A bill that would strip Gov. Rod Blagojevich of control over the Illinois State Board of Education sailed through a state House committee Tuesday, sending it before the full House.
The bill, sponsored by frequent Blagojevich critic state Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie), would take away the governor’s power to pick the state superintendent of education and members of the state school board. It also would hold the new board more accountable to legislators by requiring them to provide detailed budget information to the General Assembly instead of to the governor.
But even if the bill makes it through the House, it will face a tougher road in the Senate, where Blagojevich ally Emil Jones (D-Chicago) holds the gavel. Jones said Tuesday that he is satisfied with the board as it is.
This is the second time in four years that an Illinois politician has tried to rearrange the power structure over the education system. In 2004, Blagojevich waged a high-profile fight to gain control of the school board. He won partial control, when lawmakers gave him the power to replace the sitting board members and the authority to suggest to that new board whom to hire as state superintendent.
But Lang said Blagojevich now exerts too much influence over the education agency and argued that the board members, appointed by Blagojevich, do not do enough to fight for more education money because they are too beholden to the governor.
The Skokie lawmaker said the bill has been a year in the making, but acknowledged he is angry at what he called the governor’s recent effort to halt a $1.2 million state education grant he was trying to secure for Agudath Israel to bus children to private Jewish schools in the Chicago area.
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The grant was part of $14 million set aside for projects picked by state lawmakers, but run through the state education budget. Lang said Blagojevich tried to pressure the state board into denying the group the $1.2 million.
“This bill isn’t about the money for the group, but it highlights one example of the long arm of the governor reaching down into the state board budget,” Lang said.
Rebecca Rausch, spokeswoman for Blagojevich, denied that the governor’s office tried to the block funds. She said the governor’s office pushed the board to turn over the money, but agreed to let the state board seek an opinion from the Illinois attorney general’s office. That office approved the release.
“Our main goal has been to reduce bureaucracy and establish an agency that allows the governor an opportunity to better shape education policy,” she said.
Jesse Ruiz, chairman of the state board, said his agency contacted Blagojevich’s office because they feared doling out the $1.2 million would violate a state law against providing cash for sectarian purposes. After contacting the attorney general’s office, he said, they eventually voted to award the grant.
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