Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s State of the State Address wasn’t what local politicians had hoped for.

Sen. Brad Burzynski said the address was a disappointment.

“He didn’t address the funding issue in the state budget,” Burzynski said. “He did so on areas of concern for him.”

State Rep. Robert Pritchard said the governor sent out an important message.

One issue Blagojevich focused on was elementary and secondary education and the State Board of Education.

He said the board was “clunky and inefficient” and there wasn’t enough participation from parents, students and school officials.

Blagojevich also pointed out that in Illinois, 46 cents of every dollar spent on a child’s education go to classroom instruction, and it is 40th in the nation when it comes to seeing that money is invested in the classroom to teach the children.

One option Blagojevich suggested would be to create a Department of Education, which would be directly under the governor.

Though Burzynski agreed change was needed, he didn’t think creating a new program was the solution.

He also didn’t agree with Blagojevich’s new program, Book-a-Month, in which a new book would be given to children every month from the time they were born until age 5.

He said he thought the $25 million it would take for the program should be donated to libraries instead.

“You don’t even know if the parent would read the book to the child,” Burzynski said.

Pritchard said he was worried about the new programs the governor wanted to bring in.

Being $1.3 billion short of anticipated revenue, Pritchard said the legislature should focus on improving the budget rather than bringing in new programs.

Another topic Blagojevich failed to talk about was funding for higher education, other than to mention that freshmen starting in the fall will have a set tuition.

“Being in a district which has a university it’s something I’m concerned about,” Burzynski said.

Pritchard agreed and said since the university is DeKalb’s largest employer, he doesn’t want to see more money taken away.

Burzynski said universities shouldn’t expect too much improvement when it comes to the money they get.

He also said the governor wanted to look at the productivity of the universities before deciding on funding.

“We need change,” Burzynski said. “But it might be different how we go about it.”

Pritchard said the governor talked about tax increases as a way to combat the budget, and he wasn’t for that.

He also said the governor spends a lot of money flying between Chicago and Springfield and that it could be cut down.

Blagojevich also talked about Illinois health care programs, creating new jobs, law enforcement and the new minimum wage.