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Gotion

By Kevin Bessler The Center Square

Opposition is building against a proposed Chinese battery plant for Manteno in Kankakee County.

Gotion Incorporated, with reported ties to the Chinese Communist Party, is set to receive more than $7 billion in federal tax credits, and over $500 million in subsidies from Illinois.

During a news conference Monday in Manteno, State Rep. Brad Halbrook, R-Shelbyville, said the tax incentives don’t add up.

“The total subsidies for the plant calculate to an astounding $3 million for each job created,” Halbrook said. “Why are U.S. taxpayers providing $8 billion in economic incentives for the construction of a plant that costs $2 billion to build?”

The plant will produce battery cells and battery packs designed to be used in electric vehicles and large-scale energy storage systems.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker has called the agreement “the most significant new manufacturing investment in Illinois in decades.”

Many Manteno residents were highly critical of the Gotion plant during the village’s last board meeting, as residents were with a similar Gotion project in Michigan.

Former Congressman and U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra chaired the House Intelligence Committee. He is also involved with the opposition to the Michigan plant.

“History lesson number one, China is our enemy, they are not a competitor,” Hoekstra said. “They seek to destroy us and our communities.”

More here.

Related: “Group intends Gotion lawsuit,” “Emerging scandal: Why are we giving $8 billion to Chinese company with CCP ties to build a $2 billion IL battery factory?,” Federal taxpayers will fund billions more than actual cost of Illinois battery plant to be owned by Chinese company with alleged CCP ties,” “Hefty Illinois tax incentive package helps lure Chinese EV battery plant

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1525 S Grove

1525 South Grove Avenue

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 to Approve 2024-25 Academic Calendar
  • Consideration and Approval of Settlement of Altria Group Portion of Vaping Litigation.
  • Consideration that the Board approve and authorize the Superintendent or designee to sign the purchase and sale agreement for real estate for purchase of 1525 S. Grove Avenue, Unit 103, Barrington, Illinois, in substantially the form presented to the Board and further authorize the Board president, secretary, Superintendent or designees, and the Board attorney to prepare and execute all documents necessary to effectuate the purchase.
  • BHS Course Offerings, and
  • Fine and Performing Arts Presentation

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

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Chicago Schools Strike

Few Illinois third-grade students can read at grade level. Even fewer low-income and minority students are at grade level in reading. Research shows this is a warning sign for Illinois students’ academic success and adult earning potential.

Hannah Schmid

Just over one-fourth of all third-grade students in Illinois can read at grade level. For low-income and minority students, reading proficiency is even worse.

A student’s “academic success, as defined by high school graduation, can be predicted with reasonable accuracy by knowing someone’s reading skill at the end of third grade,” according to the National Research Council.

By this measure, the outlook for Illinois third-grade students is grim. Even more troubling is the outlook for Illinois students from low-income and minority families.

What’s at stake isn’t just poor grades on report cards in third grade, but what poor reading proficiency means for students’ futures. As noted in the research to follow, the poor rates of reading proficiency plaguing Illinois threaten to condemn a portion of the state’s future adults to poverty. The price will be paid not just by the children our education system fails but also by society at large.

Third-grade literacy in Illinois

Statewide in 2022, only 27.4% of all students could read at grade level by the end of third grade. A startling 89% of the 734 school districts for which the Illinois State Board of Education recorded proficiency rates among third graders had a higher percentage of third-grade students failing to read at grade level than reading at grade level. There were 12 school districts in which no third-grade students were proficient at reading.

Read more here.

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A horse on Lori Brock’s farm jumps in the air while wearing a shirt that says ‘I say neigh to Gotion.’ Photo: Lori Brock | Contributed photo

A Michigan nonprofit organization intends to sue a Chinese company that is planning to build a battery plant in Illinois.

The Mecosta Environmental and Security Alliance is hoping to stop the construction of a proposed electric vehicle battery plant by Gotion, Incorporated near Big Rapids, Michigan. With the help of millions of dollars in state and federal tax credits, Gotion plans to build a similar plant in Manteno, Illinois.

Related:Emerging scandal: Why are we giving $8 billion to Chinese company with CCP ties to build a $2 billion IL battery factory?,” Federal taxpayers will fund billions more than actual cost of Illinois battery plant to be owned by Chinese company with alleged CCP ties,” “Hefty Illinois tax incentive package helps lure Chinese EV battery plant

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As the new school year is well underway, a parent’s rights advocacy group is urging Illinois families to know what their options are concerning sex education being taught in some schools.

The vast majority of Illinois school districts are not opting into controversial sexual education curricula, according to Awake Illinois. But the districts with the largest student populations are.

In 2021, Gov. J.B. Pritzker enacted a law aligning the state’s public schools with the National Sex Education Standards, saying the measure will modernize the subject with age-appropriate content for grades K-12.

Among the standards for grades K-2 are defining gender expression, different kinds of families and types of sexual abuse. Grade 3-5 goes into anatomy, gender identity and sexual orientation. Grades 6-8 will learn about different types of sex, different types of sexual exploitation and trafficking. Grade 9-10 will learn about the history of “reproductive justice.” Grades 11-12 will learn about power and privilege within sexual relationships.

“Modernizing our sex education standards will help keep our children safe and ensure important lessons like consent and internet safety are taught in classrooms,” Pritzker said in a statement announcing his signature.

The law was praised by sex education advocates.

“As a sex educator who has personally been targeted by misinformed critics for providing those necessary tools, I understand the urgent need to expand access to sex education that is medically accurate, LGBTQ+ affirming, culturally inclusive, and age-appropriate,” Justine Ang Fonte, an intersectional sex educator, said in 2021.

