Cell phones at the public schools appear to be the legislative rage this spring. The state legislature will probably pass a bill this week which will ban cell phone use by students during most of the class day. 

The legislation has gotten a fair amount of press on TV and local radio and newsprint. Many districts appear to have a serious problem with students using their phones during the class sessions and not attending to the business of simply being a student first. 

We now have the state acting like big brother and forcing another rule on the local school system. While the legislation may be well intentioned, it is still “Big Brother” sticking its nose into local affairs.

Clinton School Superintendent Drew Goebel was asked by the local radio station what he thought of the legislation, and he responded that it was common sense, adding that the Clinton Schools had banned cell phone use during most of the school day several years ago. 

I agree with Superintendent Goebel that the bill is mostly common sense, but why do we even need the bill. The local school district has the authority to make its own rules of conduct and enforce them with a student code. 

If a district is allowing rampant and unrestricted use of cell phones by students that is a district problem, not a state problem. The Clinton school district realized there was a potential problem and acted to resolve the problem. They did their job, and more power to them. 

Some districts apparently don’t know how to manage their own problems and enforce discipline. They want to shove off that responsibility to the state or some legislator was thinking up more rules. The bottom line is that we are losing local control, and the state is taking more control of local issues. That is simply an unwanted big brother syndrome. 

Some of the most cost effective and productive units of Illinois government are local school districts and townships in rural Illinois. Local government works. Its leaders and employees understand and serve, while being responsible to their fellow tax payers. 

In the above situation, Clinton schools had resolved the problem. Now the State of Illinois is coming in to fix the problem. The State of Illinois will now spend more dollars to fix a problem that a bunch of country hicks had already fixed, only they weren’t looking for any public accolades. All they wanted was to provide for their local students.

The next time you run into a school board member, a county board member, a township official or a city council member thank them for their efforts and keeping issues local. Too often when Springfield says they want to help, Springfield only wants to take over and expand its bureaucracy. We need local control, not state mandates.

While I’m on the local bandwagon, please don’t forget to shop local. Our local grocery stores, hardware stores, restaurants, and other businesses are very price competitive. Factor in the cost of travel out of town and one soon realizes that shopping local is a great buy. Have a great week.