Moultrie Douglas Fair
I still look forward to going to the county fair. It is an iconic American tradition showcasing our farm youth and their incredible talents with animals, crafts, and food.
Miller Attends Grand Opening of Lake Land College Effingham Technology Center
I was honored to join community leaders and board members to celebrate the grand opening of Lake Land College Effingham Technology Center. This notable project will serve as the first-ever home for Creating Opportunities for Regional Employment (CORE), which provides classes for local high school students to build skills and explore future careers.
The new building will hold all Lake Land operations previously held at the Kluthe Center, including general education courses in a variety of subjects as well as full college programs in Nursing, Massage Therapy and Physical Therapist Assistant. The building will also feature a brand-new Innovation Center, which consists of a virtual reality lab, an augmented reality lab and a makerspace lab.
Lake Land College Celebrates Grand Opening of Effingham Technology Center
Radical Democrats in IL Continue to Prioritize DEI Over Merit
Legislation introduced in the spring session of the General Assembly would overhaul the funding formula for state universities in Illinois. It would do so to promote Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) and would lower grade point average standards.
If passed, Illinois would be the first state to implement a diversity-based funding formula like this one.
The newly-proposed formula for funding state universities would rely on many different aspects, such as the academic programs available at each school, their overall enrollment, and the diversity of the student body including geographic, racial and socioeconomic factors.
It would boost funding for some schools, but not for others. One of the biggest losers in the new system is the state’s flagship institution, the University of Illinois.
“The proposed legislation penalizes institutions that provide the most support for underrepresented and rural students while failing to ensure long-term access,” said University of Illinois Executive Vice President Dr. Nicholas Jones during a contentious Senate hearing in April. “Although we support several of the key aspirational goals of the bill, we do not agree with the methodology proposed to achieve those goals. Nor do we agree that this will provide what the University of Illinois needs to succeed.”
His concerns were dismissed by the Senate sponsor as “misinformation.”
At a different committee hearing, U of I President Timothy Killeen took issue with the proposal’s lack of metrics for academic performance, including graduation.
“Maybe it’s a philosophical difference, but there ought to be an outcome orientation to the overall methodology to support public higher education in the state of Illinois,” Killeen said. “That includes graduation. It includes participation in civil society.”
State Rep. Chris Miller says DEI is poisonous to our students and it lowers educational standards.
“Illinois schools are being under attack by Democratic propaganda of “Creating a Fair Environment” and students are being indoctrinated. We need to put a hard stop to this divisive movement and protect our schools and students from progressive policies that reduce quality education.”
The bill was the result of years of meetings of a funding formula reform commission which had been previously created by legislation passed by the General Assembly. But members of the commission said that several important items were left out of the discussion.
For example, questions about the bill’s constitutionality were brought to the sponsor’s attention but were never thoroughly addressed. Schools raised significant concerns about the Illinois Board of Higher Education’s designation as the pass-through agency for their appropriations, given challenges IBHE has had with distribution of grant funds and other problems such as meeting reporting deadlines or compiling its own budget.
There have also been transparency issues raised, as the bill removes committee hearings to discuss operational funding, requiring instead that universities only discuss capital funding needs with the state.
The House Bill, HB 1581, which has a couple dozen co-sponsors, all Democrats, did not make it out of the House Rules Committee this spring. A companion Senate Bill, SB 13, also failed to advance before session adjourned. Supporters of both bills have pledged to continue their work, possibly in the fall veto session or next spring.
THIS Is Why President Trump Is Pulling Federal Money From Illinois Media
Senator Dick Durbin and Governor Pritzker are pathetically trying to convince Illinoisans that because of Trump’s decision to deny taxpayer money to the state’s Democrat-run media machine, citizens will go without emergency weather alerts and may even die because of it.
These so-called ‘leaders’ would be beyond laughable if they weren’t so dangerous.
The reason the President is cutting the Illinois media off is because of groups like this:
Co-Prosperity, an affiliate of the Public Media Institute (PMI) located in Chicago, invited artists, activists, educators, musicians, filmmakers and others for a “Subversion Summer Camp” in July. The camp featured signs comparing the Trump administration to Nazis, a “queer rewrite of Peter Pan” and a discussion of “counterinsurgency”.
This was the Indoctrination Camp’s schedule:
From 2020-2023, PMI took in more than $320,000 in government grants that went toward funding Leftist political pursuits:
https://www.aol.com/taxpayer-funded-group-teaches-marxist-210735348.html
Illinois State Workers’ Salaries Up 57% Over Private Sector Since 2021
Courtesy of the Supermajority Democrat Illinois General Assembly and the government workers unions they are beholden to, the most recent legislative session produced yet more raises in government salaries.
The July 2025 raise was part of a total 19.28% pay hike that Governor Pritzker signed in a state contract with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). AFSCME is the largest trade union of public employees in the United States. As of 2024, the average Illinois state employee made $85,689 compared to an average of $78,267 in the private sector, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics
Read about Pritzker’s unacceptable and corrupt misuse of taxpayer money in this Illinois Policy article:
Democrat Casualties Keep Piling Up
You probably know by now about Governor Pritzker’s dishonest attempt to force electric school buses (that no one asked for) down Illinoisans’ throats.
Touted as Illinois’ flagship taxpayer subsidized ecosystem for electric vehicle (EV) production, Lion Electric went belly up (including their production facility in Joliet) and left school districts stuck with unsafe, broken buses.
Now, to add insult to injury, the CANADIAN based company has announced that it will not honor warranty claims on thousands of electric school buses sold in the United States.
Under the Biden Administration, and its complicit Democrat Party, the lemon EV buses were purchased with American taxpayers’ hard-earned money. As you may recall, then-Vice President Kamala Harris spearheaded this BILLION $$ disaster of an idea and was particularly excited about it.
Illinois Corruption At Its Finest
The Illinois Inspector General’s office has found that out of the 501 cases it has been investigating since 2022, 373 people were involved in wrongdoing related to the COVID-era Paycheck Protection Program (PPP). State workers and employees of some local government agencies either got PPP loans they didn’t qualify for or lied about side businesses they had been running to get the money. Two transportation agencies, CTA and PACE, were among the agencies involved in the fraudulent scams.
Once again, poor leadership, lack of oversight and the corrupt nature of our state has ripped off innocent, hard-working Illinois taxpayers.
It’s Not Rocket Science
This insightful opinion piece explains quite simply why Blue States continually fail the people they are supposed to be leading and representing.
In a nutshell, NOTHING WORKS AND NO ONE IS IN CHARGE.
Too Soon?
We’re still enjoying summer… but what if you could get in some early Christmas shopping along with an Illinois road trip or weekend getaway?
There are small businesses all across the state that offer Illinoisan style and creativity that sets their locally made goods apart.
This guide breaks it down by regions and categories:
https://www.enjoyillinois.com/plan-your-trip/illinois-made
Here is a map of the new 101st House District. Use this link for a clearer picture and to enter your address to see if you live in the district: https://repcmiller.com/district/
As your state representative, my office is available to assist you with any issues you may have when interacting with a state agency.
Please call our office at 217.508.4108 to get help or schedule an appointment to see me.
The office is located at 1113 Lincoln Ave, Charleston and is open Mon-Fri from 9am- 4 pm.