This year, I will propose legislation to create at least a dozen Charter Schools throughout Illinois. Schools that are organized from the bottom up, schools where principals, teachers, parents and, yes, even students can act to make education more responsive, more relevant, and more exciting without having to answer to layers of bureaucracy and being shackled by overly restrictive mandates.
Indeed, Illinois is ready, I believe, to experiment with having the private sector manage our schools as has occurred in Baltimore and Minneapolis.
Some reforms will work. Others may not. But we're not going to know the answers unless we try, and we do know right now that the status quo is not working in many schools throughout the state.
So let us be innovative - let us help pioneer Charter Schools.
Posted on March 3, 1995
URL: http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/go/94-2edga.htm