Quality Public Education For All Children

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Every child should have a quality education.  Education affects the well-being of our citizens in myriad ways.  Wages are tied to education levels.  Unemployment rates are highest for those with least education.  Health is tied to education levels. 

I believe in public education.  I attended public schools K-12.  My oldest daughter attends a Chicago Public School (“CPS”).  I know personally several CPS teachers.

I support deep and sustained state investments in public education for children of every age, from early childhood through high school.  All children, including those at-risk in some way or with special needs, should also have sufficient support and services to enable them to learn and to complete their K-12 and post-secondary education.

As a matter of simple social justice, we have a fundamental responsibility to ensure that every child in Illinois can attend a public school that offers a quality education, regardless of the poverty or affluence of a child’s community.  Where a child lives should not determine whether he or she has access to a good school. 

I also support the use of holistic measures of school quality (such as school and classroom size, school autonomy, innovation, recess, etc.) that take far more than standardized test scores into account.

The single most important factor in determining student achievement is the quality of the child’s teacher.  I believe in doing everything we can to ensure well-qualified teachers and providing them with all of the support they need to do their jobs well.

Short-Term

Most urgently, all of the July, 2009, State Board of Education funding cuts – totaling $180 million - should be restored immediately (and funding for these critical programs should be increased):

• $6 million for alternative or safe schools, which serve former dropouts and students who have been suspended and expelled;

• $123 million for early childhood programs;
  
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