Lawmakers push for revamped State Board of Education

SPRINGFIELD -- Four years after giving Gov. Rod Blagojevich more control over Illinois' elementary and high schools, some state lawmakers want to move authority over education in the opposite direction.

A proposal advanced 17-0 out of a House committee today that would fire the current State Board of Education and give Blagojevich less of a role in picking and guiding the board.

Rep. Lou Lang, a Skokie Democrat and frequent critic of the governor in recent months, says he wants to give the board more independence, not create another political fight. He and other lawmakers believe the board defers too much to the governor's office.

"I think the Board of Education and the state superintendent of schools must be advocates for children, must be out front in talking about the real needs of schools in Illinois -- separate and apart from what the governor thinks, separate and apart from what the General Assembly thinks," Lang said. "We don't hear them advocating."

But as the idea heads to the full House, it faces strong opposition from the governor and the board itself and doubts from Senate President Emil Jones, a Blagojevich ally who could block the proposal.

"The governor makes the appointments," Jones said Wednesday. "I don't know what the problem is."

The state board acted on its own until 2004, when Blagojevich proposed abolishing it and replacing it with a state education agency under his control. Lawmakers balked at that but did agree to give him more say in appointing board members and promoting education policy.

Lang says that resulted in a less proactive board that lets the governor tell it what to do on school funding and other key issues.

He wants to create a panel of education experts to recommend 27 top-notch nominees such as former school officials and teachers, and the governor could pick the new nine-member board from that pool.

The governor also would no longer recommend who should be state superintendent to the board, and the board would submit its own budget requests to lawmakers along with what it would like schools to receive if money was no issue.

Senate Education Committee Chairwoman Kim Lightford, a Chicago Democrat, says she's also unhappy with the board's work but isn't sure yet whether Lang's idea is the best approach.

"I just don't know where the blame lies," Lightford said. "But we need a better State Board of Education."

Blagojevich and the board say it would be a step backward, and some lawmakers echoed that concern. They fear a return to the days where an independent board wouldn't listen to suggested improvements from lawmakers and educators.

"We have a mess right now," said Rep. Suzanne Bassi, a Palatine Republican. "And if we go backwards, my God, help us."

Board spokesman Matt Vanover said the board already picks its own superintendent and makes budget recommendations to lawmakers. He rejected Lang's claims that the board only follows the governor on such issues.

"They aren't in lockstep, they aren't the same," Vanover said.

Blagojevich spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch said the 2004 law has improved education by cutting government bureaucracy and improving how student academic progress is tracked.

She said it also ended the harmful divide between the board and the governor's office and did more than Lang's idea by shifting the board's focus to improve how education is delivered.

"Nowhere is that mentioned," Rausch said. "All it does is create new bureaucracy."