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Members of
the Illinois State Board of Education met last week in
Bloomington for their annual strategic planning session and
September Board meeting. They were able to review elements of
ISBE's strategic plan (http://www.isbe.net/reports/strategic_plan11.pdf),
and also to discuss pursuing a possible waiver to No Child Left
Behind. While the preference remains to see a new law, the
consensus of the group is to move forward with exploring the
possibility of a waiver. I will have more on that in the weeks
ahead as more information becomes available and we begin to
develop our plan, which we will likely submit in February.
The Board also approved nine individuals to become the initial
members of Illino is' State Charter School Commission. This
group's primary responsibility will be to consider the appeals
of charter proposals that have been denied, revoked or not
renewed by a local school board, ensuring to only authorize
quality charter schools and reject those that are inadequate.
The process at the local level will remain the same; those
entities interested in starting a charter school will need to
apply to and work with local districts first, and only if they
are denied can they appeal to the State Charter School
Commission (which serves a very similar role to that played in
the past by the State Board).
In addition to authorizing charter schools, the Commission must
monitor the performance and legal compliance of each charter
school authorized by the Commission and determine if the charter
merits renewal, nonrenewal or revocation. The Commission must
also produce a report every two years on best practices in
charter sch ool authorizing, including evaluating applications,
oversight and renewal of charter schools.
The initial appointments made by the Board to the State Charter
School Commission include:
- Paul Swanstrom, former Superintendent,
Joliet Township High School District 204, Crete
- Sean Denney, lobbyist, Illinois
Education Association, Evanston
- Mike Jacoby, Executive Director,
Illinois Association of School Business Officials, DeKalb
- Jaime Guzman, Chief Advisor to the
Board of Trustees, City Colleges of Chicago, Chicago
- Glen Barton, former Chairman and CEO,
Caterpillar Inc., Peoria
- Greg Richmond, President and CEO,
National Association of Charter School Authorizers, Chicago
- Angela Renee Rudolph, Program Officer,
Joyce Foundation
- Patricia Van Pelt-Watkins, Executive
Director, TARGET Area Development Corp., Chicago
- Rudy Valdez, General Manager - Asia
Programs, Hamilton Sunstrand Corp., Rockford
Commission members will serve on staggered terms of office
beginning with initial 2-, 3-, and 4-year terms (after which all
terms will be 4 years). Their terms are scheduled to begin Nov.
1, 2011.
Have a good week.
Chris
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