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State News
FRIDAY MARCH 19 IS PINK (SLIP) FRIDAY
We are asking all IEA members across the state to stand in solidarity with our laid-off members on Friday March 19th by wearing pink.
In Ill., choice is higher taxes or education cuts
Chicago Defender – Education groups say it’s imperative the state come up with the money to avoid the threatened cuts because school districts are already struggling to make ends meet by laying off teachers and eliminating programs. Quinn’s administration has estimated 17,000 teachers and staff could lose their jobs. “We hope, but can’t guarantee, it won’t rise above that,” said Ken Swanson, president of the Illinois Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union.
Buget dilemma: Tax hike vs. education cuts
Peoria Journal Star – income taxes or deep education cuts, either choice could have dire consequences for schools, businesses and taxpayers. In schools, Quinn’s proposed $1.3 billion education cut could mean massive teacher layoffs, ballooning class sizes and the loss of extracurricular activities. For businesses, a bump in the income tax rate could force them to cut jobs to save
Quinn pushes to raise taxes for education
Decatur WAND (NBC) 17 – Springfield, IL – The day after his budget address Governor Pat Quinn takes his proposal to raise taxes for education funding on the road. Governor Quinn says that without the additional tax money, education spending will have to be cut by $1.3 billion
Quinn Responds to Education Funding
Peoria WEEK (NBC) 25 – After delivering his budget address to the General Assembly on Wednesday, Governor Pat Quinn was visiting schools in Springfield and Chicago to tout his idea of an increase in the state’s personal
Many Opinions Following Quinns Budget Address
WGIL AM Radio 14 (Galesburg) – The suggestion of a 1 percentage point income tax increase to help pay for education was not the only part of Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget message that is getting attention. Kristina Rasmussen, executive vice president of the Illinois Policy Institute, says the state pension system is still a huge problem.
‘Bigger is not always better’
Joliet Herald News – Gov. Pat Quinn supports consolidating school districts as part of his budget proposal, but local educators don’t believe the move would save money for the cash-strapped state
Budget Cuts Could Boost Charter School Applications
Peoria WEEK (NBC) 25 – If the governor’s proposed income tax increase is not approved, Peoria’s District 150 could lose $6 million dollars. Z Mann attended Thursday’s Charter School Forum to learn
Editorial: Quinn’s budget shows how bad fiscal picture is
Downers Grove Reporter – billion: The amount the tax increase will generate. Quinn wants the money to go toward education. $1.3 billion: Budget cut for education. School districts across the state already have laid off teachers and cut programs to reduce costs. Further cuts in the state budget would force school districts to go to voters and ask for property tax increases.
Many Opinions Following Quinns Budget Address
WGIL AM Radio 14 – pension system is still a huge problem. Rasmussen says younger generations expect a retirement plan such as a 401(k), not the kind of retirement benefits public employees get. “Do you fund another teacher in the classroom,” she asks, “or do you continue to give every teacher a very generous retirement benefit?” Business groups did not find Quinn’s remarks all bad.
Local leaders lament Quinn budget plan Southtown Star – Pat Quinn’s proposal to cut their towns’ revenue from the state income tax, saying the proposal would impose an even greater financial burden. …
Quinn appears at Springfield school to defend tax plan
Springfield State Journal Register – Despite a frigid reception from state lawmakers to the idea, Gov. Pat Quinn Thursday launched a public marketing effort to win support for a 33 percent income tax hike to support education.
Several school districts expect budget cuts
Decatur WAND (NBC) 17 – Decatur Public Schools expects to have $6 million to $8 million cut from its budget. That leaves the district with less than $3 million for the education fund. In Springfield, $5.3 million could be cut. About $2.3 million could be cut from Champaign’s education budget. educational leaders say now is the time when parents need to step up
Quinn Stumps For Education
Chicago WBBH (CBS) 2 – Gov. Pat Quinn is continuing his tour of Illinois schools just days after calling for an income tax increase to prevent deep education cuts.
Guess How Much the 1% Tax Increase Will Cost You…
Rockford WIFR (CBS) 23 – from their household could be terrible,” Jinger Christal said. A student herself… Christal could use that money for books. She is also one of many who supports education funding, but wishes there was another way besides the tax increase to offset the billions in cuts.
