Jerry Long, the Republican candidate challenging Democratic incumbent Andy Skoog for his District 76 State House seat, has a clear view of what needs to change in Illinois for the state to prosper.
Long, a union truck driver from Streator, Illinois, took to his Facebook page to state his belief that one of the things the state needs to do is allow local districts to make judgment calls on their needs.
“Local districts know their children best,” Long wrote. “Local teachers know their classrooms best. Local administrators know their districts best. Local school board members know their communities best. Unfunded mandates add administrative costs and micromanage the classroom. It’s time to end them. Our state should not add a financial burden to local schools, especially when the schools aren’t getting full funding in the first place.”
Long said districts should be fully funded, and the current funding formula that gives Chicago schools more money and takes away money intended for other districts through “proration,” a process Long refers to as “theft,” needs to come to an end.
“Currently, Chicago receives about 30 percent of state education funding and has about 20 percent of the state’s students,” Long said. “That’s not fair to our local schools or taxpayers, but the Chicago Machine and (House Speaker Mike Madigan [D-Dist. 22]) control the Illinois Legislature. The Chicago bias dominates, just as it has for decades.”
Long said an example of the Chicago bias was Madigan’s proposed budget bill, SB 2048, which was $7 billion out of balance and gave Chicago schools an extra $387 million.
“That would have meant that about half of new education spending would go to Chicago, which has about 20 percent of the state’s students,” Long said. “My opponent voted with Madigan on this bill not once, but twice. He doubled down on what he originally had called a ‘Chicago Bailout,’ going back on his first campaign pledge when he pandered for votes by asking us all to sign an online petition against a ‘Chicago Bailout.’”
SB 2048 included an extra $700 million in additional funding for all school districts, but appropriated nearly $300 million of the funds to Chicago Public Schools and an additional $100 million to fund the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund, which was largely viewed by Republicans as a bailout for Chicago teachers.
Such examples are evidence that political power in Springfield must be balanced by reducing Madigan’s control, Long said.
“That’s the part we can change," Long said. "That's how we can get real reforms that help our local schools. I don’t bring this up as a personal attack or to disrespect my opponent. That’s not what this is about. But our taxpayers, educators, administrators, school board members, parents and, most importantly, the children of our district deserve a representative who will stand up for our local schools — not vote to send more of our funding to Chicago.”
Long said on his website that he does not aspire to be a career politician, but seeing the direction in which the state is going, that prompted him to run for public office. The solution to Illinois’ financial problems is economic growth, not higher taxes, Long said.
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