I read on Billy’s blog that Jehan Gordon has her website officially up and running.
That’s cool. I always like to check out where the candidates stand on the issues. There’s one page on Ms. Gordon’s website about the issues. Here it is in its entirety:
Education…
As a member of the Pleasant Hill School Board and an employee of Illinois Central College, Jehan understands the importance of education. She will fight against the status quo and work to find alternative funding for our schools so that young people have a real shot at a quality education that isn’t determined by where they happen to live.Jobs…
Jehan will work hard to attract more and better paying jobs to our area. She’s fighting to see that our area flourishes like surrounding communities with more economic development, more retail, and fewer abandoned buildings.Access to Quality Health Care…
Jehan will work with other progressive leaders to improve access to comprehensive, high-quality health care services.
Regarding education, Ms. Gordon evidently feels there’s a positive correlation between the funding and quality of public education. In other words, higher funding equals higher quality, lower funding equals lower quality. But is that really the case?
According to the Interactive Illinois Report Card, during fiscal year 2005-2006, Peoria Public School District 150 spent $6,297 per pupil for instructional expense; Dunlap School District 323 spent $3,774 per pupil. Yet in 2006, only 59% of District 150 students met or exceeded standards, compared to 90% for District 323 students. With 40% less funding, Dunlap did 53% better than Peoria public schools. It’s also worth mentioning that the average teacher salary in District 150 is over $4,000 more per year than District 323 ($55,008 vs. $50,980, respectively). Something tells me that “quality education” is not determined by funding.
Regarding jobs, I found it a bit humorous that Ms. Gordon states she wants to “attract more and better paying jobs to our area,” then follows that up in the very next sentence by saying she’s going to make sure “our area flourishes like surrounding communities with […] more retail.” Retail jobs are not “better paying.” She doesn’t mention manufacturing or industrial jobs at all. Yes, I know there aren’t as many of those types of jobs as there used to be, but they still exist, and our city and state should be as competitive as possible to get them.
On a local note, I was pleased to see that Drumheller Bag Corporation from Clarksdale, Mississippi, decided to locate their expansion in Peoria, rehiring 50 former Bemis Bag Corporation employees! Drumheller is also relocating their headquarters to Peoria. We should be attracting more and more of these types of jobs.
Finally, as far as her stance on health-care, she wants “to improve access to comprehensive, high-quality health care services.” Thank goodness. That really sets her apart from the other candidates who are, presumably, the Joker and the Riddler. I wonder if she’s also for clean water and world peace?
I guess the bottom line is that she’s running on image, not substance. But I suppose that’s not a bad strategy because that’s what most voters respond to these days. Isn’t that why Schock is in office?
Comparing Dunlap to District 150 like that really does not explain the whole picture. The Dunlap school body is more predisposed to success in life than those in District 150. Successful well adjusted families tend to produce successful well adjusted children. Looking more broadly, statewide and nationwide, yes, there is a correlation between funding and success rates, but it is not the sole determining factor.
If she wants more retail shops in Peoria then Peoria needs more good paying manufacturing factory jobs so that the families will have more disposable income so they can afford to shop in these new retail businesses. I give Ms. Gordon an “F” in freshman year economics. We don’t need folks like her representing our interests if she has no better grasp about how the economy works.
Her primary opponent, Allen Mayer, says he helped bring Globe Energy to Peoria.
http://www.mayer4peoria.net/default.htm
David — That’s good; however, he doesn’t list or explain his stand on any issues on his website. That’s unfortunate. How is a voter supposed to make an informed choice when the candidates don’t divulge basic info like their stance on the issues of the day?
C. J.,
You’re correct – Mayer’s positions are vague. But he is a Democrat so I guess he figures that likely primary voters will make assumptions about his positions on issues.
Mahkno, I think you’re making my point — i.e., there are other factors besides funding that have more of an impact on achievement.
Even if you compare Richwoods High School to Dunlap High School (similar demographics, similar “predispos[ition] to success in life”), Richwoods’ scores are much lower.
But CJ you are suggesting that the higher funding that district 150 is somehow unnecessary and counter productive, which would lead some to conclude that perhaps District 150 should be given less money, ie lower taxes.
I think District 150 has ample funding, albeit mismanaged to some degree. Giving 150 more funding probably would not be helpful at this point unless there was a clear purpose to it. Districts with ‘disadvantaged’ (I don’t like that word but will use it) student bases, from troubled neighborhoods are going to require more funding just to bring them up to some threshold. What that threshold is, isn’t too clear. But you are going to need to pay teachers more to deal with the laundry list of problems that many of these kids bring to school everyday. Teachers are forced to become social workers because of these problems, and are unable to do fully what they were trained to do. Who wants to work under these conditions? Who would stay? Yes salaries (which is the biggest part of the 150 budget), have to be higher.
It sure would be nice to have a district full of Whittier’s but sadly that is not easily replicated. How are you going to find the talent to do that? Frankly I think the presence of the Bradley next door and the local demographic plays a big roll in Whittier’s success.
