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Classroom 1

Iowa teachers will be banned from raising gender identity and sexual orientation issues with students through grade six, and all books depicting sex acts will be removed from school libraries, under a bill Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds signed Friday.

The new law is among similar measures that have been approved in other Republican-dominated statehouses around the country. As with many of those proposals, Iowa Republicans framed their action as a commonsense effort to ensure that parents can oversee what their children are learning in school and that teachers not delve into topics such as gender and sexuality.

Despite the opposition of all Democratic legislators, Republicans who hold large majorities in Iowa’s state House and Senate approved the measure in April and there was little doubt that Reynolds would sign it; she had made issues related to gender identity and sexuality a focal point of her legislative agenda this year.

“This legislative session, we secured transformational education reform that puts parents in the driver’s seat, eliminates burdensome regulations on public schools, provides flexibility to raise teacher salaries, and empowers teachers to prepare our kids for their future,” Reynolds said in a statement.

Under the new law, school administrators also would be required to notify parents if students asked to change their pronouns or names. Religious texts will be exempt from the library ban on books depicting sex acts.

Democrats and LGBTQ groups argued that the restrictions would hurt children by limiting their ability to be open with teachers about gender and sexuality issues and to see their lives reflected in books and other curriculum.

The law’s passage was not a surprise, said Keenan Crow, director of policy and advocacy at the LGBTQ equality group One Iowa. “But we are still very disappointed by it.”

Read more here.

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Illinois-graduates-most-students-even-though-a-vast-majority-arent-reading-or-math-proficient

Thirty-two state lawmakers have stepped up their efforts to save the Invest in Kids Act, Illinois’ tax credit scholarship for more than 9,000 students.

The House members, all Republicans, have signed a letter indicating their support for the program, which, as we’ve reported, is in danger of being killed by anti-school-choice lawmakers. Lawmakers will decide this month whether or not to extend the program as part of the budget negotiation process.

Those who’ve signed the letter support the hopes and dreams of the scholarship students from low-income, working-class families. For details of the program, see Empower Illinois’ 2022 Impact Report.

Those who refuse to show their support are effectively giving in to the teachers unions, which strongly oppose Invest in Kids and are actively pushing to end the program (see IEA’s stop vouchers in Illinois).

That refusal includes House Democrats who were asked to sign the letter but wouldn’t. Given Democrats’ lockstep support of the teachers unions, it’s unlikely any would sign anyway.

The refusal also includes eight Republican House lawmakers who have not signed: House GOP leader Tony McCombie, as well as Jeff Keicher, Dave Severin, Charles Meier, Norine Hammond, Wayne Rosenthal, Michael Marron and Amy Elik. (Wirepoints is unaware of any similar letter making the rounds in the Senate.)

These unsupportive legislators should be called out because school choice should be a slam dunk for both Republicans and Democrats. As the WSJ reported Tuesday, “The program is popular with voters. In May 2021, an ARW Strategies poll showed 61% of Illinois voters approved the tax-credit program, including 67% of state Democrats. 71% of black voters and 81% of Hispanics statewide approved of the plan.”

Not to mention, states around the country like Indiana and Iowa are greatly expanding their school choice programs and making them universal.

Read more here.

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220 K

A measure that implements full-day kindergarten throughout Illinois is now awaiting to be sent to Gov. J.B. Pritzker for his signature.

State Rep. Mary Beth Canty, D-Arlington Heights, filed House Bill 2396. It passed the House in March. After several amendments in the Illinois Senate last week, the House voted to concur Friday.

State Sen. Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood, said the bill better prepares the state’s youth for the future.

“Full-day kindergarten has shown to boost academic gains and prepare children for the social and emotional demands of early elementary,” Lightford said. “This can provide students and their families with sufficient support and opportunities in their early education career.”

During Senate committees, state Sen. Dan McConchie, R-Hawthorn Woods, asked about the potential costs on lower-income school districts.

“For them, it’s just an issue of having space,” McConchie said. “They are going to have to build eight classrooms to be able to do this. That is not something they will be able to do in short order. Plus, it will be a million dollars a year to fund this, and they want to make sure they are doing it in a responsible manner.”

The measure phases the policy in over two years so schools can garner funding for the change, which is more than half the state’s schools, according to state Rep. Patrick Windhorst, R-Harrisburg.

More here.

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May 23 BOT

Our Village Board of Trustees will be conducting their regular monthly meeting beginning this evening at 6:30 PM. A copy of the agenda can be viewed and downloaded here.

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illinois-springfield-capitol-and-sky

With no real understanding what’s in it, so far not having seen even a draft, Illinois lawmakers will soon vote on a budget spending about $50 billion of your money.

This portion of Hanna Meisel’s Friday column from Capitol News Illinois is a must-read:

During House floor debate, Rep. Jeff Keicher, R-Sycamore, renewed his request for an estimate as to when a draft copy of the budget might drop – or at least a revenue estimate for the state’s fiscal year that begins July 1.

“You’re asking me?” replied Rep. Jay Hoffman, a Democrat from Swansea who was presiding over the House chamber at the time. Hoffman’s quip elicited laughs from members, and Keicher broke into a smile.

