16th District Congressional Candidates: Education Funding

In the race for the 16th congressional district seat... Republican Adam Kinzinger is facing Democrat Wanda Rohl.  Our question: Illinois schools continue to struggle with dwindling state resources. How do you think the state should treat funding for public schools and higher education?  What should be done to maintain quality education?

Wanda Rohl:  We're teaching for the test, and that's a big problem. We don't teach for critical thinking skills, so that limits our educators. I don't believe in a voucher program that takes resources from your local school and hands it off to a private school. I think investing in our school system is one of the best things we can do.   

Investing in quality teachers and having the education system be one that is fundamentally fair for everyone, not just depending on your zip code.

Adam Kinzinger: I think in some cases, we have to stand up to people and say, "You know, this is about educating our children. This is what the issue is." Insuring there's funding there, insuring there's resources. But you know what; every day that Illinois continues to drive itself deeper and deeper and deeper into debt and they're paying more interest and they're getting further behind and their payments are now 10 or 12 months behind to contractors, it's going to find itself with less and less resources to spend on education. So how best are we going to ensure that resources are spent on education? The state of Illinois needs to get its fiscal house in order and prioritize its top priorities and I think education is one of them.