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Archive for the ‘300’ Category

Maia Kobabe’s ‘Gender Queer’ tops list of most criticized library books for third straight year

Posted in 220, 300, Barrington Area Library, Barrington Education Association, Board of Education, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Elgin Community College, Girlie man, Harper College, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Taxes, Unions, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on April 9, 2024| Leave a Comment »

FILE – Amanda Darrow, director of youth, family and education programs at the Utah Pride Center, poses with books that have been the subject of complaints from parents on Dec. 16, 2021, in Salt Lake City. Kabobe’s graphic memoir “Gender Queer” continues its troubled run as the country’s most controversial book, topping the American Library Association’s “challenged books” list for a third straight year. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, File)

By  | Associated Press

Maia Kobabe’s graphic memoir “Gender Queer” continues its troubled run as the country’s most controversial book, topping the American Library Association’s “challenged books” list for a third straight year.

Kobabe’s coming-of-age story was published in 2019, and received the library association’s Alex Award for best young adult literature. But it has since been at the heart of debates over library content, with conservative organizations such as Moms for Liberty contending that parents should have more power to determine what books are available. Politicians have condemned “Gender Queer” and school systems in Florida, Texas and elsewhere have banned it. Last December, police in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, responded to a complaint from a custodian about the book by showing up and searching for it in an 8th grade classroom.

The ALA released its list Monday, along with its annual State of America’s Libraries Report.

“A few advocacy groups have made ‘Gender Queer’ a lightning rod,” says Deborah Caldwell-Stone, director of the association’s Office for Intellectual Freedom. ”People are trying to shut down conversation about gender identity.”

Many books on the ALA’s top 10 snapshot had LGBTQ themes, including the four works immediately following “Gender Queer”: George M. Johnson’s “All Boys Aren’t Blue,” Juno Dawson’s “This Book is Gay,” Stephen Chbosky’s “The Perks of Being a Wallflower” and Mike Curato’s “Flamer.” The list’s other five books all were cited for being sexually explicit: Toni Morrison’s “The Bluest Eye,” Ellen Hopkins’ “Tricks,” Jesse Andrews “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl,” Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan’s “Let’s Talk About It” and Patricia McCormick’s “Sold.”

“These books are beyond the pale for some people simply because they touch upon sex,” Caldwell-Stone says.

Read more here.

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Pensions eat up $11.6B of Illinois’ budget

Posted in 300, Barrington Education Association, Pension Funding, Property Taxes, School Districts, Taxes, Topics Of Interest, Unions, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on April 2, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Despite taking up 20% of the state’s general funds and $11.6 billion in total, experts said lawmakers still underpaid the five statewide government retirement plans.

By Bryce Hill & Dylan Sharkey | Illinois Policy Institute

Pension expenses are the single-largest item in the state budget, taking up nearly $10.5 billion,  or 20%, of the state’s general funds budget, and nearly $11.6 billion across all state funds.

Illinois’ pension contributions are far below what actuaries determined is required to begin paying down the state’s $142 billion in pension debt – the gap between what the state will have available and what state retirees must eventually be paid. Payments across all funds in 2025 are more than $4.5 billion short of actuarially determined contributions, according to the Illinois General Assembly’s Commission on Pritzker also proposed adding three years to the state’s current funding plan and raising the funding target from 90% to 100%.

Pritzker also proposed adding three years to the state’s current funding plan and raising the funding target from 90% to 100%.

Pritzker is correct to target 100% funding to solidify the state’s pension systems. However, his proposal ignores Illinois’ insufficient pension contributions on an actuarial basis – meaning they won’t meet real-world needs as defined by the experts.

The state’s funding schedule will not contribute above current actuarially determined contribution levels until 2039, but that figure will climb each year the state fails to make an adequate payment. In fiscal year 2023, actuarially determined contributions were less than $14.9 billion, more than $1.1 billion below today’s actuarially determined contribution.

Read more here.

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Metra promotes Safety Influencer poster contest

Posted in 220, 300, Contests, District 220 referendum, EJ&E/Canadian National, METRA, Politics, Public Safety, School Districts, Topics Of Interest, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on March 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Editorial note: Shared only yesterday on Barrington 220 School District’s Facebook site. Posted by Metra on March 4th. Don’t need Referendum marketing distractions, apparently…

“Submissions are officially open for the 17th annual Metra Safety Competition! Students can submit a poster, video, or social post highlighting what it means to be a safety influencer. Submissions close on 4/1, so sharpen those artistic minds and start creating!”

