Both houses of the Illinois General Assembly have passed a stopgap budget deal that would ensure schools open in the fall and would fund state services for the next six months. The deal has now been sent to Governor Bruce Rauner to be signed.

The deal is expected to get Rauner's signature on the last day of the fiscal year.

Two CPS-related bills also have passed the General Assembly: a $250 million pension pickup for the Chicago teachers' pension fund, and a bill that allows Chicago to raise property taxes earmarked for teacher pension. Read more from ABC7Chicago.

The state funding plan that passed the House on Thursday serves as a bridge to a comprehensive balanced budget for fiscal year 2017.

The funding plan does not rely on a tax hike and provides a full year of funding for elementary and secondary education. Additionally, it funds road construction, federal programs, and other non-General Revenue Fund (GRF) programs for both fiscal years 2016 and 2017. It also provides FY17 funding to support 6 months of critical operations for higher education, state-operated facilities including prisons and veterans’ homes, fuel for the State Police to patrol our roads, and other core operations and programs for public safety, health, and welfare. Funds are available under current law for all components of this bridge plan.

Gov. Bruce Rauner and majority Democrats were pushing competing plans to ensure schools stay open and government operations continue, though there were signs late Tuesday that the two sides could reach a deal on stopgap spending as Illinois approaches a second year without a full state budget.

Legislative leaders left a nearly three-hour meeting with the Republican governor saying they had made progress and would meet again Wednesday morning.

None would reveal details of their discussions, but Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan said he was "optimistic that we can settle a whole host of problems," and Senate President John Cullerton told reporters it's "exciting that we're this close."

Republican House leader Jim Durkin and Senate leader Christine Radogno agreed it was a good discussion, though Radogno said, "Caution is always in order." Read more.

Budget – FY16 Nears End
Fiscal Year 2016 nears its end without a budget. FY16 will reach its end on June 30th, when the State of Illinois will possibly go an entire fiscal year without a budget. Subsection 2b of Article VIII of the Constitution of Illinois requires the General Assembly to annually enact a balanced budget.

In an effort to improve public safety and reduce incidences of gun violence in Illinois, a bipartisan group of lawmakers has filed legislation that will help keep firearms out of the hands of individuals who have been deemed a public safety threat, have made threats of terrorism, or have been charged with an act of terrorism. The bill was unveiled at a press conference held at the James R. Thompson Center in Chicago on Thursday.

"No matter how this session unfolds, send that education bill to my desk -- CLEAN -- NO GAMES -- and I'll sign it immediately," -- Governor Bruce Rauner, February 17, 2016

"Before we appropriate money for education for next year, (which) starts July 1, we have to fix this formula," -- Senate President John Cullerton, January 25, 2016

Since taking office, I've made educating all children in Illinois my top priority. Since February, I've called on the General Assembly to pass a clean education funding bill to ensure our schools open on time this fall with full funding for the first time in seven years.

Read Governor Rauner's letter to the editor in the Daily Herald.

House Republican Leader Jim Durkin has filed two emergency spending bills that will allow all schools to open on time and also ensure that critical budget areas like universities and colleges, the correctional system and other vital service areas of government are funded through the end of the year.

These bills, HB 6583 and HB 6585, are balanced. Neither would add a cent of debt to the state of Illinois.

The stopgap, HB 6583, would allow every Illinois school district to be fully funded at 100 percent of the foundation level for the first time since 2012. Additionally, the bill holds harmless those school districts including Chicago Public Schools that would lose state funding in 2017 due to rising property values along with a decline in poverty. But most importantly, it removes K-12 schoolchildren from the crossfire of the larger budget impasse.

Read the rest of Represenative Ron Sandack's letter to the editor in the Daily Herald.