“We can compete and I’m not afraid of competition. We’re ready to compete. My gravest concern is that not everyone will compete on a level playing field. That the accountability system, which I didn’t hear or see in the governor’s remarks today, will apply only to some schools that are receiving state dollars, not all. That troubles me a good deal because what it does is create a system where public money is being expended and there is no accountability, and I’m speaking specifically of private and parochial schools.”
— David Estrop, superintendent of Springfield City School District
“What I have seen of his plans for education, I think are intriguing. It appears to me that his plan preserves the funding levels that we currently have and may even include and offer opportunities for districts to even access further funds in some manner.”
— State Rep. Ross McGregor, R-Springfield
“He also speaks about the expansion of the voucher system and I’ll be very curious to see the details on that plan because I’ve always been concerned that could deteriorate our public school options.”
— State Rep. Ross McGregor, R-Springfield
“It’s difficult because he just rolls it out without having all the stakeholders at the table for the decision making and without knowing all that is entailed in the details of what his plan is, it’s very difficult (to judge the plan). So many times the other shoe has fallen and it makes something that may be appealing not at all appealing.’
—Kathy Richison, teacher and Springfield Education Association president
“If (something) is a rule and a regulation for public schools, then there should be some basis for that and so I think that should be true no matter where the school is that you receive your education.”
— Kathy Richison, teacher and Springfield Education Association president
“I think probably the first thing that everyone was encouraged about was the statement that no district will receive less funding than they did last year. I think there was a sigh of relief when that was said, even though there’s still a lot of unknowns about how this will affect each district individually.”
—Lou Kramer, superintendent of Northeastern Local Schools
“Probably the biggest thing that is unknown, looking at trying to equalize funding for each district but then introducing funding compensation, for example, for socioeconomic status, for gifted, for special education. I think there’s a lot of ambiguity how that’s going to work together.”
—Lou Kramer, superintendent, Northeastern Local Schools
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