With an introduction and conclusion that promised to put aside partisan differences and work to accomplish purposes that could make Illinois more competitive, Gov Bruce Rauner, a Republican, delivered his first State of the State address in Springfield on Feb 4.
In his speech, he put forth several proposed reforms to Illinois law regarding education, specifically:
- Increase K-12 funding, which will help poor school districts
- Increase early childhood education funding
- Invest in technical and vocational training (probably at community colleges)
- Give all students the choice of schools that suit them (e.g., charters)
- Put more resources in actual classrooms
- Roll back mandates and ease the education bureaucracy
- Reduce time spent on tests; don’t interfere with good instruction
Here’s what Mr Rauner said about education:
Now, let’s talk about the most important thing we do as a community: education.
I promised to increase education funding and will keep that promise. We will increase K-12 education support, which will particularly help our most disadvantaged school districts.
And our budget will increase funding for early childhood education so that more at risk children can enter kindergarten ready to succeed.
From cradle to career, our children’s education needs to be our top priority. That means we must also invest in technical and vocational training. We used to emphasize these programs in our high schools and community colleges, but those efforts have faded. Let’s end the era of cutting funding for technical training and community colleges.
Every child deserves access to excellent schools, but that’s not what every child is getting in Illinois. Too many students are trapped in failing schools or schools that are not a good fit for them. We can give them better. We must give them better.
Lucy Reese is with us today. She lives in the Roseland neighborhood in Chicago and sends her children to public charter schools. She made that decision because they offer longer school days, enhanced learning opportunities and variety for her kids.
Her youngest daughter has struggled in English […] language arts. She currently attends Ralph Ellison Chicago Charter School, which makes sure she gets more attention in these subjects. On the other hand, her son is a junior at Gary Comer College Prep. The high school offers a much more rigorous and disciplined curriculum—perfect for his accelerated learning style.
It’s time we give every child and parent in Illinois the same choices Lucy has been able to make for her children.
Our Student and Career Success Package will lift the cap on public charter schools and give parents and students more options.
Next to being a parent, teaching is the most important job in the world. We must support our many good teachers. That means putting more resources directly into classrooms, reforming the education bureaucracy and rolling back costly mandates. Our education bureaucracy stands between state resources and the classroom. We must find ways to reduce it.
Our students and teachers today are overwhelmed by too many tests. We must ensure that the amount of time we test our students doesn’t get in the way of high-quality instruction.
One point to make
I enjoyed Mr Rauner’s inclusion of Illinois residents in the gallery as he delivered his speech. Doing that put a face to some of the policies, but there are also many, many faces on the other side of each policy issue. For example, there are kids from the same Chicago neighborhoods who attended traditional public schools and succeeded—because those traditional public schools served those kids well.
Charter schools have issues, which I mentioned in the article on Maryland’s State of the State address. Our governor should have presented not only his own thoughts but also those of the state he represents. When we hear only charter school success stories from the governor, we’re less appreciative of the problems associated with charter schools and of the good work being done by public school teachers.
Charter schools drain money away from traditional public schools, which causes those schools to cut programs, which makes those schools less attractive to—and less qualified to meet the needs of—many students. As students leave, funding is decreased even more, and the vicious cycle is nonstop. Once the cycle starts, it’s just a matter of time before the school completely fails.
It’s my opinion that any attempt to increase charter schools should be accompanied by legislation that aims to ensure at least a maintenance of effort on the part of school districts to support their traditional public schools.
