Enhancing public funding is just one of many goals of the Illinois Vision 20/20 plan. (WJBC Photo)
By Andy Dahn
BLOOMINGTON – The District 87 School Board was presented with a plan to improve the state of public education in Illinois at their Wednesday night meeting. Illinois Vision 20/20 hopes to improve state public schools by installing high speed internet in all schools, receiving more community involvement from families and students, and enhancing state funding.
Another goal of the plan is student loan forgiveness for teachers, which Superintendent Barry Reilly said is well deserved.
"These folks don't get into teaching for the money," Reilly said. "If they really were after money, they would be looking at other professions because they're smart people. So one way that we can recognize them is providing some loan forgiveness, and I see that as a positive."
Reilly said if the school board votes to support the plan at their January 28th meeting, the district will get to right to work to spread the word.
"We can then begin a process in our own district to start educating our staffs and parents," Reilly said. "We really want them to understand the issues that are important to us as educators that we think should be important to them as community members, especially with their children going to our schools. We also want them to know what we want out of the education system."
Illinois Vision 20/20 has also caught the attention of new Governor Bruce Rauner. Reilly said the Rauner's interest in the plan is a step in the right direction for education reform.
"He's got an education transition committee that has some very high respected individuals who have close ties to education," said Reilly. "Dr. Al Bowman is one of those individuals who is co-chairing that committee. So I'm confident that he has strong individuals to really help him recognize the value of something like this."
You can learn more about the plan and how to support it at illinoisvision2020.org.
Andy Dahn can be reached at [email protected].
