Peoria Standard

One important topic of conversation during this election cycle revolves around Illinois public school systems. Parental rights within schools and high property taxes funding public education have been issues for constituents in the past, but now many state level candidates are elevating these issues in their campaigns.

“The Illinois public school system is currently plagued with  irresponsible spending, power-hungry teachers unions and teachers  pushing far-left propaganda without allowing students to debate or  disagree," said Desi Anderson, a Republican candidate for Illinois State Senate, District 46.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2020, Illinois spends $17,293 per pupil. Between salaries and wages and employee benefits, Illinois spends $33,854,627 on what is categorized as “all functions.” The only states with a higher total spend are New York, California and Texas, all three of which have a significantly higher population than Illinois.

The same U.S. Census Bureau survey conducted in 2020 showed that Illinois’ neighbors Indiana spent $10,935 per student and  Wisconsin spent $12,740.

More money spent does not always mean better results. The  National Assessment of Educational Progress released the math, reading and science results in 2019. The percentage of proficient level eighth graders in Illinois for the following subjects were 34% in math, 35% in reading and 28% in science. Wisconsin and Indiana are both states that spend less per student. Wisconsin eighth grader proficiency percentages were 41% in math, 39% in reading and 40% in science. Indiana's eighth grader proficiency percentages were 37% in math, 37% in reading and 36% in science.

Other than declining performance reports, especially following the pandemic, the teaching of concepts and theories such as critical race theory and social and emotional learning have sparked a  national debate on whether or not it is the school’s responsibility or  the parents to educate their children on this kind of subject matter.

Tony Kinnett, a science and STEM administrator at the largest public  school system in Indiana, posted a video on Twitter where he stated, “We tell our teachers to treat students differently based on color, we tell our students that every problem is a result of white men, and that  everything western civilization is racist.” He went on to say that these  ideas are straight from the book “Critical Race Theory: The Key  Writings that Formed the Movement,” edited by Kimberle Crenshaw and others.

In February, the Illinois State Legislators Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) voted to approve the “Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning Standards.”

Illinois Family Institute made the claim that these newly implemented standards infuse the ideas of critical race theory, identity politics and Black Lives Matter into all teacher training programs, all professional education licensing and indirectly into all public school classrooms.

National Review reported that the new standards approved by the JCAR mandate that teachers embrace ideas like systemic racism  with the goal of teaching young children that systems in this country  are designed to create and reinforce inequities.