BRIEFLY
Edited by Rodd Whelpley
WITH LUCK AND PLUCK
NIU library follows Alger formula to write its own success story
Work and Win, Do and Dare, be Brave and Bold and you're Bound to Rise.
These titles from turn-of-the-century juvenile novels point to the formula that DeKalb's Northern Illinois University Library followed to build a 20,000-volume collection of American Hero Era and dime novels, a holdings list second only to the Library of Congress, to whom all U.S. publishers are requested to donate a copy of each of their books.
In the mid-1970s, the library used a little Luck and Pluck, buying a comprehensive dime novel collection from the estate of Albert Johannsen, a University of Chicago professor and expert in the field. According to Northern's special collections curator, Samuel Huang, these books were paperback westerns and detective novels that kids from the late 19th century picked up for 10 cents at the corner drug store.
The dime novel collection spilled over into an American Hero Era collection of books that taught children that hard work, clean living and frugality were the way to success. Such authors as Oliver Optic and Horatio Alger Jr. promised that even street urchins, shoe shiners and paper boys could grow up to be respectable and wealthy — if not downright rich like Gilded Age robber barons J.P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, George M. Pullman and Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt.
|
A bookplate from Mark the Match Boy by Horatio Alger. The Horatio Alger Society meets this month in DeKalb to mark the 100th anniversary of Alger's death and to celebrate NlU's designation as the society's official repository. |
This month, afficionados of rags-to-riches stories are going to DeKalb to celebrate the selection of Northern's library as the official repository of the Horatio Alger Society, a group of book collectors dedicated to Alger's ideals. Their annual convention and book auction is scheduled for May 13-16.
Alger, who died in 1899, wrote more than 100 works of fiction expressing his Strive and Succeed philosophy. Estimates are that his books sold in excess of 200 million copies during the latter half of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th century.
Northern has 2,000 Alger texts. The collection includes allot the 118 books Alger wrote, counting those finished by others after his death. Because Alger stories were serialized in magazines and lax copyright laws allowed several publishers to reprint his work almost at will, a complete collection of every Alger in every edition would number 8,000 to 10,000 volumes.
The library's collection is the reason Northern beat others in the competition to become the Alger society's official repository. (Harvard, Alger's alma mater, expressed no interest.) Since being chosen as the repository, Northern's library has raised $15,000 as a permanent endowment for the collection.
For more information, visit the Web site at www.ihot.com/~has/.
Beverley Scobell and Rodd Whelpley
8 May 1999 Illinois Issues
FOLLOW-UP
• Lake, Kane and Will counties' voters approved $195 million in bond issues
to preserve open space. (See Illinois Issues, April, page 8.)
• Proposals to prohibit urban sprawl and preserve farmland failed to get out
of committee in the legislature. (See Illinois Issues, March, pages 6 and 20.)
• Archer Daniels Midland Co. and A.E. Staley Manufacturing Co.
announced last month they will reject for processing genetically modified
corn that is not accepted in Europe. (See Illinois Issues, November, page 16.)
• The Illinois Supreme Court ruled the Lady Elgin, a 19th century steamer
that sank in Lake Michigan, belongs to Harry Zych, a Chicago-based
underwater salvager. (See Illinois Issues, March, page 10.)
WEB SITE OF THE MONTH
Show me my money
Now that you've paid your state taxes, would you like to know where your
money goes?
To see how the state invests your money, visit state Treasurer Judy Baar
Topinka's site at www.state.il.us/treas/. As the state banker, the treasurer is
responsible for the state's investment portfolio. Click on the Money Talk
button to access Programs & Services, which includes the state investment
plan for about $10 billion. About $3.5 billion of that is in the Illinois
Funds, open to any public agency or public fund in the state.
To work with the money that's left in your pockets, the Personal Finance
section gives advice on financial planning, protecting your credit rating,
dealing with bankers and writing wills. The Education link explains the
Bank at School program that teaches elementary kids the elementary principles of banking.
To see how the state spends your tax money, visit Comptroller Dan
Hynes' site at www.ioc.state.il.us/. Hynes is the guy who signs the state's
checks.
