North Cook News

As a recent study surfaced this week showing a significant drop in the number of states that participate in tests based on the Common Core curriculum, Des Plaines' Dan Gott -- the GOP state House candidate in District 55 -- expressed his concerns over education in Illinois.

According to the Heartland Institute, a report published in a Harvard Kennedy School of Government’s educational journal, Education Next, shows the number of states scheduled to participate in the consortia that develops tests to go along with the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), had a 62 percent decline. 

Regarding whether Illinois should follow the significant number of states that have dropped out of the Smarter Balanced Assessment Consortium and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers, which develop the CCSS tests, Gott said Common Core has failed Illinois.

“Common Core is a bad choice for Illinois. Parents have the legal right to choose the schools their children attend. Funding should follow the child,” Gott recently told the North Cook News. “We should allow tax dollars to follow the child to whichever school his or her parents choose.”

Gott pointed to the fact that public schools have not improved since the inception of the CCSS in 2010 saying the CCSS just leads to more government bureaucracy.

“Five years-plus later it’s a well-documented fact that public schools are under-performing and are failing to graduate students who are academically prepared to become productive members of society,” Gott said. “Current funding practices empower government bureaucrats. We need to empower school leaders and teachers.”

Gott said he believes it’s more appropriate to give parents vouchers and tax credits rather than give tax dollars to bureaucrats far from the classroom.

“Schools should compete for tax-funded tuition paid by parents who choose their children’s schools,” Gott said. “It’s widely acknowledged that students attending private schools, where school choice is practiced, outperform public school students on most measures of academic achievement.”

Gott went on to explain that on average, the cost of private schools is significantly less than the cost of public schools and their students go on to a higher level of academic achievement. He said he believes the falling productivity of government schools can be traced to three developments he sees inside the public school establishment.

“The first is the vast bureaucracy of non-teaching personnel,” Gott said.

The second trend is the fall in average class size. The number of teachers rose faster than school enrollment since 1970. The third reason for falling productivity is a dropout rate that has not fallen despite large increases in spending and personnel.

“School choice has a proven track record,” said Gott. “It’s time to say yes to school choice in Illinois and no to government bureaucrats and special interest groups. School leaders would be free to create the required curriculum and programs they believe will be the most attractive to students and parents. School choice would free teachers from their current dependency on teacher unions, allowing them to act as true professionals."