Former Vice President Rickert on Illinois education: ‘Only 16 percent of eighth graders who are black are proficient at reading’

Diana Rickert, former vice president of Liberty Justice Center, said on Feb. 10 that only 16 percent of eighth graders who are Black are proficient at reading in Illinois public schools. The statement was made during an interview on the Prairie State Wire podcast where Rickert examined aspects of Governor Pritzker’s governing record in Illinois and how policies affect residents. The discussion centered on measurable student outcomes as an indicator of system performance for families across the state, according to the podcast.

The topic is significant because it highlights persistent achievement gaps among minority students despite high levels of educational spending in Illinois. According to federal data, Illinois public schools spend approximately $21,829 per pupil annually, which places the state among the higher spenders nationally. Despite this level of investment, Black eighth-grade students posted proficiency rates of 16 percent in reading and 9 percent in math on the 2024 NAEP assessment. These results reflect persistent gaps in core subjects for minority students within the state, according to federal data.

Rickert said, “Only 16 percent of eighth graders who are black are proficient at reading. Only 8 percent of eighth graders who are black can do math at grade level.” According to the 2024 Nation’s Report Card, Illinois Black eighth graders scored 27 points lower than White peers in reading and 40 points lower in math. Statewide eighth-grade proficiency overall stood at 33 percent in reading and 32 percent in math, while gaps by race remain among the widest in the country. The data underscores how spending levels have not closed achievement differences in Illinois schools.

Rickert is a policy expert and journalist with extensive experience covering Illinois state government and fiscal issues. She previously served as vice president at Liberty Justice Center and Illinois Policy Institute, where she focused on government accountability and taxpayer impacts. Rickert regularly contributes analysis on state leadership and public policy through opinion pieces and media appearances.

According to its official website, Liberty Justice Center functions as a nonprofit organization focused on public-interest litigation. The center promotes social change by defending rights in areas like workers’ freedoms and educational choices; advances constitutional rights through strategic litigation aimed at countering threats to free speech, government overreach and educational freedom; addresses liberty threats nationwide through its legal efforts; influenced policy by winning a case that eliminated mandatory union fees for public employees; and offers legal services through precedent-setting lawsuits addressing issues such as free speech and government overreach.

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FULL, UNEDITED TRANSCRIPT

Bryan Hyde: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Prairie State Wire Podcast. I’m Brian Hyde, and today I’m joined by Diana Ricker. And Diana has, uh, quite a background here. She’s, she is an award-winning journalist. She’s a former vice president at Liberty Justice Center, as well as the Illinois Policy Institute, and has also been a contributor to the Chicago Tribune.

Diana, thank you so much for joining us on the uh, Prairie State Wire Podcast. 

Diana Rickert: Hey, Brian. Thanks for having me. 

Bryan Hyde: I, I have to ask though, with that, with a background like that, I, I’m assuming you got to see and do some pretty incredible things. What have I left out? What other hats have you worn along this journey?

And then, then we’ll dive into a topic about Governor Pritzker and, and, and maybe some of his ambitions. 

Diana Rickert: Yeah. Um, I’ve, I’m very pr uh, proud of my, uh, career over the last. 20 years, and Illinois is certainly a really exciting place to work if you are interested in public policy and politics. Unfortunately, um, the stuff that we see seems like it’s made out of [00:01:00] fiction books or fairytales.

Uh, over the years I’ve been doing a lot of work on the public pension crisis, uh, looking at state spending and wasteful spending. Um, and that is really what got me into the public policy space. And, uh, as I said. No one does it quite like the state of Illinois. So whatever my colleagues in other states were always working on, we always had super sized problems and super sized blow and super sized pension liabilities.

Um, so it is disheartening as a Illinois resident, but certainly, um, it’s been exciting and interesting to watch. And what makes this moment particularly exciting is the possibility, um, or at least the desire of our governor to bring Illinois. Uh, profile to the national stage because none of my out-of-state colleagues or family, believe me when I tell them about the tax burden here, the pension liabilities here, and, and now the rest of the country has an opportunity to not only, uh, before warned about what’s [00:02:00] going on in Illinois, but also, um, take notice of just how crazy it’s been for, you know, decades over here.

Bryan Hyde: So I, I guess I, I’ll, I’m just gonna cut right to the chase. As far as Governor Pritzker, does he have his eye on the White House? I mean, what’s, what’s your feel for his aspirations of where he would like to go next? 

Diana Rickert: Yeah, I mean, any political observer will tell you that he’s had two terms in the governor’s mansion here in Illinois.

He’s probably getting a little bit bored. Um, years ago he had his site on Congress, um, and so. There’s no question that he’s trying to raise his national profile and would be interested in either, um, a presidential run or perhaps a cabinet position or some sort of position of national, national stature.

