A day after Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich unveiled his $10 billion school financing and education reform plan, lawmakers, local school officials and teachers union representatives raised serious reservations, suggesting that key portions of the proposal will face a rocky path.

Virtually every aspect of the agenda —from state takeover of failing schools to merit pay for teachers to mandated after-school tutoring — has its skeptics and detractors.

Overall, educators applauded Blagojevich for laying out an agenda that jolts the debate about improving public schools and would infuse money into the system. The money would come from the sale or lease of the state lottery.

But when the plan is taken apart on the merits of educational changes, critics start jabbing.

Teachers union officials worry that a proposal to award raises based on student performance could be arbitrary and unfair if not left up to local districts to decide.

Republican lawmakers say some of the ideas already have come up before the General Assembly and died because they failed to get enough votes.

Local superintendents and elected school board members object to portions of the plan that they charge will wrest decisions away from them and put them in the hands of state education officials.

"This is a slap in the face of local control," said Walt Warfield, executive director of the Illinois Association of School Administrators. The governor is saying "that the state board, which has absolutely no track record of educational excellence, even competence, is in a better position to run a school than a locally elected body," Warfield said. "The higher up in government you go, the accountability and credibility tapers off."

The governor's office was not surprised by the reaction.

"We have faced criticism and opposition before, but you cannot use that criticism and opposition as an excuse for inaction," said Rebecca Rausch, a spokeswoman for the governor.

Rausch stressed that any state takeover would be the last step after a series of interventions to help districts improve.

And any so-called merit or performance pay plan to reward teachers based on student performance would start out as a small pilot project involving only districts and local unions that want to participate, she said.

In addition, rewards would not likely be based on a sole criterion such as scores on state reading and math tests.