In our minds, we are generous to our schoolchildren. And, to a point, we are. Last year we paid $20 billion in taxes to support education in Illinois, in the hope that our young people would flourish in excellent public schools. And, to a point, they did.
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In Illinois, we spend $20 billion each year to educate 2 million public school students. Is it enough? How do we know what's the right amount? In 1997, legislators asked an important question: What would it cost to provide just an adequate education for every child? That is, what would it take for students to learn what they're supposed to learn in school?
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Yes, Illinois definitely needs to better fund public education. And in return for more money, we need to insist that Illinois educators be more accountable for their good or bad performance, more transparent about how they spend our dollars, and more willing to embrace rigorous, research-driven strategies for teaching our kids.
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The Illinois public school system is designed to educate 2 million students. Too often, that system serves everyone but kids. We know the problems, and we know how they interfere with the goal of giving every child a decent education. Fortunately, we know more about solutions.
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When class sizes in kindergarten through 3rd grades are reduced to 15, amazing things happen. More students graduate from high school, more enter college, fewer face disciplinary problems. The effect comes not with a class of 30 with two certified teachers, not even in a class of 20 with a teacher's aide. It means one excellent, certified teacher and 15 students in one class. Period.
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One of this 159-year-old newspaper's core legacies is its conviction that government should intrude as little as possible on the lives of the citizens it serves. So when government says it needs more money from your pocket, this page sets a high burden of proof. Today we propose a necessary increase of $3 billion in state tax revenues for an aggressively reformed system of public education in Illinois. We believe the proof of need is there.
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At no time in our nation's history has the quality of teaching mattered as much as it does now. Our understanding of other cultures, languages and economies is critical to our competitive edge. We live in an age that demands agility with technology and an ability to innovate on the fly.
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