51 Comments - Under Influenced - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 9:36 am: Sooooo we have how many different entities working on fixing the formula now…. - Delimma - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 9:41 am: How does this “neutralize possible attacks on Republicans?” I suppose an argument can be made to say they are “working on the issue,” so don’t blame us “yet.” I hope the commission is relatively neutral and their recommendations are good for education. I remain hopeful. That said, I don’t understand how this neutralizes anything. - Ok - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 9:43 am: Well, I guess that solves it then. - illinois bob - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 9:47 am: “equitable, adequate, and affordable” At least two of the three will be mutually exclusive. “Equitable” is the easy part. It will be fascinating to see how they determine what is “adequate” and “affordable”. The current Augenblick and Meyers methodology used by the EFAB committee to establish the foundation level is a total bust. - Nick Name - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 9:57 am: “affordable” translation: end prevailing wage - @MisterJayEm - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 9:58 am: A commission? “Bruce isn’t a politician, and he refuses to just stick to the same old, boring campaign playbook as everyone else.” http://brucerauner.com/hammer-and-shake/ – MrJM - Earnest - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 10:06 am: Stopgap budget out of the way, lots and lots of things thrown out there for people to talk about and focus on (school funding, toll ramp, “messaging” etc.), sheer brilliance. Meanwhile human services and higher education continue to be decimated and the state’s budget hole gets deeper and deeper, supplying more and more leverage. I’d like to celebrate the positives, but I now see them all as distraction from his intentional actions. - Joe M - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 10:07 am: “affordable” translation: end collective bargaining for teachers - Rod - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 10:10 am: Yes like the task force out of which we got an endless number of bills from Senator Manar supposedly with some Republican support, all of whic evaporated once the bills hit the floor. Or maybe like the reform plan vision 20/20 for which the cost estimates are all over the place. I have no doubt this new Commission will fix everything and allow an income tax increase to fund reform so no school distict loses money. - From the 'Dale to HP - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 10:13 am: If it’s a real Commission with a lot of different voices, the report/findings will be interesting. If the Commission is mainly those who are working for IPI, waste of time. - Nick Name - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 10:14 am: Joe M: that too. - Formerly Known as Frenchie M - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 10:14 am: Well, Criminal Justice Reform Commission has done — and continues to do — good work. The key issue with this reform commission is whether it’s simply another vehicle to push Rauner’s anti-union agenda. I suspect Purvis won’t say a word in the press conference, but I’m guessing that this will be the primary focus of the first (and perhaps all) the meetings. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 10:24 am: At least they are doing something…..anything has to be better than the status quo. - Tequila Mockingbird - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 10:24 am: One thing Illinois never seems to do? Look at how other states successfully do these things and then copy them. That would be too easy and it would probably work too well. - 360 Degree TurnAround - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 10:25 am: Will there be any union teachers on the commission? - cdog - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 10:28 am: I will be hopeful they can talk about from where their funds come and mate even find a solution. Maybe Illinois can get off the property tax junk. - 47th Ward - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 10:31 am: If he’s smart, his commission will come to the same conclusion and recommendation as Senator Manar. There’s no real point in having Beth Purvis reinvent the wheel on this subject. We know what’s broken, the only question is how to fix it, and that’s going to cost big money. He’s stalling and there is a heavy price for delay. - Illinois Bob - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 10:34 am: “affordable” translation: end prevailing wage” “affordable” translation: end collective bargaining for teachers” We can only hope…..but it’ll never happen in the GA because there’s too much desire to overpay and prioritize the bureaucracy over the kids for campaign contributors. - GA Watcher - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 10:36 am: Hasn’t every Governor since Thompson created a school funding reform commission/taskforce/blue ribbon panel? Will be interesting to see how the Rauner-Purvis panel will be different. - Illinois Bob - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 10:36 am: @360 degree =Will there be any union teachers on the commission?