SPRINGFIELD, IL-State Senator Ed Maloney (D-Chicago) is one of two Democrats who will serve on the new Senate Special Committee on Education Reform. Senate President John Cullerton (D-Chicago) created the bipartisan, four-member committee to find ways to improve the quality of Illinois’ education system.

"For years, I’ve worked to improve education for all of Illinois’ children," said Maloney, who also chairs the Senate Higher Education Committee. "By 2020, 60% of jobs are going to require some sort of postsecondary degree or certificate. We need to do everything in our power to make sure every child graduates high school prepared for college and/or vocational school."

Senator Maloney has been involved with education for his entire adult life. Before joining the General Assembly, he was principal and dean of Brother Rice High School in Chicago. He remains a card-carrying member of an education union to this day.

Maloney has been very involved in the education reforms that have been signed into law in recent years. He sponsored the Truth-in-Tuition Law of 2003, which requires public universities to charge students the same tuition rate for all four years of college, and he was a strong advocate for the P-20 longitudinal data system that allows the state to track student achievement from pre-school to college and beyond.

He also introduced the legislation that created the College and Career Readiness Program, which partners community colleges with local high school to help ensure that all high school seniors graduate prepared for the rigors of postsecondary education. Through targeted interventions, tutoring, and special programs, the program helps ensure students won’t have to take remedial courses in college. Remedial courses cost both the universities and students money and don’t count toward graduation requirements. Students who have to take remedial courses are more likely to drop out before earning a degree.

"Many Illinois communities have fantastic schools with strong graduation rates, great teachers, and involved parents," Maloney said. "Unfortunately, there are also students trapped in failing schools. We can’t rest until every child has an equal chance to succeed. I hope that I will be able to work with my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to improve educational equity and fairness on the Special Committee on Education Reform."