Dear Students,
I want you to know that I will not be offering the General Assembly tuition waivers for the 2012-2013 school year. As you may know, our state universities absorb the costs of covering the tuition waivers we in the General Assembly award. Because of our state’s dire budget situation and backlog of payments to our fine state universities, I believe this is an inappropriate burden to place on these institutions.
The General Assembly tuition waiver program has also been the subject of allegations of abuse by some legislators. I am confident that the independent citizens committee which awards the tuition waivers for me has always done so solely on the basis of merit and financial need; however, I have decided that I can no longer participate in a program that has been put under a cloud so that it has failed to retain the public trust.
The Illinois Student Assistance Commission is an excellent resource for scholarship searches and FAFSA questions. You can access their website at www.collegeillinois.org. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact my district office at 847-433-9100 or karen@repkarenmay.org.
Sincerely,
Karen Speaks About Pension Reform on Chicago Tonight
Karen was part of a panel on November 21 discussing Illinois' growing pension obligations. See the video below.
Karen Hosts Disability Forum on Community Building, Employment, and Housing
On July 26th Karen hosted a forum in Highland Park on ways to better serve people with autism and developmental disabilities, featuring speakers and a resource fair. See the video below (runs 2 hours).
Read Karen's End-of-Session Newsletter
Karen's end-of-session newsletter is now available. To save state funds, she is distributing it electronically rather than via mail. Please click here to read the newsletter.
In the News
State Rep. Karen May: Not Running for Re-Election
Highland Park Lawmaker Will Complete 12 Years of Service in Capitol
State Rep. Karen May (D-Highland Park) on September 28th announced she will not seek re-election next fall to the post she has held since January 2001.
After serving as a member of the Highland Park City Council and Highland Park Historic Preservation Commission, May first took office as state representative after winning election to the office in November 2000. Area voters have re-elected her overwhelmingly since then, but after serving more than a decade in the Legislature, May decided now is the time to finish her legislative tenure. read more>>
Karen in the News: Fixing the Pension Loophole
Karen was interviewed by FoxNews about a loophole in state pension law. Karen's comments are at 3:25 in the video. Click the title below to read the story.
Chicago Union Leaders Grab Millions in Pension Loophole: MyFoxCHICAGO.com
News Coverage of Public Utilities Committee Hearing on Power Outages
The August 16th hearing with ComEd about the recent power outages was covered by several local and regional media sources. Click here for more video and print coverage.
Storm Recovery
See my e-newsletters for updates on recovery efforts from the recent storm and power outages.
Where does our money go?
State of Illinois spending for FY 2011
Click here for more information.
USGBC 2010 Leadership Award
Karen was selected to receive the U.S. Green Building Council’s 2010 Leadership Award - see Karen's remarks on receiving the award on video below.
Investigating the Illinois pension system
Karen spoke to Fox News on August 5 about investigating corruption in Illinois' pension system.
