Employees at the University of Illinois apparently will get to keep a valuable benefit – 50 percent tuition waivers for their children – for at least one more year.

But the waivers, which cost the UI $3.2 million last year, could become a target for budget-cutting legislators next year.

State Rep. David Winters, R-Shirland, introduced a bill this year to repeal the tuition waivers, which are offered at all Illinois public universities. But the legislation went nowhere.

"It got in the wrong committee," he laughed. "The higher education committee is not predisposed to asking for any sacrifice from the state university employees. I'll learn from this next year and ask to send the bill to another committee."

Statewide, the 2,448 tuition waivers to the offspring of university employees cost public universities $7.6 million (still less than the $13.5 million cost of General Assembly scholarships), according to the Illinois Board of Higher Education.

"Right now it's a right the employees won through legislation," Winters said. "I'd think it would be more appropriate to be negotiated upon employment, or something that is bargained for.

"Why does a secretary working at a law firm or a secretary working at a construction company in Champaign not qualify for that (waiver) but a secretary working for the university does? It's just another example of public employees who have gotten a sweetheart deal. The general public is fed up with it."

Next year, he said, his legislation will call for ending both the employee tuition waivers and the General Assembly scholarships.

"I'm looking for any way to save state dollars that we can," said Winters, who has a master's degree from the UI.

Rep. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, said it would be "completely hypocritical" for lawmakers to repeal the employee waivers without eliminating the General Assembly scholarships.

"If (Winters) combines them next year, we'll have a discussion," Rose said.

Sen. Mike Frerichs, D-Champaign, said the state's budget predicament probably will determine whether the employee tuition waivers are targeted next year. It's not just Winters who has talked about them, he said. Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, has mentioned them publicly and in private conversations with Frerichs.

"If Representative Winters reruns his bill next year and if there is not a budget resolution that finally fixes the funding problems for universities, people are going to continue to look for ways to save money for higher education," Frerichs said.

Olympian Drive

One reason supporters of the Olympian Drive project no longer want a Champaign County Board vote this spring on the $30 million project is that the votes aren't there.

Republicans for now are united in opposition to the road just north of Champaign-Urbana, said Greg Knott, head of the board's GOP caucus. That alone is 12 of the 14 board votes needed to block the project. And someDemocrats are concerned about the project and would have voted no, too, said a Democratic member.

So Olympian Drive won't return to the county board this year. A design engineering study of the approximately 3-mile-long extension needs to be done. That will take at least a year. And the city of Urbana, as lead agency on the project, needs to build public support.

One political sidelight to the Olympian Drive issue will be to watch how the Champaign County Chamber of Commerce finesses its political endorsements this fall. Last winter, the chamber asked primary election candidates if they would back the project and vote for financial support. But GOP opposition to the chamber-backed road project will make it tougher for the chamber to justify its traditional support for Republican candidates.

Redistricting commission

The independent redistricting commission proposal got nine "no" votes at Thursday's county board meeting. One came from rural Urbana Republican Steve O'Connor. Nearly all of the others came from Dems who are leaving the board, represent safe Democratic districts or aren't running for re-election this year.

The most closely watched vote was from Champaign Democrat Alan Kurtz, who will be on the ballot this fall and represents a district only marginally Democratic. In 2006, Democrat Carrie Melin won District 7 by 46 votes. Last month, Kurtz got 541 votes in the Democratic primary while Sher Hampel received 615 in the GOP primary.

Kurtz voted for the redistricting commission Thursday although he said he had a number of problems with it, including his belief that the appointment of the commission should be left to the next county board. "But with all of that said," he concluded, "I will vote for this measure. I feel we should have the transparency and the openness of the voting ... the elections, so I will vote for this resolution."

Tom Kacich is a News-Gazette editor and columnist. His column appears Sundays and Wednesdays. He can be reached at 351-5221 or at kacich@news-gazette.com.