Mercedes Schneider: Will Duncan Run for Governor of Illinois?

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1. Mark Collins says:

   October 23, 2015 at 2:11 pm

   What a nauseating thought. The two of them. Better yet, Arne should run against Rahm and use data to drive down crime. Heck, take the TFA model of teaching and apply it to governance. Yeah…that’s the ticket!

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2. Paul AFT 2063 says:

   October 23, 2015 at 2:12 pm

   The only reason why Rauner won was because Gov. Quinn chose Paul Vallas as his running mate and lost 20-30 thousand teachers as a result. Senator Durbin’s margin included teachers who voted against Vallas/Quinn by not voting or voting for the Green candidate. Hopefully the Illinois Democrats will learn from this mistake. Kwame Raoul is also a strong possibility and was nearly drafted in the last cycle. He is not beholden to the Commercial Club crowd.

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   • Chiara says:

     October 23, 2015 at 2:32 pm

     It’s unlikely that Democrats will “learn”. They’ve lost state after state in the last 8 years. They can’t even hold onto Great Lakes states, which I never thought I’d see. They don’t seem to care so I don’t know why their voters would care either.

     They’re not going to have much influence on education if they only govern 11 or 8 or 7 states out of 50. State government has 90% of the control over K-12 schools. If they don’t start winning state elections the Democratic ed reformers are going to look back at Arne Duncan as the absolute high point of their influence and clout.

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     • Involved Mom says:

       October 23, 2015 at 10:32 pm

       Agree

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   • Randal Hendee says:

     October 23, 2015 at 10:37 pm

     Paul AFT 2063:

     Don’t forget that in December of 2013 Governor Quinn signed a “pension reform bill” that would have diminished the pensions of retired teachers. Eighteen months later the Illinois Supreme Court unanimously overturned the legislation. Candidate Rauner was on record as opposing any changes to the retiree benefits, while Quinn wanted to gut the Cost of Living Adjustment.

     I think Quinn’s support of the clearly unconstitutional pension bill prevented many teachers from campaigning or even voting for him. The Vallas selection was bitter icing on a bad cake. I went ahead and voted for Quinn and Vallas, not in favor of them but against Rauner, who doesn’t believe in the public good and seems bent on destroying the state. But I know at least one public education and pension activist who actually supported Rauner because of Quinn’s pension stance.

     Meanwhile, Illinois still has the most underfunded pension system of any state. While teachers have always paid their contracted contribution, the State of Illinois never has. Democrat Michael Madigan and a series of governors from both parties oversaw decades of failure to fund public pensions. (It’s my understanding that popular Republican Jim Edgar was one of the main culprits.) They just kept reneging on their contracted obligations and deprived the pension funds of decades’ worth of compounded returns. They more or less stole from us to fund their re-election campaigns. (Cutting waste and abuse, judiciously increasing the state income tax, and cracking down on corruption–in order to finally start funding pensions–none of this was in their personal interest, though it would have made the state’s finances more secure.)

     It all contributed to the Rauner victory. Now Rauner will use teachers and other employees in the pension system as scapegoats for the state’s financial problems, and as a lever to reduce future benefits and promote further privatization.

     If Arne Duncan runs for governor as a pretend Democrat, I just hope we can come up with a worthy candidate to oppose him. Quinn obviously isn’t it. Lisa Madigan might run for governor, but unfortunately her dad is a pretend Democrat, and she might turn out to be one as well. Maybe your suggested candidate has a chance. If he’s interested, I hope he starts lining up support now.

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3. drext727 says:

   October 23, 2015 at 2:13 pm

   Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education and commented:
   He should be plenty of campaign money from our favorite billionaires.

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4. Chiara says:

   October 23, 2015 at 2:16 pm

   It would be easier if Duncan would just go to work for Rauner. I thought Vallas should have done that.

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5. Judy says:

   October 23, 2015 at 2:18 pm

   Almost glad I live in Pa.

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6. raisethebarhigher says:

   October 23, 2015 at 2:23 pm

   Oh my gosh, this almost gave me a heart attack.

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   • Dienne says:

     October 23, 2015 at 2:47 pm

     Yes. Even after I think I’ve heard it all and then some, some of these posts still need trigger warnings.

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7. Ohio Algebra II Teacher says:

   October 23, 2015 at 2:40 pm

   Such a depressing thought that he’d be publicly trumpeting the “successes” of his term as Education Secretary.

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   • Chiara says:

     October 23, 2015 at 2:45 pm

     But we’d get to hear more of those great speeches where he quotes Tom Friedman and tells working and middle class people the “skills gap” is the reason wages haven’t gone up. It doesn’t make any sense but it worked pretty well for him for 7 years, so what the hell.

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     • Ohio Algebra II Teacher says:

       October 23, 2015 at 2:46 pm

       I do like when he commits gaffes, but most of the time he and his supporters don’t even recognize them as gaffes.

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8. DEzerov says:

   October 23, 2015 at 3:06 pm

   And when the screen version comes out, Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels will be cast in the leading roles…

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9. Chiara says:

   October 23, 2015 at 3:25 pm

   They’re doing another competitive grant program for “next generation” schools.

   It’s the Obama Administration so I assume public schools need not apply.

   http://blog.ed.gov/2015/10/high-school-what-it-can-and-should-be-for-americas-students/

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10. rwieck says:

    October 23, 2015 at 5:23 pm

    Hasn’t Illinois education suffered enough? OMG, he’ll do another “race to the top” and you might as well pay your last respects to Illinois public education.

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11. flos56 says:

    October 23, 2015 at 9:48 pm

    Another man whose ego is bigger than his abilities.

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12. Justin says:

    October 24, 2015 at 12:45 pm

    Does he want to go to prison?

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