* The uproar over Gov. Pat Quinn’s proposal to force consolidation of local school districts continues unabated, even though passage of such laws has been rare in the past. Quinn defended his plan yesterday…
Quinn said the state could save $100 million by cutting the Illinois’ 868 school districts to about 300. Illinois has the third-most school districts in the nation behind Texas and California, and about 200 districts have just a single school.
“It’s just do we need so much of a layer of administration?” Quinn said. “I think I saw somewhere where there are 270-some school superintendents who make more money than the governor. I’m not so sure we need so many of them. Some of these school superintendents are supervising one school.”
He said he has assigned Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon to work on the consolidation issue.
“She’s from downstate Illinois and is sensitive to the importance of maintaining our schools, but not necessarily having more school districts than you can shake a stick at,” Quinn said. “Sometimes you have a grade school district and a high school district in the same place. And all these buildings and all these administrators and all these people who work for the administrators. We don’t need as many folks at the top level. We need folks on the front line.”
* Senate President John Cullerton thinks that the state should offer more financial incentives to prompt schools to consolidate, rather than apply force…
For example, the state could help two merging districts build a new high school, as well as establish a way for the state to help retire any debt from a financially strapped district that wants to consolidate with a wealthier district.
“If you try to force this on schools and communities, I’m afraid it will go nowhere in the legislature,” Cullerton said in a release Monday. “Ideally, we want to be able to make certain school districts an offer they, in effect, can’t refuse.”
Quinn budget spokeswoman Kelly Kraft said Cullerton’s ideas won’t spur enough consolidation.
“The incentive based approach has been in place for at least a decade and even though it had early success, this approach has not led to the consolidation the Quinn administration feels is needed to bring about more efficiencies in the operations of schools as well as a reduction in administrative costs to save taxpayers money,” Kraft noted in a message Monday.
* But wait until the school advocates get fully riled up about this bill which isn’t going anywhere…
A bill to dissolve all 869 school districts in Illinois by July 2012 and create 102 countywide school districts has created a firestorm of protest among local school officials.
They aren’t mincing words regarding House Bill 1886, introduced by state Rep. Bob Rita (D-Blue Island).
“It’s one of the worst ideas I ever heard of,” said Dean Casper, school board president in Community School District 146 in Tinley Park. “It’s overreaching and destructive.” […]
Under Rita’s plan, Chicago Public Schools would remain a district and the other 144 school districts in Cook County could be consolidated into one or two districts.
* Related…
* Quinn defends call for merging school districts: Quinn also stood by his proposal to cut state support for school transportation expenses. He said that would allow schools to transfer $95 million to education programs. [Matt Vanover, a spokesman for the state Board of Education] said transportation already has been cut significantly. It was reduced by nearly $140 million this fiscal year. The board requested a $134 million increase in school transportation funding, which still would have fallen short of the fiscal year 2010 school transportation budget.
* Speaker Madigan, GOP Leader Cross meet on state fiscal woes: “We’ve been meeting, four or five times so far,” Mr. Cross says. “I think we both realize we have a huge problem.” … Mr. Madigan’s spokesman admits to “maybe a couple” of sessions and says they dealt less with pensions than imposing overall state spending limits. But even that is a change.
* Education expert calls Emanuel’s schools plan ‘sewage’ and offers alternative: During remarks at a Tuesday panel to discuss the group’s manifesto, William Watkins, a professor of education at University of Illinois at Chicago, called Emanuel’s plan a piece of sewage, drawing laughter from the audience of more than 200 teachers, education students and school reform advocates.
* Students blast move to make City Colleges’ chiefs reapply for jobs
* Business, elected officials meet with state legislators: “There are going to be cuts. I’m talking about painful cuts,” warned Sen. Dale Righter, R-Charleston. “We’re talking about cuts in K-12 education and higher education, all the way down the line.”
* Immigrant advocates rally in Springfield for state funding
* Former Illinois House speaker calls human services cuts ‘disastrous‘
* Illinois unemployment drops slightly: The Illinois jobless rate dipped slightly, to 9 percent, in January, the 12th straight monthly decline. The unemployment rate fell 0.2 percent from the December rate, and is appreciably lower than the year-ago’s revised 11.2 percent unemployment rate in January 2010.
An Illinois House committee has passed a measure that would allow farmers to grow industrial hemp for commercial purposes, such as to make rope, clothing and other accessories. […]
House Bill 1383 says farmers wishing to grow, produce, or sell industrial hemp or related projects must be licensed on a yearly basis through the Department of Agriculture. State Rep. Norine Hammond (R-Macomb) was one of two representatives to vote no on the measure. Her Western Illinois district is mostly farmland, most of which she says is already spoken for. […]
The Illinois Farm Bureau is on record as supporting the measure, but other agencies such as the Illinois State Police have not weighed in. Hammond says the only way she’d support the measure is if the state police back it.
* The Question: Should the growing of industrial hemp - which is bred in a way that minimizes THC content - be legalized in Illinois?
Take the poll and then, please, explain your answer in comments. I’ve noticed we’ve been getting fewer comments when I run these polls, so I’m not sure I will continue posting these things if that trend continues…