But that’s where I think the people of Illinois have a duty to the rest of the country to step in and say, wait a second. Like, this guy is not exactly the one you see on social media and on. You know, on the news, [00:03:00] like the story that he is telling you on the national stage is not quite the story that we’re living out in real life.

Bryan Hyde: Well, let’s, let’s take a few moments then, and let’s talk a little bit about the track record that Governor Pritzker, uh, can run on, at least with, with Illinois. Uh, now I know politicians are, are very good at taking credit for things that will make them look good. And of course, uh, avoiding, um, accountability for things that would not make them look good, but.

When, when we talk about, uh, Pritzker’s track record in Illinois, um, what are some of the mileposts that would have to be taken into consideration as, as voters consider him for, for maybe even, you know, a, a greater responsibility at the federal level? 

Diana Rickert: Yeah, I would say, Brian, there are three things that the people across the United States need to know about him.

Number one is the tax burden. Number two is how he handled COVID. And number three is how. The state of the education system in the state of Illinois. Um, so I’ll go through them. Um, one by one. So first of all, on taxes, if you live in the state of Illinois, [00:04:00] I am not telling you anything new. Um, we are nickel and dimmed like crazy on taxes.

I actually counted up recently how many different levels of government that I pay taxes to, and I pay taxes to 17 levels of government, including state government, three school districts, a mosquito abatement district, a water reclamation district, a park district. Health facilities, a forest preserve and more.

And then on top of those, I pay sales taxes, gas taxes, grocery taxes, um, all kinds of little consumer based taxes that aren’t, you know, getting brought to light when you’re filing your taxes at in April. Right. Um, and so we have the single highest state and local tax bill in the nation. You have, uh, the median Illinois household is paying about $13,099 a year.

In state and local taxes. [00:05:00] Um, and so that is the number one legacy of Governor Pritzker. He’s done nothing to address it. In fact, taxes have gone up under his watch. Um, even this year alone, you saw a number of localities enacting grocery taxes, which he allowed to happen grocery taxes at a time like this when grocery prices are at an all time high.

Um, so that is the first thing that. People across America need to know about Illinois, that if you elect someone like Governor Pritzker to the White House, or if he takes any sort of position of influence in Washington, that’s what you would expect to come first, because he doesn’t know how to say no and spending, he only knows how to open up the state’s wallet.

Bryan Hyde: I’m looking at an article you’ve written for the Daily Caller and, and, and. My jaw just wants to drop when I see since he took office in 2019, Pritzker’s enacted more than 50 tax increases. I mean, at some point similar. You have to say, sir, please step away from the pen. [00:06:00] 

Diana Rickert: Absolutely, and, and these tax increases generally hit the low and middle income residents the hardest.

I was just having a conversation with somebody in New York of all places the other day, and I told him what it was like here. I live in the northwest suburbs, very middle class area. Um, most people in my neighborhood have college degrees and, and are, um, working in a six figure job. And a lot of people that I know with children are working side hustles, like, um, target and grocery pickup, um, Uber, Lyft, just to make ends meet because it’s not enough.

So they went to college to get a six figure job. They’re living in a pretty middle class house, you know, you know, not, not an apartment, but not a mansion on the North Shore. And they’re having to pick up side and come to make ends meet with Thanksgiving and Christmas coming up, or just so their kids can play soccer, go to a dance class.

Um, and these are realities for everyday Illinoisans that the [00:07:00] Pritzker family could not possibly understand. So it makes it particularly brutal because he enacts and moves along all of these tax increases with no idea how it affects everyday annoyance. 

Bryan Hyde: Let’s, let’s, um. Let’s broaden this out for a moment too, and talk about why, um, Pritzker could not understand what it’s like, you know, for the average Illinois.

And, um, and, and this is not to, to cast aspersions at people with money, but, um, he, he comes from a pretty, pretty wealthy background, doesn’t he? 

Diana Rickert: He does. Um, and I think the bigger issue with him is that when he is talking in the public about taking care of the least fortunate or trying to help people on public services or immigrants, he usually is kind of carpet bagging on issues.

These are not issues that he’s been carrying the flag for for 10 and 20 years. He is very much a liberal carpet bagger, and the best evidence of this is. How he tried to stake a position on [00:08:00] COVID. I mentioned that COVID is like the second most important thing people need to know about Pritzker. He wanted to be the toughest guy on COVID in America, and he was probably competing at that time with Gavin Newsom, just as he seems to be now, um, because that’s what he thought was gonna be the winning issue of the day.

Well, the tide has changed on COVID, so now it’s not COVID, it’s immigration, right? Like he’s gonna be the tough guy in Trump and immigration. And so, um, you know, it’s not that because he has money that he can’t understand, but it’s because he’s kind of a issue carpet bagger and he. It, you know, isn’t really active in these communities, uh, that face the issues he claims are his most important policy priorities.

