Chico Takes on Job Ripe with Opportunities

by Mark Cavers Earlier today, Governor Quinn announced his appointment of former mayoral hopeful Gery Chico to the head of the Illinois State Board of Education. Chico will face a challenging job as he oversees schools in communities as diverse as Chicago and Sparta. He is charged with overseeing all 868 school districts, 2.1 million...

by Mark Cavers

Earlier today, Governor Quinn announced his appointment of former mayoral hopeful Gery Chico to the head of the Illinois State Board of Education. Chico will face a challenging job as he oversees schools in communities as diverse as Chicago and Sparta. He is charged with overseeing all 868 school districts, 2.1 million students and an $11.2 billion budget.

Chico, who campaigned for Mayor earlier this year, called for lengthening the school day during his campaign. He seems committed to pursuing that approach as head of the all of Illinois’s schools.

“Nobody says this is a magic wand,” Chico said. “But nobody could ever tell me that spending more time on a subject doesn’t yield results.”

Senate Bill 7, which passed the House and Senate last month and now awaits the Governor’s signature will aid him in this pursuit. The bill would give Chicago Public Schools the power to increase the length of one of the nation’s shortest school days.

Chico will be charged with modernizing Illinois’s school system and preparing our students for the future. The Institute’s Collin Hitt served on the Digital Learning Council which has put together a list ofsteps leaders can take to embrace digital learning tools. We hope to see new Chairman Chico implement a number of the suggestions. Not only can digital learning improve educational outcomes for students and open more opportunities to students, it is also cost effective.

Chico will have to be extra cognizant of costs, one of the major issues he will have to deal with will be changes to school funding as pensions continue to eat up more and more of the money that would otherwise flow into the classrooms. These budget changes make charter schools even more attractive because they receive only $10,616 per pupil, compared to the $12,130 that district-run schools in Illinois receive. From a state funding perspective, charter schools receive almost $3,000 less than district run schools, $594 per student from the state compared to $3,475 for district run schools.

Chico should also look to the example set by other states which have lower pupil spending and still achieve better outcomes. Florida, for example, over the past 10 years has spent roughly $1,500 less per student than Illinois while seeing their test scores skyrocket and Illinois’s flatline. Gery Chico’s appointment to head the Illinois State Board of Education provides him with the opportunity to implement a number of reforms that can result in improving the education we provide to every kid in Illinois. We encourage Gery Chico to embrace the reforms that have been proven effective in states across the country.