Illinois House of Representatives candidates Deborah Frank Feinen, Naomi Jakobsson and Thomas Mackaman argued education and health insurance at a debate in Campbell Hall Thursday night.

The debate, which was shown on WILL-TV, featured the three candidates for the state House from the 103rd district, covering all of Urbana and most of Champaign.

Jakobsson, the incumbent Democrat, and Feinen, her Republican opponent, both called education their top priority.

“Keeping funding (for education) the same is essentially a cut with inflation,” Feinen said. She also criticized Jakobsson for voting for a bill that cut University funding and raise support for Chicago State University.

Jakobsson said the cuts were put in motion before she came to office, and she took credit for keeping funding from being reduced even more over the past year.

Mackaman, a member of the Socialist Equality Party and a graduate student at the University, said his top priority was holding the two major parties accountable for any actions that did not help the people of Illinois.

The three candidates agreed that health care reform was a necessary step in the state government.

“We need to make it a priority that we have affordable health care for everybody,” Jakobsson said. She said that in her first term, funding was increased for Medicare and a prescription drug-buying club was created to give seniors discounts on prescriptions.

Feinen proposed medical malpractice reform and allowing small businesses to pool together to buy insurance plans for their employees.

Mackaman took a different approach from the other candidates.

“What is required is a public health care system,” Mackaman said. “What you’re saying when people can’t afford insurance is that their lives are not valued as highly as those with lots of money. That’s wrong.”

The three candidates had different approaches to tax issues. Jakobsson said she would not support any legislation that raised taxes.

Feinen said she favored a tax swap that would lower property taxes but raise others. Mackaman disagreed with both, saying the only way to properly fund education and health care was higher taxes, particularly on corporations and the wealthy.

Mackaman said Republicans and Democrats were focusing on helping corporations rather than people.

“This system puts corporations ahead of human beings,” Mackaman said. “I’m offering an alternative to both parties.”

The debate kept coming back to education. Few differences emerged between Jakobsson and Feinen, who both said they wanted to increase funding to all levels of education.

“My priority is pre-kindergarten through grad school,” Jakobsson said.

Feinen agreed with her and said helping part of the education system would benefit the others.

“Our school districts are underfunded,” she said. “If we give money to kindergarten through 12, that will eliminate their deficit and free up money for higher education.”

After the debate, Feinen said her plan for education funding reform separated her from the other candidates.

Jakobsson said her experience and ties to the community gave her the advantage.

“I have been in office, and we’ve seen results,” she said. “I think we’ve accomplished a lot.”