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90_HJ0024
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1 HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, The General Education Development (GED) Test is
3 the avenue for approximately 35,000 citizens of Illinois to
4 annually obtain the credentials they need to further their
5 education beyond the high school level or to enter the
6 workforce; and
7 WHEREAS, One out of every 7 holders of a high school
8 diploma or its equivalent earned those credentials through
9 the GED program; and
10 WHEREAS, The average GED certificate holder earns
11 significantly more in his or her career than a person with no
12 high school level credentials, thereby contributing
13 significantly more to the economy and to State and local
14 governments, and requiring far less taxpayer supported public
15 services; and
16 WHEREAS, The American Council of Education (ACE), the
17 not-for-profit entity that owns the GED testing program and
18 whose President is former University of Illinois President
19 Stanley O. Ikenberry, informed the Illinois State Board of
20 Education only weeks ago that, effective with the start of
21 Fiscal Year 1998, the fees charged for the use of GED test
22 instruments must rise by at least 166%; and
23 WHEREAS, The statewide impact of the ACE fee increase for
24 GED test batteries would be approximately $200,000 in the
25 coming year; and
26 WHEREAS, The GED fee structure in Illinois has not been
27 adjusted for several years, with program needs such as GED
28 examiner training and program outreach suffering as a result
29 of increasing costs combined with static revenue streams; and
30 WHEREAS, Unless the American Council of Education fee
31 requirements are met in some way other than by having the
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1 burden fall on the Regional Offices of Education that are
2 responsible for providing GED program services, GED training
3 and testing sites in Illinois will be forced to close their
4 doors, particularly sites located in the less densely
5 populated and more economically distressed areas of the
6 State; and
7 WHEREAS, A one-time only fiscal remedy is required to
8 bridge the Illinois GED program through a period in which its
9 fiscal and program structure can be examined and a solution
10 with more permanent beneficial impact can be identified and
11 implemented; therefore, be it
12 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
13 NINETIETH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE
14 SENATE CONCURRING HEREIN, that the Illinois State Board of
15 Education is directed to fund, on a one-time only basis,
16 supplemental GED grants from moneys appropriated expressly
17 for that purpose; and be it further
18 RESOLVED, That the Illinois State Board of Education, the
19 Regional Offices of Education, and the other agencies
20 involved in the GED program participate in an examination of
21 the fiscal structure of the GED program with the objective of
22 identifying a proposal for long term fiscal health of the
23 program; and be it further
24 RESOLVED, That a report and recommendations arising from
25 the GED study be delivered by the Illinois State Board of
26 Education to the members of the Illinois General Assembly and
27 the Office of the Governor by December 1, 1997.