By CELESTE QUINN

Proposal: streamline Illinois educational administration

The Illinois State Board of Education is studying a new structure for the administration of Illinois schools. Fewer and larger intermediate educational service regions have been proposed by the "Nowlan Commission. " Current regional superintendents do not like the idea.

UNTIL RECENTLY, control over public education in Illinois rested in the hands of local educators and officials. Within the last 30 years, however, the face of the educational system has changed as the role of the federal and state governments has grown and the local role has shrunk.

As late as the 1940's, there were 12,000 local school districts in Illinois; most of them were one-room schools. The county was the next rung of the educational hierarchy, and each of the state's 102 counties elected a superintendent to monitor its local districts. And on top of these two layers was the state superintendent of public instruction, a constitutional officer elected statewide, with a staff that numbered around 20.

It wasn't until the 1950's that the state educational system began to change. Local districts were consolidated, the one-room school was virtually eliminated, and the burden of the county superintendent was lightened. With the adoption of the new Illinois Constitution in 1970, there were additional reforms: the State Board of Education was established, and the state superintendent became an appointed official serving the board which appoints him. In 1975 the county superintendents became regional superintendents. Their number was pared from 102 to 78 (in 1979 their number was cut to 57), and the educational service region (ESR) was created. The duties of the superintendents remained about the same, but only the most populous counties were maintained as separate ESR's; most of the regions now contain from two to three counties each. Although this part of the educational system was overhauled, other parts were neglected. For example, there are nine intermediary educational service networks in the state — none of which share the same boundaries.

In February, the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) sent a report to the General Assembly recommending further political and philosophical changes for the state's current 57 regional offices. The report suggests reducing the number of regions and making the office of regional superintendent appointive rather than elective. It also recommends shifting some programs from the state to the regional level, eliminating overlap in services and supplanting county funding with state monies.

The board says its recommendations would improve educational services, increase local control over those services and make the educational service region more accountable. It wants the ESR to be similar in structure to the local school district where an elected board has authority to make policy decisions. The elected board would hire the superintendent to be an administrator. Currently, regional superintendents are elected on a partisan ballot and have power to make policy decisions. Voters also elect a regional board of trustees, but its responsibilities are limited to approving land transactions and changes in district boundaries.

If lawmakers approve the board's proposals, the ESR will become the primary intermediate educational structure in the state. Now charged with duties such as advising local districts, making sure teachers are certified and disbursing state aid payments, the regional office could be given additional authority to "develop and administer programs responsive to the unique needs of its area." While the state board would still be charged with overseeing regional and district offices, its role would change to emphasize planning, research and leadership. Local districts would continue to be responsible for educating students.

Another recommendation calls for slicing by 50 percent — at least — the number of regional offices. Although the board has not recommended a specific number of regions, it believes "serious consideration" should be given to the number 21, with the boundaries coinciding with the regions used by the Illinois Association of School Boards and the Illinois Association of School Administrators (see map). Finally, the board wants the state to foot the bill for the regional offices. At the present time, the state pays the salaries of superintendents and their assistants. Services provided to local districts are funded by county boards in each region. The financial contribution of the counties exceeds $3 million annually.

The ISBE recommendations stemmed from an amendment to legislation (H.B. 2420) last spring which increased the salaries of regional school superintendents. It required the board to examine the ESR and suggest legislative reform by February. In carrying out the legislature's instructions, the ISBE created a commission to begin the study. The majority of the commission's findings are in the February report to the legislature, but the board plans to continue its study until December 1 when it will make specific legislative proposals.

The ISBE study has been conducted in two phases. During the first phase, a citizens' commission was established to review the myriad studies of the ESR undertaken since 1950, to evaluate the effectiveness of the ESR and to suggest changes to the state board. The 15-member commission was headed by James D. Nowlan, a visiting professor of political science at the University of Illinois Institute of Government and Public Affairs. (A former state representative (R., Toulon), he was named interim director, Department of Registration and Education, by the governor in February. He has served before in the Thompson administration and headed Percy's campaign and

18/April 1980/Illinois Issues

the Anderson for President Exploratory Committee.)

The Nowlan report called the present ESR a "burden" to local school districts. "The existing system is confusing, competitive, and duplicative and some streamlining/modification would be in the best interest of local education agencies," the report said. The commission pointed to the confusion of nine different networks of intermediate agencies that assist local school districts with services such as special education and technical aid.

The Nowlan commission reported its findings to the ISBE in November. After a series of hearings, a committee of the state board drew up recommendations which were approved by the full board in January. During the hearings, many witnesses said the current system is inefficient and uneconomical. Regional superintendents, however, testified against the proposals. Irv Smith, superintendent of the Sangamon County region said the regional offices are "the last vestige of local control in education in Illinois above the local boards of education."

Except for the proposals which would give regional offices more responsibility and clear up problems of service duplication, most superintendents are opposed to the ISBE plan. They do not believe the suggested Structural reforms would increase accountability or local control. Harold Vose, the assistant regional school superintendent for Sangamon County, said the state office may be decentralized administratively, but political power would become centralized. He said that given the proposal to eliminate county funding, regional boards and superintendents would, in effect, be accountable to the state office. Vose said consolidating regions would result in the formation of "super regions" and regional services would become remote. The recent consolidation of regions (from 102 to 78 in 1975 and into 57 in 1979) was drawn up, he said, by the superintendents themselves and should be given a chance to work.

Although the big battle is not likely to begin until 1981 when the board's specific recommendations are in the hands of lawmakers, the superintendents are taking aim. Their sights are trained on State Superintendent Joseph M. Cronin who has long been a proponent of altering the structure of the ESR and abolishing the election of regional superintendents. Cronin, who is Illinois' first appointed state superintendent, feels the current system is outdated and change is needed in order to meet the state's future educational needs. But the regional superintendents do not agree, and so they have decided to back a move to make Cronin's post elective. The regional superintendents have also hired a lobbyist to ensure they are kept up to date on the status of the ISBE plan and to make certain that lawmakers are aware of their cause.

Celeste Quinn is a student in the Public Affairs Reporting Program at Sangamon State University where she is an intern with Illinois Issues and WSSR-radio.

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