For an overview of how the money removed from your paycheck translates to, say, a new bridge or a new school, click on the About Our Office button and go to State Finance 101. Even for those who don't speak financialese, this basic lesson clarifies such terms as fund (the General Assembly has created more than 500 funds to finance projects), obligation, voucher and warrant. You'll find a brief explanation of the budget and appropriation process. (Each item of spending approved by the General Assembly is an appropriation; the state has more than 9,200 appropriations.) And
there's a discussion of money that comes to the state from sources other
than taxes, such as money from federal grants and through the sale of
bonds, which are used to finance state projects.
An interesting sidelight to the comptroller's site is the section outlining
the history of the office. Until the 1970 Illinois Constitution, the office that
processed the state's bills was known as the auditor of public accounts. A
short biography of the men and women who have held the office offers
intriguing tidbits of history: James Shields challenged Abraham Lincoln to
a duel; Charles Swigert and Charles Pavey were Civil War heroes; Orville
Hodge embezzled and misused more than 2 million taxpayer dollars and
went to jail — the key reason the constitution's drafters separated the duties
of the state treasurer and comptroller. A directory of the phone numbers of
key people who know where the money goes rounds out this useful site.
You may even feel a little better about rendering unto Caesar when you
can follow the money back to your door.
Beverley Scobell
Local government officials
across Illinois are concerned
about the need to establish
thousands of new ethics commissions by July 1. The problem is,
they're not sure if they have to.
Many local officials aren't sure how
to interpret portions of the gift ban act
passed last year. "This is so confusing," says Steve Sonnemaker, the Peoria County auditor
who is serving as president of the Illinois Association ofCounty Officials.
The concern emanates from the new
state law that bans most gifts to state
employees and elected officials. The
law requires establishing separate
ethics commissions for constitutional
officers, the legislature and the
judiciary.
An additional clause requires local
governments and school districts to
adopt their own gift bans and enforce
them. But requiring 6,700 local governments to create ethics commissions
would be expensive and a "tremendous waste of resources," says Ken
Alderson, executive director of the Illinois Municipal League.
Cynthia Canary, director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform,
agrees that having thousands of new ethics commissions would only invite
confusion, disagreements and lawsuits.
Alderson and others are hoping for
a delay in the law's implementation or
some cleanup language from state lawmakers this spring. The association of
state's attorneys is seeking formal clarification of the new law from the state
attorney general
Meanwhile, a Sangamon County
Circuit Court judge ruled in late
March that the new law could not
apply to judges, because under the
Illinois Constitution, the Illinois
Supreme Court, not the legislature,
has the authority to set rules governing
judicial conduct. The attorney general's office has not decided whether to
appeal that ruling, according to
spokesman Dan Curry.
Ed Wojcickn
Illinois Issues May 1999 / 9
BRIEFLY
Legislative checklist
hitting the home stretch
It's so far, so good for Gov. George
Ryan in this spring session of the Illinois General Assembly, his first as chief
executive. Most notably, his proposal to
levy tougher penalties on those who use
guns while committing felonies made it
out of the Senate. And the governor
managed to nail down a compromise on
tighter mega-hog farm regulations.
Though Ryan lost a bid to extend civil rights to gays, the effort earned more
support than in past years after he and
the five other constitutional officers
sent a letter to the legislature calling
for support.
The heavy legislative lifting begins
this month when lawmakers turn their
attention to the governor's budget for
the fiscal year that begins in July.
Meanwhile, here are some of the other issues lawmakers are addressing in
the final weeks of the session.
15-20-LIFE
The governor's favorite get-tough-on-guns proposal passed unanimously in the Senate and received a
hearing in the House before legislators took their spring recess. The so-called 15-20-life measure would hang
more years on the sentences of those
convicted of using guns when committing felonies. If someone is wounded or killed, the felon could get life.
HOGS
The state will retain control over
siting of large-scale livestock operations under a compromise reached on
revisions of the rules governing the
facilities. Nevertheless, some activists
vowed to continue fighting for more
local control.
