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Dr. Brent Clark
Message From the Executive Director
Public education is in the spotlight as never before in Illinois.
Many did not believe we would have passed school funding
reform with it becoming the top priority for the General
Assembly in 2017. With that historically elusive equity hurdle
finally cleared, our focus now shifts to implementation.
State Superintendent Dr. Tony Smith alluded to the fact
that public education now is under the microscope when he
spoke at our recent annual conference.
“Everybody is going to be looking and saying ‘You got more
money.’ If we don’t get after it like we’ve never gotten after
it, that’s on us,” Smith said. “We now have a chance to
change the conversation about public education. I am more
energized and excited than I have been in my three years
here. We have to make sure we have done everything we
possibly can for kids whose lives do depend on it.”
Superintendents from districts large and small, urban and
rural from all over the state coalesced around the idea of
wiping out the equity gap and helped push the landmark
school funding reform legislation across the goal line. The
Evidence-Based Model (EBM) that four years ago began
as a vision—the centerpiece of a Vision 20/20 pillar called
Adequacy & Equity—now is the law of our state, thanks to
many of you.
Similar to the dog that finally catches up to the car it has
been chasing forever, we now have to figure out what to do
with this elusive target. IASA and its partners stand ready to
help you implement the EBM with fidelity. We will continue
to push for full funding of the new model every year, and
we already have begun the process of trying to share
information about the EBM with superintendents throughout
the state.
Dr. Michael Jacoby, executive director of the Illinois
Association of School Business Officials (IASBO), LeRoy
Superintendent Gary Tipsord and the Illinois Principals
Association (IPA) have collaborated to produce a series
of five videos to help explain the EBM. You can view these
videos by clicking on the links below:
Additionally, IASA held a Northeastern Super Region
meeting on October 11 in Lisle to discuss the EBM. We
had a great discussion with a packed house of nearly 400
attendees. We have scheduled a
from 1–3 p.m. Wednesday, October 18 at Heartland
Community College in Normal, and a
from 1–3 p.m. Thursday, October 19 at Rend Lake
Community College in Ina. Please click on one of the links
above for more details and to register.
Looking further down the road, we are planning to hold a
series of three interconnected workshops at 10 locations
around the state beginning in January of 2018. The January
workshops will be designed to inform you about the new
school funding model and the 26 elements of the EBM. The
February workshops will be built around the Illinois ESSA
plan and how to align the EBM with the state plan. The March
workshops will help you to actually write an implementation
plan for your district. The dates and locations of the
workshops are still being determined, and we will get that
information to you as soon as those details are finalized.
Tony Smith was spot on when he noted that the focus is
now squarely on us as public school educational leaders.
Spotlights can generate some uncomfortable heat, but I am
reminded what General George S. Patton, Jr. said about
pressure during World War II: “Pressure makes diamonds.”
We now have the opportunity to make diamonds.
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