Quality Public Education For All Children continued

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• $1 million for mental health intervention and prevention services;

• $3 million for the education of homeless children;

• $19 million for programs for English language learners;

• $1.8 million for Grow Your Own, which pays for career changers from low-income and high minority neighborhoods to acquire education degrees; and

• Cuts to the arts, foreign language, gifted education and principal training programs.

I also support immediate restoration of the funding cuts to the MAP grant program, which provides tuition assistance to college students from working and low-income families.

Illinois should take advantage of the record amount of federal money that is now available for education reform.  The legislature should quickly pass a comprehensive education reform bill that meets the criteria for the Department of Education’s Race to the Top Fund.  Specifically, Illinois should:

• Revamp the system of principal certification;

• Implement a standard teacher evaluation process and tracking system that is thorough and that includes student performance data;

• Create a more rigorous bar for teacher tenure;

• Make it easier for districts to remove failing teachers; and

• Find ways to improve more of the lowest performing schools.

Medium Term

With the CPS dropout rate at about 50% for African-American and Hispanic children, greater resources should be focused on helping young people to complete high school.  (If low-income students complete high school, they can attend the City Colleges of Chicago for free.)  Specifically, I would:

• Increase and expand drop-out prevention programs, taking advantage of the $50 million in federal funds appropriated for this purpose;
  
  
• Implement a plan to recruit male teachers, especially those of color, who can serve as role models for male students.  Fewer than 1 in 4 teachers between kindergarten and high school in Illinois are male.  In CPS, the ratio is 1 in 5.  This sends the message that teaching and education is a women’s realm.  Male teachers must also be made to feel welcome by administrators.

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