Quinn’s cuts could mean big boost in tuition costs
Journal&Gazette Times-Courier – Pat Quinn’s plans to send less money to universities next year could show up on students’ tuition bills once again, university officials say.Federal stimulus money is running out soon, and Quinn isn’t planning to send more state money to Illinois public universities to make up the difference.On Thursday, an Illinois House panel heard testimony from Eastern Illinois University
WIU administrators told to cut spending by 3.5%
Peoria Journal Star – Western Illinois University President Al Goldfarb is telling university administrators to cut spending next year by 3.5 percent to prepare for upcoming cuts in state funding. Gov. Pat Quinn introduced a budget this week that would make deep cuts in education spending as part of a plan to reduce the state’s budget deficit.
Superintendents: Solutions for budget woes aren’t pleasant Morris Daily Herald – Patrick Quinn’s budget proposal, which suggested a 1-percent income tax hike to support public education. “An opportunity to really dig in and evaluate the …
DuPage Dist. 88 may reopen contracts to save jobs
Arlington Heights Daily Herald – Administrators and teachers union officials in DuPage High School District 88 may reopen teacher contracts with an eye toward concessions that could save jobs in the face of a $3.2 million budget shortfall
Belvidere School District 100 Talks Job Cuts
Rockford WIFR (CBS) 23 – though the pink slips may be issued the district intends to hire back as many teachers as possible. They are only recommending the move as a precautionary measure until the state of Illinois and the school board can determine a final budget.
Budget address leaves schools scrambling
Harrisburg Daily Register – but the talk last fall started getting dire, he said. By spring, talk in education circles pointed to deep cuts coming down from Springfield. Administrators started preparing. The Harrisburg school board started talking about possible cuts in December and took a straw poll in January, just in case cuts had to be made in March . Quinn’s budget proposal made the predictions seem true.
145 D204 teachers to be cut; class sizes to grow :: Beacon News :: Local News
Suburban Chicago News – School District 204 has announced it will lay of 145 teachers as a result of the state financial crisis.
Calculating the real costs of District 300’s cuts
Arlington Heights Daily Herald – Community Unit District 300 school board President Joe Stevens warned me to get to Monday’s board meeting early. It’s a good thing I followed his advice. The Carpentersville Middle School auditorium was almost completely filled
District 204 may eliminate 145 teachers, 19 administrators
Chicago Daily Herald – Unit District 204 may eliminate as many as 145 nontenured teachers and 19 administrators to offset projected budget deficits, officials said Thursday. The tentative plan, which still requires school board approval, aims to slice an additional $12.2 million from next year’s projected $288 million budget on top of the $9.2 million the district already has cut.
Harrisburg School Board makes tentative cuts
Harrisburg Daily Register – extracurricular activities. “I think this is a travesty. We’ve sacrificed academics and kept most sports intact. What are we here for?” Andrea Pesavento said. The Harrisburg Education Association wants to open impact bargaining on the cuts before the March 23 meeting. However, impact bargaining does not take the final decision out of the hands of the board
Cicero residents protest possible school cuts
Chicago WLS (ABC) 7 – Quinn in Chicago to tout budget plan Quinn insists billions of dollars will be generated by the income tax hike and that will nullify the $1.2 billion hole in education funding. If lawmakers reject his plan, schools could face teacher layoffs, larger class sizes and cutting extracurricular activities.
Peru schools prep for budget cuts LaSalle News Tribune – Pat Quinn announced a state budget that would cut 17 percent of funding to schools, Peru public school district’s finance committee discussed the impacts. …
Parents, teachers make cutback plea
Danville Commercial-News – Board President Bill Dobbles suggested in closing remarks some positions could be saved if the union would agree to a wage and benefits freeze. Danville Education Association President Robin Twidwell, before leading the procession out of the board room, indicated the proposal had never officially been offered to the union.
School funding talks continue in Wheaton :: Wheaton Sun :: News
Suburban Chicago News – freeze and other cuts to be negotiated, the committee hopes to avoid the layoffs that could increase class size throughout many district schools. Bryce Cann, president of the Wheaton-Warrenville Education Association, seemed sympathetic to the district’s plight. He spoke of “factors beyond our control,” a reference to the state being behind in its payments to the district.
