Regional Superintendent Visits Wood View

Will County Regional School Superintendent Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant spent a good portion of her morning Wednesday visiting three fifth grade classrooms at .

Bertino-Tarrant detailed her duties and her background for students, emphasizing the importance of a college education, and she read to several of the classes. She also participated in a demonstration of a Smart board during a reading lesson.

In July, Gov. Pat Quinn zeroed-out the state budget line of $11 million intended to pay for Illinois' 44 regional offices of education. Quinn used his amendatory veto power to strip the money, but the constitutionality of eliminating state funding for the elected regional superintendents is in question. 

Regional superintendents, according to the Will County Regional Office of Education website, serve as intermediate agencies between the Illinois State Board of Education and local school districts. 

Many county executives, including Will County Executive Larry Walsh, publicly lobbied for Quinn to reinstate those salaries and the matter has made its way through the court system, with the courts ultimately ruling in favor of Quinn.

Last week, according to a St. Louis Post-Dispatch report, Illinois' regional education superintendents announced they wouldn't appeal the court's ruling that allows Quinn to suspend their salaries.

Instead, the report said, regional superintendents will lobby the state lawmakers to have their salaries restored during the legislature's fall veto session, which begins 

". . . (W)e are disappointed in the outcome and are not dissuaded in our belief that this is an unfair situation and should not continue. However, we respect the court's decision and believe it's time now to focus on the next step," the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools told the Post-Dispatch in an emailed statement.