Just 8 percent of black students in Rockford Public Schools can read at grade level, and only 15 percent of students overall. And yet 66 percent of students graduate and nearly 95 percent of district teachers are rated “excellent or proficient.”
WIFR 23 (Rockford) covered a townhall event hosted by Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski and State Rep. Joe Sosnowski (R). Ted and Joe discussed the facts above, who is responsible for the failures in Illinois education and how we can restore power to parents and children through school choice.
Senator Steve Stadelman (D), meanwhile, told WIFR 23 that spending more money on classrooms and teacher salaries is the best way to improve results.
More money isn’t the answer, which we make clear in our new report.
VIDEO: Poor achievement, zero accountability: An indictment of Illinois’ education system
Read more from Wirepoints:
- Ongoing teen violence puts parenting at center stage in Chicago
- Bleeding people: New IRS migration data shows Illinois lost another 100,000 residents and a record amount of wealth in 2020
- False advertising of Illinois’ new ‘property tax relief’ bill
- About that U.S. Census “undercount”: Illinois’ population is still just 12.8 million
Audio and summary 
If this bill passes, say goodbye to local control over all Illinois parks and expect to see open drug and alcohol use, needles, no sanitation and fire hazards, but no ordinary park users.
The teachers are just passing time in those classrooms, waiting until they can retire to a warm weather state and cash pension checks. The kids go home after school and play video games until their single parent comes home from work and plops down on the couch and falls asleep. Homework isn’t discussed or attempted in most cases. Politicians have no clue what to do, but they like their pension too, so they make up some BS line and make promises they know can’t be kept. The circle of life.
Waiting until they can retire to a warm weather state? Who will ever forget the CPS educator lecturing her class from the Puerto Rican beach during the winter of Covid?
It the teachers problem all they are interested in ismore money,more time off and a larger pension. Throw money at the problem, that’s what a stupid politicians would say. We need to rid ourselves of public unions that exacerbate costs, problems, taxes and vile corruption. We need to grade teachers not students. I went to a Catholic school 60 years ago we were two grades more proficient than public schools. We had Nuns for teachers. They cared for students, public school teachers care only for money and time off.
Interesting how Mr. Stadelman side steps the whole issue of failure by the schools and feeds right into more money will fix it. He has been trained well, and so have the voters that keep people like this in office. Remember it’s all about the children!
P.S. He does not live in Rockford but I believe Caledonia which has a lower tax rate of 9.3950% of 1/3rd value to Rockford with a 12.2563%
The local school districts in my area of Winnebago County are responsible for 75% of my property tax bill that pays for multiple district superintendents and staff. Single school with DS and 3 schools with DS both DS earning middle 6 figure salaries, plus principals and associate principals plus staff. So the politicians think we tax payers are giving enough? Consolidate and cut high salaried “professional educators” who look out the window trying to figure out another scam.