The Solution: Helping Kids Learn

Governor Blagojevich committed to increasing education funding by more than $10 billion over the next four years, including $1.5 billion in new funding in FY08. Governor Blagojevich’s Education Plan, Helping Kids Learn, focuses on answering the question “what does a child need to learn?” Children need:

1. A Good Place to Learn
2. Strong Teachers and Administrators
3. Quality Materials
4. Enough Time to Learn
5. The Financial Resources to Get It Done

1. A Good Place to Learn

• The capital budget includes $1.5 billion for the State’s School Construction program, $150 million for the State’s School Maintenance Program, and $30 million to support a new early childhood expansion program that will support, and build on the success of Preschool for All.

• Direct funds to help larger school buildings that want to break up into several independent schools and operate within a larger building.
  
  
• These schools will be designed to be more specialized and devote more personal attention to individual students, or will be organized around a common theme or focus.

• There are over 870 districts in Illinois, each with their own curriculum and their own set of challenges.
  
  
• Illinois will help form unit districts which can lead to more aligned learning and can encourage student and school improvement.
  
  
• We will continue supporting school district consolidation and will also look to create new consolidation incentives to encourage dual districts with high tax rates to form unit districts.

• Illinois will create a program to parallel and supplement federal funds that provide services to homeless students, making Illinois the first state in the nation to put significant resources into helping homeless kids.

• Recognizing Illinois’ rural schools often face different challenges and present different needs, the Governor’s budget includes $10 million to give these schools the chance to access funds for distance learning technology, tools to attract and retain teachers and other resources that can help them remain successful.

2. Strong Teachers and Administrators

• Our plan fully funds “mandated categorical” programs, including those for special education. The plan also (for the first time since 1985) increases the reimbursement rates for special education teachers and other personnel. The Governor’s budget provides $209 million to increase the rates nearly 65 percent, the first rate update in more than 20 years.

• We will take major steps to create a statewide teacher mentoring program. We will also build on the success of the principal mentoring program and will support the creation of a new superintendent mentoring program to support school leaders.

• The Governor’s budget includes $40 million to encourage quality teachers to go to or remain in hard-to-staff or underperforming schools.
  
  
• Programs such as National Board Certification, Grow Your Own and Golden Apple, among others, can help keep teachers in the classroom, and can expand scholarship and loan repayment opportunities.

• Strong teacher preparation programs make strong teachers.
  
  
• We also work to address teacher shortages in key areas like math, science and special education.
  
  
• In cooperation with the Illinois Board of Higher Education, we will put resources into strengthening teacher preparation programs, and will create Professional Development Schools focused on the needs of pre-K through grade 12 programs.
  
  

• We will work with teacher unions and school management to create a program that recognizes good teachers and schools whose students show academic improvement.

3. Quality Materials

• Put additional funds into the State’s Textbook Loan Program in order to encourage districts to replace books on a six-year cycle and to make sure the neediest districts have their needs met.

• Make available additional resources to fund technology improvements in classrooms and schools, including tools necessary to improve math and science education.

4. Enough Time to Learn

• Consistent with the State Board of Education’s recommendation, we will continue building support for the State’s Preschool for All program. The Governor’s budget includes $60 million to expand early childhood programs and reach an estimated 12,000 additional children. The budget also adds an additional $10 million to support early childhood program providers.

• There are districts in Illinois that are unable to afford full-day kindergarten at all schools.
  
  
• We will help districts fund the conversion of half-day kindergartens to full-day kindergartens by offering grant funds to fill the gap.

• We know that some schools and students need additional time in the classroom, and additional assistance outside of it, to show improvement.
  
  
• We will drive funds to those schools that need it most and agree to work with us to develop a plan outlining their goals for student and school improvement.
  
  
• The Governor’s budget includes $100 million to support proven strategies to raise student success including after-school tutoring, professional development, improving curriculum and materials, offering longer school days, and other programs and options to improve results.

5. The Financial Resources to Get the Job Done

• Increases the Foundation Level by $686 per student. This marks the fifth consecutive year of increases to the foundation level, and is the largest increase to date as well as the largest appropriation increase since the General State Aid formula was changed in 1998.

• We will continue finding ways to encourage school district savings and hold districts accountability for their spending on administrative costs.

Performance Accountability

• Governor Blagojevich wants to direct new State funds to target specific areas in our school system that have historically underperformed. Illinois will fund services that will make a difference for struggling kids. We will also continue work on a plan to force districts that repeatedly fail to make improvements.

P-20 Council

• We will create a P-20 Education Roundtable to improve communication among sectors of education, and to coordinate efforts with their communities and stakeholders. The Roundtable will develop long-term, comprehensive and integrated education strategies for every level from early childhood through graduate education, and will create a system that enables students to start school ready to learn.