Gambling with education in Illinois

Gov. Blagojevich is at it again. He's latest funding scheme was officially announced yesterday. He's going to sell the state lottery, the proceeds of which have helped fund education. He says it's so he can better fund education.

Chicago Tribune

So he thinks he can sell the lottery for $10 billion. He says he's going to take $4 billion and spend it on the schools in the next 4 years. The other $6 billion he says he's going to invest to replace the lost income from the lottery to education through 2024.

More after the flip.

What happens after 2024? He doesn't know, and in my opinion, he doesn't care, he won't be in office then. What if the investments don't last till 2024? What happens in a mere four years when the initial $4 billion runs out? No answer to that either. But our Democratic Legislators are lined up behind the proposal like good little soldiers.

Now why would a supposedly progressive Governor gamble like this with the state's education money, you may ask? Well, it comes down to craven self-interest. As you probably know, Blago is up for re-election this year, and the race is closer than he likes. A Democratically aligned independent, James Meeks has been publicly toying with running as a third party candidate in November. That would hurt Blago's chances. Meeks price not to run? Increased education funding.

  Yeah, the next 4 years will be better, but after that, not so much. Last time I checked kids were in school for more than four years. Blagojevich sold out our kids future to help his re-election prospects. It just makes me sick.