Dist. 25 hears bad news, approves faculty layoffs
Chicago Daily – to more than $2 million during the next school year, the board of Arlington Heights Elementary District 25 heard Thursday night. Stacey Mallek, assistant superintendent for business, said Gov. Pat Quinn’s proposals this week would cost the district about $1 million in surprising areas like special education, transportation and bilingual education.
Wethersfield board trims costs
Kewanee Star Courier – education budget last year and this year and would insure that state aid and other payments are made on schedule next year. The board also ratified a new one-year contract with the Wethersfield Education Association. The contract is normally three years in length but due to the uncertain economic situation, a one-year agreement was put in place
Delayed state funds prompt District 86 transfer
Willowbrook Suburban Life – With the state lagging in its scheduled reimbursements to public schools, the Hinsdale Township High School District 86 Board of education approved an inter-fund loan of $900,000 from the working cash fund to the transportation fund Monday. “This loan is necessary because the state is far behind
Why it costs so much to run School District U46
Elgin Courier News – ELGIN – A high school student buys a slice of Pizza Hut pizza and a carton of milk in the cafeteria. teachers hand out assignments on paper. Elgin School District U46 pays a vendor to provide those commodities. A contract with Pizza Hut costs the district more than $12,000 annually
Kudos to Dist. 203 for skipping raises
Chicago Daily Herald – times of compounding bad news, it was incredibly heartening to read of the selfless act of sacrifice and support for students and their needs on the part of the members of the Naperville District 203 Education Association. As their contract was expiring, these teachers opted to freeze their salaries for next year to provide their district the opportunity to use every available resource
Saving some children and failing the rest
Chicago Daily Southtown – Phil Kadner – here that can’t be ignored. Davis has proven that a public school system can be successful, even in a minority community, even in a community that is impoverished. She hasn’t found teachers unions to be a problem. She has reached out to parents and gotten them involved. Davis said she stresses character education, not only in her students but for parents as well.
U Of I Wants Students To Finish In 3 Years
WBBM TV CBS 2 Chicago – Ikenberry has said freshman tuition will increase next year by up to 20 percent. On Wednesday, Gov. Pat Quinn suggested a 1 percent income tax “surcharge” to restore education funding for schools and universities, but his proposed budget calls for cutting education funding by $1.3 billion. Ikenberry said previously that with no state money forthcoming,
Community colleges raise tuition as enrollment soars
Chicago Tribune – The same recession that is driving record numbers of students to community colleges in Illinois is being blamed for tuition hikes expected this summer and fall as school officials look for ways
District 57 ‘reviewing procedures’ in wake of bus driver DUI arrest
Chicago Daily Herald – the buses left the school, district officials said. District transportation Director Vince Ramirez heard about it an hour later and thought it would be too late to catch the driver at the school, school board President Joe Leane said, so he intercepted her at her first bus stop. Ramirez got on the bus to talk to the driver, but did not smell alcohol, and let her drive, Leane said
Looking Into Lottery Funds for Education
Champaign WCIA (CBS) 3 – Representative Bill Black says the lottery will never make much of an impact on our state’s education. “You can say that when the lottery profits went into the common school fund, general assembly’s often took out an equivalent amount of money and put it elsewhere. So in effect the lottery turned out to be kind of a wash,” says Black.
Political News
Little Tyke Takes Pat Quinn to Task NBC Chicago – Kids say the darndest things, but some times they manage to utter wise gems. One Berwyn youngster gave Illinois Governor Pat Quinn a jolt when he asked the governor a tough political question. “Why don’t you pay your bills?” the child asked Quinn as he met with protestors outside a Berwyn school that may cut some programs.
CAPITOL FACTS: Welcome to the game, Bill
Streator Times-Press – ”I have to cut state spending by 10 percent if I’m going to pay for my tax breaks, if I’m going to reconcile the budget in a balanced way, and pay back the backlog of unpaid bills that Gov. Quinn and Gov. Blagojevich have accumulated,” he said. “We’re going to begin this campaign with a listening tour,” Brady announced in Quincy. Indeed, he is about to get an earful.
