CHICAGO (AP) – More than a dozen school superintendents have written a letter to Republican Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner accusing him of playing politics with education funding.

School leaders including from Chicago, Peoria and East Moline sent the letter Monday to Rauner. They say schools won’t open on time and call Illinois’ funding formula the nation’s most “regressive.” They also claim stand-alone school funding bills Republicans introduced at session’s end continue unequal spending.

Rauner says he’s also concerned schools might not open and acknowledged the formula is broken, but says majority Democrats didn’t send him a budget. Rauner says the separate bills will let schools open and make time for negotiations.
Rauner blasted Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago schools’ finances, likening some schools to “crumbling prisons.”

Illinois has operated without a budget since last July.