Opponents said the law goes too far.

Awake Illinois found through the Freedom of Information Act that of 758 school districts surveyed by the Illinois State Board of Education, 206 have opted in during the last school year. Awake Illinois founder Shannon Adcock said parent advocacy is working.

Read more here.

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VBH Entrance

Our Village Board of Trustees will be conducting their regular monthly meeting beginning at 6:30 PM. Topics on their agenda include:

  • [Vote] A Resolution Authorizing the Execution of a Contract With Corrective Asphalt Materials LLC (CAM) For Pavement Rejuvenation and CRF Application on Select Village Maintained Roads Resolution 23 –
  • [Vote] Ordinance Amending the Village Code to Provide for Regulations Related to the Village’s System of Administrative Adjudication Ordinance 23 –
  • [Vote] An Ordinance Adopting by Reference of the Lake County Watershed Development Ordinance 23 –
  • [Vote] Resolution Honoring Barbara P. Hansen for her Contribution to the Village of Barrington Hills Resolution 23 –

A copy of their agenda can be viewed and downloaded here.

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VBH Roads 2023

This Summer the entire length of Oak Knoll Road was resurfaced due to Trustee Laura Eckstrom’s objection to the appearance of a perfectly sound patching job (which ironically was performed to EXTEND the life of the roadway). It is worth reminding taxpayers Eckstrom happens to LIVE on Oak Knoll Road.

The Village Roads & Bridges Committee meets this afternoon for the first time in five months at 4 PM. The topics on the agenda are:

  • Road Program: 2023 Recap, and
  • Road Program: 2024 Planning

A copy of the agenda can be viewed 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:

  • Second Reading of Board Policy
  • Consideration to Approve 2023-24 Budget
  • Consideration to approve settlement in pending litigation filed against the District and various District employees in the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois relating to a 2017 incident.
  • Safety and Security Update
  • Full-Day Kindergarten Update

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

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How Illinois public school measures fail to add up

Contradictory metrics statewide point to poor accountability and grade promotion standards in Illinois. Low-income parents seeking alternatives are hamstrung as lawmakers weigh ending Illinois’ only school choice program.

In 2021, just 33% of Illinois’ 11th grade students could read at grade level. Only 29% could perform math proficiently.

One school year later in spring 2022, 87.3% of that cohort of students graduated. Illinois also celebrated its highest graduation rate in a decade.

Something is wrong here.

Illinois public schools continue to receive more funding despite producing poorer academic proficiency among its students. That as poor school accountability allows record graduation rates despite dismal proficiency rates.

Illinois parents frustrated by the academic failures of public schools deserve options. But Illinois’ only school choice program, which allows low-income families the choice to send their children to private schools on donor-funded scholarships, is set to end at the end of 2023, unless state lawmakers move to save it during their fall veto session.

Contradicting metrics for Illinois’ class of 2022

The four-year graduation rate in Illinois hit a decade high in 2022 at 87.3%. That doesn’t mean student performance was at a decade high.

The final state test administered to the graduating class of 2022 was the SAT in spring 2021 during their 11th-grade academic year. On that exam, only 33% could read at grade level and 29% could perform math proficiently.

The first year Illinois implemented the SAT to measure 11th-grade student proficiency was in 2017 when almost 40% of students scored at proficiency in reading and over 36% in math. Proficiency among high school juniors has declined each year since then, in 2022 resulting in the lowest percentage of students proficient since the SAT became the standard.

Record-low proficiency. Record-high graduations.

Adding to poor proficiency measures, many students in the class of 2022 missed 10% or more of their school days during their senior year. Nearly 44% of the graduating class of 2022 were labeled chronically absent during the 2021-2022 school year.

Read more here.

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BAL

Barrington Area Library

“ORDINANCE NO. 2023-4 ORDINANCE AUTHORIZING LEVY OF AN ADDITIONAL TAX FOR THE PURCHASE OF SITES AND BUILDINGS, FOR THE CONSTRUCTION AND EQUIPMENT OF BUILDINGS, FOR THE RENTAL OF BUILDINGS REQUIRED FOR LIBRARY PURPOSES AND FOR THE MAINTENANCE, REPAIRS AND ALTERATIONS OF THE LIBRARY BUILDING AND EQUIPMENT WHEREAS, Section 35-5 of the Illinois Public Library District Act of 1991, (75 ILCS 16/35-5), authorized the levy of an additional tax of .02% of the value of all the taxable property in the District, as equalized or assessed by the Department of Revenue, for the purchase of sites and buildings, for the construction and equipment of buildings, for the rental of buildings required for library purposes and for the maintenance, repairs and alterations of the library building and equipment: NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED by the Board of Library Trustees of the BARRINGTON PUBLIC LIBRARY DISTRICT, Lake, Cook, Kane and McHenry Counties, Illinois, that they hereby determine to levy an additional tax of .02% of the value of all the taxable property in the District, as equalized or assessed by the Department of Revenue, for the purchase of sites and buildings, for the construction and equipment of buildings, for the rental of buildings required for library purposes and for the maintenance, repairs and alterations of the library building and equipment.

ADOPTED this 11th day of September, 2023, pursuant to a roll call vote as follows: AYES: Carr, Cunningham, Lucas, McGrath, Miller, Ordway, Prigge NAYS: None ABSENT: None APPROVED by me this 11th day of September, 2023. ATTEST: /s/ Carrie Carr President /s/ Anne Ordway Secretary Published in Daily Herald September 15, 2023 (4605392), posted 09/15/2023

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