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The easier lift came Sunday: Illinois state senators voted 38-19 to force into law a new school funding plan, with its comparatively generous treatment of Chicago Public Schools. The vote was a rebuke to Gov. Bruce Rauner and his rival proposal: The governor would give less to CPS but more to many other Illinois districts, especially those that also educate sizable numbers of disadvantaged students.

Sunday's vote wasn't a surprise; the Senate, with its Democratic supermajority, did as expected. Now comes the harder lift: Will members of the House, scheduled to convene Wednesday, also vote to override Rauner?

If they do, the bill legislators passed May 31, and which Rauner has tried to rewrite via an amendatory veto, will become law. But a House override requires 71 votes, and the bill got only 60 yeses in the House in May. Even if all 67 Democrats now vote to override Rauner, they'll need a handful of his fellow Republicans to do the same.

Going into the weekend, we might have bet a nickel, but not a whole dime, that the House would vote to override. Several downstate school officials had complained publicly that the governor's rival plan his amended version of the bill would hurt their districts. But on Saturday, the Illinois State Board of Education finally issued calculations that may make an override a much tougher vote for some House members of both parties: Rauner's plan evidently would give most districts not named CPS more money than would the Democrats' Senate Bill 1.

Those new Rauner plan numbers popped up in Sunday's Senate debate. Distilling Republicans' points to their essence: Why should we send this much money to a Chicago district that already spends twice as much per pupil as our children's schools can spend? Why not uphold Rauner's veto and bring more money to our districts? His plan would give CPS millions more than it's getting now.

Expect House Republicans and Democrats outside Chicago to hear similar challenges from their constituents between now and Wednesday.

Chicago Tribune Staff

Illinois school funding: A tale of two plans

Illinois school funding: A tale of two plans (Chicago Tribune Staff)

Maybe House Speaker Michael Madigan already has persuaded enough Republicans to join Democrats in overriding Rauner. If so, game over.

But if Democrats are having trouble getting to 71, this an ideal time to summon an endangered species in Springfield: a compromise. What can Democrats offer Republicans, at this late date, to win some of their votes? To spare Senate Bill 1 from collapse?

Yes, this invites logistical hurdles: If the House changes Senate Bill 1 to attract Republican votes, the Senate would have to concur. A little more work for legislators, but they've kept a light schedule this year.

So Republicans are in a position to seek the sort of compromise-maker we advocated over the weekend: creating scholarships for low- and middle-income kids to attend public schools outside their district boundaries, or to attend private schools. Republicans also have spoken (including on Sunday) about reducing unfunded state mandates for schools, and about allowing districts to limit collective bargaining.

Democrats might not like those paths to compromise; teachers unions hate school choice almost as much as they'd hate any limit to collective bargaining. But Democrats also own a huge mess that many of them are frantic to address: the devastated finances of a CPS long mismanaged by, um, their fellow Democrats in Chicago's City Hall.

If Democrats refuse to compromise and let Senate Bill 1 die, they can wear that jacket. Or they can make a few sensible changes and attract enough Republicans to a funding plan that still gives CPS a heap of new loot.

Over to you, Speaker Madigan.

Join the discussion on Twitter @Trib_Ed_Boardand onFacebook.

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School funding: How new numbers could nudge Dems to compromise with Rauner's Republicans - Chicago Tribune