WREX.com – Rockford’s News LeaderGovernor calls for 1% tax increase to save education funding

Governor calls for 1% tax increase to save education funding

SPRINGFIELD (WREX) - Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has proposed a 1 percent tax increase to avoid funding cuts to education.

During his 20-minute budget speech Wednesday, Quinn said democrats and republicans must come together to pass this budget because we are fighting for our children, jobs and our state.

He called the state's $13 billion deficit a "crisis of epic proportion."

"We have a tough fight ahead of us. But I believe we can get through this difficult year together," said Governor Quinn. "And as we go forward, we must make a solemn promise to the people of Illinois to end these annual fiscal calamities once and for all."

Quinn says across-the-board-cuts would be "just plain wrong", but he is calling for more than $2 billion in budget cuts, including major cuts to education that he would like to see restored by the 1 percent tax increase.

NIU President John Peters says, "Under this budget plan, appropriations for higher education will be rolled back to pre-2006 levels. For NIU, this represents a reduction of more than $6.7 million, or 6.2 percent. If approved, this budget will further intensify the challenges we have been struggling to overcome for several years."

You can read his full statement and learn more about how this affects NIU's budget by clicking here.

We brought you the governor's speech live on WREX.com. You can watch the entire speech by clicking the video link at the top left of this story.

We will have full reports on how the governor's planned cuts will affect our area tonight on 13 News at 5:00, 6:00 and 10:00.