45th District candidates share education funding fixes

Education funding is a major expenditure of state government and candidates for the 45th House District seat in the Nov. 2 election say different strategies can best ensure schools receive sufficient money.

Incumbent Franco Coladipietro, a 42-year-old Bloomingdale Republican, said the state needs to stop creating new programs in social services and other areas to leave enough funding for high priorities such as education.

“We need to stop. No new programs to start with at least, Coladipietro said. “All those new programs essentially start to cannibalize the other programs.

Coladipietro's challenger, 49-year-old Roselle Democrat JoAnn Franzen, said school funding can best be addressed by deregulation.

The two are running to represent a district that covers all or parts of Bloomingdale, Carol Stream, Glendale Heights, Glen Ellyn, Roselle, Wheaton and Winfield.

“When the state gives schools money or any entity money, from my understanding, they are told in what areas they can use that money. How does the state know where that school needs the money? Are they monitoring everything? Does someone oversee? My guess is no, Franzen said. “So if you're going to give a district, any entity, money, let them spend it where they see fit.

With some aspects of education funding determined by national laws such as No Child Left Behind, and other funding coming from grants through the federal government and other organizations, Franzen's solution may be easier said than done. But still, she said, teachers know best.

“We set up all these rules and regulations. We spend all this money on people saying how things are supposed to go, Franzen said. “You know what? The teachers are the ones who have to deal with the kids. Mind your own business and let them teach.

Coladipietro said the state's ability to fund education and other state priorities such as infrastructure and welfare will come down to whether government is responsible and stable.

“We have to begin to prioritize, he said. “We established a lot of programs that are very well meaning programs and very good programs but at a certain point in time, if we can't meet our obligations on things that we determine are our core values that we have as a state and services that we want to provide, you can't begin to offer new programs.