SPRINGFIELD, Ill.—Facing deep money cuts from the right-wing government of GOP President Donald Trump in programs they serve—with education and social services taking the biggest hits—union members nationwide are heading for state legislatures to lobby for making up the shortfalls.
In Illinois, their biggest ask was for full-funding of the schools, including student aid for higher education, in Senate Bill 13, and state aid for K-12 schools to reach a goal of 90% of the authorized state share of local school funding by fiscal 2027, which begins July 1.
That would let the schools hire and retain teachers, provide school lunches and breakfasts, hire more counselors and librarians, and continue to provide wrap-around services before and after school—all goals of the nation’s teachers unions.
The catch is that some of the states where unions are strongest—specifically California, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, and Maryland—are also deep-blue states with large funding shortfalls of their own. And Trump has particular hatred for those five, plus Colorado, aiming extra harm at them.
The Illinois Federation of Teachers was first out of the box. They converged for a mass rally and lobbying at the state capital of Springfield on February 17, the day before Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker presented his proposed budget for fiscal 2027—which balanced but had few initiatives.
Maryland and New York will be next on the union lobbying list, as AFSCME plans its own bus caravans on February 27 to the state capitals of Annapolis and Albany, respectively.
The problem is, as the Illinois Office of Management and Budget said in a fiscal report released in early February, that “Over the past year, federal policy changes have altered the federal-state partnership by shifting costs to states and reducing support for longstanding programs that serve working families.”
“Since October, budgetary pressure has only increased for Illinois and other states with Democratic governors targeted by the federal government for political retribution. Unlike the federal government, states, including Illinois, are required to balance their budgets. And as repeatedly stated, Illinois cannot backfill billions of dollars as the federal government makes reductions,” its OMB said.
Studies for the National Conference of State Legislatures expose the depth of the problem:
- “Some states are using ‘rainy day’ funds to cover temporary gaps, though 13 additional states are in a ‘conditional’ status regarding their fiscal health.”
- Iowa and Michigan face $1 billion deficits this year, and Colorado’s gap for fiscal 2027 is half of that—but it lost $1.2 billion in this fiscal year.
Those three are better off than states with “structural deficits”: Four of the five Trump-targeted blue states, with Maryland being the one without it.
- Kansas killed more than $540 million for program enhancements and to expand its workforce.
Trump’s budget bill cost the Sunflower State $145 million of its reserves since July.
- “Ohio, Missouri, Arkansas, and Tennessee–whose economies are built on agriculture and manufacturing—are ‘treading water’ due to Trump’s tariffs, which hit their exports.”
- Virginia’s “leftover general funds,” which it has used to achieve surpluses, may not be enough to cope with the joblessness and lost revenues from its economic engine, the D.C. suburbs, due to Trump’s mass firings of federal workers and closure of federal agencies. Those factors also hit Maryland.
- West Virginia is so deep-red that it’s cutting agency funding by 2% and its GOP governor seeks a 10% tax cut.
The Illinois teachers urged reform of the state’s tax system to make millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share. Non-partisan studies rank Illinois as the fourth most regressive tax system in the U.S., one speaker at a pre-lobbying press conference said.
That would raise approximately $7 billion, the state could then use to fully fund its K-12 schools as well as its public colleges, speakers contended, as state plans require within the next two years.
State aid to students at higher ed institutions hasn’t risen, in constant-dollar terms, since 2002, said Illinois Federation of Teachers Vice President Cyndi Oberle-Dahm. Trump’s cuts will only worsen the situation.
And making the richest 5% of Illinoisans pony up would also “Trump-proof” the state, said Oberle-Dahm, a Belleville West high school social studies teacher.
College students are so short-changed on state financial aid that many have multiple off-campus jobs to make ends meet. Oberle-Dahm told of one bright student who kept nodding off and falling asleep during her first morning class. It turns out the student had an off-campus overnight job that lasted until 7 a.m., then had to drive miles to make the course’s 9 a.m. start.
But it’s not just college students who are getting hurt, and the pain is statewide, not just in metro Chicago.
Decatur Elementary School teacher Michelle Mitchell said 70% of her district’s students are from low-income households and 90% receive free or reduced-price breakfasts and lunches.
And Illinois also has not just the fourth-worst state tax system in the U.S., but the fourth-worst ratio of school counselors, especially mental health professionals, said Chicago Teachers Union/AFT Local 1 Vice President Jackson Potter. “It’s 500-1,” Potter said. “We can barely handle a 30-1 ratio of students to teachers in high schools.”
Trump’s budget cut those programs, too. So Illinois teachers, in a letter to lawmakers and Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker, a leading Trump foe, are turning to the state to help make up the difference.
From New Mexico and New York to Maryland, Illinois, and Michigan, AFSCME will be lobbying to preserve and fund state programs, too, one national union official said.
“It’s not a Republican or Democratic thing. And we are talking about folks who can afford to pay,” one speaker at the Springfield press conference said.
The Illinois state Office of Management and Budget report to Pritzker made one more point: That it’s not just the rich who benefit from Trump’s $4.5 trillion tax cut last year. It’s corporations, too.
“At a time when many large corporations are reporting record profits and benefiting from Trump’s budget bill, those same changes are reducing state revenue. For Illinois, automatic conformity with these federal changes would have resulted in an estimated more than $830 million reduction in General Funds revenues beginning in FY26,” the Illinois OMB concluded.
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