Along with staff from the governor's office, sit-down-and-talk sessions included representatives of the
Illinois beef and pork producer associations, the Illinois Farm Bureau,
legislators from the Peoria area who
have been active on the issue, the Illinois Environmental Council and the
Illinois Stewardship Alliance, an
organization representing farmers and
rural residents.
Republican Sen. John Maitland of
Bloomington moderated the talks.
Under the agreement, the state agriculture department will make the final
call on approving a proposed hog
operation after it meets eight siting
requirements. Such operations must
prove they won't harm the environment, will minimize spills and run-off,
will have an odor-control plan and
will be consistent with local growth,
tourism and environmental plans.
Though a proposed operation would
have to present its plan at a community meeting, a county board could only
recommend whether or not an operation should go forward.
The state's Pollution Control Board
would be responsible for overseeing
construction of waste lagoons.
The Stewardship Alliance refused
to sign off on the agreement because
it supports binding local approval.
"Putting the ag department in charge
of approving these operations is like
putting the fox in charge of the hen
house," says Pam Hansen, who represents the group. "The department is
there to promote agriculture and now
they will be regulating it. There's a
conflict there."
Further, Hansen believes, operations could still be built on unstable
land, meaning farm waste could enter
the local water supply. But Lynne
Padovan of the Environmental Council counters that construction standards for large-scale operations have
been toughened considerably.
In Illinois, the giant operations generally process hogs, though there are
also large-scale cattle and poultry
farms in the United States. (See
Illinois Issues, April 1996, page 16.)
During his campaign, Gov. Ryan
called for more stringent standards for
the large operations, but said he
believes the state should retain final
say on siting and construction.
The Senate approved the agreement
unanimously. At presstime, it was
under consideration in the House.
CROSSINGS
The two legislative chambers took opposite — and uncharacteristic
— approaches to solving the problem
of dangerous railroad crossings.
Surprisingly, the more populist House
went after careless motorists, while the
more conservative Senate took on
negligent railroad companies.
A March train crash in rural Bourbonnais that killed 11 people generated
legislative plans to improve crossing
safety. Suburban and downstate House
Republicans proposed a task force
including representatives from the legislature, the governor, the secretary of
state's office and the railroad and trucking industries. The panel could consider
imposing stiffer penalties for motorists
who cause accidents and recommend
more secure crossing guards such as
those currently being tested in the state
(see Illinois Issues, March, page 16).
The accident in Bourbonnais, one of
the worst in state history, occurred
when a truck was hit by an Amtrak
train at an intersection. An investigation continued at presstime.
The House GOP coalition, led by
William A. O'Connor of Riverside,
also moved a measure through that
chamber to increase jail time for
motorists who cause a death when their
cars collide with a train. O'Connor says
the measure is designed to deter drivers
from thinking about going through a
closed crossing gate. Increasing the jail
time from two-to-five years to three-to-seven years would give prosecutors
greater flexibility in such cases, he says.
The measure must be considered by the
Senate.
Meanwhile in the Senate, one measure could impose up to six-month jail
terms for railroad company executives
if their trains cause continued tie-ups at
crossings. That proposal, sponsored by
Republican Patrick O'Malley of Palos
Park, would make the charge a misdemeanor. O'Malley argues trains in Blue
Island are blocking intersections for
hours at a time. He says that encourages children to crawl between and
under the trains. Under the proposal,
the Illinois Commerce Commission
10 / May 1999 Illinois Issues
would have to find that a railroad company has demonstrated a pattern of
blocking an intersection.
Chicago Democrat Robert Molaro
moved another measure through the
Senate to prohibit trains in his city from
blocking an intersection for more than
10 minutes during the morning and
evening rush hours. Both of those measures were sent to the House.
SPECIAL ED FUNDING
The funding formulas for children in special education classes would
be streamlined and school districts
could receive greater reimbursement for
these programs under a bill supported
by the State Board of Education.
