume speculative proposals will become law and operate exactly as planned just to balance the books, if only on paper. Transparent, laws-on-the-books-based modeling is the only path to long-term stability.
As state lawmakers finalize the 2026 budget, public sector unions are pushing for major benefit spikes for Tier 2 pensioners to be included in last-minute additions.
With the budget facing a potential $1.2 billion deficit, some ideas on the table include taxing deliveries from companies such as Amazon and digital ads.
Springfield lawmakers are close to hiking road tolls, taxing rideshare services as well as real estate sales for everyone in Cook and the collar counties.