REGIONAL SUPERINTENDENT'S MESSAGE
As we begin the 2010-11 school year, I wish you great success and fulfillment in your work educating children in your communities with pride. Welcome Back! It seems only yesterday that summer began, and we were all making plans for vacations and family activities.
I look forward to serving the students, parents, teachers and community of Rock Island County as Regional Superintendent. Our mission is to support you as educators today. I have no doubt we can meet those needs with the talented employees we have here at the ROE. Schools are our greatest community resource to help young people achieve success in today’s economy. The goal of the Regional Office has been and will continue to be the advancement of our students. Our motto “Moving Education Forward” is what drives us each day as we work with schools to improve.
We have many challenges ahead of us, none more challenging than the current budget crisis. The State Board of Education has reduced its budget by 311 million dollars this school year. Many grant programs have been cut ranging from 10% to 100%. These programs allowed for many enrichment projects throughout the State of Illinois and will be sorely missed. Our hope is the State Legislature and Governor Quinn will continue to work and make sweeping changes for fiscal year 2011.
Last week, Congress passed and the President signed a $26 billion Education Jobs Fund bill that will mean an addition $415 million for Illinois schools. There are still many questions to be answered about this legislation. Currently ISBE is in the process of reviewing the application which was posted Friday, August 13, 2010 and hopes to be able to turn it around soon for federal approval. The state must meet certain maintenance of effort requirements, and the governor must provide other assurances. We believe this will not provide barriers to our receipt of these funds. However, it is still unclear how these funds will impact local districts.
At the Regional Office of Education this summer we have been very busy with professional development workshops offered in four counties through our partnerships with the ROE in Henderson-Mercer-Warren. Together, our staff has offered more than 650 workshops to over 4,600 educator participants. We are very proud to offer powerful, new and exciting professional development to our teachers, paraprofessionals, principals, superintendents and custodial staff. We are truly honored to serve you and your communities for the betterment of our students. I wish you good luck for the upcoming school year!