Illinois lawmakers failing colleges because they won’t turn in any work

Illinois state lawmakers weren’t content with an Illinois taxpayer leaving every five minutes, they decided to wreck the link between higher education and higher taxes.

Fewer people and less education for those left behind: Now there’s a formula for fixing $12.8 billion in overdue bills and a $130 billion pension deficit.

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville is being asked to loan $70 million to its big brother, Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Both campuses are in a fiscal trainwreck — $16 million in cuts at SIUE and $30 million at SIUC after its $80 million in reserves evaporated — because lawmakers for two years have failed to cobble together a budget or propose any reforms to start climbing out of our money morass.

Southwestern Illinois College is laying off 19 administrators to save $1.2 million and raising tuition $4 per credit hour. Again, the thank-you note goes out to our dysfunctional state government.

Professors are leaving, students are finding colleges out of state where they don’t have to worry about whether classes will be canceled for lack of funding, so we continue to let higher education bleed?

There is a direct link between advanced degrees and earnings potential. Higher earnings lead to higher taxes. So let’s hurt higher education so our state’s remaining residents pay less in taxes.

How stupid.

This story was originally published April 3, 2017 at 7:00 PM with the headline "Illinois lawmakers failing colleges because they won’t turn in any work."