CRAFT

FACT: At no time did CRAFT members ever claim that we caused a referendum to fail. Quite the opposite, we've always acknowledged that it is the voters who defeat referenda. The public opposition to these endless tax assaults is the driving force behind our efforts.

This is hardly the first dishonest claim against our integrity we've had to take in stride, but it raises an interesting point. If the supporters of these referenda are so convinced that CRAFT had no effect on their outcome, the only other plausible explanation is that referenda fail because of lack of public support.

How can they justify running these referenda when they know the public opposes them?

LIE: The Illinois State Constitution requires that the state provide 51% of school funding.

FACT: Not a shred of truth in this one. Article X of the Illinois State Constitution (here) deals with education. There is no mention of 51% or any other prescribed funding level.

Its worth noting how much attention this nonexistent condition receives, yet how little attention is given to two mandates that ARE spelled out in Article X: to provide a "high quality" and "efficient" public education system.

Even if the 51% funding requirement did exist, there is a world of difference between 51% of what is needed and 51% of what the school districts would like to spend. The funding from Springfield is over 51% of the cost of many private schools in Illinois already.

LIE: State funding of schools is decreasing.

FACT: As is so often the case in school districts, failure to increase funding at a desired rate is distorted into becoming a "decrease". Truth is Illinois state funding of education has been climbing at an average rate of 6-7% annually in the past decade. State funding increases have more than kept pace with inflation.

LIE: The "tax cap" reduces the taxes available to the school district.

FACT: The Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL), falsely dubbed the "tax cap" allows school districts to increase property taxes without voter approval every year - but only by limited amounts. This limit (lower of 5% or the CPI) can be overruled by a public referendum.

Opponents of PTELL condemn its provisions because PTELL has been so effective at preventing clandestine tax hikes. PTELL does NOT reduce taxes, nor does it place ANY limits on tax rates supported by the public. PTELL does limit tax increases opposed by the public, which is why special interest groups have fought to weaken or repeal PTELL.

LIE: Class sizes are too large and must be reduced to increase/maintain educational quality.

FACT: Numerous studies, recent history, and common sense all clearly show this to be false. Pupil/teacher ratios in America have halved in the last 45 years, yet there has been no improvement in student performance. What this class size reduction HAS done is to produce an over twofold increase in per-pupil cost, even adjusting for inflation.

Class size reduction creates an artificial teacher shortage, inflates wages, and increases teacher union dues. It does nothing to benefit the students, their parents, or the community. Nations with class sizes in the 40s and 50s consistently outperform their American counterparts.

LIE: No Child Left Behind is an "Unfunded mandate"

FACT: If there's one word inapplicable to every element of our public schools, its "unfunded". NCLB requires of schools what would be considered basic quality control in the private sector. Schools must achieve educational proficiency and must measure this to provide proof. These are tasks for which school districts and teachers are already paid, and paid well.

You may have heard outlandish, fanciful "cost" estimates for implementation of NCLB. In Illinois, some have stated as much as $2 billion annually. Ask those who complain of the "costs" of NCLB to provide a breakdown of how these "costs" come about. You might hear the infamous "class size reduction" line; NCLB contains no such requirement.

The cost of NCLB is zero, that's right, zero. The elements of NCLB have always been required of schools. The No Child Left Behind Act had to be enacted into federal law to enforce what should have been going on in our public schools for the last 40 years.

No Child Left Behind is a great scapegoat to demand even more money. Our government spends over $400 billion annually on education. That could certainly fund just about any "mandate" imaginable.

LIE: There is a statewide teacher shortage

FACT: A quick review of news stories about teacher layoffs sheds some light on this. School districts, driven into the poorhouse by double-digit raises and overstaffing have been laying teachers off at an unprecedented rate. At a recent teacher job fair, around 400 teachers applied for about 60 openings. Hardly a labor shortage.

There is no sign of this changing in the near future. Many school districts have over hired, buying into the "smaller classes are better" nonsense. As budgets tighten, many of these surplus teachers may also find themselves unemployed. If 50% of all Illinois teachers were laid off, (75,000!) class sizes would be no larger than in the 1960s.

In a free market, this labor glut would force salaries lower to balance supply and demand. The Teacher Union driven command market, on the other hand, maintains outrageously high salaries through collective bullying.

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