This week in Springfield, House members were busy with committee meetings and managing the deadline to read Senate bills on the House Floor. I was honored to meet with the Counsel General of Mongolia, along with House Leadership staff, early in the week.
In addition, my colleague Joe Sosnowski and I held a press conference, where we explained the issues with Education and costs in Illinois. We also offered solutions that the majority party must consider to enact needed reforms.
The experiment with Evidence-Based Funding needs to end in Illinois. We are spending more money every year on Education and not achieving the desired student achievement results. Mississippi, which ranks as the poorest in the nation in per capita income, has implemented a literacy-based program that has achieved incredible results over the last decade. And the costs of that program are a fraction of what Illinois is spending on EBF. We need to prioritize improving our students’ test scores and educational outcomes. Illinois must change course and do better for our kids.
Next week brings forth the budget deadline, and House Democrats have not met with House Republicans for this process. Our citizens deserve transparency, time for lawmakers to debate, and time for the public to review. We are expecting some long days and nights as the budget details are finally revealed.
