Current Funding:
Our schools across the state are actually pretty well funded, but out of control administration costs are burdening the system. The research is clear; the more money you spend per student the more likely they will see success. Illinois spent, on average, just over $13,000 per student, nationally that ranks around 13th highest, however, we are not spending that money where it will benefit our students most. That per pupil cost includes the pay for teachers, administrators, facility costs, pensions, and all other costs associated with schools. Of that $13,000 per pupil about $8,000 of that is spent on actual student-teacher interaction. Meaning that around $5,000 per student ends up in administrative costs and facility costs. One of that main problems with Illinois High cost per pupil is that we have an enormous amount of school districts. This means that we are paying a large number of administrators a lot of money to manage fewer teachers and students than the average of other states. When we look at states with similar populations as Illinois Pennsylvania and Ohio are each close to us. Pennsylvania has a population of about 12.8 million, compared to Illinois' 12.7 million, and Ohio's 11.7 million. The student population of each state is also similar; 1.7, 1.9, and 1.7 million respectively. The big difference comes in when we look at how many school districts are in each state. Pennsylvania has 500 districts, Ohio has 611, and Illinois comes in at 852 school districts. That is a lot of administrative cots for us to cover. We propose that we consolidate school districts to cut down on administrative costs and increase per-pupil spending on things that will actually benefit our students.
Additionally, a breakdown of where that money comes from shows that the majority of that money comes from local taxes. 66% of all of the funding that comes in to our schools is generated through local property taxes. Many other states provide the majority of funding, not forcing local taxes to pay for the upkeep of schools. This is important because it does two things, puts the burden of supporting our schools on the local population, and drives wide divides between school districts of high and low income populations. We propose to slowly switch from property taxes paying for our schools, and move toward increasing income tax to pay for our schools. We can decrease the burden of property taxes this way, and then the Illinois Department of Education can deliver the funds for schools to those most in need. We down-state school districts often have less funds to deliver to our schools than those in wealthier parts of the state. As stated above, the average school operation budget is around $13,000 per student in Illinois in our district (district 91) we see an average of $11,000 per student. $2,000 per student could go a long way to improving our schools!
We need to focus the spending of money on the education of students and teacher’s pay rather than the bloated salaries and benefits of the administrators in the public school systems. Nearly 80% of administrators in Illinois make over $100,000, and many school districts have multiple administrators. We need to ensure that money is going to the right places to improve our schools and the education of our children.
Testing:
Our students are being over tested. When Josh was teaching, he would be required to deliver multiple high-stakes tests over the duration of the year. To adhere to the state-mandated test requirements, we would basically plan on almost the entire month of March to be testing month, which is 1 month of the year when students would not be learning new material. Additionally, throughout the rest of the year there were required district assessments, and for special education students, there were also additional testing requirements to show where the progress was in terms of their yearly goals. With all of this testing happening, the education time over the year is dwindling rapidly year-by-year. While making sure students are finding success, we are taking away valuable learning time and replacing it with testing requirements.
In Finland, they take one test in high school that is a placement exam for university. They do take tests throughout the rest of their education, but they are intended to measure student progress, and have no stakes attached to them for the school, teacher, or districts. The results do not hold schools accountable like they do in Illinois. Many experts on education also view Finland as having the best education system in the world.
We propose to cut back mandated testing from the state, and work with local districts on using agreed upon evaluation systems to ensure students are learning and meeting standards, without requiring useless tests to be taken. We can then concentrate on giving our students more time to learn and play.
School Boards:
We are using school boards to oversee what is happening in schools. School boards are made up of elected officials from the community, and oversee administrators, budgeting, spending, and the overall functioning of schools. Many people who are elected to school boards have the best intentions, but many do not have enough education on what should be happening in schools, and how to get there. We should have school boards that are created with a universal mindset. We believe school boards should be made up of elected officials, administrators of the district, teachers, and possibly students in some instances. Everyone involved in the school should have a say in what happens in our schools. We also believe that school districts that are made up of multiple schools should have representatives from each of those school boundaries on the board to ensure equity across all schools in a district.
We propose to re-evaluate how school boards are created, who makes up a school board, how members are placed on/removed from boards, and what a school board’s function is. With a redesign of school boards, we can ensure more transparency within districts, as well as equity across schools in a district.
Higher Education:
The cost of higher education is outrageous. The increase of costs over the last few decades has increased exponentially seemingly year-over-year. Students are taking out loans that have shameful repayment expectations, just to get an education. We need to reign in the incredible costs of our higher education institutions, and help our students who have taken on large amounts of debt in an attempt to better themselves.
We propose lowering the cost for state-run colleges for students living in Illinois. We should also investigate new and creative ways of getting our young citizens the education they need for the careers that interest them. College is not the only answer for our high school graduates. We need to promotes and support the trades in our schools, as well as partner with local companies to develop educational opportunities that can allow a student to enter the workforce, and get real-world on-the-job training. These are all very real possibilities that we can implement through partnering with organizations that already exist.
Teacher Pay:
Teachers used to be revered as integral to the success of our nation. They create the foundation of knowledge that we build upon for the rest of our lives. Without teachers, no other profession would be possible. However, our current culture seems to blame teachers for the failures of the education system. The problem with many teachers is that they are unable to focus on their craft. The low pay for teachers often causes many teachers to find second, and sometimes third jobs just to make ends meet. With their focus on how they will pay their bills, they can not concentrate all of their efforts into the place they should, which is creating the best possible learning for our children. Raising the pay of teachers will allow them to focus more on their craft, and give them the respectable pay they deserve for the very difficult work they undertake. We have made progress in this area, bringing starting wages from $10,000 per year to $40,000 which is a start. We support the movement for $60,000 minimum salary for our educators.
