Reshaping educational infrastructure

My 20/20 Vision links strengthening education at all levels to moving the economy forward.

Changing the educational infrastructure in order to create jobs in Illinois and revitalize the state’s manufacturing base is no small task. It will require federal policy that is dedicated to: 1) strengthening education from early childhood through the university level; and 2) supporting training, research and development in fields that promote advanced manufacturing and create green jobs.

Reshaping the educational infrastructure will also require a dedicated coalition of labor, business, government, educational and community leaders working together to achieve common ends. Large corporations and smaller supply-chain manufacturing companies must work in tandem to increase global competitive advantage; businesses must partner with local governments and school districts to produce a well-educated and highly skilled workforce.

As U.S. senator I will take an active role both in promoting such a legislative and policy agenda and bringing together a coalition of stakeholders from across Illinois to formulate a shared strategy. To do the latter, I will draw on the many sources of human and institutional capital in our state that are already working independently toward strengthening education and paving the way for employment in green industries. Some examples:

• Government-labor-community partnerships are exemplified by the Chicago Manufacturing Renaissance Council.   Since 2005 the CMRC has been working throughout northern Illinois to improve secondary and post-secondary education. In conjunction with Chicago Public Schools, in 2007 CMRC opened Austin Polytechnical Academy on the city’s West Side, a public college-prep high school. Students take math, science, economics and English along with pre-engineering courses, including advanced metalworking, to prepare for careers in all aspects of manufacturing including production, management and ownership.
• The Illinois Community College Sustainability Network is a consortium of all 48 community colleges in the state. It is dedicated to providing training and expertise for the new energy economy and building a “green-collar” workforce in Illinois.
• Illinois’ world-class higher-education system comprises public and private universities known for their research and innovation. At Southern Illinois University, the Vermicomposting Center puts millions of wiggler worms to work to consume tons of food waste, and the center develops other sustainable initiatives including green construction techniques, industrial ecology and rain-water harvesting.
• Local and regional economic development initiatives, such as the Danville-based Vermillion Advantage in east-central Illinois, work with businesses and schools to enhance workforce preparedness.

Educational policy and legislative agenda 

►Draft a federal policy for a fully articulated, improved educational infrastructure focusing on early-childhood, secondary, post-secondary and four-year education that:

1. Supports the Early Learning Challenge Fund, designed to bolster state budgets for early-learning programs for infants, toddlers and preschoolers
2. Establishes funding for the creation of polytechnical high schools
3. Increases funding for career and technical education in existing public high schools
4. Increases funding to improve math and science instruction in public high schools and promote the study of engineering at the university level
5. Increases funding for regional community colleges to strengthen post-secondary manufacturing training programs
6. Increases funding for research and development by public and private universities that supports advanced manufacturing and green-job creation

In addition to initiatives that link the educational infrastructure to manufacturing jobs, I will also work to improve funding at all levels of education in Illinois.

►Increase access to higher education and reduce educational debt

As U.S. senator I will work to ensure that every Illinois student who seeks a college degree will have the resources needed to complete it. I will support Education Access legislation to enable every eligible low-income student to receive Pell Grants that cover at least 85% of the costs of attending a public university or college.

I will also work to reduce debilitating educational debt while promoting public service and volunteer work that will offset such debt. I will introduce legislation to expand the College Cost Reduction and Access Act that would 1) offer a tax credit of up to $4,000 of annual student loan interest (replacing the current tax deduction for up to $2,500 of loan interest); and 2) offer credit for volunteer work and part-time, non-profit/public service work that could be applied toward loan forgiveness (currently available only for full-time, non-profit workers).

►Develop equity and excellence standards for primary and secondary education

I believe that teaching is an art, not a science. We need to address the flawed No Child Left Behind policy and overhaul our national public-education system, which is ranked in the bottom third of industrialized nations for math and science, and in which 35% of schools are failing.

No Child Left Behind illustrates what happens when well-intentioned legislation fails to be funded appropriately. Moreover, the “one-size-fits-all” objective standards in NCLB hamper teachers’ ability to connect with students and help them excel. NCLB must be replaced with legislation that provides the financial and technical resources necessary for public schools to guarantee the social and academic success of every child.

As U.S. senator I will insist on new legislation that accounts for student growth, rewards states for minimizing achievement gaps, and encourages the implementation of sophisticated data-tracking systems tied to rigorous assessments that are aligned with high-quality college and career-ready standards.

I will work to ensure that the reauthorization includes provisions that give Illinois school districts the flexibility to develop innovative educational solutions and programs that address localized educational contexts and needs. These include micro-grants for unique programs that serve special-needs students and the best and brightest students, one child at a time.

Teacher effectiveness is crucial for improved student achievement. The New Teacher Project found that in 12 districts nationwide (including Elgin and Chicago), less than 1 percent of teachers received unsatisfactory ratings, and half the districts neglected to dismiss a single non-probationary teacher for poor performance in the last five years.

I will oppose legislation mandating that standardized tests be the single measure of teacher performance. Instead, I will demand that future legislation retain due process while requiring districts to work with teachers and unions to develop evaluation systems tied to multiple measures that will reward teacher excellence, eliminate poor performance and attract outstanding teachers to hard-to-staff schools.

►Expand early-childhood education

I will support pre-school and birth-to-three programs that can yield dramatic social and economic returns for Illinois children, families and communities. In 2009 Illinois suffered $34 million in early-childhood education budget cuts that have deprived nearly 10,000 children and their families of essential early learning and social services. I will work for federal funding that ensures the continuity of Illinois’ pioneering 2006 “Preschool for All” program, the first in the United States to enable all 3- and 4-year-olds to attend pre-school. Originally due to be completed by fall 2010, in 2009 state funding for this program was cut by 10%.

As senator, I will also support pending legislative initiatives that substantially expand access to child care and comprehensive early-childhood services for eligible infants and toddlers, while requiring states to implement quality-improvement systems that promote and sustain high standards for programming. These include the Early Learning Challenge Fund (for expanded pre-K, Head Start and Early Head Start programs) and the reauthorization of the Child Care & Development Block Grant. In Illinois, only 2% of all eligible families benefit from Early Head Start programs, and 4% of all eligible families benefit from Head Start programs.