00:00I really am so honored to accept the endorsement of the Illinois Education Association.
00:11Look, I want to recognize also Vice President Gina Harris.
00:15What a kind, gentle, and genuine person she is.
00:19Thank you for your leadership.
00:21As well, Victoria, Melissa, Stephanie,
00:25so many people here who have put your heart and soul into teaching,
00:29into educating our children, into making the state a better place to live.
00:34Thank you for sharing your stories with us today and for your kind words.
00:38Look, I would not be here were it not for public education.
00:44My family arrived here in this country when a nine-year-old Ukrainian boy named Nicholas Pritzker
00:51escaped the pogroms of the Russian Empire.
00:55My family would have been killed if not allowed to come to the United States.
01:01He arrived in Chicago, penniless, and he spoke no English.
01:09A social service agency gave him a place to live.
01:12A public school gave him a free public education.
01:22He learned to speak English by going to public school.
01:28He put himself through college and then through graduate school,
01:32and then he sent his three kids to public school.
01:35This country gave my family refuge from anti-Semitic killings and oppression.
01:42And there's nearly no place else in the world where in just a single lifetime,
01:47a public education would take you from utter poverty to attaining the American dream.
01:53And in just a few generations,
01:55one of their descendants would eventually become governor of this great state.
02:05Today, there are about 50 million public students,
02:10public school students in the United States.
02:12The bedrock of our democracy is an educated citizenry.
02:18Our nation's past success has been because of public education,
02:25and our future depends upon it.
02:29As teachers, you hold that outcome in your hands,
02:33and it's time that our nation's leaders acted like it.
02:38Now, this is why, in the face of Donald Trump
02:41and the MAGA movement's attack on public education,
02:45I have not bent.
02:48Donald Trump is trying to destroy public education.
02:52He laid off nearly half of the staff of the Department of Education
02:56at the federal level.
02:57He got rid of people responsible for providing resources
03:02to Title I schools, rural schools, special education.
03:07And then he put a pro-wrestling executive in charge of the department,
03:12someone who honestly doesn't even know what AI is.
03:17She called it A-1.
03:21Now, Trump's got Head Start in his crosshairs.
03:25Head Start.
03:26It's the program that levels the playing field for low-income students
03:31and improves the quality of the K-12 educational experience
03:35for kids, for teachers, and for parents.
03:39Cuts to SNAP and Medicaid affect your work, too.
03:43How many of you have seen the look in a student's eye
03:46when they haven't eaten before school?
03:49How many of you have had to teach in front of a class
03:52with a student who clearly needs a doctor
03:55but hasn't been able to see one?
03:58When the government abdicates its responsibility to children,
04:02well, that responsibility doesn't go away.
04:05It just shifts.
04:06And more often than not, it falls on our teachers.
04:10Then there's the problem of, well,
04:14organized conservative extremists
04:16trying to take seats on the school board
04:18so that they get to decide who can teach
04:21based on their religious beliefs.
04:24Or so they can ban books about history they don't like.
04:28Or they can whitewash curriculums.
04:32And unfortunately, that brings me to my opponent.
04:36Darren Bailey is an existential threat
04:38to public education in Illinois.
04:45We don't have to wonder what his vision for education is.
04:49We've seen it through the grammar school
04:51that he and his wife started.
04:53That school's curriculum teaches that evolution isn't real.
04:57That slave owners were kind to their slaves.
05:02That women entering the workforce
05:04have been harmful to America.
05:08Darren Bailey even supported local officials
05:11banning books in schools.
05:13People like him are why I enacted
05:16a ban on book bans in Illinois.
05:24The world that Darren Bailey and his allies
05:27in the MAGA movement offer
05:29is something out of the 1920s.
05:32It would be a disaster for public education,
05:35a disaster for pluralism,
05:37frankly, a disaster for our democracy.
05:40He would wreak havoc on education in Illinois
05:44at a time when we have the opportunity
05:46to build on the historic success
05:48that we've already had
05:50because of the teachers standing behind me today.
05:53When I became governor seven and a half years ago,
05:56it was clear that our state was failing our teachers.
05:59We were asking you to do the most important work there is
06:04while making it harder and harder for you to do it.
06:08So I got to work.
06:10And as you heard Carl say,
06:12I quadrupled the minimum salary for new teachers.
06:19And better than that,
06:21we indexed it to inflation.
06:24I also created a targeted program
06:28to hire and retain teachers in Illinois.
06:31Through that program,
06:32we've hired more than 12,000 new teachers
06:36during this past school year.
06:41In concert with IEA's educator pipeline,
06:45we're helping more and more people
06:47become successful
06:49and seek meaningful teaching careers.
06:52And today, we have more teachers
06:54and paraprofessionals in the state of Illinois
06:56than we've ever had before, ever.
06:59For 25 years,
07:01for 25 years before I was elected governor,
07:06I championed early childhood education
07:08and I've continued that work as governor.
07:11To support the youngest learners,
07:13I created recently the Department of Early Childhood
07:16and we launched the Smart Start Initiative,
07:19which has created 11,000 more publicly funded preschool slots
07:24for Illinois kids.
07:25And we're on our way to universal preschool in Illinois.
07:35Together with the General Assembly,
07:38I increased K-12 funding
07:39by almost $3 billion per year,
07:42bringing it to the highest level in Illinois history
07:45with much more to come.
07:48And because of record investments,
07:50because of that,
07:51including the 80% increase in need-based aid,
07:54virtually all students at or below median income
07:58now can attend any one of our 48 Illinois community colleges
08:02tuition-free,
08:04including right here at the College of DuPage.
08:12And in part because of your advocacy,
08:15I was able to pass the bell-to-bell cell phone ban
08:19that teachers and students alike will benefit from.
08:22Look, more teachers,
08:25more funding,
08:27more kids focused in classrooms.
08:30Now let's talk about the results for our students.
08:34Well, guess what?
08:35Illinois has the fifth most students in the nation
08:39passing the AP exams.
08:43Our eighth grade math and reading scores
08:46are among the top 10 in the nation.
08:51Illinois now has the highest high school graduation rate
08:56in recorded history.
09:00And let me also emphasize
09:02that we have the highest graduation rate
09:05for black students in recorded Illinois history.
09:12Oh, I forgot one more.
09:14We now have the highest graduation rate
09:16for Latino students in Illinois history.
09:23And you helped us reach
09:25our highest ever FAFSA completion rate,
09:27meaning that more of our students
09:29can get discounted or free college tuition
09:33when they want to go to college.
09:35IEA, you prove every single day
09:37that there is nothing that our students
09:39aren't capable of
09:40when we give them a great teacher
09:43and a fair shot.
09:46So let's keep building on that momentum.
09:49Let's pay teachers what you're worth.
09:54Let's fund our schools properly
09:57and let's secure our future.
09:59And that means we've got to fight like hell for our kids.
10:02So I got one question for all of you.
10:04Are you ready for the fight?
10:07IEA, are you ready for the fight?
10:10Let's go get them, everybody.
10:12Thank you all very much.
Comments