Capitol Report for May 28, 2010

Double Overtime! It appears that the General Assembly may be trying to take a page out of the Chicago Blackhawks playbook. While the Hawks were able to claim victory in overtime in a critical game last week, it’s unclear whether the Illinois General Assembly will be as fortunate. The arbitrarily scheduled legislative adjournment date of [...]

Capitol Report for April 23, 2010

Time to engage! With less than a month left for the scheduled legislative session, it is clear that the focus of the General Assembly has been public education. And I don’t mean in a loving and supportive way. From the onset, we saw a determination to pass pension reform that would jeopardize the ability of [...]

Capitol Report for April 16, 2010

Capitol Buzz… The deed is done. On Wednesday, the Governor signed into law SB 1946 (Public Act 96-0889), the most draconian pension revision bill in the country. While the bill’s passage was applauded by the Governor and the members of the General Assembly as an historic reform, the reality is that the bill will have [...]

Capitol Report for March 26, 2010

A week never to forget Where do we begin? Let’s start by defining the conditions we faced at the Capitol. The dictionary defines a  tsunami as a very large ocean wave caused by an underwater earthquake or volcanic eruption.  And quite simply that is what happened. Those of us who are advocates for public education [...]

Capitol Report for March 12, 2010

The Capitol Buzz… On Wednesday, the Governor delivered his much anticipated budget address.  We all knew the numbers would be abysmal in terms of the challenges that the state faces and Gov. Pat Quinn stated them early on in the speech.  Join IEA Director of Government Relations, Jim Reed as he talks about the Governor’s [...]

Capitol Report for March 5, 2010

The Capitol Buzz… Off to the races! Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Education named the 16 finalists in the first round of its “Race to the Top” competition, which will deliver $4.35 billion in school reform grants to chosen states, AND ILLINOIS IS ONE OF THE FINALISTS.  The grants are designed to reward states that [...]

Capitol Report for Feb. 26, 2010

Tell Governor Quinn How You Feel About the Proposed State Budget Please join Jim Reed, IEA government relations director, as he walks you through the steps of submitting comments to the governor’s budget website about how the state’s budget crisis is affecting your district. We are encouraging IEA members to tell the man in charge [...]

Capitol Report for February 19, 2010

The Capitol Buzz… IEA Director of Government Relations Jim Reed is encouraging IEA members to tell the man in charge of the state budget their stories about the RIFs and program cuts that are threatening districts statewide. You can email Gov. Quinn, tell your story and try impact the budget the he will unveil next [...]

Capitol Report for February 12, 2010

The Capitol Buzz… Though only two weeks old, the spring session of the General Assembly has the potential to be one of the most bizarre and unpredictable sessions many of us have seen. The legislative process usually goes like this: bills are introduced; they are assigned to committee and then negotiations begin to work out [...]

Capitol Report for February 5, 2010

(Listen to an audio only version of this report) So, this is what happens when you have an early primary date. By now, all of you have seen the results of the February 2nd primary election. To say things didn’t go as planned is an understatement.  As a state and as an organization, we are [...]