Below are links to news stories of interest from newspapers that came up during a search today. These links were active at the time of this e-mail, but should you want to save a story, printing it or cutting and pasting the entire article and saving it to your computer is recommended.
Rally Day is April 21. IEA has partnered with several other organizations and rally day is proving to be a fairly large event. We’re encouraging everyone to wear pink to the rally in support of those who have been RIF’d. Click here for a list of things to keep in mind as you’re planning your trip:
The tentative schedule of events for the day, which is subject to change:
9 to 11 a.m. Buses arrive at IEA HQ-visit legislators (time permitting)
11 to 11:30 a.m. Walk to rally staging point at 2nd and Capitol
11:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. SOS rally speakers at 2nd and Capitol
12:15 p.m. Beginning of march
1 p.m. Visit legislators (time permitting)
(Lunch will be availble at noon and served throughout the day. Members may eat at their leisure.)
State News
Quinn plans to sign bill to cut state pension costs Chicago Tribune (blog) – Gov. Pat Quinn plans on Wednesday to sign legislation aimed at saving billions of dollars through reforms of the state pension system that will …
Gov. Quinn to sign pension reform bill today
Springfield State Journal – Quinn said Tuesday he was reviewing Senate Bill 1946, which makes major changes in pensions for newly hired state government employees and teachers as part of an effort to save the state billions of dollars and shore up concerns about its financial stability. He has until late May to take action.
Pension Plan: Political Football? MyFox Illinois – SPRINGFIELD – Gov. Pat Quinn has not yet acted on a sweeping pension plan sent to his office more than two weeks ago. …
Quinn: No political gamesmanship at work with pension plan Chicago Daily Herald – Gov. Pat Quinn said Tuesday he wouldn’t hold pension reform hostage to try to scrounge up more votes for …
Study: Illinois Among the Worst at Pension Funding
Chicago Public Radio – The report by the Center for State and Local Government Excellence examines a sampling of pension systems from each state. Funding levels for Illinois teacher and state worker pensions ranked among the lowest in the country in 2009. And researcher Joshua Franzel says the short-term outlook is dim.
Quinn Makes His Case for Tax Hike for Education Chicago Public Radio – ?Illinois Governor Pat Quinn can’t say for sure when or if the state legislature will act on his proposed tax increase for school funding. …
Quinn heads to Springfield to push for tax hike
Arlington Heights Daily Herald – Gov. Pat Quinn is heading to Springfield, and he wants lawmakers to act on his proposal to raise the state income tax.
Gov. Quinn Still Backing Tax Hike
Decatur WAND (NBC) 17 – Governor Quinn is not backing down on his proposal to raise the state income tax. Quinn wants lawmakers to raise the personal and corporate income tax rates 1% to stave off deep cuts to education. The Governor says school funding could be cut $1.3 billion without a tax increase. Quinn says he expects lawmakers to eventually vote on an income tax increase
State superintendent gives awards to ESL schools, calls for tax hike
Belleville News-Democrat – Prior to his East St. Louis visit, Koch visited Edwardsville and discussed the state’s funding situation, telling school officials that he did not see any way out of the education funding problem without raising the state income tax. ”The money just is not there and will not be unless additional revenue is identified,” Koch said.
Angry parents join “Caravan to the Capitol” to protest education cuts
Medill News Service – Caravan to the Capitol is a group of approximately 60 parents who will be heading to Springfield Wednesday to air their concerns. Sherry Tatar, the group’s informal leader, says the parents came together after realizing that School District 204 couldn’t do anything about the budget cuts. “We have to turn to Springfield,” she says. “How can you be cutting these teachers? How can you be cutting music programs?”
Special education schools plead for fewer cuts Alton Telegraph – Pat Quinn introduced his state budget last month for the upcoming fiscal year, education bore the brunt of potential cuts totaling more than $1 billion.
School districts slashing as state cuts funding
Highland Park News – A survey of Illinois school administrators in March suggested the state could lose as many as 20,000 education-related jobs pre-kindergarten through 12th grade by the time school opens in the fall. “We are completely in unchartered waters,” said Charles McBarron, director of communications for the Illinois Education Association, a union representing many suburban teachers.
Halloran: State’s woes are forcing reductions
Morris Daily Herald – Illinois’ financial situation has many school districts worried, and Morris Community High School District 101 is no exception. During Monday evening’s school board meeting, Superintendent Dr. Pat Halloran gave the board a brief overview of the district’s financial condition relative to state-funding dollars.
Editorial: Turning tenure on its ear
Quad Cities Dispatch Argus Leader – Sadly, beyond angering the state’s top two teacher unions, the series was largely ignored among the people who could do anything about fixing what is broken. Indeed, rather than moving toward more accountability, state legislators have pushed for less; most recently by exempting teacher and administrator evaluations from the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.
Evanston superintendent warns against malicious Facebook page
Chicago Tribune – The page on the popular social networking Web site had attracted more than 400 fans by Tuesday afternoon. But the only hint of its earlier comments came from the page’s description: “This page is made to tell you all about people in Evanston.” The page had been scrubbed clean of any offensive material that had been posted there in previous days.
Hiawatha School publicizes state financial woes
Stickney Life – Hiawatha Elementary School staff have a message for the State of Illinois and they want everyone driving on 26th Street to know it. The sign out front of the school reads “The State OF ILL owes District 100 $1.9 million.” Timothy McGinnis, assistant superintendent for finance and operations at School Berwyn School District 100, said the state is about four months behind in paying its bills.