It’s that he just kind of puts his finger in the wind to see what might be in the news and what can get him on the Sunday shows, and that’s the thing he’s gonna talk tough about and have his social media team tweet about the most. 

Bryan Hyde: Diana, I know that, uh, Gavin Newsom also, [00:09:00] um, stood out during that COVID time as one of the big hypocrites for, you know, locking down his state and telling people, you can’t do this, you can’t do that.

And then he was out, you know, hobnobbing with his friends and having, you know, fancy dinners and so forth when everyone else was locked down. Did, did Pritzker. Likewise exhibit some, you know, do as I say, not as I do type of behavior during that time. 

Diana Rickert: Well, it was widely reported that his daughter had gone to Florida.

His family had a place in Wisconsin. And you know, while I didn’t personally visit them in all of those places, we know Florida and Wisconsin were two of the most open states. Um, Wisconsin opened by May of 2020 and Illinois was locked down for a whole nother year. Um, so, you know, that’s, that’s another thing.

Um, and. Uh, it really destroyed so many people’s careers to keep the state locked down for so long to say nothing of the mandates, and then the school closures and how that really rocked the education system and [00:10:00] students. And, and I think that a lot of people would agree that we’re still dealing with the fallout of how Pritzker handled COVID.

Um, there are people whose careers have never rebounded. There are students who have never caught up. Um, test scores are still not where they should be in the state of Illinois. And so, you know, yes, he was personally a hypocrite over these things. Um, he was definitely using the issue to grandstand. We also saw him.

Now this is something I have some experience with. When we were, when I was over at the Liberty Justice Center, we also saw him walking in large scale protests or parades and demonstrations with Black Lives Matter, but then telling Illinois right to life. That they couldn’t have their annual dinner because there would be too many people, but he was gonna gather with thousands of people, um, and try to grandstand on the George Floyd issue, right?

So like he was also hypocritical in that way. Um, and so really. I think your average Illinois was just like, [00:11:00] come on man, like you’re locking me outta school, out of work, out of church. Um, I’m not supposed to gather with my family. Then you’re gonna, we have these mandates in the state over the vaccine eventually.

My kids don’t have any predictability in school. The psychological damage happening to kids, but you’re out there getting pictures of yourself for the news. Protesting with like thousands of people and the little old ladies that wanna gather for fellowship or friendship, you know, they’re told that they can’t.

And, um, and this is going on, and remember this went on way longer in Illinois than in any other state, right? Oh, essentially. So, um, it wasn’t like we were. It was, you know, March 30th and we’re talking about this, this is like a year later. So, um, yes, he has not been a guy who follows his own advice, um, again, because he puts his finger in the wind to try to see what will score the most political points I.

Bryan Hyde: Alright. And what is that third factor that needs to be [00:12:00] considered before people should, uh, throw their support to, uh, to Pritzker? 

Diana Rickert: Yeah, so we gotta talk about the schools, the public school system in Illinois. And um, again, this is one of those areas where Pritzker claims that he cares about the kids and that we’re doing great.

But when you actually look at the data and you look and you talk to parents like you don’t even need to. Number crunch. You just need to talk to parents and talk to teachers. They will tell you that kids are have suffered psychological damage from the closures. Kids are reading at a later age, they’re doing less math.

They’re doing too much time on screens because they got used to virtual school and one-to-one in the classrooms. Um, and how is that manifesting in their test scores? Um, two thirds of Illinois eighth graders are not proficient in reading or math. Those are statistics from this year’s national assessment of education progress, the gold standard of education, um, data measurement, um, and.[00:13:00] 

The worst thing about this is that our, our public school system is doing fine on the North Shore, right? Like nut, Nutri, Glenbrook, that all those wealthy areas around Chicago. But when you look at the state, uh, as a total picture, only 16% of eighth graders who are black are proficient at reading. 16%. Okay.

Only 8% of eighth graders who are black can do math at grade level. How are these students going to Fairen High School? Will they ever get into college? Will they ever get a job that pays the bills, that covers the needs of their family? How are they supposed to be doing that? And we are spending more money.

Than ever on public education, the state of Illinois. So everybody needs to know this because one, we are failing these kids, generations of children, right? We have multiple failing failures on this front. And number two, we cannot possibly extrapolate this to the national stage. [00:14:00] We cannot have the um. The entire country mirroring the educational results of the state of Illinois because we’re doing a terrible job.

We’re failing people, and this is going to have a ripple effect for generations and decades to come. 

Bryan Hyde: Has anyone held, uh, governor Pritzker accountable in terms of, look, we’re spending this much on education. This is where the proficiency scores are. I, I’m just curious, does anyone ever hold him to account, or if they do, does he just say, well throw more money at it?

Diana Rickert: So what I would say is that there are definitely very vocal critics of Pritzker in the state of Illinois. Wire points, for example, has done significant work looking at test scores and educational progress in the state of Illinois, or the lack thereof. Um. To the extent that you can hold them accountable.

