Editorial: Give us $10 million, then trust us; yeah, right

Editorial: Give us $10 million, then trust us; yeah, right

3/23/2006

Bloomington Pantagraph

We've all heard that more individual attention will help children in their early learning years develop better in their later years.

So, smaller class sizes for kindergarten through third-grade classes sound ideal to address that problem - if you say it fast enough.

But, there is a problem. Make that two problems.

An Illinois House committee has approved $10 million to give $50,000 grants to hire teachers to reduce 200 kindergarten through third-grade classes in Illinois.

The Illinois State Board of Education said the grants would be evenly distributed within the state.

But there are no specifics of that plan, the No. 1 problem. Nor will there be until after the legislation becomes law, according to the state board.

The House committee didn't seem a bit concerned about where the $10 million, plus expected salary increases, will come from the following year. Hey, it's just money - money that we keep hearing the state can't afford.

That's problem No. 2. That's sufficient, we don't need to look for any more problems.

Any legislator who buys this pig-in-a-poke idea doesn't deserve to be representing us.

To view the rest of the article printed in the Bloomington Pantagraph click here.