Quinn Signs Partnership School Bill at Aurora University
The new law lays the groundwork for a collaborative school on AU's campus that will serve Oswego, Indian Prairie, and East and West Aurora students, and concentrate on math and science education.
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Surrounded by teachers, students and local dignitaries, Gov. Pat Quinn on Wednesday signed a bill that will lay the groundwork for a partnership school at Aurora University.
Speaking at the university’s Alumni Hall, Quinn called the new school a positive step for the state. The partnership school will bring together students and teachers from four local school districts—Oswego, Indian Prairie, and East andWest Aurora—and will concentrate on science and math education.
“The legislation I will sign today will improve education in the whole state,” Quinn said. “Science, technology, engineering and math are vital to the state’s future and the country’s future.”
An outgrowth of the university’s Institute for Collaboration, the school will aim to instruct both students and teachers. Students will be chosen based on academic ability and other factors, and each district will be able to place an equal number of students in the new school.
Teachers will be chosen to spend two- to four-year terms in the new school, and will be able to take the collaborative efforts they learn back to their home districts, according to Sherry Eagle, executive director of the Institute for Collaboration.
For details on the new school, which is expected to open for the 2014-2015 school year, read this story.
The new law took a long path to Quinn’s desk. It was first proposed by State Rep. Tom Cross, R-Oswego, but his version—which referred to the new school as a “charter school,” met opposition in the House. The final version of the bill was sponsored by State Sen. Linda Holmes, D-Aurora, and passed both the House and Senate handily in April.
“This may be one of the best pieces of legislation I’ve been involved in, ever,” Cross said at Wednesday’s ceremony. He praised the local community for “coming together and making something special happen.”
Holmes called the new school “the next logical step,” noting that the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy provides this type of education for high schoolers, but the partnership school will prepare younger students, between grades three and eight.
“(It will) take these bright young minds and set them on the right path,” she said.
Rebecca Sherrick, president of Aurora University, said that once the bill is signed, the “real fun begins.” AU hopes to raise $15 million in donations and grants to build the new school—or, as she put it, to “translate our dreams into bricks, mortar, beakers, test tubes and laboratories.”
Quinn said the new law is a “tribute to democracy,” and praised the parties for “working together in a bipartisan fashion.” He quoted his youngest brother, a Golden Apple-winning teacher:
“There are movers and shakers, and then there are those who are moved and shaken,” Quinn said. “The difference between them is a good education.”
Chrisi Vineyard
9:59 am on Thursday, July 14, 2011
Governor Pat Quinn believes in a high quality education. He knows science & math “STEM” subjects (science, technology, education, & mathematics) are the key to compete in the 21st century. We need to help all students become scientifically literate because we are increasingly facing decisions related to science and technology, whether it’s understanding a medical diagnosis or weighing competing claims about the ENVIRONMENT. We rely on mathematics and science in ways we could not imagine thirty years ago. Innovations in technology help us every day to communicate across the globe with ease through satellites, the internet, and cell phones. Advances in medicine and science improve our health and help us to understand the world around us.
Matt Walker
9:42 pm on Thursday, July 14, 2011
Governor Pat Quinn is a Union Buster.
Chrisi Vineyard
11:16 pm on Thursday, July 14, 2011
MoneyRates.com looked at four factors involved in making a living:,Average state wages, unemployment rate, tax rate, cost of living. Based on all these factors, Illinois had the best adjusted-average income, and benefits a low state tax rate, and a below-average cost of living.
Matt Walker
10:25 am on Friday, July 15, 2011
Who took the biggest hit in Quinn's budget? Education and human services. The Department of Human Services loses more than $669 million, or 17.3 percent and education spending declines $171 million, or 2.4 percent. Early childhood education lost $17 million. Special education for orphans was cut by $18 million. The state's main contribution to schools and general state aid dropped more than $152 million, or 3.3 percent. Yet at the same time, multinational corporations like Navistar, Caterpillar and Motorola can line up for huge tax breaks while working families and small business owners are forced to suck it up. It looks to me as though Quinn is intent on "balancing the budget" on the backs of the most vulnerable. Sounds familiar, doesn't it? Aren't you the individual who wrote a letter to the editor in the Ledger proclaiming that Governor Quinn didn't balance the budget on the backs of working families? And that he respected collective bargaining rights?
Matt Walker
7:53 am on Friday, July 15, 2011
Pat Quinn is a union buster. He pushed hard for a bill that would deprive thousands of Illinois public sector workers of their right to collective bargaining. He used the same arguments put forth by the union busters who attempted to break the nurses unions in the Kentucky River cases. When his bill failed to pass, Governor Quinn decided to take revenge by ignoring the collective bargaining agreement that called for modest raises for public employees. However, Quinn's call for "shared sacrifice" doesn't apply to him. He has given hefty raises to his staffers, and has attempted to hide it by having them paid by agencies other than the Governor's office to make it look as though he was operating with less money.
He is also giving huge tax breaks to corporations like Navistar, Motorola and Caterpillar while raising taxes on working families and small businesses.
Read about Quinn giving his staff raises here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/06/pat-quinns-staff-get-rais_n_636605.html
Read about Quinn's attempt at union busting here: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-lawmakers-return-20110618,0,4520993.story
Read about Quinn's contempt for collective bargaining agreements and contracts here: http://www.dailyregister.com/features/x401792217/AFSCME-members-picket-over-raise-cancellation
Chrisi Vineyard
8:50 am on Friday, July 15, 2011
Overall, the amount of money spent by taxpayers on the governor's office is significantly lower today than it was when Quinn took office cut spending in the office by 25 percent since he took over 17 months ago. Spending was down 10 percent in the budget year that just ended, & another 25 percent reduction this year.
Matt Walker
9:54 am on Friday, July 15, 2011
You must have missed the fact that Quinn is pulling money from other agencies to make it appear as though the Governor's office is operating more efficiently. I also have to wonder if you were aware that the SEC is investigating whether our esteemed leadership has been treating projected "future savings" in the pension fund as "current reductions" in the pension costs? Do you engage in independent thought or are you merely an apparatchik spewing propoganda at the behest of the Governor's office?
Matt Walker
10:07 am on Friday, July 15, 2011
John Laesch covered the AFSCME picket in Aurora. Read about it here at The Progressive Fox: http://www.progressivefox.com/?p=2162
Chrisi Vineyard
3:20 pm on Friday, July 15, 2011
If you really want a union buster go to Wisconsin, Ohio, or Florida etc...I’m sorry you do not agree with everything Gov. Quinn has done. The right would say Quinn did not do enough for businesses, cut, cut, cut. I participated in the Jobs for Justice rally protest with John. Right now as U can see, to far to R/L nothing will be accomplished. We need to move this country forward now. I understand I can not have everything I want, when I want it. So I’m signing off. U can email me @ chrisivineyard@comcast.net
Matt Walker
8:10 pm on Tuesday, July 19, 2011
It looks as though an independent arbitrator found against Rat Quinn and in favor of AFSCME. Read about it here: http://heraldnews.suntimes.com/news/6594057-418/arbitrator-quinn-must-give-pay-raises-to-workers.html