Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner’s amendment to Senate Bill 1 not only drew ire from Democrats, the decision also prompted the Senate to override his veto during a Sunday special session.

The override came days before schools in Monroe County are slated to open, and the House must still take action before funding is disbursed to public schools under a new evidence based funding model.

“It’s time to act now. Democrats waited two months to send me the education funding bill – schools can’t wait any longer,” Rauner said in a statement in the days leading up to the override. “It’s time to move forward with my changes or negotiate in good faith. Let’s act quickly and in the best interest of children across our state.”

The override needed a total of 36 Senate votes and received 38, with the help of one Republican. State Sen. Paul Schimpf (R-Waterloo) voted “no” on the override because he does not agree with the legislation as it was originally written.

“It’s unfair to southern Illinois kids in that 19 percent of Illinois’ school children get 34 percent of funding,” he said of SB1.

Rauner’s amendment would have taken a $250 million block grant, $215 million for teacher pensions and a $40 million credit to help with pension underfunding away from CPS to be disbursed to the remaining school districts in the state.

State Rep. Jerry Costello II (D-Smithton) argued that Rauner’s changes would also cause school districts to lose funding for pension costs. If the House overrides the governor’s amendatory veto, Costello said he will vote in favor of the override.

“Every child in the state and this country for that matter deserve the same opportunity for a quality education. Regardless of their zip code,” he said. “Only by educating the impoverished will we change things for the better in our state.”

The requirements of a House override include the support of all 67 Democrats and at least four Republicans. According to the State Journal-Register, Rep. Will Davis (D-Homewood) said a vote was not set to take place during the House’s first scheduled session on Wednesday.

More than 5,000 children in Monroe County rely on both property tax revenue and federal and state funding to give them an adequate education. For two months, the Illinois Senate withheld Senate Bill 1, the supposed fix to the state’s broken school funding formula, from Rauner.

Waterloo school superintendent Brian Charron said the district may not be able to remain open throughout the 2017-18 school year without state funding. The lack of school funding would cause cooperatives Waterloo pays into to be without sufficient revenue, leaving Waterloo without the services needed to operate.

Columbia school superintendent Dr. Gina Segobiano said the district will stay open regardless of Illinois’ school funding situation. Segobiano said that, unlike Columbia, some school districts in the state cannot open without general state aid because of insufficient revenue and reserves.

A comparison between SB 1 and Rauner’s amendment shows every Monroe County school receives more under Rauner’s plan than SB 1. The differences are fairly minimal with Waterloo, for instance, receiving about $100,000 more with the Rauner plan.

In order to provide much-needed funds to Illinois schools, Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza recently released $429 million in mandated categorical payments for special education and transportation. Waterloo and Columbia schools had only received one of these quarterly payments by the end of the school year.

“We encourage Illinois state representatives of both parties to listen to students, parents, teachers and school officials in their districts and vote to override Governor Rauner’s veto of equitable school funding, as state senators of both parties just did,” Mendoza said in a recent statement. “After the House votes to override, our office can begin sending schools the General State Aid they are owed.”

Waterloo and Valmeyer schools opened for the first day on Wednesday, with Columbia starting on Thursday.