See what he had to say<\/a>.<\/p>\nCurrent Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias spoke in person.\u00a0 Congressman Mark Kirk addressed the delegation via recorded message.<\/p>\n
Both candidates pledged their support for protecting teacher pensions and repeal of the Government Pension Offset (GPO) provisions that reduce retirement benefits for Illinois teachers.\u00a0 Repeal of the GPO is a top legislative priority for the IEA.<\/p>\n
Giannoulias acknowledged the essential role of public education in building a strong economy.\u00a0 He also reiterated his support for a state income tax increase to provide much needed new revenues for the struggling schools and the state.\u00a0 The Democrat has said any income tax increase needs to be coupled with lower property taxes.<\/p>\n
\u201cQuality education has always been the foundation of the American economy.\u00a0 Every dollar we invest in our schools and our students yields enormous dividends long term.\u00a0 I\u2019m going to fight every single day for teachers across the state of Illinois.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his pre-recorded video address, Kirk pointed to his work with the IEA and NEA in developing a \u201cpractical agenda for improving education\u201d through amendment to the ESEA.<\/p>\n
\u201cI believe working together is essential for improving America\u2019s schools.\u00a0 Working with the IEA in the last Congress, we offered key proposals to amend No Child Left Behind, focused on highly qualified teacher requirements, determination of annual yearly progress, and NCLB sanctions.\u00a0 As we look toward reauthorization, we must invite all stakeholders to participate in crafting a bill that provides the full resources necessary for our schools to meet our requirements.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Illinois candidates for U.S. Senate addressed delegates to the IEA Representative Assembly Saturday, both pledging, if elected, to work with the IEA and education employees to improve public education through their work at the nation\u2019s Capitol. See what he had to say. Current Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias spoke in person.\u00a0 Congressman Mark Kirk addressed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4159,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-451775","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4159"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451775\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"http:\/\/illinoiseducationassociation.org\/media\/Giannoulias1-300x199.jpg\" "\\"Giannoulias\\"")
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