After three years, the start-up funds allocated for NIU’s Rockford campus are still in limbo. It seems Gov. Jim Edgar’s commitment to education seems to have stopped after the General Assembly went home.

To be sure, all capital development funds have been sidetracked for review by Edgar since January. And unfortunately, a month and a half after the budget battles were history, there is still no word on any of these projects.

This is a shame, because the Rockford project had been reviewed repeatedly by former governor Jim Thompson before he released the funds as part of his farewell celebration.

Before this, the project had been reviewed by the Regents, the Illinois Board of Higher Education and the Illinois House and Senate. NIU and Rockford officials have all said they are happy with the plan. What is the holdup?

Unfortunately, it seems as if redistricting negotiations are taking up too much of Edgar’s time right now, which means the business of the state will have to be on hold for a while.

Of course, money in Illinois is tight and future budgets will once again cause many more headaches. But the start-up funds have already been approved, the contractors are ready to begin work and NIU is ready to move in.

With all these people standing around twiddling their thumbs, Edgar should have the decency to take his nose out of the political stew for a moment or two to let them know when they can begin.