“Funny story,” Keicher responded. “After I made my inquiry last night, I had eight members of the other side of the aisle suggest to me that they hadn’t seen one either.”

The Republican superminority is routinely cut out from budget formation, but that’s a Democrat acknowledging that most of his party, too, is shut out.

And they laughed about it.

Read on here.

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Oakwood Farm Operation

The Daily Herald recently reported, “After 8-year fight, judge says Barrington Hills horse boarding law is constitutional.” We’ve learned before that article was published, another commercial horse boarding related suit was filed in Cook County on April 25th, and it can be found here.

Ordinance 16-22, referred to in the filing, can be found here. Audio recordings of the Trustee’s discussions prior to approving that ordinance can be heard here.

Related:After 8-year fight, judge says Barrington Hills horse boarding law is constitutional

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VBH Change 1

According to the Chicago Tribune report, Barrington Hills lost 87 residents between 2020 and 2022 representing a change of -2.1%.

People constantly come and go, but new estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau show that Chicago lost about 81,000 people, or just under 3% of its population, from 2020 to 2022. Despite the decline, the city retained its position as the nation’s third most populous city, after New York City and Los Angeles, in 2022. Houston was ranked fourth.

Chicago’s population as of July 1, 2022, was estimated at 2,665,039, with changes calculated from the estimated base of April 1, 2020.

The census also estimates that Illinois lost more than 230,000 people, or about 1.8%, in that time. Much of the reported decline — about 176,000 — came in the Chicago metropolitan area, which covers 14 counties including Cook and the collar counties, and extends into Indiana and Wisconsin.

Read the Tribune’s county by county report here, but know that the numbers they reported are constant for all four counties in Barrington Hills.

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J.B. Pritzker

April 2023 Illinois state income tax collections came in $1.8 billion lower than April 2022, leading state forecasters to make massive cuts in expected 2023 revenue.

State revenue projections were cut by more than $800 million in new fiscal year 2023 estimates from the state legislature’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability.

Illinois saw a massive $1.76 billion drop in actual personal income tax collections during April 2023 compared to April 2022. Lower year-over-year revenues were expected as the effects of federal stimulus activity dissipated. State forecasters built that drop into their projections, but they were still way off – by $986 million.

Revenue from corporate income, corporate franchise taxes and fees, sales, liquor, inheritance, and cannabis taxes were also down in April 2023 compared to April 2022.

While the most recent tax collection data has substantially altered projections for FY 2023 revenues, the state projections for fiscal year 2024 remain virtually unchanged because of tax disbursement changes made by the Illinois Department of Revenue for the upcoming fiscal year. Should revenues continue to falter, FY 2024 revenues could come in lower than expected even with these changes.

Just as the projections were off, so is rhetoric from Gov. J.B. Pritzker about the state’s improved financial condition: the state’s fiscal future remains in jeopardy. In March 2023, Pritzker suggested the state’s strong revenue growth was stable, saying “…as we feel comfortable with these new revenues coming in and their stability; and I think we’re seeing a few years in a row now of the stability of that revenue – that we should be talking about whether there are tax cuts that we can implement.”

Just a month later, year over year revenues posted a massive decline. The April 2023 revenues offer a clear warning about the state’s fiscal future. Experts had been warning Illinois could potentially be among the states facing a fiscal cliff once federal pandemic relief funding ran out. Now, it should be clear the state should not simply expect revenues to keep climbing while avoiding any reforms to the budgeting process, pension costs, or the general financial management of the state.

More here.

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Sears

After agreeing to buy the shuttered Macy’s building at Spring Hill Mall, West Dundee trustees on Monday night voted to purchase the former Sears building.

West Dundee can now check the former Sears store at Spring Hill Mall off its shopping list.

Trustees on Monday unanimously agreed to spend $2 million to buy the shuttered anchor building. The planned purchase is the village’s latest move in an attempt to clear the path for a developer to re-imagine the troubled mall.

“I think it’s a great move,” West Dundee Trustee Thomas Price said. “The mall needs help. … This gives us that much more control.”

“It’s better than waiting until the bitter end,” added Trustee Andy Yuscka.

Spring Hill Mall, which village officials say has a 20% to 25% occupancy rate, is split between West Dundee and Carpentersville. The 192,000-square-foot former Sears building, owned by Transformco, sits on 14 acres in West Dundee.

The decision to buy the former Sears building comes two weeks after village trustees approved spending $1.25 million to buy the former Macy’s building. Sears and Macy’s closed their Spring Hill Mall stores in early 2020.

The village anticipates it will close on both properties within the next 30 to 45 days.

More here.

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220 Admin

The District 220 Board of Education meets this evening at 7:00 PM at the District Administration Center, 515 W. Main Street. Topics on their agenda include:

  • Consideration for the Board of Education to authorize the Assistant Superintendent of Business Services/CSBO to approve contracts for the procurement of natural gas and electricity and to elect and designate the price terms of such contracts. The price terms of such contracts shall not exceed the rate of forty-four cents ($0.4400) per therm for natural gas and 6.9 cents ($0.069) per kilowatt hour for electricity, and for periods not to exceed 36 months.
  • Consideration to Approve BHS Trip to the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Ontario

A copy of the agenda can be viewed here. The meeting will be livestreamed on the district YouTube channel.

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