According to a new report, students in dozens of Illinois schools fall short of generally accepted educational standards.
Although the governor’s new budget includes hundreds of millions of dollars in education, one analyst says such an investment in this situation is a mistake.
The Wirepoints report shows that in 53 schools across the state, there is not a single student who can read at a grade level in math, and that in 30 schools, no student can read at a grade level.
The report uses data from the Illinois Board of Education and shows that in 18% of the state’s 3,547 schools, only 1 in 10 children are able to read at their grade level.
Gov. J. B. Pritzker recently announced that he would allocate even more public funding to education.
Pritzker’s proposed budget for the coming fiscal year includes an additional $506 million for K-12 education. However, Wirepoints president Ted Dabrowski said the increase in education tax revenue is doing nothing.
“We have a real systemic problem and we shouldn’t put another cent into it,” Dombrowski said. – Parents should not afford to spend a dime on this, because it is not about money, but about responsibility and finding the root of the problem. Empty injections of funds will not help here.
The Wirepoints report cites Spry Community Links High School in Chicago and shows that on the 2022 Illinois report card, none of the 87 students were able to read or do math at the level required for their class. However, the school spends over $35,600 a year per student!
Dombrowski said Gov. JB Pritzker should be honest with the public about the state’s education system and recognize that children cannot count and read well. Such deep problems in the field of education require a systematic approach and analysis of the reasons for such indicators, and not just injecting even more money.