Green Party’s Whitney calls for income tax hike, legalized pot Bloomington Pantagraph – In Whitney’s second bid for governor, the Carbondale lawyer criticized Republican Bill Brady and Democrat Pat Quinn as “corporate-sponsored candidates. …
Blagojevich’s attorneys ask to postpone trial
Crains Chicago Business – Ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s attorneys asked a federal judge Thursday to postpone his corruption trial, saying so many uncertainties surround the charges it would be “playing Russian Roulette” with his future if the court went ahead with the June 3 start date. Blagojevich’s attorneys also said that despite working seven days a week, they can’t be ready by that date because it’s not enough
Blagojevich Does Letterman’s Top 10
Chicago Chicagoist – While Gov. Quinn was giving his budget address and asking for an income tax hike to help fund education and prevent cuts, his disgrace predecessor made a stop by David Letterman’s set to have a little fun
National News
Whose State? My State! With two consecutive New York governors in ethical imbroglios, New Yorkers may think they’ve got the sleaziest state political culture in the country. But plenty of other states are in the running.
Heartland Values
It’s practically mandatory to indict governors in the Land of Lincoln.
By Jonathan Alter
I’m not prepared to say that Illinois takes the gold in every corruption category…But Illinois has a special place in the Hall of Shame going back to the 19th century.
Governors, state school superintendents propose common academic standards Maryland and several other states are pushing rapidly toward adoption of new academic standards proposed Wednesday for English and math, adding momentum to the campaign to establish common expectations for public school students across the country.
Draft K-12 Common Core State Standards Available for Comment WASHINGTON—The National Governors Association Center for Best Practices (NGA Center) and the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) today released the first official public draft of the K-12 standards as part of the Common Core State Standards Initiative, a process being led by governors and chief state school officers in 51 states, territories, and the District of Columbia. These draft standards, developed together with teachers, school administrators and experts, seek to provide a clear and consistent framework to prepare our children for college and the workforce
As part of the Common Core State Standards Initiative (CCSSI), the draft K-12 standards are now available for public comment. These draft standards, developed in collaboration with teachers, school administrators, and experts, seek to provide a clear and consistent framework to prepare our children for college and the workforce.
School cuts a painful no-win lesson for all Msnbc.com readers sound off on impact of slashed education budgets Kansas City, Mo., plans to close nearly half its public schools by fall. Illinois’ governor wants to raise state income taxes by 1 percent to continue funding schools and prevent the layoffs of thousands of teachers. Hawaii, President Barack Obama’s home state, has whacked 17 days from the school year and says it’s not done with educational cost-cutting.
Rome school’s condom machines create uproar – Kids and parenting
WMAQ-TV (MSNBC ) Chicago – The decision by a Rome high school to install condom vending machines has set off a storm in Italy, with the Catholic Church charging the move will encourage young people to have sex and Rome’s mayor saying it sends the wrong message.
Iraq: Political Turmoil Threatens as Votes Are Counted
Sunday’s poll appears likely to yield an indecisive result, while accusations of ballot fraud by opposition parties could challenge the legitimacy of the new government that eventually emerges
Ivory Wars Redux? African Nations Move to ‘Downlist’ the Elephant
African elephants have slowly rebounded since the end of the Ivory Wars in 1989, but two nations are now petitioning to drop the animals’ conservation status
Greek Austerity Measures Spark Rising Protests
Anger is rising in Greece a week after leaders announced a new austerity package to rein in the deficit, with protesters taking to the streets and workers walking off the job
German Clergy Scandal Reaches the Pope’s Family
The Vatican faces a growing scandal as allegations have emerged that priests sexually and physically abused students in a choir run by the Pope’s brother, Georg Ratzinger
Tropicana: Trying to Make a Greener Orange Juice
PepsiCo, which owns the juice brand Tropicana, is experimenting with greener farming methods in order to reduce the carbon footprint of a morning glass of OJ
Word of the Day for Friday, March 12, 2010
solecism \SOL-uh-siz-uhm\, noun:
1. A nonstandard usage or grammatical construction; also, a minor blunder in speech.
2. A breach of good manners or etiquette.
3. Any inconsistency, mistake, or impropriety.