Local school districts have had to
pick up a greater portion of costs associated with special ed programs since
the mid-1970s. In 1997, the passage of
the federal Individuals with Disabilities
Education Act opened the door for
more children, including those with
learning and speech disabilities, to be
designated as having special needs.
A bill sponsored by Carterville
Democrat Larry Woolard would
increase the level at which the state
reimburses local school districts from
$4,325 per student to a maximum level
of $5,838 for special ed students. The
appropriation would be based on the
number of students in federally mandated programs two years prior to the
funding. The state had about 273,000
children in special education programs
in 1997. The bill calls for spending $61
million in the next fiscal year and a
total of $246 million over a four-year
phase-in period. School districts would
not receive less money than they did
under previous formulas.
The House passed the measure unanimously. It now moves to the Senate.
HIGHER ED FUNDING
Ryan suffered a partial defeat, at
least temporarily, when the Senate
Appropriations Committee trimmed
the State Board of Higher Education's
proposed budget. And this was after
Ryan had cut the board's request for
new funds from $167 million to $137
million. (That would still be a nice 6.2
percent higher ed budget increase.) This
is uncharted waters for the board,
which has had its requests for new
funding approved five years running
under former Gov. Jim Edgar.
The Senate committee rearranged
some of the board's spending priorities
as well, shifting about $19 million to
infrastructure repair and renovation of
existing buildings.
The higher ed budget has been
approved by the Senate with the cuts. It
now goes to the House. Board staff say
they will push to restore the cuts in that
chamber.
PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY
First Lady Lura Lynn Ryan
made some news, too, when she traveled to Washington, D.C, to ask the
Illinois congressional delegation to
push funding for the proposed Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library in
Springfield.
Subsequently, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin
of Springfield, long a proponent of a
Lincoln library, called for $6.5 million
for the project in his appropriations
request for the next federal fiscal year
beginning October 1. In the U.S.
House, Republican Rep. Ray LaHood
of Peoria also is pushing for funding
and U.S. House Speaker J. Dennis
Hastert of Yorkville has signaled his
approval of the concept.
The city of Springfield has
pledged $10 million in tax increment
financing district money. And Gov.
Ryan could ask for additional state
dollars this spring for the state budget that begins July 1. Last year, former Gov. Jim Edgar and lawmakers
agreed to set aside $10 million in
state appropriations for the project.
The library is still in the planning
stages, with architects and designers
considering a half dozen possible
sites. Current plans call for the
library to become the new home of
the Illinois State Historic Library,
which is now housed in cramped
underground quarters in the capital
city. The new library also would contain a museum on Lincoln's life, and
a collection for research by serious
scholars. (See Illinois Issues, February, page 26.)
Estimated costs fall between $60
million and $148 million, depending
on final decisions concerning the
scale and the scope of the library. As
it compares the sites, a committee
will determine the size of the facility,
its parking needs and how it should
fit into the surrounding neighborhood. That should be done sometime
this summer, says David Blanchette,
spokesman for the Illinois Historic
Preservation Agency. After those
decisions are made, the architect,
Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum Inc.
of St. Louis, can start preliminary
drawings and supporters can go to
the public for donations.
"It's hard to raise money when you
don't know how big the library will
be or what it will cost," Blanchette
says. "People want to see what they're
paying for."
ENDANGERED SPECIES
A controversial measure that
would have moved three animals off
the state's endangered species list was
amended and passed by the House.
Democrats Kurt Granberg of Carlyle and Larry Woolard of Carterville
had proposed that the least brook
lamprey, the eastern massasauga rattlesnake and the Indiana crayfish be
removed from the list. The Illinois
Environmental Council and scientists
who make the endangered classification objected, and the downstate legislators went back to the drawing board.
The latest plan gives the Department of Natural Resources authority
to determine whether a proposed
development that encroaches on an
endangered species could still move
forward. The listing of the massasauga has hamstrung Granberg's
efforts to help developer Charles
Bidwill III build the Carlyle Lodge.
"We wanted to get the attention of
the department and the Endangered
Species Board to let people have a
voice in the process. They've never
been to Carlyle. Half the site is a
parking lot," Granberg says.
