UPDATE: Facebook Group Against House Bill 1886 Grown to 1000+ Members

Update, 8:11 a.m. Friday, March 4th: HB 1886 is not being read, but the issue is far from over. Parents and school officials are still planning town hall meetings to address school consolidation, and are also communicating with legislators. The group now has 1,064 members.

Update, 2:37 p.m. Wednesday, March 2nd: After Rep. Robert Rita (D-Blue Island) opted not to read , the group has 941 members.

Update, 2:37 p.m. Wednesday, March 2nd: As of Wednesday afternoon, the group has 806 members voicing opposition to HB 1886, and the consolidation of school districts throughout Illinois, except for within Chicago.

Update, 12:45 a.m. Wednesday, March 2nd: Less than five days after Say NO to House Bill 1886 began, 711 members have joineed.

Four days since a Facebook group was created to oppose state legislation that would eliminate school districts and combine them into one or two districts per county, 623 people have joined to the group as of Tuesday afternoon.

House Bill 1886 was filed on Feb. 16 by Rep. Robert Rita (D-Blue Island) and was assigned to the Counties and Townships committee about a week later. Since then, parents, board members and administrators from area school districts have expressed strong aversion to the bill, especially within the group Say NO to House Bill 1886.

The bill would dissolve all current school districts and boards of education in the state on July 1, 2012, and within 60 days a newly elected board would take over the new, larger districts. The bill came shortly after Gov. Pat Quinn expressed an interest in consolidating school districts to save on administrative costs. While some have speculated that Rita may have withdrawn the bill, HB 1886 is still scheduled for a hearing Thursday morning, according to the General Assembly website.

Two other bills relating to consolidation are also going through the state House and Senate. House Bill 1216, sponsored by Rep. Linda Chapa LaVia (D-Aurora), would create a commission to advise on how and where school district realignments should take place. Senate Bill 1324, sponsored by Sens. Jeffrey M. Schoenberg (D-Evanston) and David Koehler (D-Pekin), would direct the Illinois State Board of Education to research and report on what areas in the state could save money by consolidating school districts.

While the bills move through the Illinois General Assembly, dozens offered their take on the proposed legislation in the Facebook group:

Sue Sherman: This would be reasonable if Quinn was talking about consolidating where it is warranted, or consolidating with input from the people, the districts, the boards. He's talking about a state-wide takeover, creating mega districts, seizing hard...-earned property and assets. Fix the districts that are broken. For the districts that are healthy and thriving, the districts that are already consolidated...leave us alone. We don't want Gov. Quinn and IL. lawmakers screwing up our schools like they've screwed up the rest of the state.

Anne Rapp: I'm happy to be part of this broadly based effort to stop this legislation in its tracks. I've seen a good deal of public comment from more affluent suburbs about how the Bill might take resources away from well funded schools. Please know that those of us in less affluent suburbs also oppose this legislation. Despite the fact that we have fewer resources, we (in Alsip/Blue Island/Crestwood) have excellent schools. This can only happen when policy is locally made. I'm also terribly concerned that a consolidated district would open the way for privatization and charter schools, which would undermine neighborhood schools. I agree, I do not want CPS--with all of its institutionalized inequality-- for Cook County.

Margie Owens-Klotz: LOOK at those numbers!!! Nearly 600 people because a concerned D146 mom got the ball rolling. Congratulations to all of you! Today's responses from the state legislators shows what the power of email and phone calls can do. Board of Education Members....Watch the legislation and let us know when/if we need to rally the troops. Outstanding!!

Dean Casper: The Legislature about 2004 attempted to pass a bill that confiscated any surplus funds from sound financial districts (like 146 & 140) and send those dollars to districts in difficulty. If that passed then we would not have had a reserve to weather this economic hurricane.

Evelyn Gleason: Consider two of the largest districts in the state, Chicago Public Schools and Elgin U46. These districts are huge and I would bet that the % of administrators is much higher than most other districts. Are these the districts we are trying to emulate?

I also believe that a district without a leader is like an orchestra without a conductor. I have served on school boards for over 30 years and I know the value of a good leader. In our district, the hourly rate of administrators is less than the hourly rate of teachers. Administrators work 52 weeks a year, 8 hours a day because that is what it takes to operate a school district effectively.

Who will serve on these school boards? Who could afford to run for one of these positions without monetary support? Or would these boards be political appointees like the state board? It seems to me that all of this takes us further away from serving our children in our communites--it is a price that is too high.

Richard Simon: Hard to think bipartician when the Govenor, and all the legislators who are pushing this bill and the two bills accompaning it are being proposed by democrats. I don't say all democrats support the bills, but it sure does seem to be a democratic proposal.