What a weiner. I really have had it with Blagojevich’s using the budgetary process to try and win the next election instead of seriously sitting down with some of the adults in Springfield and making a budget. The Trib calls him on his math today, and does an excellent job criticizing his educational priorities.
The end actually contains the most important nugget:
If Blagojevich wants to increase education funding at a time of serious budget deficits, he should focus that expenditure on the two areas that will have the greatest impact: expanding preschool access to at-risk children and raising the foundation level of per pupil spending to help even out the gross funding disparities between rich and poor districts. A $250 per pupil increase, from $4,810 to $5,060, is probably too ambitious; it should be scaled back to ensure that some of the smaller, proven ideas such as preschool expansion and Project Success are fully funded.
Look, Illlinois is already ahead of Missouri on these issues (and I sit in with funders for Early Child Care Education somewhat regularly), but the key to success is stimulating brain function at the earliest ages. That is where the focus should be and increasing the foundation floor–rural districts are in a world of hurt and have little in the way to increase property taxes on. Blagojevich can run around downstate promoting coal and other idiotic ideas all he wants, but rural communities need good schools more than any other development incentive. He has some movement towards that, but instead of trying to be everything to everyone, he needs to focus the efforts–or he will end up doing exactly what the current State Board of Education does–play favorites on political connections.