What I see happening around the country and here in Illinois is parents trying to opt out of the school system. So people are trying to get their kids into a private school if they can. [00:15:00] It’s very hard to afford. There’s not always a lot of spots. Um, we see homeschooling numbers at an all time high, not just here in Illinois, but across the entire country.

So I think parents are voting with their feet and they’re pulling their kids out of school and saying, you know what? Like, you’re not doing a really good job. I could do this better. Um, I am not going to allow my kid to be failed by adults. I won’t feel my kid. Um, but a lot of. Other states have generous school choice laws that make it easier to opt outta the public school system.

And Governor Pritzker is the only governor that has actually reduced the amount of school choice in a state. Um, so it’s very, very hard for parents to hold him accountable and to hold the public school system accountable. They have one hand tied behind their back. But I do see a resistance among parents, and I see a lot of parents, especially parents with multiple children.

Who say, you know, when my oldest was in school, they were reading by the end of kindergarten. Now they’re reading by the end of first [00:16:00] grade or the start of second grade. What happened here? Um, you see a lot of parents trying to run for school board in the suburbs, particularly, and across the state are trying to take over school boards, unfortunately.

There is such a giant mountain to climb, to turn around the education system in the state of Illinois that many of these parents’, kids will be graduated from high school by the time there’s any notable change. Um, so definitely, um, what the state needs is more school choice, more educational opportunity, um, more awareness of the educational options that exist in other states like Wisconsin or Florida.

Um, but Pritzker’s made it really hard to be. Um, to be able to choose the education that’s best for your child and to hold his system accountable. 

Bryan Hyde: Does he have any serious challengers in the state of Illinois? I mean, I assuming, um, maybe he wants to go for another term as, as governor. Has, has anyone expressed interest in stepping up with, with gubernatorial [00:17:00] aspirations?

Diana Rickert: So certainly there is an emerging field of Republican candidates. I would, what I tell people outside of the state of Illinois is that he didn’t win office because he had an appealing platform. He won the governorship because there was no formidable foe. Like Republican party in Illinois has been in shambles forever and they never really launch solid candidates.

So it, I think that we’re just starting to see who’s going to run and how strong their campaigns will be and what their message will be. It will be very, very hard to compete with the amount of money that Pritzker has. He had. Terrible opponents and poured tons of money into his first two races, perhaps unnecessarily.

Um. And so it’s, you know, it’s still pretty early. I think that there are some really exciting names emerging. Um, but we have a lot of time to go and there’s certainly gonna be up against, um, his giant checkbook up. [00:18:00] 

Bryan Hyde: I have to say, I really, I respect the way that you take Governor Pritzker to task here, um, Diana, because, because you’re doing it on his actions, his policies, and the, the things that he supported and, and signed into law as opposed to just, well, his personality is this, and I don’t like this about him.

And, and it seems like that’s, that is the way to go about critiquing a politician. Um, I. Correct me if I’m wrong, but it sounds like you’re making a very solid call here for, this is not just for Illinoisans to, uh, to understand this is for all Americans to understand, particularly if he does try to step up to that national stage.

Diana Rickert: Yeah, I think there’s two opportunities here. One is to keep a guy like Pritzker out of Congress, out of, um, a cabinet position, certainly out of the White House. I think the second thing is. Is, this is an opportunity for the rest of the country to see just how wayward Illinois has become and for there to finally be perhaps, um, peer pressure like federalism in action, right?

[00:19:00] Like, um, for the other states and other governors to be like, you don’t want to be like Illinois. Like Illinois is crazy. Like, and finally wake people up to just how backwards so many of our policies are and that it doesn’t have to be this way, so that perhaps in the next election. When people go to the polls, in spite of how much money Pritzker spends on his campaign, we might have a fighting chance of electing somebody else.

Um, because it doesn’t have to be this way. Other states are moving dramatically in the opposite direction. Certainly the country as a whole is moving in a different direction, and just because he spends a lot of money doesn’t mean he’s guaranteed to win. We do ultimately need people to stand up and say, enough is enough.

Bryan Hyde: And one final question, Diana, where can people follow you? Where can they find your work? 

Diana Rickert: Um, so you can follow me on my LinkedIn page. I usually post articles that I’ve written there, um, Diana Rickert. Um, I frequently write in The Federalist or the New York Post or The Daily Caller. Um, [00:20:00] so I encourage everybody to stay to tuned to what’s happening at the state level over the next year, ’cause it’s definitely gonna be a really interesting political season.

Bryan Hyde: Again, we’ve been visiting with Diana Rickard. She is a Chicago based writer. Diana, thank you so much for joining us on the Prairie State Wire Podcast. 

Diana Rickert: Thanks, Brian.