Sangamon Sun

This election cycle, one important topic of conversation revolves around Illinois public school systems. Parental rights within schools and high property taxes funding public education have been issues for constituents in the past, but now many state level candidates are elevating these issues in their campaigns.

“Doris Turner believes that the government knows best on how to educate our children," said State Rep. Sandy Hamilton (R-Springfield), Turner's Republican opponent for Illinois State Senate District 48. "While Illinois spends the most money per student in the Midwest, a big chunk is blown on the inflated education bureaucracy. When I get to the Senate, I’ll fight to restore the power that parents should have, a voice in their children’s education, by backing legislation that enshrines parental rights and requires school districts to be transparent about the curriculum, materials and activities that are in use in their districts. I demand that Doris Turner stops failing our students and starts protecting parental rights instead of the corrupt educational machine.”

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2020, Illinois spends $17,293 per pupil. Between salaries, wages and employee benefits, Illinois spends $33,854,627 on what is categorized as “all functions.” The only states with a higher total spend are New York, California and Texas, all three of which have significantly higher populations than Illinois.

The same U.S. Census Bureau survey conducted in 2020 showed that Illinois’ neighbor Indiana spent $10,935 per student and Wisconsin spent $12,740.

More money spent does not always mean better results. As of 2019, the National Assessment of Educational Progress released the math, reading and science results. The percentage of proficient level eighth graders in Illinois for the following subjects were 34% in math, 35% in reading and 28% in science. Wisconsin and Indiana are both states that spend less per student in total. Wisconsin eighth grader proficiency percentages were 41% in math, 39% in reading and 40% in science. Indiana eighth grader proficiency percentages were 37% in math, 37% in reading and 36% in science.

Other than declining performance reports, especially following the pandemic, the teaching of concepts and theories such as critical race theory and social and emotional learning have sparked a national debate on whether or not it is the school’s responsibility or the parents' to educate their children on this kind of subject matter.

Tony Kinnett, a science and STEM administrator at the largest public school system in Indiana, posted a video on Twitter where he stated, “We tell our teachers to treat students differently based on color, we tell our students that every problem is a result of white men, and that everything western civilization is racist.” He went on to say that these ideas are straight from the book “Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings that Formed the Movement,” edited by Kimberle Crenshaw and others.

In February, the Illinois State Legislators Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) voted to approve the “Culturally Responsive Teaching and Learning Standards.” Illinois Family Institute made the claim that these newly implemented standards infuse the ideas of critical race theory, identity politics and Black Lives Matter into all teacher training programs, all professional education  licensing and indirectly into all public school classrooms.

National Review reported that the new standards approved by the JCAR mandate that teachers embrace ideas like systemic racism with the goal of teaching young children that systems in this country are designed to create and reinforce inequities.

Hamilton is running as a "conservative who wants to govern while not sacrificing core principles." She has been a resident of Springfield for over 20 years and is happily married with three boys.