The Environmental Council's
Lynne Padovan says that group will
work to modify the measure. The
question now goes to the Senate.
Burney Simpson
Illinois Issues May 1999 / 11
BRIEFLY
CHECKING
ON THE
NEIGHBORS
Flush Midwestern states
consider tax breaks
A theme running through most of the
state legislatures in the country this
spring is how to spend all the money
piling up in their treasuries.
According to the National Association of State Budget Officers, at the end
of fiscal year 1998 the states' aggregate
budget surplus was $28.6 billion. (Illinois' surplus is $356 million, the highest
in state history. The governor's projection for the 1999 fiscal year is even
higher, at $390 million.)
And no wonder. According to the Center for the Study of the States, a New
York think tank, total state tax revenues
across the country rose 6.9 percent during fiscal year 1998, spurred by an 11.2
percent increase in income tax collections nationwide. Revenue collections
from income, sales and corporate taxes
exceeded original budget estimates by
$11 billion and were higher than expected. in 45 states, marking the fourth year
in a row that states collected more tax
money than originally budgeted.
It's not surprising, then, that many of
our neighbors are talking about giving
some back to taxpayers.
Indiana debates business
breaks vs. property tax relief
In Indiana, with a projected $2.7
billion budget surplus, competing tax-break measures were set to go down to
the wire. At press time, Senate Republican and House Democratic bills pre-
scribing how the money should be
spent were working toward an April 29
end-of-session deadline. The Senate
wanted to phase out the business
inventory tax, saving businesses about
$129 million, and the House wanted to
shift most local welfare expenses from
property taxpayers to the state government, saving residential and business
property owners an estimated $333
million over the two-year budget. And
legislators were quietly talking about
a pay raise for all 150 legislators.
Kentucky continues
a tax cut trend
Kentucky is in the second year of a
biennial budget. But legislators are
already gearing up to deliver more tax
cuts next year. They're especially keen on
a proposal to reduce or eliminate the
property tax on cars. During the past
three years, seven taxes have been cut or
eliminated, including a levy on prescription drugs and rates for inheritance taxes. Farmers are pushing for half of Kentucky's $5.5 billion share of the tobacco
settlement and state employees want to
be able to unionize and bargain collectively. And, like Indiana, Kentucky
legislators want a pay raise.
Missouri is looking to
increase personal exemption
In the Missouri legislature, the
debate is on how to cut income taxes.
House Speaker Steve Gaw is supporting a bill to increase the personal
exemption from $1,200 to $2,100. The
House has passed a tax credit for
pharmaceutical drugs for the elderly
and disabled. And, like most states,
Missouri is proposing ways to spend
its share of the tobacco settlement.
Iowa is cutting taxes
but spending on schools
With about $900 million in surplus
funds, Iowa, too, is debating tax relief.
Bills for both property tax and income
tax breaks are working their way
through the legislature. Lawmakers also
passed two education bills. One allows 4
percent funding growth for all school
districts. The other promises $150 million to buy new technology and help offset costs associated with reducing class
sizes in kindergarten through third
grade.
Wisconsin may overhaul
income tax brackets
Still in the early months of its two-year budget, the Wisconsin legislature is
working through Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson's budget proposals. The
$41 billion, 1999-2000 budget would cut
income taxes by $300 million, create a
$515 million public land program, put
inmates to work in new prison "work
houses" and overhaul the state's income
tax brackets. However, Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Chvala has
criticized the income tax plan, saying the
biggest break would go to the wealthy
He says "the rate cut for the rich is dead
on arrival in the Senate." A constitutional amendment passed by the legislature
earlier in the year and approved by voters on April 6 may affect some Illinoisans. Nonresident property owners
will no longer enjoy a lottery tax credit.
For more information, you can visit the
states' official Web sites at
Beverley Scobell
Show Me Slate says no
to concealed weapons
The hottest issue in Missouri was
decided outside the legislature. In a
statewide referendum last month
voters upheld a concealed weapons
ban that dates back to the Jesse
James era.
