Editorial: Hey ‘overnor, Your hypocrisy is showing

Staff Editorial
March 31, 2016

Not a day goes by as the effects of the budget stalemate rear its ugly head around Eastern.

Departments have had to adjust to new personnel after saying good-bye to long-time staff members — 261 layoff notices were handed out, as well as 155 people receiving furlough notices.

The community rallied around those affected by planting a flag for each person in front of the steps of the Doudna Fine Arts Center. They then marched to the Coles County Courthouse and planted an equal number of flags on the north side of the Courthouse.

Locally the plight of the university employee is receiving recognition from the community.

That doesn’t seem to be translating to support in Springfield.

Gov. Rauner’s Twitter account contains messages and images that one might expect from a leader, including updates from Springfield, the Illinois National Guard and other stately events.

Tweets also include him meeting with high school students from around the state.

The irony of this tweet isn’t lost on The News.

“Every student in IL deserves a world class education.”

 

 

 

 

 

Governor, do you really think high school students are so naive that they don’t understand what is happening to education in Illinois?

Do you really think that you have created a climate where education within our borders translates to competitiveness outside our nation?

The state is entering it’s 10th month without a budget. Higher education has not been funded in almost a year.

How in the world would anyone see “world class education” inside a state where we’re known for governors with criminal records and the 10-month fiscal calamity being perpetuated by grown addle-minded children who don’t know when to quit. People who can’t set aside their ideological differences for the greater good — over 916,000 students attending a public university.

Not to mention the 261 employees who have ben laid off at Eastern. And the untold number of employees at other state schools.

We feel for you, Chicago State.

We never want to see a school close, but especially under circumstances that could easily be fixed with a simple signature.

Governor Rauner, your hypocrisy is showing.

We’re still waiting for anything, literally anything, from Springfield.

Instead of selling high school seniors  your future education utopia, why don’t you instead make a real concrete difference in the state’s future generation and fund our schools.

We’ll be waiting till our last dying breath.