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.
State News 
School Budget Crisis: Illinois Loses Much-Needed ‘Race To The Top’ Funds Huffington Post – The already grim Illinois public education budget got even bleaker Monday, with the announcement that a desperately-needed infusion of federal cash is not …
Source: Illinois denied in first round of federal education grants The U.S. Department of Education has picked Delaware and Tennessee for the first round of its “Race to the Top” competition, giving part of an unprecedented $4.35 billion to the states, a source said on Monday.
‘Devastating’ layoffs loom in school districts statewide
Chicago Sun-Times – It’s going to significantly diminish the quality of education throughout the state,” said Charlie McBarron, spokesman for the Illinois Education Association …
20000 teachers to be laid off in state, group says
Chicago Daily Herald – Bill Brady, criticized Quinn at an Illinois Education Association banquet March 20 for threatening the education cuts, saying Quinn’s proposed budget …
The worst may be yet to come for Illinois educators and students
KFVS – Jim Tammen with the Illinois Education Association said the future does not look bright. “It’s finally hitting the school districts who have already …
20,000 teachers to be laid off in state, group says
Chicago Daily – ”State government leaders have a choice: Either pass new revenue or face a 17 percent cut in state funding for K-12 schools next year,” said Ken Swanson, president of the Illinois Education Association, another one of the groups in the coalition. Gov. Pat Quinn’s proposed budget would cut elementary and high school funding by 17 percent without an income tax hike.
School groups: Education layoffs may top 20,000
Chicago Daily Southtown – Education advocates want state officials to raise taxes. The groups include the Association of School Administrators, the Illinois Federation of Teachers, the Illinois Education Association and more.
Larger class sizes ahead as teachers collect pink slips
Chicago Tribune – “Right now it is a terrifying time for teachers and education support professionals, and for parents who have kids in school,” said Charles McBarron, spokesman for the Illinois Education Association, based in Springfield. “The things that make school special are all at risk.” Officials also must adhere to federal laws regarding special education programs,
Lawsuit aimed at school funding
Champaign News Gazette – It has long been clear that funding pubic education in Illinois is a political issue left – and best left – to the governor and Legislature. It’s so clear, in fact, that advocates of increased funding put a proposed constitutional amendment on the ballot in the mid-1990s that would have mandated a specific funding formula beyond legislative control. The amendment was defeated. But creative lawyers keep drafting new theories to justify judicial intervention on legislative turf.
What will next year look like in D300?
Elgin Courier News- and it’s not likely to make its payment due April 1 either, CFO Cheryl Crates said. That will bring the amount owed the school district to about $12 million. And Gov. Pat Quinn has proposed cutting state education funding, should the district receive what it is owed, by as much as 25 percent in the coming year. More cuts coming.
Shelbyville school board votes for $592,000 in cuts
Journal&Gazette Times – agreed to make other cuts including some assistant coaches, reducing transportation costs and eliminating new technology purchases. The teachers’ union, the Shelbyville Education Association, approved a contract that saw salary freezes and Shelbyville’s principals, athletic director and special education coordinator all also volunteered to take a pay freeze.
Layoff notices going to 29 Evanston teachers
PioneerLocal.com – Jean Luft, president of the District Educators’ Council, also urged District 65 School Board members to join with the Illinois Education Association on their lobbying day, April 21. “Up to 17,000 Illinois teachers may receive pink slips because of our state’s lack of funding for education,” said Luft,
East St. Louis school district announces it will lay off 250 workers
Belleville News-Democrat – On Friday, East St. Louis school leaders announced 250 employees are being laid off at the end of the school year. The cuts include 134 teachers and 10 administrators, as well as social workers, psychologists and counselors. Superintendent Dr. Theresa Saunders said the district had no other choice.
Our View: Of school cuts, four-day week doesn’t make grade
Peoria Journal Star – 150 School Board pink-slipped about a quarter of its teaching staff and could be looking to excise some 350 jobs in all. They had us beat in Elgin, where nearly 1,040 employees – some 730 of them teachers – just got the bad news that they might not have jobs in local classrooms next year. In Chicago, the state’s largest school district is wrestling with a deficit that could top $1 billion
Editorial: Bottom line is learning HB4866, hastily approved as a cost-cutting measure for embattled school districts on a 81-21 vote Monday, is raising plenty of questions among area educators. We wish House lawmakers had been as curious.
‘F’ for 4-day school week
Crystal Lake Northwest Herald – Grand Canyon won’t happen during a tough year. But pulling an entire district of school children out of class one day a week to save gas money is shortsighted. We suspect that members of any school board here that decided to switch to a four-day week had better pack suitcases before the vote. And bring plenty of gas money to get out of town.
