The education-funding-reform bill that passed the House and Senate in May and was finally sent to Governor Bruce Rauner on July 31 was the product of four years of research, endless listening tours, and lots of hard bargaining.

But when Rauner issued his amendatory veto of Senate Bill 1 last week, he introduced a bunch of new ideas that had never been on the table, including during endless discussions among members of his own education-funding-reform commission.

The battle plan to kill the Democrats’ education-funding-reform bill (Senate Bill 1) that was plotted before Governor Bruce Rauner’s infamous staff purge in early July – and which still appears to be mostly operative – actually anticipated low special-session turnout, because there likely wouldn’t be much of anything to vote on. Rauner’s folks figured that the Democrats would wait a while before lifting the parliamentary brick off the education-funding-reform bill – the better to foment a crisis atmosphere as the clock ticks down to schools reopening after summer break.

So legislators not showing up for session will likely only amplify the governor’s contention that the majority party isn’t interested in preventing a crisis and funding schools.