Why?
Read below, which was written by the superintendent of Williamsville public schools, Dave Root.
He nails it.
Out for now......
Matt
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Illinois' Guide to Destroying Public Education
Illinois' Guide to Destroying Public Education
Have a problem and don't know how to fix it? Just go find a "Dummies Guide" at your local book store.
Want to destroy public education and prevent people from wanting to teach? Not a problem. It's actually pretty simple.
First, ensure that legislators and those in charge of Illinois' fiscal management continue to make poor decisions and not follow the law, which requires the state to fully fund schools. Remove vital revenue streams and all common-sense rules of financial arithmetic to win votes. This will result in school districts being grossly underfunded for years with no help in sight.
Watch our governor pontificate increased funding toward K-12 public education and then two weeks later cut school funding to lower levels than prior to his arrival in office. Consequently, school districts will be forced to cut even more teachers and programs all across Illinois, which, of course, comes on the heels of years of Draconian cuts already suffered due to Illinois' financial abandonment.
Be sure to continue to make teachers worry every year if they will have a job or if their program is being cut.
Next, demonize teachers and the educational system as a whole. Set schools up for failure through unfunded mandates while running a broad-based public relations campaign that portrays educators and anyone associated with the profession as underperforming, inept, lazy and potentially harmful to students.
Create a state-mandated evaluation system in an effort to portray teaching quality as abysmal statewide and instructional ineptitude as rampant in all classrooms. Consequently, make employment decisions based around high-stakes testing and an accountability system that encourages administrators to rate a majority of their teachers' average or below average, further diminishing the respect of the teaching profession.
In addition, institute an expensive and immaterial certification system. Let it mutate into a labyrinth of unnecessary hoops for schools and educators to navigate, further alienating and discouraging teachers.
Another strategy is to implore and threaten schools to put an extreme emphasis on standardized testing, which does not improve instruction or drive appropriate curriculum development. Force schools to teach to a test instead of to what children need, threatening schools that they may suffer monetary penalties, public humiliation and employment consequences.
Make sure the state spends hundreds of millions of dollars on these initiatives while cutting money for classroom instruction. Make educational decisions based on bids awarded to businesses that lobby prescribing education. Watch the State Board of Education scramble to justify its support of decisions that do not help classroom instruction because of fear that the federal government is going to cut desperately needed funds.
Stand aside and allow the State Board of Education to become disconnected from what is needed in the field, cultivating a climate of distrust.
Let legislators with no background in education make decisions for a profession whose expertise is education. This would be like going to a doctor who asks legislators to teach him or her how to perform surgery.
Remove the essence of what public education is built upon: local control.
Want to destroy public education in Illinois and devalue the teaching profession? It apparently is easy to accomplish. We have been watching it happen for years.