= Education union leaders have held three of the five EFAB seats to establish “foundation funding level”, but that has to change if the reforms are going to benefit the kids instead of the bureaucracy. - Boone's is Back - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 10:55 am: The Gov is already dusting off the shelf where the Edgar administration’s proposal sits so he can place it right next to it. - Annonin' - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 10:58 am: Does this help or hurt his efforts to avoid Trump questions? He gave that duopey lookin’ head shake when down state last week. Maybe media will ask how he expects to be credible on Trump when his is P* in’ away millions on Trump GOTV? - JS Mill - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 11:10 am: =If he’s smart, his commission will come to the same conclusion and recommendation as Senator Manar= I respectfully disagree. There is little educational outcome focused research behind Manar’s proposal, if any. It was a distribution model not really a funding model based only on “finds available”. The Evidence Based Model was first about learning outcomes (performance) and then about distribution. To fully fund the EBM would cost quite a bit, but it did not have to be fully funded. The last iteration of the plan had a distribution formula that essentially started from current funding and then distributed new money (if any) based on a 4 tiered system that was connected back to the EBM. Much more educationally focused than Manar’s politically focused plan. - wordslinger - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 11:13 am: A commission? Now I’ve seen everything! Finally found something for the $250K “secretary of education” (not a real thing) to do, I guess, after 18 months. So what do Illinois State Board of Education Chairman Meeks and $225K+ Superintendent of Education Smith, Ph.D., do now? Take over State Fair parade logistics from former Chief Operating Officer Lingle? Lot of fat salaries and opaque job responsibilities in that crew. - Norseman - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 11:32 am: === Blueroomstream@Blueroomstream The committee of 30 will compose of five people from each caucuses and five appointed by the Governor. Rev. Meeks will facilitate the group. === 5 appointing authorities * 5 members = 25 Where does the other 5 come from? - walker - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 11:35 am: In May Governor Rauner started clearly using Madigan tactics, and now he’s using one of Quinn’s favorites. Live and learn, I quess. - Earnest - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 11:38 am: >Asked if he’s really serious, then why are no Democrats present, he said he had commitments from Dems to participate. It is amazing how long he’s been able to get away with this routine. - Illinois Bob - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 11:38 am: @JSMILL For your “evidence based” model, do you think that Illinois vision 2020, Mangan, et al, is the best presentation? Make for some interesting reading, especially where the “model” recommendations and the “actual” are compared. It was also interesting to note how many times the different staffing recommendations were so far off from the actual high performing schools. Of course, the correlation of teacher experience, compensation and education as cost drivers need to evaluated for it to have real validity, but it’s a good start. - Langhorne - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 11:39 am: Membership? Set by RAUNER, or negotiated? Open or closed meetings? First, we have to determine the shape of the table. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 11:42 am: At least Sec. Purvis isn’t organizing parade volunteers for the State Fair… There was a Slip and Sue cameo appearance at the very, very beginning, but like the prop chickens, Slip and Sue wasn’t needed today. - Mama - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 11:59 am: How much will IL pay the people serving on Rauner’s “Illinois School Funding Reform Commission”? - Ghost - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 12:05 pm: A committee to tackle the problem… did they find Quinns manual on governing laying around? Next Madigan will setu up a committee of the whole…. - JS Mill - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 12:12 pm: @Worslinger- EXCELLENT point. What is Tony doing? - Rod - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 12:16 pm: First the Norseman is correct the 30 v 25 members of the commission was confusing. Second the Governor’s insistence that k-12 education funding should be the state’s #1 priority is unbalanced and linking economic growth to such a big degree with the K-12 public education system seems excessive. There are other important factors including infrastructure, property taxes, and the issues relating to the Governor’s turn around agenda too even if one doesn’t fully agree with him. Third, the idea of merging the so call evidence based model (vision 20/20) and the Manar/Advance Illinois model which was mentioned doesn’t seem to work. It was tried in HB 3190 and it went no where at all. Third, Governor Rauner was confusing on the issue of a property tax income tax swap for funding k-12 education when questioned on that by reporters. He indicated he still wanted a turn around agenda of some type passed as a precondition for an income tax increase. Fourth, the Governor seemed to back off opposing taking money from higher wealth districts and giving it to poorer districts which he adamantly opposed only weeks ago. He indicated he did not want to dictate to the commission on that question and that it was his preference that it not happen. That