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The selection of Anthony "Tony" Smith — GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner's recommendation to the board — sends a message about the new Republican's governor's priorities for the state's 860 school districts and its outdated school funding formula during an ongoing financial crisis.
Koch, who began his tenure in 2006, has been the state's longest-serving superintendent in nearly five decades,Wholesale Jerseys China, according to state board spokesman Matt Vanover. The unassuming former special education teacher has received wide praise for his oversight of changes to state testing and teacher evaluations, but Rauner recently told the Chicago Tribune editorial board that Koch was "a good person" but "not transformational."
Smith is a proponent of "full-service community school" which aim to combat poverty and bring families and communities into the school improvement effort. He has advocated for charters and the privatization of Oakland public schools during his time,Cheap NFL Jerseys Authentic. Smith also clashed with the district's teachers union over contract issues during his tenure.
Though his background is in urban schools, board member John Sanders of Marion said Smith indicated plans to travel across the state to better understand challenges of central and southern Illinois districts,NFL Jerseys Outlet, many of which are suffering following years of state funding cuts.
Smith did not attend Wednesday's meeting in Springfield, but had private one-on-one meeting with board members as well as the full board in early April, Meeks said.
Smith is scheduled to begin the role May 1 at a salary of $225,000 annually, a slight bump from the $222,468 his outgoing predecessor, Christopher Koch, earns per year. The board also approved an $89,000 severance package for Koch, who has continued to serve in recent weeks after his long-term contract expired in May.
Smith, a 48-year old father of two, is director of the W. Clement Stone and Jesse V. Stone Foundation in Oak Park, a nonprofit focused on early childhood education. The Ounce of Prevention Fund of which First Lady Diana Rauner serves as president, lists the group as of one of its funding sources. Smith was a member of the new governor's transition team following the November election.
"Of course when you go behind closed doors, everybody is never in 100 percent agreement, but you figure out what's best for the state," Meeks said.
Meeks said the vote "shows the good faith of the people that are on the board,Sale NFL Jerseys, the positive direction that we're moving in."
A deputy superintendent of the San Francisco school district and a superintendent of a two-school district in the bay area, Smith was named superintendent for Oakland schools in 2009,Cheap China Jerseys, a district that was emerging from state control and faced a $40 million structural deficit. It had a balanced budget when he left the district four years later.
State law permits the governor to make a recommendation to the board, which has the ability to approve or reject his recommendation.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — The Illinois State Board of Education moved unanimously Wednesday afternoon to make a leadership change, replacing one of the nation's longest-serving superintendents with a former professional football player who spent recent years at the helm of a high poverty, urban district in California that faced a multi-million dollar deficit.
Board chairman the Rev. James Meeks — a recent appointment by Rauner — said Smith was the only candidate considered to replace Koch. The board spent nearly an hour in private session discussing the selection, before emerging and announcing its unanimous decision.
A California native, Smith played briefly with the Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers,Cheap NFL Jerseys, though not in any regular season games, after graduating with an English degree from the University of California Berkeley, where he later earned masters and doctoral degrees from its graduate school of education.

By statewide measures of academic progress, Oakland became the most improved school district in California during Smith's tenure, though he drew accolades and fierce criticism alike for the decisions he made along the way.
In a statement, Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly described Smith as "a transformational leader and has a proven track record of increasing student achievement, while successfully addressing fiscal and structural issues at the local district level."
One board member, Steven Gilford, said he was "disappointed" Koch would leave the agency, but he decided to vote for Smith's appointment, anyway.