Colleagues:

IEA staff and governance have been in the thick of discussions that could have a tremendous impact on IEA members statewide. This newsletter is a quick update on what's been happening.

On Tuesday afternoon in Chicago, Gov. Blagojevich unveiled his proposal to generate more than $6 billion over the next four years for elementary and secondary education. As you have probably heard, the plan involves the leasing out of the Illinois State Lottery.

While we learned the full details of the plan at the Tuesday news conference, the governor briefed Executive Director Jo Anderson, three IEA managers and me on his program during a meeting on Monday afternoon.

Our initial reaction to the plan is positive, with reservations. Here are some of the highlights of the proposal:

* Full-day kindergarten and universal preschool
* New school construction
* Replacement of outdated textbooks
* Help schools afford special education teachers
* Increase voluntary school district consolidations
* More and better mentoring for teachers, principals and superintendents * Improving school libraries

There is much to applaud in this plan. We particularly are impressed by the positive approach to improving student achievement and by the goal of directing significant resources to schools with the greatest need.

Overall, the governor is proposing a plan for enhancing the quality of education in Illinois by providing significant resources to classrooms statewide.

I mentioned "reservations." Some of these are:

* Concerns about funding stability
* Underfunding of pensions not addressed
* Local property tax relief not included
* No additional money for higher education

Let's remember this is a proposal, one that can certainly change before it is considered and voted on by the General Assembly. The legislature will return to Springfield after the fall elections.

The governor's plan ensures a spirited debate over how best to strengthen public education and how education quality can be enhanced for our students.

We await the proposal of new, alternative ideas, and we look forward to the debate.

As always, I'm very interested in your thoughts. Please share them with me at iealistens@ieanea.org.

Ken

News coverage from the Chicago Sun-Times...

Gov's $10 billion jackpot for schools

BY KATE N. GROSSMAN AND ROSALIND ROSSI Education Reporters

Gov. Blagojevich pushed a plan Tuesday to make Illinois the first state to put its lottery up for sale or lease, a move that could generate $10 billion -- including a $4 billion, four-year windfall of new dollars for an A to Z laundry list of school programs, ranging from a longer school year to merit pay for teachers and full-day kindergarten.

Educators embraced most of the proposals; they are popular items teachers and administrators have wanted for years. But questions were immediately raised about the wisdom of leasing the lottery, and whether the plan truly solved a decades-old problem of inadequate state funding for schools.

A sale or lease could generate $10 billion. But only $4 billion of that would amount to new dollars for schools -- and that money would be gone after four years. The other $6 billion would go into a trust expected to generate about $650 million annually through 2025 to replace the money schools get from the lottery now.

In addition, the governor hopes to pump in another $2 billion from other sources over the four years for a total of $6 billion in new funding.

"What happens after year four?" said Bindu Batchu of A+ Illinois, a school finance reform group. "We need to sustain an investment in education. We can't rely on one- time sources."

Dawn Clark Netsch, the 1994 Democratic gubernatorial candidate who made school finance reform her campaign centerpiece, was leery of giving up valuable state assets.

"I'm concerned about this idea that we're going to sell or lease most of our major state assets," Netsch said. "It seems we're continuing to push the responsibility for funding our services off into the future and taking away assets we may need in the future."

Blagojevich's budget director, John Filan, downplayed the risks. The plan sets up a task force to address long-term funding strategy.

Plan 'has something for everyone'

"We have four years of certainty here," he said. "In year five, we'll look for revenue sources."

Added Supt. Blondean Davis of Matteson School District 162, who worked with the governor's staff on Meeks' behalf: "Four years is a lifetime in the education of a child." The plan "has something for everyone," she said.

The governor wants the state Legislature to take up the proposal in the fall veto session, after the gubernatorial election.

"It's a bold new plan to fundamentally change our schools," Blagojevich said Tuesday at a news conference at Healy Elementary School in Bridgeport. "Yes, there is a lot more funding in this plan, but it's a combination of funding, accountability, performance and an intolerance of failure."

The smorgasbord of education ideas in the plan is so broad, it might appeal to rich and poor districts, and high-achieving as well as struggling schools.

Chronically low-achieving districts would be offered a "turnaround team" and resources for a longer school year, after-school tutoring, summer school, libraries and expanded technology. If they refused state help and showed no uptick, they could face a state takeover.

Any district also could apply for funds to help create small schools; "identity'' schools featuring a theme, such as agriculture or the arts; or merit pay for teachers whose kids show improving test scores. All districts also should benefit from more money for principal and superintendent mentoring, officials said. Poor districts would likely get help in updating textbooks; middle class districts could see help in expanding preschool offerings.

The plan also includes selling $1.5 billion in bonds for new school construction.

'Now the work starts'

Illinois Federation of Teachers spokeswoman Gail Purkey noted that merit pay was tried unsuccessfully in two IFT school districts. Even so, she was ready to hear more.

"There are a lot of things in here we support -- expanded school year, summer school, early childhood, raising the foundation level," Purkey said. "This was an idea briefing. Now the work starts."

For decades, advocates have argued for basic reform in the way Illinois pays for its schools. They want to reduce reliance on property taxes while increasing income and sales tax. They've butted heads with Blagojevich, who pledged not to raise taxes.

Two of the strongest tax swap backers, Sen. Miguel del Valle (D-Chicago) and independent Sen. James Meeks of Chicago, stood with Blagojevich Tuesday to support his plan.

"You can't fix every problem in one swoop," Meeks said. "I'm still concerned about the imbalance in property taxes. We have four years to work on it."