HR0028enr 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0028 Enrolled LRB099 03763 SXM 23952 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION 28

WHEREAS, The Illinois State Board of Education has been granted a waiver to No Child Left Behind that mandates that each race will have a separate standard to meet over the time frame from 2011 to 2017 to raise reading and math scores for grades 3 through 8; the standards amongst Caucasians, African-Americans, Hispanics, and Asian-Americans are not equal, with African-Americans and Hispanics being held to a lesser standard than Caucasians and Asian-Americans; and

WHEREAS, The Illinois State Board of Education has determined certain races are not as smart or as capable of learning as others in its use of race-based standards, the end result being that basing standards on race across the State of Illinois eliminates the ability of students to transfer to better schools since all schools have the same standards, which traps the students in poor performing schools where they will receive a substandard education based solely on their race; and

WHEREAS, Instituting race-based education is a violation of the United States and Illinois Constitutions, which guarantee equal protection and forbid discrimination; and

WHEREAS, In the cases of home-schooled African-American children, the racial achievement gap is virtually eliminated with African-American students scoring almost twice what their public school counterparts are scoring; and

WHEREAS, When African-American children are given high expectations for learning and are shown respect from their teachers, the racial achievement gap is virtually eliminated; and

WHEREAS, The United States is continuing to drop in international education rankings, ranking about 35 when it used to be ranked number one, in part due to race-based standards; and

WHEREAS, The more the United States federalizes education, spends money, and increases education bureaucracy while reducing local parental control, the more the State of Illinois lowers its expectations of certain races and the more the rankings fall; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the State Board of Education to promote the same educational standards for students of all races so that they receive equal access to, and rights in, education, without any distinction being made regarding the testing capabilities of any one race; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the members of this body pledge to review State policies and support current State programs that address the distinction made among the races when it comes to equal access to and rights in education; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge the State Board of Education to support our young people by fully funding quality neighborhood schools, which should include mentoring programs, state-of-the-art library media centers, rigorous science, literature, social sciences and math, youth guidance programs, smaller class sizes, music, drama, visual arts, world languages, and athletics; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge our public servants and community leaders to address the underlying racial, social, economic, and historical inequities faced by young African-Americans; and be it further

RESOLVED, That we urge the State Board of Education to abolish any race-based standards in its policies and procedures; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be delivered to the State Board of Education.