Learn more: metra.com/safety-competition

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One big reason it’s hard to track Illinois’ educational failures. Officials keep changing the standardized tests.

Posted in 220, 300, Barrington Education Association, Clown Car, Deception, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), Education, Ethics, FUBAR, Look For The Union Label, New Normal?, Nostalgia, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Springfield, Topics Of Interest, Unions, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on March 25, 2024| 1 Comment »

By Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner | Wirepoints

Wirepoints is continuously asked by parents and educational groups for long-term student outcome data for their districts and schools. They are looking for trends to understand how badly outcomes have stagnated or worsened.

The problem is, we can’t provide good long-term trends. The Illinois State Board of Education has a history of switching up its standardized tests every half-decade or so, making it impossible for us to track long-term outcomes at the school and district level. And national tests, which do provide long-term data, only cover top-level state and Chicago data.

Unsurprisingly, ISBE is about to make another change. They’ve announced a switch to the ACT from the SAT. Whether by chance or design, they’re making it more difficult to hold individual schools and districts accountable. And given the dismal student outcomes and spiking education costs in Illinois, one can’t be blamed for thinking they’re switching it up on purpose.

The ACT was the test of choice from 2009 to 2017. Then ISBE switched to the SAT from 2018 through 2024. Now it’s apparently going to switch back to the ACT.

From Chalkbeat:

“Next year, Illinois high school juniors could take the ACT instead of the SAT as the federally-mandated state test. The Illinois State Board of Education has started the process of awarding a three-year, $53 million contract to ACT Inc.

The College Board’s contract to administer the SAT for 11th graders and PSAT for ninth and 10 graders is set to expire June 30.

Illinois education officials are essentially resetting the baseline for student performance by changing the test high schoolers take. Results in 2025 and beyond won’t be directly comparable to the 2017-2024 period because the ACT and SAT are different tests.

Read more here.

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Study: Illinois’ spending per student is one of highest in the country

Posted in 220, 300, District 220 referendum, Elgin Community College, Harper College, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Springfield, Unions on February 28, 2024| Leave a Comment »

By Kevin Bessler | The Center Square

A new study shows that Illinois continues to pump money into education without seeing tangible results.

The Reason Foundation found that Illinois’ inflation-adjusted education revenue grew from just over $13,000 per K-12 student in 2002 to over $20,000 per student in 2020, a growth rate that ranked third highest in the U.S.

“A lot of it is driven by teacher pension debt and Illinois is a pretty good example of this trend,” said Aaron Smith, director of Education Reform and co-author of the study. “During the time period we examined, their per student spending on benefits went up nearly 200%.”

That ranks Illinois second in the country, going from $2,024 per student in benefits spending to $6,062 per student. In 2020, Illinois had $22.56 billion in total education debt, up $2,934 per student in real terms since 2002.

Despite the increase in spending, the study found that between 2002 and 2020, Illinois’ total student population declined by about 6%. At the same time, the number of teachers increased by 2.5%. During that time, U.S. public school enrollment increased by 6.6% while total staff grew by 13.2%.

During this time, Illinois’ eighth grade reading scores decreased by two points, ranking 29th in the country.

“One of our findings was that there isn’t a consistent relationship between funding growth and student outcomes,” Smith said.

More here.

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Why are Americans becoming more stupid? Our entire education system needs a revolution

Posted in 220, 300, Barrington Education Association, Board of Education, Clown Car, Deception, Education, FUBAR, One Barrington Hills, OP/Ed, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Unions, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on February 27, 2024| Leave a Comment »

By Joel Kotkin | UnHeard

“The empires of the future are the empires of the mind,” said Winston Churchill. And judging by the state of education in America, it seems both of those empires could soon crumble. The dysfunction is evident from top to bottom: from Ivy League outposts down to the secondary schools. Both are producing a generation that is ill-informed, illiterate and innumerate. In other words, a generation increasingly ill-suited to function as productive citizens in a democracy.

