A reminder about school exams

Just a reminder to all you parents out there that school is set to begin in a matter of weeks, so get your kids in for those before-school exams!

Illinois’ recently changed its rules to require all students either entering kindergarten or beginning an Illinois school to have an eye exam. Those entering kindergarten and second and sixth grades must also have a dental exam.

If you have any questions, check with your local school district.

Education spared … for now

Even though Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is announcing a $1.4 billion hack job of budget cuts for the fiscal year 2009 budget, K-12 education has, mercifully, been spared from the list.

I can’t even begin to enumerate the things on the chopping block, which includes funding to programs for neglected children, entirely cutting funding to at least one state park and slashing funds to rape centers from about $5 million to just $500,000.

Sad. Just, plain sad. I can’t imagine what the cuts would look like if education were included, though. What more would our schools have to take away from our children?

Arts programs are all but gone. So are vocational programs. What’s next? Will parents have to pay much more in rental fees for books? How many teachers would we lose?

Too bad the pet projects of the governor weren’t subject to much of the same fiscal scrutiny.

Illinois named NCLB pilot program

Last week, Education Secretary Margaret Spellings named Illinois one of six pilot programs under No Child Left Behind.

Basically, what it means is that the big-wigs at the Illinois State Board of Education (most of whom haven’t been at the head of a classroom in years, if at all) get to make up some fancy new rules for holding schools accountable.

One state has decided to focus more on principal training. Others are developing their own programs.

Illinois, on the other hand, is relying on tutoring. Under the current federal NCLB rules, schools which fail Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) for two years in a row have to offer their students school choice. After three years, schools have to offer tutoring.

This is pretty backwards, because it would stand to reason that tutoring should come BEFORE letting families jump ship. In Illinois, tutoring will now (if a school decides) be available after two years. After three years failing AYP, both school choice and tutoring have to be offered.

While it’s a step forward toward not making NCLB a cookie-cutter approach to education, I wish that the Illinois administrators would take a more proactive and creative approach. Instead of waiting until a school has failed for two years, for example, step into ALL schools and require tutoring based upon certain standards.

For me, it’s too little too late in the dying program that is NCLB. Either it needs to be nixed completely, or it needs some major overhauls.