By Dave Dahl
SPRINGFIELD – The team which will lead the Illinois State Board of Education in the Pritzker administration is together, with the board – under new chairman Darren Reisberg – appointing Carmen Ayala to be superintendent.
Reisberg replaces the Rev. James Meeks. Ayala replaces Tony Smith. So Gov. JB Pritzker has changed out the superintendent and eight of the nine board members, leaving Susie Morrison of Carlinville as the only holdover.
Reisberg, a former general counsel of ISBE, says Morrison “represents some great continuity and knowledge about the agency. I had been at the agency for a long time and understand how it works and how it can work well. What’s most important is we have a governor with whom I share a vision for the direction of how education is going, and our full board does as well, and with those things in sync, we can be really successful.”
Reisberg is now a vice president of the University of Chicago.
The new superintendent, Ayala, has most recently been superintendent at Berwyn North. She says the new state funding formula will take a while to bring all districts to equity. “There were very many districts that were in dire financial need,” she says. “We need to allow those districts to catch up a little bit. But we’re already seeing evidence of the evidence-based funding formula supporting and helping our districts.”
A news release from Pritzker’s office says Ayala is the first woman and first person of color to serve as the permanent ISBE superintendent.
Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]
