Can you imagine Illinois with a $17 billion budget surplus?
Neither can we. But it does happen — elsewhere. One Midwestern neighbor, Minnesota, had a cool $17 billion cushion to work with less than two years ago when Gov. Tim Walz, now the Democratic vice presidential nominee, and state lawmakers were given the enviable task of what to do with the largesse. Minnesota had squirreled away more of the federal pandemic relief dollars that came states’ way and was also in far better fiscal health going into the pandemic.
We note that unusual situation because Minnesota is a state the Chicago Teachers Union cites frequently when attempting to embarrass Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker into somehow finding $1.1 billion to finance substantial annual teacher raises and the addition of thousands more CTU members to the financially ailing Chicago Public Schools…