Pass: 

“We haven’t had a truly balanced budget in Illinois in decades,” Gov. Bruce Rauner said during his Fiscal Year 2017 budget address.

Rauner spoke out about his willingness to compromise and encouraged the Illinois government to come together to make the necessary decisions to finalize a state budget.

Rauner was adamant that he would not move on his views that early childhood education funding should be a priority. It is good to have a governor so concerned with K-12 schools and their funds.

Fail:

While Rauner encouraged a higher funding for early childhood education, he did not address higher education at all.

5,700 NIU students for the 2015-16 academic year are paying for their education with the state-funded MAP grant. Rauner did not mention the MAP grant at all during his address.

He seemed to keep repeating the need to make a decision and come to an agreement for the state budget, but I would have liked to have heard his stance on the funds for higher education.