Education board under fire

The Illinois House has approved a plan to reduce the governor's influence over the State Board of Education. The measure would toss out the current board members, who were appointed by Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Then a special panel would nominate 27 possible new board members for the governor to choose from. The House approved the bill 86-21 Tuesday. It now goes to the state Senate. Democratic Rep. Lou Lang said the board should do a better job of advocating for students, regardless of what the governor's office wants. But critics call the plan complicated and unnecessary.