 |
Home | Search | Browse | About IPO |
Staff |
Links |
YOUR TURN
Let's do real school reform in 1997
by Lee A. Daniels
School reform isn't about taxes; it's about schools. More money alone isn't meaningful change. It's a Band-Aid approach that's failed, and will fail again.
Political pundits have called 1997 the "best chance in decades" for fundamental school reform in Illinois.
I wholeheartedly agree.
So it's a shame that state leaders like Democrat House Speaker Michael Madigan have chosen to use that opportunity to push instead for a state income tax increase. A Republican-led Illinois House would have aimed its efforts elsewhere.
. We don't believe throwing more money at a problem and calling it "reform" is good government. And we won't mislead our constituents by using schoolchildren as a front to push the largest income tax hike in state history.
School reform must happen. But the debate should focus on schools, not taxes.
We can fundamentally change the way Illinois finances its public school system without increasing the income tax burden of Illinois' working families. State lawmakers simply need to set public priorities responsibly.
Every year, as the size of our state economy grows naturally, so does the . size of our state government. Over the past four years, general funds revenue growth has averaged about $1 billion new dollars a year.
If history is an indicator, this year's revenue growth also could approach $1 billion. That's new money we pay to the state through sales and income taxes.
We need to spend a major portion of this new money on education.
Real school reform means funding our schools first. Those who oppose doing so cannot honestly call education their top priority.
Illinois House Republicans offered a school reform plan that did not hike your income tax bill, but Democrat House Speaker Michael Madigan wasn't interested.
The House GOP plan focused on academic reforms. It included more property tax relief, and more new dollars for schools than Speaker Madigan's education bill. But it didn't increase income taxes.
Thus, Speaker Madigan and the Democrats refused to support it. In fact, they rejected every education plan that didn't raise your income taxes.
Who says school reform must equal an income tax hike?
I believe school reform means identifying our education problems, and solving them.
Are students graduating from high school who cannot read or write? Let's end social promotion statewide, and require end-of-year exit exams to advance to the next grade.
Are some teachers unqualified to do the job? Let's look at the way we choose those teachers, and raise our standards.
Are classrooms too crowded? Let's hire more teachers.
Is truancy on the rise? Let's offer more incentives for outstanding student attendance.
Do some poorer school districts need help buying new textbooks, or science lab equipment? Let's help those needy districts with more state financial aid, and raise the foundation level of spending for the poorest students in Illinois.
But let's do it now, not later.
Let's identify our education problems, and solve them. It's a tried and true approach that's already working in Illinois with Chicago school reform.
When Republican leaders started Grafting the Chicago plan back in 1995, Democrats claimed it couldn't be done. The problem isn't the Chicago system itself, they said; the problem is money.
Michael Madigan insisted that more money alone would solve Chicago's school woes. He and all but one Chicago Democrat voted against the reform plan. But we knew better.
In Chicago, test scores are up today, and wasteful bureaucracy is down.
That's the case just two years after a Republican legislature implemented Chicago school reform, now a nationally renowned education model that didn't cost an extra taxpayer penny.
Chicago school reform is succeeding because it shifts the system's focus from special interests to students.
In this year of education, Democrats decided to put special interests ahead of students. They held school reform hostage, plotting to use its political momentum to pass the largest income tax increase in the history of the state of Illinois.
I'm proud to say they failed.
School reform isn't about taxes; it's about schools. And more money alone isn't meaningful change. It's a BandAid approach that's failed before, and will surely fail again.
Over the past 10 years, spending on public education in Illinois has more than doubled. But test scores are stagnant, and dropout rates are rising.
Let's do real school reform in 1997.
We deserve more for our money, and more for our children.
Lee A. Daniels of Elmhurst is the Illinois House Republican leader.
Illinois Issues November 1997 / 41