Nearly every one of Missouri's
rural counties supported lifting the
ban, while urban precincts voted
against the proposal. Perhaps a
record for a Missouri April election,
more than 1 million voters went to
the polls, resulting in a 52 percent to
48 percent vote to continue the ban
on carrying concealed weapons.
In the first referendum test of the
issue anywhere in the country, the
proponents of concealed weapons
were funded almost entirely by the
National Rifle Association, which
tunneled nearly $4 million into the
campaign, outspending opponents
by a 5-to-l margin. In a 1997 survey
for the Illinois State Police, a majority of Illinoisans opposed any law ¦
allowing citizens to carry concealed
weapons.
Beverley Scobell
12 / May 1999 Illinois Issues
Ladd commission
recommends a way to end
redistricting by lottery
Gov. George Ryan sees potential in a
commission's recommendation that
state senators and representatives redraw
their own redistricting maps without
regard to the other chamber's plan.
"That might be the way to go — or at
least it's one way to look at solving the
problem," says Ryan spokesman Dave
Urbanek. "It's a difficult problem, how
you remove politics from something that
is inherently political."
It has been difficult in recent years to
get agreement on the shape of state legislative districts and proponents of the
change argue the difficulty would be
lessened if Senate and House districts
were not contingent upon one another.
By default, the legislative map has been
left to the luck of the draw.
Back in 1992, Ryan, then secretary of
state, created a 29-member commission,
headed by Jeffrey Ladd, to deal with
remap trouble that occurs when lawmakers can't agree.
The 1970 state Constitution calls for
House and Senate districts to be
redrawn every 10 years and requires that
two House districts be nested within
each Senate district. The Constitution,
anticipating partisan squabbling, also
details a redistricting approval process
that can — and has — essentially come
down to a lottery-style tiebreaker. When
Gov. James R. Thompson vetoed a 1991
remap that had been shaped by the
Democratically controlled legislature, a
final decision was left up to a Legislative
Redistricting Commission whose partisan composition was determined by
pulling a tiebreaker's name from a bowl.
In 1981, the name came out of a
stovepipe hat.
But there will be no more pulling
names if the recommendations outlined
by the Ladd commission are adopted.
Under the proposal, the maps drawn by
each chamber would have to be
approved by a three-fifths vote. The call
for an extraordinary majority creates a
situation that forces a bipartisan solution because different parties control
each chamber by only a slight majority.
The Ladd commission proposal
removes the governor from the process,
which takes away another opportunity
for partisan decision-making. The commission also recommends that the
House add a 119th member, to avoid an
even split in voting.
The State Board of Elections would
be called in to select a computer program for redistricting if either chamber
failed to come up with a new map.
Having separate House and Senate
redistricting plans means representative
districts would not necessarily fall neatly
within senatorial boundaries as they do
now. That aspect of the commission's
proposal would be among those requiring a change in the Constitution.
"It's an intriguing idea," Urbanek
says. "It's something [Ryan] would like
to see the General Assembly review and
take up."
Changes in the Constitution would
require approval by the legislature and
the electorate, but even if such action did
not occur until next year, the suggestions
in the report could be put into effect in
time for the 2001 remap, Ladd notes.
Maureen Foertsch McKinney
QUOTABLE
"I assumed you
would come before this
committee and say,
'Stop me before I
prosecute again.'"
U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin of
Illinois, as quoted in the Chicago
Tribune, addressing Kenneth Starr
during a Senate committee hearing on
the Independent Counsel statute. The
statute expires June 30 and Congress
is considering whether to extend it.
Starr's investigations led to the
impeachment of President Bill
Clinton and indictments of numerous
others in connection with a wide-ranging probe. He told the committee
the statute is unworkable. His
investigation could continue even if
the law is allowed to expire.
Illinois Issues May 1999 / 13
BRIEFLY
REPORTS
Colleges and universities throughout the country are moving to put a
high-tech twist on "distance learning," the term for educational outreach that began a century ago with
correspondence courses. At the tail
end of tins century, though, an
increasing number of students who
can't make the trip to campus are logging onto computers. Illinois' higher
education institutions may be moving
more slowly than, say, California or
Michigan in putting college courses
online. (See "GoodOle Virtual U,"
Illinois Issues, February, page 22.)
