Carbondale Reporter

Dave Severin, House Rep of Illinois House of Representatives, Illinois House of Representatives said on Feb 14th.

“This working group will be called The Literacy Improves Future Endeavors,” Severin said. “In the general assembly, I'll serve as a member of the House elementary and secondary appropriation committee and the house higher education committee. Covid-19 changed everything for our kids as you well know. We learned that tragically. The government-imposed shutdowns have badly harmed our students' reading, math and science development. ... I love kids, I love our teachers and school administrators. Our schools stand as pillars in our communities, especially in the area that I represent. They are places where we teach, we learn, we gather, we participate in music, sports activities, and art. I'm saddened that we're falling behind other states. Our kids deserve better -- our children are our future. These are some of the alarming statistics that we need to address. In 2022 a report from the Illinois State Board of Education revealed that less than 30% of 8th graders in Illinois are passing algebra. ... The same report showed Illinois students meeting English and language arts 'performs at the level' at just 26% with 74% of students not meeting partially meeting or just approaching grade school level on the Illinois assessment of Readiness test. In that same data set, only 21% of Illinois students met the performance level in math which means 74% of the students are not meeting grade school expectations in mathematics on the state's Readiness assessment test. Restoring Illinois public education to a place where our students are able to read and do math at a basic grade level is at least something that we can do if we work collectively and work together. This is why I'm excited to serve as the House GOP to lead the literacy Improvement future and Endeavors working group -- the group to bring our students back to reading levels, to math levels, to levels of science is going to be tough. Let's be realistic, it's going to take a comprehensive approach with the focus being on restoring our students to a place where their competitive with the rest of our country and the rest of the world. In my role as the head of this working group, I'm committed to bringing together legislators with our state's highest-ranking education officials and advocates dedicated to improving public schools and curriculum so that we can understand where we are, which we've got to admit to, and where we need to go to, to put our students back on the right track.”

Education World reported various factors may influence a child’s performance in math, such as missing parent engagement.

Severin was first elected to the Illinois House in 2017. A Republican, their legislative experience includes serving on the Judiciary - Criminal and Mental Health & Addiction. Severin is a state representative who resides in Benton, according to the Illinois House.

“We know from national studies from the (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) that school districts serving primarily Black and Hispanic students provided the least access to in-person learning last year,” Brenda Dixon, ISBE’s research and evaluation officer, said. “We suspect that less access to in-person learning contributed to lower engagement among Black and Hispanic students.”

The five working groups are Sustaining & Protecting At-Risk Kids; Supporting Women and Families; Reigniting Illinois’ Strong Economy; Literacy Improves Future Endeavors; and Improving Public Safety.

This came after the COVID-19 pandemic pushed public schools to face educator shortages from full-time teachers to substitutes. WQAD 8 reported Illinois schools had approximately 4,000 unfilled jobs, of which teaching roles made up the majority of the total.

Severin represents all or parts of Edwards, Franklin, Hamilton, Jefferson, Marion, Wabash, Washington, Wayne, and White Counties and is a small business owner. He is married and has a son who also resides in Benton.