Elmhurst, Illinois (March 10, 2011) – Ralph Martire, Executive Director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, will be discussing Illinois Education Funding on March, 22, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. at the Elmhurst Public Library. As one of the preeminent experts on education funding and the Illinois state budget deficit, Mr. Martire has recently been appointed by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to serve on the U. S. Department of Education's new Equity and Excellence Commission. Senator Durbin summed up Martire’s qualifications in his support of the appointment with this statement: "I was pleased to recommend Ralph Martire to Secretary Duncan for the Equity and Excellence Commission. Based upon Ralph's extensive work on reforming education policy and funding in Illinois, he has the expertise to make a real, substantive contribution to the Commission's crucial effort to identify reforms that will ensure every child in America receives the high quality education needed to be competitive in the modern world”.
Organized by the Democratic Women of Dupage County, the discussion is free and open to the public. RSVPs are requested to be sent to dwofdc@gmail.com.
For more information on the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, visit http://www.ctbaonline.org. For information on the Democratic Women of DuPage County, visit http://dwdupage.org/
About Ralph Martire
Ralph Martire is executive director of the bipartisan Center for Tax and Budget Accountability (“CTBA”). He is a regular columnist for the ¬Springfield State-Journal Register, The Joliet Herald News, and The Daily Observer on public policy and good government, and former columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. Ralph serves as technical advisory to the Education Funding Advisory Board’s Advisory Committee, the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus and the Bipartisan, Bicameral Illinois Education Caucus on issues ranging from education funding and policy reform; tax and budget policy; and workforce and economic development policy. Ralph was the principal author of a study CTBA produced that identified revenue enhancement proposals to address the 2002 fiscal crises in the state of Illinois. Five of the proposals identified in that study ultimately became law. Ralph also is a key member of the research team that produces the groundbreaking "State of Working Illinois" reports, which detail industry, employment, wage and benefit trends in Illinois over the last 15 years. A joint project of CTBA and Northern Illinois University, State of Working Illinois reports have been featured in over 300 media (print and broadcast) placements nationwide.
Ralph received the 2007 Champion of Freedom Award, presented by the Rainbow PUSH Coalition to individuals who carry out Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s commitment to equal educational opportunities through their professional and personal activism, and the 2004 Ben C. Hubbard Leadership Award, presented annually by Illinois State University to an individual whose leadership has significantly benefited education in Illinois. Ralph also received the 2008 Friend of Education Award presented by the Illinois Education Association-NEA, for meritorious efforts on behalf of the students, staff and public institutions across Illinois by demonstrating in both word and deed support for great public schools.
A frequent lecturer on fiscal policy, Ralph continues to teach at the undergrad and graduate student levels, including a Master's level class on fiscal policy and a Doctoral class on the politics of education at Illinois State University, and an undergraduate class on public policy for Benedictine University. In 2009, Ralph designed and taught Masters' level programs for both Roosevelt University and the University of Illinois. Ralph also has and has taught tax policy seminars for the International Fulbright Scholar Program, the National Labor College and the national Women in Government lecture series. In 2007, he keynoted Arizona State University's first national conference covering the issues involved with Latino high school drop-outs. Ralph has been featured as a tax, budget and education policy expert for numerous television and radio news programs such as WTTW, the Chicago PBS affiliate, and WPWR, the Chicago NPR affiliate. Prior to joining CTBA, Ralph was a partner in a law firm, with a sophisticated transactional practice focused on intellectual property, structured finance and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Martire has conducted domestic and international seminars on technology, patent and trademark development and licensing, has served as a lecturer at Northwestern University Law School on intellectual property transactions, and as a member of the Northwestern Journal of Technology & Intellectual Property Advisory Board.
Mr. Martire served as the deputy issues director for Dawn Clark Netsch in her gubernatorial campaign, and issues director for David Wilhelm in his run for the United States Senate. He is also a former candidate for the Cook County Board, and a current candidate for local school board in River Forest. His prior appointments include serving as a member of both the Cook County State's Attorney's Council on Hate Crimes Prosecution and Cook County Special Task Force on Domestic Violence.
Mr. Martire graduated from Indiana University Phi Beta Kappa, with a B.A. in history and received his JD from the University of Michigan.
He is married to Mary Kay Martire, and has two children, a son Nicholas, and a daughter Valerie. He coaches Little League baseball, boys basketball and girls soccer.
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