Here’s $72 million state could save
Chicago Daily Southtown – Phil Kadner – There’s a way to save the jobs of more than 900 school teachers, or 464 state troopers in Illinois. Eliminate the Education Expense Credit on Illinois income tax forms. The credit, available to people with children in private or public schools
Preschool benefits make potential cuts difficult
Streator Times-Press – Under former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s Preschool For All program, districts write a grant for their preschool program and submit it to the state. The grant request provides a list of costs that include teacher salaries, benefits, materials and other expenditures. The state can tweak that list, but once the application is approved, the state will make monthly payments to support that program.
Pleasant Hill school district could cut sports, teachers
Peoria Journal Star – “We’ll just have to get creative about how we provide the services,” Bute said. The state is almost $200,000 behind in payments to the district, and Gov. Pat Quinn’s budget and its 10 percent reduction in general state aid calculates to a reduction of $160,000 to Pleasant Hill in the next school year.
Elementary schools named to honor roll
Galesburg Register Mail – All six elementary schools in Galesburg Community Unit school District 205 have been named to the 2009 Illinois Honor Roll released recently by the Illinois State Board of Education.
Political News
Unions not happy with pension overhaul
Suburban Chicago News – Local lawmakers feel the pension reforms passed by the Illinois legislature Wednesday are a step in the right direction. But public employee unions disagree. For example, teacher unions fear the plan’s later retirement age will addle local school districts with an unreasonable financial burden.
Still teaching at 67? School, union leaders question pension reform
Chicago Daily Herald – mess has left schools hurting more than just about any government entity. Suburban school leaders have spent recent weeks slashing millions from their budgets, collectively firing thousands of teachers, and hacking away at the special education, music and sports programs that draw so many families to the suburbs. While superintendents and union leaders alike are crying out for a funding fix
Pension reform a great gamble Southtown Star – Rich Miller – ? In about 10 1 / 2 hours last week, the House and Senate introduced, debated and passed sweeping pension reform legislation by overwhelming
Pension reform: relief or burden? Chicago Flame Online (subscription) – The state legislature passed pension reform last week, causing much anguish amongst professors who worry that the state and the university are not
Speaker Madigan cracks the whip with new pensions law
Champaign News Gazette – The legislative process in Illinois is like no other, as the passage of a bill changing pension rules for new state employees demonstrates. Leaders of public employee unions all across Illinois are trying to get the license number on the truck that ran over them last week. They could use some help since they’re still woozy from the pasting they took. So here it is: M-A-D-I-G-A-N.
Talking Politics: Campaigning on Jobs as Teachers Lose Theirs This week in “Talking Politics,” Dr. John Jackson of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute points out that if Illinois lawmakers had done their job in recent years, and passed responsible budgets, layoffs at schools would not be necessary.
So far, Legislatures budget savings have been minuscule
Champaign News Gazette – by universities would be more efficient. Meanwhile, there doesn’t seem to be any movement on an even bigger issue: the various tax increase proposals around the Capitol. While the Illinois Education Association said last week that passage of the pension reform bill (which it opposed) removed an excuse for legislators to oppose a tax increase, lawmakers don’t agree.
Editorial: At last, lawmakers step up to the pension plate
Westchester Herald – once upon a time, when government workers lagged well behind the private sector in pay, they have largely caught up (though it’s fair to point out the significant disparities in pay, particularly for teachers, and hence in pensions, across the state). Meanwhile, Illinois’ inability to keep pace with its pension obligations has become so extreme that current state workers are paying
Our Opinion: State pension vote not ideal, but is a start
Springfield State Journal Register – reform bill and rushed through both legislative chambers in less than half a day — is unfortunate because there are legitimate, unanswered questions about what was done: * Is it wise to have teachers and highway workers working from the day they graduate until age 67, the bill’s retirement age for most public-sector workers?
Our Opinion: State must do its part to make pension fix work
Springfield State Journal Register – That is a very big “if.” Reckless legislators and governors are the true cause of Illinois’ pension crisis, not too-generous benefits for rank-and-file employees and teachers. GOV. PAT QUINN and legislators were practically breaking their arms patting themselves on the back Thursday after taking such a bold vote. But their work on pensions is not
Editorial: Good job, now build on it
Quad Cities Dispatch Argus Leader – Besides, the fact is that under this plan, benefits for new government employees are still a heck of a lot better than what the general public gets, even if some workers, such as teachers, do not get Social Security. Truth be told, many young people would rather opt out of a Social Security system that for the first time is paying out more than it is taking in.
