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HOUSE RESOLUTION 28

 
2    WHEREAS, The Illinois State Board of Education has been
3granted a waiver to No Child Left Behind that mandates that
4each race will have a separate standard to meet over the time
5frame from 2011 to 2017 to raise reading and math scores for
6grades 3 through 8; the standards amongst Caucasians,
7African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asian-Americans are not
8equal, with African-Americans and Hispanics being held to a
9lesser standard than Caucasians and Asian-Americans; and
 
10    WHEREAS, The Illinois State Board of Education has
11determined certain races are not as smart or as capable of
12learning as others in its use of race-based standards, the end
13result being that basing standards on race across the State of
14Illinois eliminates the ability of students to transfer to
15better schools since all schools have the same standards, which
16traps the students in poor performing schools where they will
17receive a substandard education based solely on their race; and
 
18    WHEREAS, Instituting race-based education is a violation
19of the United States and Illinois Constitutions, which
20guarantee equal protection and forbid discrimination; and
 
21    WHEREAS, In the cases of home-schooled African-American
22children, the racial achievement gap is virtually eliminated

 

 

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1with African-American students scoring almost twice what their
2public school counterparts are scoring; and
 
3    WHEREAS, When African-American children are given high
4expectations for learning and are shown respect from their
5teachers, the racial achievement gap is virtually eliminated;
6and
 
7    WHEREAS, The United States is continuing to drop in
8international education rankings, ranking about 35 when it used
9to be ranked number one, in part due to race-based standards;
10and
 
11    WHEREAS, The more the United States federalizes education,
12spends money, and increases education bureaucracy while
13reducing local parental control, the more the State of Illinois
14lowers its expectations of certain races and the more the
15rankings fall; therefore, be it
 
16    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
17NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
18urge the State Board of Education to promote the same
19educational standards for students of all races so that they
20receive equal access to, and rights in, education, without any
21distinction being made regarding the testing capabilities of
22any one race; and be it further
 

 

 

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1    RESOLVED, That the members of this body pledge to review
2State policies and support current State programs that address
3the distinction made among the races when it comes to equal
4access to and rights in education; and be it further
 
5    RESOLVED, That we urge the State Board of Education to
6support our young people by fully funding quality neighborhood
7schools, which should include mentoring programs,
8state-of-the-art library media centers, rigorous science,
9literature, social sciences and math, youth guidance programs,
10smaller class sizes, music, drama, visual arts, world
11languages, and athletics; and be it further
 
12    RESOLVED, That we urge our public servants and community
13leaders to address the underlying racial, social, economic, and
14historical inequities faced by young African-Americans; and be
15it further
 
16    RESOLVED, That we urge the State Board of Education to
17abolish any race-based standards in its policies and
18procedures; and be it further
 
19    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
20delivered to the State Board of Education.