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Rod Blagojevich Debunks Vallas Claims
By Sharon Schmidt
 For most of the campaign,
Illinois Democratic candidate for Governor U.S. Congressman Rod Blagojevich
has been quietly criticizing Paul Vallas’ record as CEO of the Chicago
Public Schools. Most of the criticism has not been during public debate,
but can be found in the “Blagojevich Education Plan” on his
web site (www.Rodforus.com).
Blagojevich notes the
failure of Vallas’ testing and accountability program, calling Vallas’s
claims of accomplishment “fictional.” He also quotes a panel
of national experts who labeled Vallas’ testing program as “fundamentally
flawed.”
Blagojevich zeros in
on Vallas’ failed policy of making testing the centerpiece of his
policies.
“Testing cannot
drive students to educational success,” Blagojevich says. “As
the old farmer saying goes, ‘You can’t make a pig fatter by
weighing it over and over.’ ... we are not going to make our children
smarter by just testing them over and over.”
Blagojevich’s plan
emphasizes early childhood education and increased funding for schools.
He addresses issues of accountability, the teacher shortage, character
education, discipline and safety.
“The Blagojevich
plan is about more than fictional claims from erstwhile politicians about
their personal legacy of accomplishment, it is about finally putting the
right tools in the hands of our students, teachers, and parents,”
Blagojevich says.
In late February, however,
Blagojevich launched a website that aggressively dissected Vallas’
record (see www.realvallasrecord.com).
Blagojevich took Vallas to task for:
- Cutting the wages, health benefits, and pensions of 2,000 school
system janitors.
- Using $800,00 to pay for chauffeurs for himself and his top staff,
after promising not to do so.
- Paying millions to a family friend who was supposed to solve problems
with student busing, but failed to do so.
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