Leadership Matters Summer 2015

“I have read the Vision 20/20 plan and think there’s a tremendous amount of alignment. One place I’d like to have more conversation is how we can maximize to the fullest extent possible district autonomy when it comes to things like mandates. Mandates have different impacts in different districts.”

When it comes to vouchers, Smith’s said his stance is grounded in reality. “I think if the world was well funded, if inequality between groups of kids in different places was erased, if every school was a quality school, I might have a conversation about vouchers. Absent that reality, I think vouchers exacerbate inequity,” he said. “If you start with choice, in my experience, people who have social, economic or political capital will take advantage of that. Now you’ve concentrated the highest need in places with the least quality. You need to invest first in figuring out how to increase quality and opportunity in those places with the greatest need.” And his view on charter schools is pretty simple: “If a public charter school is providing a quality opportunity for kids and is making good on its charter agreement with the community, then we should all be saying ‘Great! Outstanding!’ If a charter school is not doing a good job, is not following through on its commitments to the community, then it should close.” Much of Smith’s blueprint for the future of public education in Illinois seems to mirror the Vision 20/20 plan developed by IASA, the other members of the Illinois Statewide School Management Alliance and groups such as the regional superintendents and the Superintendents’ Commission on the Study of Demographics and Diversity. In fact, a hardbound copy of the Vision 20/20 plan sits on a coffee table in Smith’s Springfield office. “I have read the Vision 20/20 plan and think there’s a tremendous amount of alignment,” Smith

said. “One place I’d like to have more conversation is how we can maximize to the fullest extent possible district autonomy when it comes to things like mandates. Mandates have different impacts in different districts.” The State Superintendent’s common thread during an hour-long discussion was providing equitable opportunity to all children across Illinois, a noble but monumental mission in a state with such diverse needs and assets. Smith has never forgotten how people reached out and helped transform his life. He is an example of the powerful difference that caring teachers, coaches and administrators can make in a child’s life. Smith said he believes ISBE’s primary role is to provide support to local school districts. “I believe deeply in leadership from the middle, that people in leadership in districts know and understand their work better than anybody else and the opportunity to serve kids is most directly theirs,” Smith said. “I want to be absolutely clear that districts must be in compliance with regard to things that will jeopardize federal funding. At the state level, our job is to be oriented around helping those leaders in districts do the work that they know is best for the kids in their communities and then, at the end of the day, asking the questions ‘How are all of the children doing? Is it more likely that the kids who were further away from opportunity are now doing better? As the result of your choices have you increased opportunity for kids?’ “

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