Still, this state is beginning to put
more resources toward the development of Internet-based learning
throughout its university system.
According to President James Stukel,
the University of Illinois hopes to
have 10,000 online enrollments by
academic year 2001-2002.
But last month, two higher education
research groups raised concerns about
the efficacy of virtual education.
THE COLLEGE BOARD:
Narrow the digital divide
Researchers Lawrence Gladieux
and Scott Swail argue that virtual
universities will help only those who
are already computer literate and
have access to the technology. And
they contend minority students and
those from low-income families are
less likely to share in those advantages. Thus they conclude that,
despite their promise, new information technologies could serve to
deepen the divide between educational haves and have-nots.
According to their analysis, distribution of computers is "highly stratified" by socioeconomic class. They
calculate that three-quarters of
households with incomes over
$75,000 have a computer, compared
to one-third of households with
incomes between $25,000 and
$35,000, and one-sixth with incomes
below $15,000. Further, according to
these researchers, white households
are twice as likely as black and Hispanic households to have access to
computers. As a result, many minority and low-income students arrive at
college unequipped to benefit from
the technology.
Gladieux and Swail recommend
that designers of virtual campuses
make access the core of their programs. And they urge public officials
to ensure a level playing field for
computer training. While technology
has expanded widely into elementary
and secondary schools, these
researchers argue that school access
to the Internet is not a good indicator of student access. Many schools,
for example, provide computers only
in the library or the principal's office.
And the report finds that schools
with a higher concentration of poor
students tend to provide the least
classroom access to computers.
The College Board, an organization made up of representatives of
colleges and universities throughout
the country, conducts education policy analysis, with a primary focus on
equity and access. This report was
issued last month. "While education
is the great equalizer," Gladieux said
in a printed statement, "technology
appears to be a new engine of
inequality."
INSTITUTE FOR HIGHER
EDUCATION POLICY:
Learn what works first
The value of technology-based
distance learning is an open question, according to The Institute for
Higher Education Policy, a nonprofit
think tank that focuses on afford-
ability and access to college-level
education.
This report, which was funded
with a grant from the American Federation of Teachers and the National
Education Association, argues that
policy-makers and education leaders
have a lot to learn about how distance learning occurs and whether
technology-based courses enhance
that learning.
To date, the report concludes, data
on these issues are inconclusive. Current studies, according to the report,
fail to account for learning differences among students and do not
adequately explain why the dropout
rates for distance learners are higher.
"While distance learning has great
potential to impact higher education
on many levels, there is much that we
don't know about its effectiveness,"
institute President Jamie Merisotis
said in a printed statement. "We
need to have better information
about what works — and what
doesn't — in order to make the best
possible educational decisions for
students."
Peggy Boyer Long
Jim Thompson helps
with restoration efforts
Gov. Ryan and Chicago Mayor
Richard M. Daley tapped former
Gov. James R, Thompson to head
a task force charged with finding a
way to restore the Pullman railcar
factory and portions of the
company town just west of Lake
Calumet that George Pullman
built for his workers in the 1880s.
Federal preservation money for
the area was already in place before
a fire damaged much of the factory
last December (see Illinois Issues,
January, page 13). The fire changed
the plans but not the resolve of
those involved in renewal efforts.
A $2.1 million stabilization plan
is designed to shore up the structures until final plans are made.
Work on the north factory is
scheduled to start this month, with
rehab of the administration building (also known as the clocktower
building) to follow later this
summer. Work will also begin soon
on a $ 1.9 million restoration plan
for the Hotel Florence.
Rodd Whelpley
14 / May 1999 Illinois Issues
PRESSBOX
Affirmative action, welfare
reform and utility deregulation
The Chicago Tribune reports that
more than half a dozen of this state's
public universities, including the
University of Illinois, have been targeted by a conservative research group that
succeeded in overturning or altering
race-based college admissions policies in
other states.
