It looks as though Illinois parents won’t be able to sign a petition and take over their neighborhood public school for at least another year, because a bill in the General Assembly will not be called in the current legislative session, according to the bill’s sponsor in the state House.
“I will not be calling the bill this year,” Illinois state Representative Darlene Senger, Republican of Naperville, told Voxitatis earlier today by email. She introduced HB3295 in January, and our coverage of the bill came in the form of an editorial against it earlier this month.
If the bill had come to the floor and become law, it would have allowed a group of parents, possibly led by other education interests, to collect signatures from parents of at least 51 percent of the students in any public school and compel the local school board to take one of four “reform” actions:
- Reopen the school as a charter school
- Change the school leadership
- Close the school and reassign students to another school in the district
- Change the governance structure, like making administrators report to a turnaround commission
But elected officials in Illinois, namely the school boards, have at least another year before they have to relinquish control of the schools in their districts.
It goes without saying we’re happy we have at least another year to convince legislators that the madness that goes by the name of “school reform” is closer to a long-term schematic for profits in the education support services industry than it is to a better education for students.
I say again, what counts is the classroom—nothing else. We extend our sincere thanks to Representative Senger for her kind reply on this matter.
