By: Diane Benjamin The Teacher’s Unions don’t need money to get their candidates elected to local school boards. They didn’t have to spend a dime last April because only their candidates ran. Unions now control the schools. https://www.illinoispolicy.org/august-is-teacher-union-opt-out-time-what-you-need-to-know/ Excerpts: Illinois teachers’ unions spend little on representing teachers, what should be their core focus. So why should teachers […]
By: Diane Benjamin From the Illinois Constitution: https://www.ilga.gov/commission/lrb/con10.htm . Pull out last year’s property tax bill. The State of Illinois isn’t the primary funder of public education. You are. Next year’s property tax bill will be even worse. Add to that a 1% Sales tax increase the schools want you to vote for April 1st. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Illinois is second only to New Jersey for the highest property taxes in the country: https://www.fool.com/research/property-tax-rates-by-state/ Last year many local government seized the increased assessed values of your property to collect more property taxes. They are taxing you on unrealized gains! If you don’t plan on selling your home the assessed value […]
By: Diane Benjamin Separation of church and state is not explicitly mentioned in the Constitution or law. The Bible was the first textbook used in schools. Money wouldn’t say “In God We Trust,” and the top of the Washington Monument wouldn’t say “Laus Deo” if our forebearers wanted God removed from public life. The Latin […]
By: Diane Benjamin Unit 5 and District 87 will graduate students without an education. Bloomington High School has a dismal graduation rate of 79%: https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/School.aspx?schoolId=170640870250001 McLean County Unit 5 has a graduation rate of 91%: https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/District.aspx?districtId=17064005026 Your kids have ONE chance at an education. Local Public Schools are failing them. Individual schools can be looked […]
By: Diane Benjamin In 2023 twenty states expanded school choice. More were added in 2024: https://schoolchoiceweek.com/2023-yes-to-school-choice/ Georgia, Louisiana, MIssouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Tennessee are working to pass some form of school choice. https://www.edchoice.org/engage/school-choice-in-the-states-april-2024/ Illinois canceled the Invest In Kids Act because teacher’s unions demanded it. Illinois kids are at a great […]
By: Diane Benjamin I would ask him but he didn’t respond to my last email. I heard a request was made to District 87 for John Wyatt Danenberger’s child (children) to attend Oakland School instead of Washington. Since Danenberger didn’t answer my last email I saw no reason to ask him. I asked District 87 […]
By: Diane Benjamin School Districts request waivers of tuition so out-of-districts students don’t have to pay tuition to attend. The requests are usually for multiple years and for children of District employees, some like Tri-Valley requested a waiver for only children of licensed staff. This is a follow-up to this story, I wanted to see […]
By: Diane Benjamin I received a tip that before David Mouser left Tri-Valley for his new job as Superintendent of District 87 he got approval allowing the children of employees to attend Tri-Valley even if they don’t live in the District. His wife works at Tri-Valley, the family moved probably because District 87 thought their […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Illinois Republican Party sent another mailer for Scott Preston, are they worried about Jim Fisher? This one is hilarious. Front side: Is the picture supposed to portray Preston as a good family man? That isn’t Scott Preston and his wife and kids in the picture. They found a family to use […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Unit 5 School Board is meeting tonight at Normal West – 6:30. Comprehensive Sexual Education is on the Agenda: https://meetings.boardbook.org/Public/Agenda/1482?meeting=531212 I watched most of the Phase II Community Engagement virtual meeting last night. Way too much of the presentation consisted of what Unit 5 could do if they had more money […]
By: Diane Benjamin School Boards exists because they are elected by THE PEOPLE to watch and control what happens in government run schools. In Illinois many elected school board members are told “Let the professionals handle running the schools”. Sound familiar, as in “professional staff”? New Board members are indoctrinated with a trip to Chicago […]
By: Diane Benjamin See this story for context: https://blnnews.com/2022/03/02/unit-5-and-equity/ There was actually only one introductory video, Unit 5 gave me access. It is 1 minute and forty seconds that says almost nothing. So you don’t have to request access I taped it for you. The original quality is almost this bad: The speaker is Dr. […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you haven’t browsed Unit 5’s website, you missed this link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cPB0fnxfB3G2Dwp8Cyzawy5_bPej-A-C/view That is an update to their Equity Action Plan. See PDF pages 5 and 6 for what they want to achieve. This paragraph bothers me: The purpose of public schools is to teach. Students should never know the “authentic self” […]
By: Diane Benjamin Illinois Public Schools are required by law to use Social and Emotional Learning. You can see the current plan on the Illinois State Board of Education website: https://www.isbe.net/Pages/Social-Emotional-Learning-Standards.aspx Social and Emotional Learning can easily be summed up with this quote for the document I linked in the Critical race Theory story is […]
By: Diane Benjamin ISU President Dietz spoke at the NAACP rally. The only video I can find is posted is on the WEEK 25 Facebook page. Unless you are on Facebook you won’t be able to see it. He only spoke for a few minutes. His comments ended with ISU is committed to social justice. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Capitalism has proven to the world that competition produces better results than monopolies. Costs decrease, quality increases, and better products are delivered to consumers. Illinois started a program in 2017 called Invest in Kids which provides a tax credit for parents wanting their kids in private schools but can’t afford it: http://www.revenue.state.il.us/InvestInKids/ […]