According to the March 31 story,
"Affirmative Action Challenged," the
Washington-based Center for Equal
Opportunity has filed freedom of information requests at Illinois public universities seeking admissions data regarding
race and gender. Reporters Patrice M.
Jones and Ray Long contend the move
sets the stage for an assault on affirmative action in this state. According to
their report, "the center has been a player" in overturning affirmative action in
California and Washington, and the
group's research has been used to back
claims of reverse discrimination at the
University of Michigan.
Illinois university officials, according
to the Tribune report, defend their
admissions policies by pointing to the
1978 Bakke ruling by the U.S. Supreme
Court allowing race to be used as a
"plus" factor to promote diversity.
"But sentiment about affirmative
action on campuses is continuing to
evolve." A more recent federal court
ruling in a Texas case ended race-
conscious admissions in that state.
The 1996 Hopwood ruling by the 5th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals also
affected admissions policies in
Louisiana and Mississippi.
According to Jones and Long,
admissions procedures are under
review at the University of Illinois,
Southern Illinois University and
Northern Illinois University.
Governing magazine reports that
sanctions against recipients who fail to
live up to work requirements are "cutting the welfare rolls in a big way." Three
years ago, the federal government
required the states to overhaul their welfare policies. The guidelines are clear:
two years to find work and five years of
help total. However, the welfare-to-
work deadline is already at hand in
some states that chose to set tighter
timelines.
In the magazine's April issue, reporter
Jonathan Walters writes in "Beyond the
Welfare Clock" that some states have
been flexible about providing waivers on
benefit deadlines. Tennessee, for example, dropped from that state's rolls less
than a fifth of those who had exhausted
their benefits, according to Walters.
But states have been tough about
enforcing work requirements, and sanctioning those who fail to live up to them.
Client advocates charge such sanctions
"have been used in an overly aggressive
and punitive fashion" in an effort to cut
the welfare rolls. As an example, Walters
cites Arizona, which has been using
sanctions to close a hefty 500 cases a
month. He writes that field researchers
with the Rockefeller Institute say Arizona caseworkers aren't doing a good
job of communicating to clients the new
expectations of welfare-to-work.
"It was inevitable, of course, that
some states and localities would use the
new-found flexibility handed to them
under federal welfare reform to cut rolls
more aggressively than might have been
intended by reformers. It was also
inevitable that in some states and localities, government's performance in
implementing the new regimen would
be uneven. But clearly, sanctions have
become a centerpiece of welfare reform
in most places, regardless of how judiciously they are administered or how
well they are explained to clients by
caseworkers."
State Legislatures magazine
reports in its April issue that the "surest
early returns" on electric utility deregulation are coming from the energy
industry's preparation for entering a
competitive environment, rather than
from legislation opening the retail electricity market.
Matthew Brown, the National Conference of State Legislatures' expert on
utility restructuring, writes in "Transforming the Electricity Business" that
interest in deregulating the industry has
waned among the states over the past
year. Many are waiting to see whether
the cost of electricity will drop in those
14 states that have already approved legislation giving consumers the chance to
choose their electricity providers. Brown
says they'll have to wait awhile.
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, California and Pennsylvania are well into
the transition, with 10 other states,
including Illinois, right behind.
Meanwhile, "the industry has not
waited for competition and is in the
midst of a rapid-fire change, acting as if
competition were already in place. This,
more than anything else, could end up
being the force that pushes states to
enact electricity reform."
Brown highlights two manifestations
of the change: consolidations within the
industry and sales of power plants.
Many utilities, he writes, have decided to
"concentrate on the less risky monopoly
business of transmitting and distribut-
ing power [instead of generating it]."
Here in Illinois, for instance, Chicago-
based Commonwealth Edison is selling
six coal-fired plants. Meanwhile,
Decatur-based Illinois Power is selling
its Clinton nuclear power plant.
Peggy Boyer Long
Illinois Issues May 1999 / 15
Gift ban act may
give local governments a headache
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