Dunlap can get away with less because, the kids are better and the work environment is better. Give it time tho and Dunlap will look more n more like 150.
Comparing Richwoods to Dunlap HS:
Poverty: 15% Richwoods, 2.4% Dunlap
Mobility: 10% Richwoods, 5% Dunlap
Race, White: 66% Richwoods, 86% Dunlap
Race, Black: 25% Richwoods, 3% Dunlap
Graduation Rate: 93.8% Richwoods, 96% Dunlap
The IIRC doesn’t break down economic status beyond whether they are poor or not. We don’t know the distribution of kids in other quintile’s beyond simply the bottom one. It would probably be safe to say that Dunlap has a higher distribution of kids in the upper quintiles. (all those doctor’s kids) So that further break down in family background via economic status may play a roll in making Dunlap look better than Richwoods. All in all they are pretty comparable.
Correction to above:
Poverty; 25% Richwoods versus 2.4% Dunlap
What is Ms Gordon’s stance on the trail/rail fiasco?
“what is Ms. Gordon’s stance on the trail/rail fiasco?”
Probably “We need to exercise more…I support the trail.”
If so, that would be a heck of a contradiction in her stance on new jobs, wouldn’t it?
Mahkno, My only point is that changing how the money pie is sliced is not a solution to educational problems. Gordon wants to “find alternative funding for our schools so that young people have a real shot at a quality education.” I don’t think that funding is the root issue. I’m not saying funding isn’t important (you have to have funding to provide public education) — I’m just saying that finding alternative funding isn’t going to magically improve education quality, and even if it did, it doesn’t guarantee that kids are going to respond to that quality education. You can send a kid to the best school in the country, but if he’s not motivated and doesn’t put any effort into it, he’s still going to fail.
he doesn’t list or explain his stand on any issues on his website. That’s unfortunate. How is a voter supposed to make an informed choice when the candidates don’t divulge basic info like their stance on the issues of the day?
answer: you ask
You’re right, Paul. In your perfect world, all 65,000+ registered voters in Peoria County would call up the candidates and personally interview them regarding their stances on the issues of the day, and there would be no websites or mass media resources people could consult. I mean, why leverage things like the Internet to inform people of one’s positions? It would be much better to sit back and wait for the masses to call. That way, only really committed voters would know what the heck the candidates believe. Sounds like a winner.
I agree with Mahkno that poverty level must be factored into any comparison of school performance and that it takes more dollars to educate children from “disadvantaged” backgrounds and thus Dunlap School District can achieve more with less. I wish District 150 did a better job of publishing what it does right! If you want to make comparisons then let’s compare the Top 10 graduates of Richwoods vs. Dunlap or Notre Dame. Richwoods, as well as, Woodruff and Central’s Top Ten graduates are attending the same elite colleges and universities (even more so) than students in surrounding communities. A quality education can still be found at District 150, it is more a question of whether those students attending are poised to take advantage of it. As the City Council embarks on its’ crusade to find ways to attract middle class families back into the fold, perhaps they should just spread the good news that housing is, overall, more affordable in Peoria than Dunlap, and in reality the same educational offerings are available to those who choose to study and apply themselves.
it’s always worked for me
Funding isn’t the whole story, but it’s part of it. Other big impacts are parent involvement and parental education.
But funding matters, especially in a state like Illinois where schools are funded based on property taxes, which means quite literally that the rich get richer while the poor get poorer; wealthy suburbs with college-educated parents fund the crap out of their schools while poor urban areas struggle with underfunding AND a difficult student population.
My elementary district (Northbrook 28) spent $14,137/student in 2005. 150 spent $9,583/student. East St. Louis spent $10,426/student. (Illinois has among the largest funding gaps in the nation.)
This may not seem like much (although over an entire student body, it is), but one place it makes an ENORMOUS difference is in arts programs, which have been proven time and again to help students succeed in school. When I was in high school, I went to an all-state jazz band thing at DePaul, where the drummer in my band was from East St. Louis high school, which had a PHENOMINAL, SPECTACULAR jazz program, and he had just been invited to tour the far east with WYNTON FRIGGIN’ MARSALIS.
The next year East St. Louis cut their jazz program. No funding.
My high school had more than enough funding for a comprehensive arts program … even though virtually every parent in the district could have afforded private lessons anyway. East Saint Louis needed that money a helluva a lot more than we did.
I suppose I should add that when I say “comprehensive arts program,” what I mean is, “We had an $80,000 for the variety show.” 😛
$80,000 BUDGET. And there’s my 😛 face! yay!
The Richwoods of 25 years ago might compare with the Dunlap of today. How are the instructional expense numbers derived? Do they in part contain all the fat of an older school district, massive administration salaries and consultant fees? A newer growing district has not had enough time to become as corrupt as an older more experienced district. Give em time they will catch up.
Raoul — the interactive report card separates expenses that go directly to education and expenses that go to administration.