Prairie State Wire

House Minority Leader Tony McCombie (R-Savanna) is not impressed by the way the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) of Tony Sanders as state superintendent was selected.

McCombie has observed that political allies seem to be the trend in appointing people. 

“All executive appointees should be chosen based on results,” McCombie told Rock Island Today. “Leading a state agency is an enormous responsibility and public trust. Illinois is home to countless incredibly talented and qualified individuals from diverse backgrounds who would make excellent candidates to lead the Illinois State Board of Education and other state agencies. I am concerned that too often political considerations are a factor in making these appointments.”

McCombie said she looks forward to learning more about Sanders' professional experience and "will establish an open line of communication with him to share our ideas for how Illinois can improve student outcomes, better support our hardworking educators, and ensure that parents always have a voice in their child’s education.” She then said that “It is difficult to assess Dr. Ayala's legacy considering that the pandemic began one year into her tenure. On the positive side, Illinois recently recorded its highest high school graduation rate since reporting began; however, we are still experiencing a significant educator shortage and both students and teachers are still recovering from the impact of learning loss caused by the interruption to in-class instruction during the pandemic.” 

“The Illinois State Board of Education plays a significant role in implementing state mandates on teachers and school administrators in addition to measuring student outcomes and school performance," McCombie added. "Speaking for myself, I believe the state places far too many costly, unfunded and burdensome mandates on our educators; not to mention the heavy hand of Illinois politicians and state bureaucrats making new mandates on curriculum. I believe in local control of schools, that school boards and administrators with input from parents are best equipped to make decisions regarding curriculum and classroom priorities for our kids’ education. After all, our local school board members live in our community and are accountable to us, the voters. Unfortunately, with the state passing new mandates into law, local school districts across Illinois have no choice other than to comply. We need to begin to return control of curriculum to local school boards and administrators while always giving parents a voice in their child’s education.”

Sanders was promoted to the state superintendent despite a nine-year tenure at U-46 that Wirepoints pointed out ended with poor outcomes for many students. “At U-46, just 1 in every 10 minority students can read at grade level. For all students, it’s just 2 in 10. Sanders has been in the district since 2007 and was named superintendent there in 2014,” Wirepoints’ Ted Dabrowski and John Klingner wrote.

"Anybody following Wirepoints’ recent reporting on Illinois’ educational crisis already knows the numbers: statewide just 1 of every 10 black students can read at grade level, and for Hispanics, it’s just 2 in every 10. For white students, it’s a better but still dismal 4 in 10. It’s not an exaggeration to say the state’s public schools are condemning an entire generation of #Illinois children to failure.” And when the governor had the opportunity to name a new superintendent to lead the state, Wirepoints opined Pritzker "could have picked somebody to shake up the system, somebody whose district was actually leading the state in reading and math outcomes. Maybe somebody from outside the system or outside the state. Somebody who would, finally, prioritize merit, achievement and competence. Somebody who would obsess about dramatically raising student scores.” But that didn't happen, according to Wirepoints. "Instead, Pritzker chose Tony Sanders, Superintendent of U-46 in #ElginIL, the state’s second-largest school district with 35,000 students. Sanders' record at U-46 is dismal. There, just 1 in every 10 minority students can read at grade level. For all students, it’s just 2 in 10. Sanders has been in the district since 2007 and was named superintendent there in 2014, so he owns those numbers.”

Sanders became the superintendent of Elgin-based School District U-46 in 2014. Elgin U46 is the state’s second-largest school district with over 39,000 students in 40 elementary schools, eight middle schools, and five high schools. Sanders received criticism after several incidents of bullying were publicized. “They are letting the anti-mask children –– they’re calling them –– be assaulted, literally assaulted, and they are congratulating those students,” Elgin parent Joshua Martin told the Kane County Reporter. “She got her hand shaken by the teachers and my child.” U-46 also continued a mask mandate policy after mandatory masking was ruled unconstitutional. That rule would have enacted mandatory masking based on Covid rates in the school district.