•September 2, 2015•

By Jim Nowlan
NP Guest Columnist

Some readers might think this column a tad eccentric. I like to call it “thinking outside the box.”

I propose a plan for Illinois to dramatically increase volunteerism for the state’s educational and social services, as a way of picking up some of the slack that results from state budget cuts.

Here’s the situation. Illinois will be figuratively toting an anvil on its back for the coming decades, represented by the $110 billion, or probably more, in unfunded pension liabilities.

To right the situation, which the state high court has ruled must be done, will require about $7 billion off the top of each year’s state budget. That is equal to almost two percentage points in the rate of the individual income tax. The rate now stands at 3.75 percent but will later in the year, I predict, go up to about 4.75 percent to balance the budget for the coming year.

As a result of budget shortfalls over recent years, there have been cutbacks in funding for social services and a woeful failure to meet what the state’s own experts say is the minimal amount of funding necessary to provide an adequate education.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.