Continued censure, increased overtime pay highlights July senate executive committee meeting
August 22, 2016
The University system will receive $350 million for fiscal year 2017, which begins today after the state legislature and Governor Bruce Rauner came to a partial spending agreement after almost a year of a budget impasse.
This legislative measure is not a state budget; it is being referred to as more of a spending plan, and only funds six months for higher education across the state. The funds will be used to pay for the University’s financial obligations for 2016 as well as 2017.
“We are grateful for their hard work and bipartisan compromise, which will improve the University’s financial outlook — providing much-welcomed funding and temporarily resolving a year-long budget impasse in Springfield,” University President Tim Killeen said in a Massmail Friday morning.
But the funds are around 55 percent of the state appropriation for fiscal year 2015 which provided $650 million.
The MAP grants from the spring semester will be paid, meaning students do not have to give the MAP funding back to the University. Killeen said the University will continue to advocate for MAP funding “to support our most vulnerable students, affordable health care for our employees and solutions to protect the retirement benefits they have earned.”
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“The short-term spending plan is a milepost, but does not bring us to the finish line,” Killeen said. “We will continue to advocate for a full fiscal 2016 and 2017 state budget to support our excellence and ensure the long-term stability that is crucial to plan our future.”
More than 1,200 people sent over 3,500 emails to support the University and its importance in their lives and in the future of the state, Killeen said.
“I am also deeply grateful to everyone in the University of Illinois family who has stepped up over the last year to advocate on our behalf,” he said.
As for the rest of the state, road construction and pre-school through high school will be funded for a full year, while every other part of the state government is only funded for six months.
One hundred and fifty-one million dollars in MAP grant funding will be distributed to schools throughout the state. Social services will receive funding but not full funding.
