Maybe consolidating school district has a way to save money is not such a good idea after all. That's the finding of the state's Classroom First Commission, headed by Illinois Lt. Governor Sheila Simon.
Simon tells WMBD's Greg and Dan, in some cases, consolidating school district could be costly. "Sometimes if you have school school districts merging into one you have teachers paid at different rates," explains Simon.
"Our current state incentive system to promote consolidation says for the first four years, the state will pay the difference between the low and the high to bring everyone up to the higher salary. That has quite a price tag."
There are 878 school districts in the state. 154 of them have enrollments under 500.
Meanwhile, later this month Simon will release her report on the pluses and minuses of the state's 48 community colleges based on her visits to each one.
Simon says her preliminary finding is students getting to junior college are not ready for college math. Simon tells WMBD's Greg and Dan part of it is the state's fault.
Simon says Illinois students get what she calls - "a vacation from math" - because only three years of math is required in high school.
"As a state we need to do a better job of making sure students are prepared for work force math and college math when they leave high school," says Simon. "But, definitely we need to skip that vacation from math."
Simon has a target of 60 percent of the working population with a college credential. Right now, she says, that number is around 43 percent...just above the national average of 40 percent.