too was confusing. Listening to the Governor is let us say a riddle. - Michelle Flaherty - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 12:27 pm: Wow. That was one heckuva Pat Quinn impersonation by the Gov today. - Michelle Flaherty - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 12:29 pm: I give you this education reform committee comprised of 30 … uh 25 members … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZA2mBntrHk - Norseman - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 12:40 pm: === @Worslinger- EXCELLENT point. What is Tony doing? === He’s there to provide another figurehead for all those press releases telling folks education … “because Madigan.” - Anon III - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 12:41 pm: A commission to reform the school funding formula. Another patch on an old tire. The formula is broken because it attempts to patch up a broken system. GSA is an attempt to fix the economic differences inherent in splitting Illinois into 860 separate school districts, a quarter of which have fewer than 400 pupils attending in the whole district. The initial purpose of GSA was to remedy the mismatch between student populations in the many separate school districts on one hand and the value of local real estate available to support those districts on the other. Over time, additional payments have been added to the GSA formula to supplement the GSA grant for districts with high student costs and low resources. The root of the financing problem remains the partition of the student population into 860 separate school districts. The principal function of that partition is to create 860 tax islands. The solution is not to further complicate the GSA formula, but to consolidate school districts to a smaller number of larger districts, perhaps 60 local districts, to reduce wealth differences between districts, and to allow more equitable per pupil spending within the resultant districts. - Huh? - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 12:50 pm: 1.4% commission for school funding reform is just another gambit to drive CPS into bankruptcy. - 47th Ward - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 12:53 pm: ===Where does the other 5 come from?=== Fan voting, which means Rizzo, Zobrist, Russell, Bryant and Folwer will start for the Illinois School Funding Reform Commission. - Formerly Known as Frenchie M - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 12:55 pm: Bipartisan? Where are the Ds at the press conference? I saw only GOPs. What’s bipartisan about a commission when both sides don’t show up to spotlight the work? - Obamas Puppy - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 1:06 pm: This “pro teacher” Governor does not want teacher representation on the Superstar commission. I am shocked - not - Graduated College Student - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 1:29 pm: I predict that the success and viability of this commission’s proposals will be inversely proportionate to the number of people with business degrees on this commission. - Juvenal - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 1:36 pm: Rich - Will Ikenberry serve on the Purvis Commission? It might save some time. Seriously: This has to be the sixth or seventh blue-ribbon panel on school funding in the last 20 years. We have had so many blue ribbon panels, we have created a cottage industry in Springfield for blue ribbon manufacturers. Besides, we JUST had statewide bipartisan hearings led by Senator Manar. If this is how we plan on justifying Purvis’s continued employment, we should demand our money back. - Liberty - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 2:06 pm: sham - Joe M - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 2:12 pm: Rauner’s whole point in this was to add another venue for his turnaround agenda. Granted, he only mentioned pension reform. But I bet that CPS bankruptcy, CTU pay, benefits, and pensions, prevailing wage, and local government being allowed to not have to do collective bargaining with employees (i.e. teachers) will eventually show up in his “campaign” tour to promote the work of this committee. - Juvenal - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 2:22 pm: Democrats should not bother appointing members to this sham commission. - wordslinger - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 7:11 pm: –I predict that the success and viability of this commission’s proposals will be inversely proportionate to the number of people with business degrees on this commission.– LOL, yeah, “business degrees” are a real heavy lift. Where’d you get yours, Einstein? University of Phoenix? - TinyDancer(FKA Sue) - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 7:17 pm: The “external partners” ….. sounds more like a corporate takeover. - Keyrock - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 10:49 pm: Michelle Flaherty — very nice Mel Brooks reference. - Keyrock - Tuesday, Jul 12, 16 @ 10:55 pm: Rahm’s comments in the Sun-Times story this evening, along with the Democratic appointments to the Commission, make me wonder whether this is an agreed-upon strategy to help Gov. Rauner walk himself off the ledge he put himself on with respect to both school funding and tax hikes. If he lets it run its course, he gets to pivot, follow the recommendations, and raise some taxes “for the kids.” That would take the focus off his bailout talk. Of course, that may be assuming too much good faith. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.