Gene Hoffman sees himself as a coach. All the players are ready and willing, they only need to be directed.

As the man in charge of making sure the temporary surcharge is made permanent, he is ready to get his players—the different schools in education—to hit the playing field.

That field is the entire state because the surcharge touches everyone in Illinois. Not only does it hit education, but part of the surcharge goes to municipal governments. Hoffman knows the stakes are high.

Those stakes mean about $6.4 million to NIU and $112 million to state education. And that doesn’t touch on any other aspects—like the money going to local governments.

And it certainly doesn’t touch the political reality of what compromises will be made and what projects will be shelved or abandoned for the surcharge to be made permanent.

Some of those include the sticky property tax relief, reapportionment and the overall budget, Hoffman said. Partisanship is always a factor.

But those are not education’s battles and Hoffman said he will do his best to get education-types to focus on education and not get drawn into the subsequent fights.

“This is kind of like a shepherd trying to keep the flock on the trail,” he said.

Separating those issues is a wholloping task, Hoffman said. The Senate and the House both are debating bills that link the property tax relief with the surcharge. Gov. Jim Edgar and Senate Republicans say they can work with the senate’s version. But the House version has been called “laffable” by most Republicans and even has some Democrats scratching their heads.

But Hoffman is undaunted. He said although the two highly-publicized issues are difficult, they are not insurmountable. If the surcharge isn’t going to make it while piggy-backed with property tax relief, the bill could be separated or another surcharge bill could be introduced. Either way, the challenge is there.

And the challenge is difficult, the 58-year-old Belvidere High School graduate said. But the stakes are too high to just be left to Springfield’s whims.

For his efforts, NIU will pay Hoffman $66,000. Hoffman will coordinate the surcharge effort and help strengthen NIU’s ties in the northwest suburbs. He has a one-year contract.

But Hoffman’s hiring didn’t come off without a hitch. State Sen. Patrick Welch, D-Peru, criticized NIU and charged it was wasting taxpayers’ money.

But NIU President John La Tourette defended the move by pointing to the money at stake. And he is adamant about Hoffman not being called a lobbyist, as some have suggested he really is.

Hoffman’s hiring is similar to another deal in 1988. Then, Southern Illinois University in Carbondale’s Keith Sanders took the role. He was temporarily reassigned from SIU to coordinate the statewide efforts, mobilizing support from Springfield. At the time, he was the dean of communications and fine arts at SIU and kept that salary.

Now Hoffman is the guy doing the coordinating and NIU is doing the paying. And, just as in 1988, other schools will put money into the surcharge pot. La Tourette said the 1988 effort was close to $300,000.

NIU and other education officials believe Hoffman is the right man to carry the banner this year. He has a resume that would choke a horse, or at least bend a few ears.

He was a former Republican in the House of Representatives for 24 years. Six of those years were as assistant minority leader and another year as deputy minority leader.

He was a social studies teacher at Fenton High School in Bensenville for 20 years, most of which overlapped with his tenure in the legislature.

Long considered an education champion, Hoffman served on a myriad of educational committees in Illinois and across the state.

And he is an NIU graduate. He earned his master’s in social sciences and his doctorate in educational administration here. He earned his bachelor’s of science in business education from Illinois State University in Normal.

It’s that kind of a track record NIU and education officials are banking on to get attention.

And Hoffman thinks he’s the guy that can do it. Calling himself a teacher at heart, he knows how valuable an education is. And he said Illinois must do its part in giving everyone the chance for that education.

That goes back to bending ears. Hoffman will be talking with leaders in business, government and every other group, trying to get their support for the surcharge.

It’s a big game. Hoffman said education isn’t asking for anything new, but just fighting so it doesn’t slip another notch.

It’s too soon to tell how well Hoffman and everyone else in education will fare. The legislature is scheduled to adjourn June 30, the end of the fiscal year. Routinely it goes into the first week of July.

By now means is making permanent the surcharge a done deal, Hoffman said. La Tourette agrees, and points to that fact as reason enough for bringing Hoffman on board.