Title: 
Illinois Schools Put Money Where It’s Needed Most

Word Count:
513

Summary:
Public school student populations are by nature diverse. Any child from any family can attend a public school at no charge. The whole point of public education is to give children access to the education they need in order to be successful in society. Education is no longer a privilege of the wealthy. This does not mean, however, that every single school performs at the same level, nor that they all have access to the same resources. Unfortunately, while it is a public system...


Keywords:
Illinois Schools, Patricia Hawke


Article Body:
Public school student populations are by nature diverse. Any child from any family can attend a public school at no charge. The whole point of public education is to give children access to the education they need in order to be successful in society. Education is no longer a privilege of the wealthy. This does not mean, however, that every single school performs at the same level, nor that they all have access to the same resources. Unfortunately, while it is a public system, there are schools out there that have swimming pools and airplane pilot programs at the same time that there are schools which have a high teacher turn-around and outdated, if any, textbooks. 

There are many states throughout the country which reward schools that are doing well; cash bonuses are one of the most popular types of recognition that excellent schools receive. These schools do indeed deserve recognition, and all schools can use a bit of extra money. The problem lies in the fact that schools that are failing are getting no extra financial help to turn their problems around. Perhaps the school is in a poor neighborhood, where there aren’t a lot of homeowners – homeowners mean more property taxes, which are traditionally used to fund the public school system. Maybe the school has a low or declining enrollment. Budgets are decided based upon how many students attend the school; if the student population is low, the school is not going to have the money it needs to function and improve. 

Illinois School District leaders are working hard to reverse this trend in their schools that are low-performing. As a matter of fact, the Illinois Schools State Board of Education recently awarded $13 million for after school tutoring and mentoring programs for 35 Illinois Schools as well as some community organizations around Illinois Schools. The grants will primarily serve students from low-income families that attend under-performing Illinois Schools. For the most part, the Illinois Schools students who attend schools that have at least 40% of its families living at a low socioeconomic level are the ones who will be served through this program. 

These new learning centers at the 35 Illinois Schools will provide many opportunities to Illinois Schools students and their families to acquire new skills. They can also help them to discover new abilities after the school day has ended. Academic assistance from after-school tutors must focus on reading and mathematics skills that the students are already working on at the Illinois Schools they attend...

In addition, this new Illinois Schools program can provide youth development activities, drug and violence prevention programs, technology education programs, art, music and recreation programs, counseling and character education to enhance the academic component of the program. The different types of Illinois Schools programs beyond tutoring and mentoring that are offered depend on the location of the Illinois Schools. Parental involvement activities and extended Illinois Schools library hours are other possible activities. 

As is evident from the above discussion, it is easy to see that Illinois Schools are working hard to help its low-performing schools improve.