Our schools across the state are actually pretty well funded, but out of control administration costs are burdening the system. The research is clear; the more money you spend per student the more likely they will see success. Illinois spent, on average, just over $13,000 per student, nationally that ranks around 13th highest, however, we are not spending that money where it will benefit our students most. That per pupil cost includes the pay for teachers, administrators, facility costs, pensions, and all other costs associated with schools. Of that $13,000 per pupil about $8,000 of that is spent on actual student-teacher interaction. Meaning that around $5,000 per student ends up in administrative costs and facility costs. One of that main problems with Illinois High cost per pupil is that we have an enormous amount of school districts. This means that we are paying a large number of administrators a lot of money to manage fewer teachers and students than the average of other states. When we look at states with similar populations as Illinois Pennsylvania and Ohio are each close to us. Pennsylvania has a population of about 12.8 million, compared to Illinois' 12.7 million, and Ohio's 11.7 million. The student population of each state is also similar; 1.7, 1.9, and 1.7 million respectively. The big difference comes in when we look at how many school districts are in each state. Pennsylvania has 500 districts, Ohio has 611, and Illinois comes in at 852 school districts. That is a lot of administrative cots for us to cover. We propose that we consolidate school districts to cut down on administrative costs and increase per-pupil spending on things that will actually benefit our students.
Additionally, a breakdown of where that money comes from shows that the majority of that money comes from local taxes. 66% of all of the funding that comes in to our schools is generated through local property taxes. Many other states provide the majority of funding, not forcing local taxes to pay for the upkeep of schools. This is important because it does two things, puts the burden of supporting our schools on the local population, and drives wide divides between school districts of high and low income populations. We propose to slowly switch from property taxes paying for our schools, and move toward increasing income tax to pay for our schools. We can decrease the burden of property taxes this way, and then the Illinois Department of Education can deliver the funds for schools to those most in need. We down-state school districts often have less funds to deliver to our schools than those in wealthier parts of the state. As stated above, the average school operation budget is around $13,000 per student in Illinois in our district (district 91) we see an average of $11,000 per student. $2,000 per student could go a long way to improving our schools!
We need to focus the spending of money on the education of students and teacher’s pay rather than the bloated salaries and benefits of the administrators in the public school systems. Nearly 80% of administrators in Illinois make over $100,000, and many school districts have multiple administrators. We need to ensure that money is going to the right places to improve our schools and the education of our children.
Testing:
Our students are being over tested. When Josh was teaching, he would be required to deliver multiple high-stakes tests over the duration of the year. To adhere to the state-mandated test requirements, we would basically plan on almost the entire month of March to be testing month, which is 1 month of the year when students would not be learning new material. Additionally, throughout the rest of the year there were required district assessments, and for special education students, there were also additional testing requirements to show where the progress was in terms of their yearly goals. With all of this testing happening, the education time over the year is dwindling rapidly year-by-year. While making sure students are finding success, we are taking away valuable learning time and replacing it with testing requirements.
In Finland, they take one test in high school that is a placement exam for university. They do take tests throughout the rest of their education, but they are intended to measure student progress, and have no stakes attached to them for the school, teacher, or districts. The results do not hold schools accountable like they do in Illinois. Many experts on education also view Finland as having the best education system in the world.
We propose to cut back mandated testing from the state, and work with local districts on using agreed upon evaluation systems to ensure students are learning and meeting standards, without requiring useless tests to be taken. We can then concentrate on giving our students more time to learn and play.
School Boards:
We are using school boards to oversee what is happening in schools. School boards are made up of elected officials from the community, and oversee administrators, budgeting, spending, and the overall functioning of schools. Many people who are elected to school boards have the best intentions, but many do not have enough education on what should be happening in schools, and how to get there. We should have school boards that are created with a universal mindset. We believe school boards should be made up of elected officials, administrators of the district, teachers, and possibly students in some instances. Everyone involved in the school should have a say in what happens in our schools. We also believe that school districts that are made up of multiple schools should have representatives from each of those school boundaries on the board to ensure equity across all schools in a district.
We propose to re-evaluate how school boards are created, who makes up a school board, how members are placed on/removed from boards, and what a school board’s function is. With a redesign of school boards, we can ensure more transparency within districts, as well as equity across schools in a district.
Higher Education:
The cost of higher education is outrageous. The increase of costs over the last few decades has increased exponentially seemingly year-over-year. Students are taking out loans that have shameful repayment expectations, just to get an education. We need to reign in the incredible costs of our higher education institutions, and help our students who have taken on large amounts of debt in an attempt to better themselves.
We propose lowering the cost for state-run colleges for students living in Illinois. We should also investigate new and creative ways of getting our young citizens the education they need for the careers that interest them. College is not the only answer for our high school graduates. We need to promotes and support the trades in our schools, as well as partner with local companies to develop educational opportunities that can allow a student to enter the workforce, and get real-world on-the-job training. These are all very real possibilities that we can implement through partnering with organizations that already exist.
Teacher Pay:
Teachers used to be revered as integral to the success of our nation. They create the foundation of knowledge that we build upon for the rest of our lives. Without teachers, no other profession would be possible. However, our current culture seems to blame teachers for the failures of the education system. The problem with many teachers is that they are unable to focus on their craft. The low pay for teachers often causes many teachers to find second, and sometimes third jobs just to make ends meet. With their focus on how they will pay their bills, they can not concentrate all of their efforts into the place they should, which is creating the best possible learning for our children. Raising the pay of teachers will allow them to focus more on their craft, and give them the respectable pay they deserve for the very difficult work they undertake. We have made progress in this area, bringing starting wages from $10,000 per year to $40,000 which is a start. We support the movement for $60,000 minimum salary for our educators.