Education is a hot topic as budget talks heat up at the Illinois Capitol.
State Rep. Will Davis chaired a meeting of the Illinois House Appropriations Committee for Elementary and Secondary Education Tuesday afternoon.
Davis, D-Hazel Crest, renewed the call for more equity in education.
“Because we start 10 steps behind to begin with, we gotta figure out how to catch everybody up,” Davis said.
Davis and state Rep. Blaine Wilhour, R-Beecher City, debated equity and excellence in education for several minutes. Wilhour said Illinois politicians are focused too much on equity and not enough on excellence.
“We’re spending more money than we’ve ever spent and the results are going down, so I think that’s something that we should all be concerned about,” Wilhour said.
Wilhour pointed out that only three of 10 public school students in Illinois read at grade level.
The committee meeting was held a day before Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s scheduled budget address in Springfield.
Education has also been on the minds of federal lawmakers. President Donald Trump moved to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education, and Republican lawmakers introduced legislation to shut the agency down.
U.S. Rep. Mary Miller, R-Ill., spoke on the House floor last week.
“Decisions about education should be made at the state and local level by those who are closest to the students, not by bureaucrats in Washington,” Miller said.
Miller said the agency has drained billions of dollars from taxpayers while test scores have declined.
“Eliminating the Department of Education isn’t radical. It’s common sense. Again, thank you President Trump for standing up for all the parents and students across this nation,” Miller said.
Former President Joe Biden’s Department of Education budget request for Fiscal Year 2025 was $82.4 billion.
Illinois state Rep. Amy “Murri” Briel, D-Ottawa, expressed concern that shutting down the federal education department would strain Illinois’ already-challenging financial situation.
“If they abolish the Department of Education, well, that adds more state burden onto us to provide funding for our universities and community colleges,” Briel told The Center Square.