Chicago Schools Go for Gold on Lunch Standards
Chicago Public Radio – said today they’ve recently purchased 200,000 peaches and one million apples from Michigan. In order to achieve the “gold” certification from the USDA, CPS will also have to increase nutrition education in schools and give students more opportunities for physical exercise.
Political News
Governor Quinn: Top Priority is State Budget MyStateline.com – Springfield-Lawmakers are back to work in Springfield and Governor Quinn says the budget is their number one priority. With a 13 billion dollar deficit, …
State Quits Paying Service Providers, Owes $4.5B
WBBM TV CBS 2 Chicago – The State of Illinois stopped paying its service providers, in order to keep the government functioning on a day-to-day basis. The state currently owes $4.5 billion in unpaid bills. By the end of this budget year on June 30, that number will grow to $6 billion. The problem stems from overspending during the administration of since-deposed Gov. Rod Blagojevich, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Kirk Out-Raises, Leads Poll Over Alexi
Chicago Chicagoist – Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kirk With all of the controversy surrounding Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias and his campaign’s shifting to damage control mode, perhaps the news that Republican opponent Mark Kirk has raised almost twice as much money isn’t that big of a surprise. The Sun-Times reports that Giannoulias is reporting fundraising in the first quarter
Giannoulias raises $1.2M in Senate bid
DeKalb Daily Chronicle – Democrat Alexi Giannoulias said Tuesday that he raised $1.2 million during the first three months of the year in his bid for President Barack Obama’s old Senate seat, significantly less than his Republican opponent in a state controlled by Democrats. Giannoulias, Illinois’ first-term state treasurer, raised $1 million less than the $2.2 million raised by Republican
National News
Iowa Governor signs teacher diversification bill
Quincy WGEM (NBC) 10 – Gov. Chet Culver has signed a bill requiring state education officials and leaders at the state’s public and private colleges to study how to better recruit and retain minority teachers. Culver went to a Des Moines school Tuesday
Misgivings about a race for school aid
At Adelphi Elementary School, students peel away from their classrooms twice a week for tutorials in reading and math. Clusters of five or six children shuffle into a book closet, a hallway, a computer lab or any place teachers can fit a few chairs for 45 minutes of catch-up lessons or enrichment.
(By Nick Anderson, The Washington Post)
Rhee’s surplus revelation draws ire
Teachers union leaders angrily accused D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee of unethical behavior Tuesday by failing to disclose the discovery of a $34 million surplus in the school system budget in February, three months after laying off 266 teachers because of what she described as a budget…
(By Bill Turque, The Washington Post)
Eye on federal money, Md. proposes school reforms
Maryland education officials charted a reform path Tuesday that would overhaul statewide exams, make student performance a factor in teacher evaluations and toughen graduation requirements in math and science. They hope their proposal will make the state eligible for millions of dollars in federal…
(By Michael Birnbaum, The Washington Post)
On world stage, Obama at ease as seminar leader
During his first year in office, President Obama was often best overseas when he was behind a lectern or onstage before a crowd with a microphone in his hand.
(By Scott Wilson, The Washington Post)
46 nations join U.S. in nuclear pact
President Obama persuaded 46 countries Tuesday to sign on to a plan to put the world’s nuclear material beyond the reach of terrorists within four years, but the commitments are voluntary, and experts said reaching the goal will be difficult.
(By Mary Beth Sheridan, The Washington Post)
Choice of leader for mine probe criticized
After a coal mine explosion that killed five people in 2006, an internal review by the Mine Safety and Health Administration sharply criticized its own inspection process. It said many safety flaws had not been corrected before the blast because of faulty inspection practices “coupled with weak…
(By Steven Mufson and David A. Fahrenthold, The Washington Post)
An almost predictable capriciousness
LEPTIS MAGNA, LIBYA – Only a handful of tourists wandered through the unspoiled ruins of this ancient Roman city edging the azure waters of the Mediterranean. It was high season, when buses should have been disgorging hundreds of affluent visitors from Europe and beyond. But among the arches and …
(By Sudarsan Raghavan, The Washington Post)
At peak of influence, SEIU chief set to leave
As he prepares to turn over the reins of the Service Employees International Union, Andrew L. Stern is at the apex of his political influence. He helped lead the push for the health-care overhaul that became law last month. He has visited the White House 38 times in President Obama’s tenure, far…
(By Alec MacGillis, The Washington Post)
Russian Adoption: What Happens When a Parent Gives Up?
Torry Hansen’s abandonment of her adopted son, 7-year-old Artyom Savelyev, has rocked Russia, the U.S. and the international adoption community
Bank Lobby Takes a Hit on Derivatives Reform
For weeks now, suspense has flitted through the air in Washington. The reason is something that almost no one in America understands: derivatives
Obama Makes Progress on Nuke Security, Less So on Iran
The goals of the Washington summit are uncontroversial, but efforts on the sidelines to win backing for sanctions against Iran have mixed results
The Great Firewall: China’s Web Users Battle Censorship
China’s Web-censorship regime may be formidable, but ordinary Chinese are learning to scale the “Great Firewall” a little at a time. Can the authorities hold them back?
Why Obama Backed Down on an Embattled Nominee
Perhaps because a battle over replacing Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is shaping up, the Obama Administration has decided to save its political capital and give up on Justice Department pick Dawn Johnsen
Word of the Day for Wednesday, April 14, 2010
bloviate \BLOH-vee-ayt\, intransitive verb:
To speak or write at length in a pompous or boastful manner.