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1) Re: 2011 House Bill 4445 (Adjust current year school appropriations )  by Admin003 on February 23, 2012 
Senator Pavlov's statement is as follows:
I wasn't going to speak to this issue, but after the Minority Leader made such an eloquent argument to try to
convince even further "no" votes for the group that is trying to be a part of the solution, I just felt that a little bit of
background on where this problem existed probably needs to be talked about in this chamber. When you take a look
at where Highland Park Schools has been over the last five years, you will see that there are 475 school districts that
are below them on the funding level. The revenue to that school district has been increased by over 25 percent, and
expenses at the very same time have gone up nearly 47 percent, at a time when they have seen a 59 percent decline
in the student population.
At what point wasn't somebody watching this situation? When this group comes together to try to offer a solution,
whether it be short-term or long-term, the idea is we are putting together a plan today that allows those school doors
to be open tomorrow. It gives us an opportunity to fight for further reforms that we are going to need.
Let's talk about further educational opportunities for those kids who are in these districts. This is not just an urban
district issue. Everybody in this chamber, at some point, is being affected by the impact of education. So let's be true
about where the problem came from. Let's be even more accurate about where the solution is going to come from.

2) Re: 2011 House Bill 4445 (Adjust current year school appropriations )  by Admin003 on February 23, 2012 
Senator Walker's statement is as follows:
This is an important piece of legislation we have in front of us right now. It helps facilitate the continued
education of 1,000 students in Highland Park, and it's been referenced that somehow the fault of this Legislature that
funded K-12 education to the tune of $13 billion in this state. It's almost a quarter of the whole state's revenue. I
think that shows a strong commitment on the part of this Legislature and our state for our children's education.
We've gone on ad nauseam about this, and people can say the numbers look however they want, but this
Legislature is committed to children's education in this state. Constitutionally, we have to do that. That's why we are
here. We're here to make sure those 1,000 students have an education. And as far as other schools queued up for possible emergency manager situations, there aren't 40 schools queued up for emergency manager that are in the top 10 level of funding the way this current school is. It's in the top 10
percent of funding for all the schools in our state, and it's in financial trouble. That isn't the state's fault. That's the
fault of the people who are managing that school district. They should be held accountable, and we are helping so
those students will have an education.

3) Re: 2011 House Bill 4445 (Adjust current year school appropriations )  by Admin003 on February 23, 2012 
Senators Pappageorge, Walker and Pavlov asked and were granted unanimous consent to make statements and
moved that the statements be printed in the Journal.
The motion prevailed.
Senator Pappageorge's statement is as follows:
You know, that was an interesting discussion we just heard, but it has nothing to do with the immediate problem.
The immediate problem is not Public Act No. 4. The immediate problem is that we have almost 1,000 kids who
won't have a school to go to tomorrow. If you want to talk about Public Act No. 4 or history or whatever else, just
remember just because some people missed the boat is no reason to discontinue the service. Today the question is
what are we going to do for kids who need to go to school tomorrow? We can talk about all that other stuff anytime
after tomorrow.
We have a short-term problem and a long-term problem. I am happy to discuss the long-term problem with
anybody--in fact, we need to--but tomorrow we need to have kids going into a classroom. That is what is before us.

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