One might expect, then, that the creation of a raft of new universities and schools focused on doing something different would seem like a fundamental necessity. After all, young people are deserting college in droves, with enrolments down by 15% over the past decade; in the lower grades, it’s common to hear talk of “zombie schools”, the product of more than 20% of pupils being “chronically absent”.

And yet, the emergence of these still-small shoots have terrified the educratic establishment. Some claim the shift in emphasis towards classics and civics, now occurring in places such as Florida’s New College, is “sinister development” by nefarious Right-wingers. Similarly, the teachers’ unions have resisted a number of moves to create charter schools — which increase choice in the public system — because they are part of a “war on schools”.

In some cases, the defence of failure is breathtaking. Blue states such as Illinois have worked to all but eliminate charters, even as the Land of Lincoln boasts 53 schools where not one student can do grade-level math and 30 where none can do so in English. These schools are overwhelmingly in Chicago, where a significant increase in spending per student since 2019 seems to have made no impact.

Yet Chicago’s failures are wholly representative. The most recent National Assessments of Educational Progress found that only 27% of eighth graders are proficient in reading, 20% in math, 22% in geography, and a mere 13% in US History. The Covid lockdowns may have accelerated the deterioration, but scores have continued to decline since the pandemic ended. IQ scores, which had been rising for decades, are now falling even among college students.

Read more here.

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Harvard grad Ken Griffin blasts elite students as ‘whiny snowflakes,’ says he won’t donate anymore

Posted in 220, 300, Barrington Education Association, Barrington High School, Board of Education, Elgin Community College, Harper College, Look For The Union Label, New York Post, Politics, School Districts, Taxes, Topics Of Interest, Unions, Village Attorney, Village Director of Administration, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on January 31, 2024| Leave a Comment »

ken-griffin-founder-ceo-citadel-3699802

Billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin has vowed to halt donations to his alma mater, Harvard University. | REUTERS

By Ariel Zilber | New York Post

Longtime Harvard donor Ken Griffin has vowed to withhold financial support for the university unless it undertakes significant changes to its policy regarding antisemitism as the hedge fund billionaire lamented the “whiny snowflakes” that were being produced by Ivy League schools.

“I’m not interested in supporting the institution,” Griffin, the 55-year-old hedge fund billionaire who runs Citadel and Citadel Securities, told a conference in Miami.

Griffin, who graduated from the Cambridge, Mass.-based school in 1989, donated $300 million to Harvard in the last year alone and more than $500 million total.

The Florida native who recently relocated his company headquarters to Miami from Chicago has an estimated net worth of $36.8 billion, according to Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

But he said on Tuesday that he won’t support the school unless changes were made.

“Will America’s elite university get back to their roots of educating American children — young adults — to be the future leaders of our country or are they going to maintain being lost in the wilderness of microaggressions, a DEI agenda that seems to have no real endgame, and just being lost in the wilderness?” Griffin said.

When asked by the event moderator if he was financially supporting Harvard, Griffin responded: “No.”

“I’d like that to change and I have made that clear to members of the corporate board,” the billionaire added.

Griffin said it was incumbent on Harvard to “resume their role as educating young American men and women to be leaders, to be problem solvers, to take on difficult issues.”

Read more here.

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State recommends schools implement yearly mental health screenings for students

Posted in 220, 300, Ethics, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Springfield, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on January 25, 2024| 1 Comment »

Gender Queer

Is it any wonder why?

By CATRINA PETERSEN | The Center Square contributor

A new Illinois law recommends Illinois schools implement yearly mental health screenings for students enrolled in K-12th grade.

Regan Deering, a Mt. Zion school board member and State House candidate, said the new mental health screenings are a government expansion program being phased in this fall.

“I have seen a list of various schools that are already opting in. We had a variety of schools opt-in to the comprehensive sex education standards and that was the last big conversation we had around surveys and curriculum that are being implemented in our public schools,” said Deering. “I have concerns about this partnership as far as who is administering these mental health surveys.”

The IL Youth Survey may be administered to middle and high school students in public and private schools. The survey asks questions about gender, drug use, suicide and family dynamics.

One question that will be asked of Illinois 8th graders: Is there an adult you know (other than your parent) you could talk to about important things in your life?

