Report Shows Illinois Students Are Failing to Meet Standards
Report Shows Illinois Students Are Failing to Meet Standards (Springfield, IL) (via The Center Square) – Dozens of Illinois schools are failing to meet standards, according to a new report. While the governor’s budget includes hundreds of millions of dollars more for education, one analyst believes that’s a mistake.
The report by Wirepoints shows that 53 schools do not have any student who can do math at their grade level and that at 30 schools no student can read at grade level.
The report uses data from the Illinois State Board of Education and found that 18% of the state’s 3,547 schools have only 1 out of 10 kids who are capable of reading at grade level.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker recently said he would dedicate more state funding to education.
“The truth is that everyone here, the General Assembly, and the members from throughout the state is being prudent about putting more money into our K-12 system,” Pritzker said in Springfield Thursday.
Pritzker’s proposed budget for the coming fiscal year includes an additional $506 million for K-12 education. However, Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski told The Center Square that putting more tax dollars into education does nothing.
“We have a real systemic problem, and we shouldn’t put a penny more into this,” Dabrowski said. “Parents should not allow another penny to go in because it is not about money, it is about accountability.”
The Wirepoints report lists Spry Community Links High School in Chicago and shows that in the 2022 Illinois Report Card, none of the 87 students at the school could read or do math at their grade level. The school spends more than $35,600 a year per student.
Dabrowski said Gov J.B. Pritzker needs to be honest with the public about the state’s education system.
“Governor Pritzker has to stop celebrating what’s happening in education in Illinois and start focusing on the real problem, that’s that kids can’t read at grade level, and they can’t do math at grade level,” Dabrowski said.
Dabrowski said the state needs to stop what it is doing in education.
“[Pritzker] needs to stop graduating kids. He needs to stop promoting kids until he holds the school districts, the State Board of Education, the teachers, and the parents accountable,” Dabrowski said.
Lawmakers return to the capitol Tuesday where they continue work on budget negotiations for the spending plan that begins July 1.
Report Shows Illinois Students Are Failing to Meet Standards
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