Only in the Illinois legislature can a “yes” vote mean “no” and a “no” vote mean “yes.”
Yet that is only one of the flaws in a new state law that seeks to let local school boards exert more control over their schools.
When the law was approved, Republicans who had made local government control a high priority of their spring agenda hailed it as an example of their recognition that Springfield doesn’t always know best.
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But after the legislature had its first chance to deal with the law last week, it became clear that the GOP’s experiment in local control produced decision-making that was anything but local. It did prove, however, that Springfield doesn’t always know best.
State lawmakers ended up acting as a super-school board, sitting in judgment on 61 requests by local districts seeking to avoid complying with myriad state laws.
Ultimately, lawmakers denied 13 requests. They ranged from two Downstate school districts that wanted to paddle students despite a state ban to five districts that wanted to circumvent testing and performance goals used by the state to determine student and school achievement.
The process of considering those requests became so tortured and ludicrous that Rep. Jay Hoffman (D-Collinsville) began politely addressing the House by saying, “Thank you, Mr. Speaker and members of the school board.”
Further symbolic of the law’s backward approach, lawmakers had to vote “yes” to say “no” to a school district’s request. To accept a request, lawmakers had to vote “no.”
And if lawmakers didn’t take any action, the requests took effect automatically.
Without any changes in the law, the process is only expected to get worse.
“We could easily have 300 or 400 waivers next May,” said GOP House Speaker Lee Daniels of Elmhurst. “We cannot address all those waivers.”
In their effort to increase local control and help schools perform more efficiently, Republicans ended up creating a classic philosophical and legal conundrum.
Conservative Republicans who believe the job of running schools should fall entirely to local districts think all waiver requests should be granted automatically.
“By us individually cherry-picking which waivers will be accepted or not accepted on the floor of this House right now, I believe we are undermining everything we all did the past year–namely, returning to local control,” said Rep. Thomas Johnson (R-West Chicago).
Yet other Republicans think the legislature has a compelling interest in dictating a baseline of laws saying what schools should and should not do.
“I would never have imagined (that) any school district would request a waiver from the ban on corporal punishment, or the requirement to have sprinklers in school buildings,” said Rep. Mary Lou Cowlishaw (R-Naperville), a sponsor of the law.
Democrats see the law as simply backfiring.
“The requests were an indication that schools were not finding brave new ways to teach our young, but to wheedle out of things that are costing them money,” said Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie (D-Chicago).
The way the law is written, school districts can apply to the Illinois Board of Education for waivers from educational laws, rules and mandates that they consider burdensome. Waivers can be granted if the goals of the laws or rules can be accomplished more efficiently or less expensively.
The state board, on its own, granted 48 waiver requests, including those letting some school districts hold classes on what had been holidays honoring the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Casimir Pulaski.
But the board passed onto the legislature 61 remaining requests. The board reasoned, correctly and constitutionally, that only the legislature had the power to waive a state law.
In anticipation of next spring’s new round of waiver requests, Republicans already are trying to decide how to improve the process, potentially giving the state Board of Education a larger role in weeding out requests.
“Having 200, 300, 400 waivers before the legislature twice a year is going to be difficult to deal with,” said state schools Supt. Joseph Spagnolo, who is amenable to more board involvement. “It has to be streamlined so that there’s a clearer criteria” of what is acceptable.
Sen. Dan Cronin (R-Elmhurst), another sponsor of the original law, said lawmakers should get involved in the process only in rare circumstances.
“Our philosophy is, and continues to be, that the locals should have a say in how they run their schools. Should that be an absolute? Should that be a 100 percent pure position with no exceptions? I don’t think so,” Cronin said.
“I think the state has some responsibility to intervene in appropriate cases where there are compelling reasons to do so. The debate then becomes, where’s the line? Where do we strike the right balance? That’s what we’re struggling with right now,” he said.
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But while Republicans attempt to fine-tune their waiver law, they are overlooking the larger issue of re-examining the state’s comprehensive and complicated list of education laws and deciding once and for all what all schools should and shouldn’t be doing.
That is the Democrats’ solution. But if Republicans followed it, the GOP would be admitting defeat.
“We should repeal the (waiver) law. If there are individual laws that don’t make sense, we should repeal them. If something is bad for a school in Benton, it’s bad for a school in Chicago,” Currie said.