“Obviously the gold standard is a mental health professional and perhaps a professional evaluation. If we are pushing this survey in schools, what does the delivery look like? Who are the qualified individuals? It seems to me that this new recommended mental health survey will be administered by more informal staff members and health providers,” said Deering.

Deering said the Mt. Zion superintendent Travis Roundcount has not heard of the surveys and the administration does not intend to utilize the IL Youth Survey.

“I asked if they had heard of these surveys and if they were aware of the legislation that offers this screening,” said Deering. “The superintendent’s response was that ‘neither the junior high or high school administrators had heard of the survey yet and that they don’t intend to use the survey.’”

The state has partnered with the University of Illinois’ Center for Prevention Research and Development and the data can be accessed by school administration and the center. Deering said she is relieved the law only recommends these screenings rather than mandates them.

Read more here.

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Former lawmaker seeking parental rights question for Illinois’ November ballot

Posted in 220, 300, Barrington High School, Elections, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, School Districts, Springfield, What the Ficke (Bradford)? on January 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Ives

Former Illinois Republican state Rep. Jeanne Ives discusses a ballot initiative about parents rights | Greg Bishop / The Center Square

By Andrew Hensel | The Center Square

A former state legislator has formed a group that is launching a statewide effort to put parents’ rights on Illinois’ November 2024 ballot.

The Parents Matter Coalition has said that minor children in Illinois should require the guidance of their parents when faced with life-altering medical decisions like abortions or gender identity procedures. The group, in response, has launched a petition seeking to ask voters if parents should have more control over such decisions.

“Shall the written consent from a minor’s parent or guardian be required before any entity, person, clinic or school can provide a minor (under the age of 18 years) any nonemergency medical procedure, medication, pharmaceutical, or any gender modification procedure, gender identification counseling or gender therapy?” the question asks.

Jeanne Ives, a former state representative, said Thursday petitioners hope to get the advisory question on the November ballot.

“We want it on the 2024 ballot, that means we need petition signatures,” Ives told The Center Square. “Our goal is 500,000 signatures. We need less than that, but we are aiming for 500,000, and we would like to collect those by the end of March.”

Mary Kate Zander, who is with the Illinois Right to Life Organization and the Parents Matter Coalition, said supporting this measure should be an easy decision for parents to make.

“Minors often need parent permission to get their ears pierced, to go on field trips, and to purchase medication, for example. It is common sense that they should also require parental consent when making major medical decisions like the decision to take hormone blockers or to obtain an abortion,” said Zander. “For the vast majority of parents, this is a no-brainer. That’s why we believe this initiative will receive widespread support.”

Read more here.

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Illinois bill would give unions platform for indoctrination in Illinois Schools

Posted in 220, 300, Barrington Education Association, BOHICA, Deception, Look For The Union Label, Politics, Pritzker’s Rules of Order, Property Taxes, School Districts, Springfield, Unions on January 15, 2024| Leave a Comment »

Chicago Schools Strike

By Mailee Smith | Illinois Policy

Illinois lawmakers are considering legislation that would take time away from teaching the basics to allow their union friends a platform for union recruitment and indoctrination.

House Bill 4417 requires every high school to observe an annual “Workplace Readiness Week.” The name sounds like it would help Illinois students prepare for the workforce: perhaps help them know how to apply for a job or prepare for an interview.

Far from it. Instead, it would mandate high schools provide students – every year – with information on issues such as “prohibitions against misclassification of employees as independent contractors,” family leave and – of course – the right to organize a union in the workplace.

If passed, it would provide a platform for union propaganda, without allowing the same privilege for any other viewpoints. It does nothing to give students the skills they need to make them ready for the workplace.

This potential gift to Illinois’ unions is no surprise. Nine of out of 10 current Illinois lawmakers have received money from unions. Between January 2010 and June 2023, unions poured $60.2 million into lawmakers’ political committees, according to records with the Illinois State Board of Elections. The vast majority of the funds – 95% – went to Democrats.

More specifically, four out of five current lawmakers have received money from teachers unions, to the tune of nearly $20 million.

HB 4417 is just the most recent in a long line of thank-you gifts government unions have received from the Illinois General Assembly.

Read more here.

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