Monday, April 16, 2007

Better than Scarborough, Hannity and King: Filan on Cable and Streaming

Jeff Berkowitz: Dramatic increase, instead of having 20,000 students, maybe half [a million], maybe a million students [across the state of Illinois] in Charter schools?

John Filan [Illinois' Chief Operating Officer]: I don’t know what the number is, but in the legislation that is being proposed is a requirement to increase the number of charter schools.
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Tonight’s City of Chicago edition of “Public Affairs,” features John Filan, currently Chief Operating Officer and previously Director of the Office of Management and Budget in Governor Blagojevich's Administration.

Tonight's City of Chicago edition airs through-out the City at 8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21 [CANTV]

You may also [Go Here to watch tonight's City of Chicago edition of Public Affairs and last week's show with 3rd Ward Aldermanic Candidate Pat Dowell and 43rd Ward Chicago Aldermanic Candidate Michele Smith as well as other shows with such notables as Obama, McCain, Giuliani, Barrett, Syverson and many others on your computer; you can drag the dial on the bottom of the screen to watch only portions of the thirty minute shows; trouble accessing our cinema page on your computer? Try I-Tunes: the same Public Affairs shows are also available there]

This week's suburban edition of "Public Affairs," features State Senator Chris Lauzen [R-Aurora] in an episode that will also air in Aurora next Monday night on Aurora Community Television [ACTV], Ch. 10, at 7:30 pm.

A partial transcript of the John Filan show is included, below. For an additional partial transcript and more about the show's topics and key issues discussed, go here.
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Jeff Berkowitz: The Governor’s lobbying for more charter schools?

John Filan [Illinois’ Chief Operating Officer] : He is definitely going to support an increase in charter schools, without a doubt.

Jeff Berkowitz: Dramatic increase, instead of having 20,000 students, maybe half [a million], maybe a million students [across the state of Illinois] in Charter schools?

John Filan: I don’t know what the number is, but in the legislation that is being proposed is a requirement to increase the number of charter schools.

Jeff Berkowitz: Is he lobbying, too, that you change the compensation systems of the City of Chicago [schools] and the various local suburban public schools so people aren’t compensated simply by the number of years they have been teaching, but by the quality of their performance.

John Filan: Well, I think you get into very directly there a local control issue. We have 900 local school districts in this state. And, those local school boards…determine which teachers they hire, what they pay them. They have collective bargaining contracts with the unions generally—

Jeff Berkowitz: But, he is the Governor. He could exercise …moral suasion. He says he is doing the Lord’s work. If he is doing the Lord’s work, why not help those local school districts start doing it better in terms of compensation, which makes performance a factor in compensation. You’re right, he can’t go and set the law either for Springfield, Winnetka, Skokie, Burr Ridge or Chicago, but he can certainly speak out and when he speaks out, people listen
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Jeff Berkowitz: So, tell us, would you like to see a performance based compensation adopted by these various school districts?

John Filan: Look, I believe certainly that when people do a great job they should be recognized. I think the Governor believes that as well. On the other hand, he leads by performance himself. And, when you look at the last four years and what we’ve done with the level of spending in state government, the number of employees—how much we have constrained increases in salaries because of budget constraints—

Jeff Berkowitz: But, he moves people around based on performance. Becky Carroll, who has been an assistant to you and an assistant to the Governor, I don’t know what her position is, but she is moving up, and perhaps deservedly so, because she does well,

John Filan: I think that’s true

Jeff Berkowitz: not because of the number of years that she is here.

John Filan: That’s correct.

Jeff Berkowitz: So, he should take that same attitude and say, “Look, see what I do, why aren’t you folks doing that?

John Filan: And, I think he did that. Just this last January, we announced for the first time in state history a performance based system for merit employees where they can be recognized both with an increase and a bonus if they are excellent or above average.
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John Filan, as is airing tonight on Public Affairs [8:30 pm on Cable Ch. 21, CANTV] on the City of Chicago edition of Public Affairs. The show was recorded on March 25, 2007. You may also[watch the show with Illinois COO John Filan here].
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Jeff Berkowitz, Show Host/Producer of "Public Affairs," and Executive Legal Recruiter doing legal search can be reached at JBCG@aol.com
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