How Illinois education reform passed

Kerry Lester:

Running for re-election in a tight race last fall, state Rep. Keith Farnham received a sizable chunk of his campaign cash -- $50,000 of $462,000 -- from Stand for Children, an Oregon-based education group seeking sweeping reforms in Illinois.

Shortly after the November election, the group was moving to get changes in place, fast -- among them, tougher tenure requirements, limiting teachers' ability to strike, and lengthening the school day in Chicago.

Stand for Children had, after all, successfully worked to overhaul school policies in other states around the country.

But Illinois was not Colorado or Wisconsin, where the power structure made it easier to push laws that weakened union rights. No, Illinois had a Democratic-controlled, union-backed legislature and governor's office.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at June 20, 2011 3:57 AM
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