Mike Lawrence: Business leaders know state needs strong medicine
Springfield State Journal Register – need to pierce the platitudes and demand they focus on the chaos, chaos, chaos. Agencies reluctantly curtail services for those with mental illness. School districts move to drop more than 15,000 teachers. Small businesses that sell goods and services to the state struggle to meet payrolls while they wait months for checks. All because governors and lawmakers have overpromised and underpaid,
Quinn, Simon launch state campaign tour WGNtv.com – ? Governor Pat Quinn and his hand-picked running mate will take off on their first joint campaign trip this morning.
Simon Looks Ahead to Lt. Gov. Race Chicago Public Radio – Illinois Democrats finally have a Lieutenant Governor nominee, nearly two months after the primary election. Sheila Simon,
Sheila Simon vows to campaign for lieutenant governor on her own merits Chicago Tribune – Shortly before Sheila Simon lost her bid for Carbondale mayor nearly three years ago, …
Why Simon for lt. gov? Chicago Sun-Times – So why did Gov. Quinn opt for Sheila Simon as his running mate and not state Sen. Susan Garrett? …
Daley Not Pleased But Will Support Dem Ticket WBBM780 – – Mayor Daley said Saturday he will support the Democratic ticket of Gov. Pat Quinn and Sheila Simon. But he said he is not happy with the …
Outsiders can apply, but the job’s filled Chicago Sun-Times – Well, that was strange. After soliciting hundreds of Illinois residents, from all walks of life — cops, plumbers, baggage handlers, teachers — to fill out forms, answer questions and write statements about why they want to be lieutenant governor, Gov. Quinn turns around and taps Sheila Simon to be his running mate
Candidate ’soured’ by selection process :: Beacon News :: Local News
Suburban Chicago News – disappointed and angry with was that they picked their friends.” He added, “If you’re not a member of their cigar club, you’re not in.” More than 200 men and women applied to run alongside Gov. Pat Quinn in the upcoming gubernatorial election. The opportunity to be Quinn’s sidekick arose after the campaign of Scott Lee Cohen was derailed
Chicago vs. Downstate Illinois: An Old Rivalry
Chicago WBBH (CBS) 2 – Chicago is a fast-paced cosmopolitan city of nearly 3 million people, while the rest of the state is largely rural and agricultural. In Chicago, anything south of Interstate 80 can seem a world apart – out of sight and out of mind – except for Springfield, or maybe university towns such as Champaign or Carbondale.
Blago still on ‘Apprentice’ despite not being able to use a laptop
Arlington Heights Daily Herald – His portrait might never hang on the governors’ wall in our Capital, but Rod Blagojevich will be allowed to hang around on “The Celebrity Apprentice” for at least another week. The Illinois House voted this week to stop taxpayer money from being used to commission a portrait of the impeached Blagojevich that would hang in Springfield next to felon and former Governor George Ryan.
National News
Sarah Palin Goes to War: Go for It? Hell, Yes!
Showing no lag in momentum, the former Alaska governor goes on the offensive: for the man who made her famous and against one of Obama’s loyal lieutenants
Obama’s Afghan Visit: Progress and Prodding
The visit to the war zone, Obama’s first as president, was undertaken in secret for security reasons.
The Mysterious Reappearance of a Chinese Dissident
After disappearing more than a year ago, Chinese human rights lawyer Gao Zhisheng re-emerged this weekend, to the relief of family members who had feared for his safety
What China’s Volvo Deal Actually Means
Many people reading this post probably know little about the Chinese carmaker Geely. Perhaps you’ve never heard of the company at all.
Still Black or White: Why the Census Misreads Hispanics
America’s largest minority, and groups like Arab Americans, are pushing to be counted as their own races
The U.S. Census: Why Our Numbers Matter
The Census is expensive, difficult and controversial. But we do it because our numbers matter
Five Key Questions About Weight Loss
Can Gaddafi’s Son Reform Libya?
Is Muammar Gaddafi’s son Saif a straight-talking modernizer or the front man in a show designed to make the world believe Libya can finally change?
Can a Former KGB Agent Save London’s Independent?
Alexander Lebedev, a former KGB agent, has purchased his second British paper, the down-on-the-heels Independent. Can he turn the paper into a moneymaker again?
Neoconservatives, Loyalty and Logic
The historic Palestinian refusal to accept Israeli peace gestures has been disastrously stupid; the historic Palestinian inability to govern their own territory honorably and effectively has caused Israel to be rightly wary.
Word of the Day for Monday, March 29, 2010
neophyte \NEE-uh-fyt\, noun:
1. A new convert or proselyte.
2. A novice; a beginner in anything.