For Chicago Public schools, the intersection of money, race, and class has entered the political picture with a new twist - born from one part desperation, two parts public relations, and one part spin; as it emerged with a lawsuit on Tuesday with CPS suing Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Illinois School Board of Education, that the current school funding formula violates the civil rights of its mostly black and Hispanic students, who make up 9 out of every 10 students.
The move is more symbolic, than anything lawful, but it allows CPS make one last grand attempt at wresting more money for the nation’s third largest school system. The Chicago Sun-Times reported that it was influenced by the “landmark education civil rights case Brown v. Board of Education, CPS railed against the state of Illinois for maintaining what it calls “two separate and demonstrably unequal systems for funding public education in the State: one for the City of Chicago, whose public school children are 90% children of color, and the other for the rest of the State, whose public school children are predominantly white.’”
Gathering together five Black and Hispanic families, as plaintiffs, the suit represents an enduring frustration with the formula which benefits wealthier and whiter schools, which been well documented over the years. While the inequity is not new, neither is a lawsuit, because a similar one was done by the Chicago Urban League, in 2008 and the ISBE alleging civil rights violations of minority students throughout the state While it is still is pending in Cook County Court, it does not deal with pensions, said the Sun-Times.
As we have seen, and possibly will continue to see, especially on the national level is symbolic politics - and this action is part of that.. Left out of the loop was the Chicago Teachers Union, whose president Karen Lewis, who had this to say: “Why aren’t we co-plaintiffs on this? Why didn’t they ask us or talk to us about it? Because CPS does stuff on their own. They don’t bother to think that we may have some value,” Lewis told reporters at CTU headquarters Tuesday afternoon.
Characteristically, she said that she had no faith in CPS, and emphasized that “They don’t hold up their end of the bargain,” and “I don’t trust them. I have no trust in what CPS will do. I have no trust in what they’ll ask for. And I have no trust in what they’ll do when they get the money.”
In the absence of notification by CPS; Lewis called the legal battle “a fake fight” between Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Rauner’s education secretary, Beth Purvis, issued a statement saying “it is important to remember that the bipartisan, bicameral school funding commission just issued its report, which recommends an equitable school funding formula that defines adequacy according to the needs of students within each school district. The Governor remains focused on moving forward these recommendations and hopes that CPS will be a partner in that endeavor.”
That plan while revealing a need for more funds for minority students and those well below the poverty line, did not specify details, or deliver a plan to be debated, and there is still the question of who would write the new formula?
With an unrealized windfall from the state government, which was more hopeful thinking than reality, “Chicago’s schools system has slashed about $104 million with furlough days, spending freezes and other cuts, and expects to pass another version of its $5.4 billion operating budget later this month that likely still will be short $111 million.”
"I want to reinforce the urgency of what's happening today, and that this really is our last stand," CPS Chief Education Officer Janice Jackson said. "We have hoped for a legislative solution, and that has not happened. Therefore, we're left with this as an option,” reported the Chicago Tribune in their coverage.
In the stalemate, or rather standoff between the Republican governor and the Democratically controlled state legislature has been fought with name calling, mudslinging, and everything but a budget, as Rauner wants to hold hold the state to an agenda of union busting, workmen compensation changes (for the worse) and a deregulation menu. While the interim provided some stopgap measures, for some budgetary costs, schools in particular have suffered, not only grammar schools, but colleges and universities.
Neither side has refused to budge and Chicago schools face more and more of a financial burden. The future seems less bright, than ever before. But, the results are even more disturbing, and the erosion of social capital, more dire every day, as students and administrators are forced to make more budget cuts, in every way, every day.
The lack of political will for black and brown children makes it more galling for social progressives, but also shows that race and economic class holding sway, make the effects even more debilitating. In fact, the inaction helps no one, and will increase not only reverse migration among black families, headed South, but also an increase in overall population shrink for Chicago.
Added to the mix is the politicization of education that has educators pitted against politicians, Emanuel against the teachers, the teachers union, and Lewis, against the mayor; and the whole crazy patchwork quilt of bureaucracy, where no one seems to know the end result, giving credence to the old baseball adage, “can’t tell the players without a program.”
In Wednesday’s budget address, Rauner’s attempts at portraying the truth - not saying that he is as much to blame as the Dems, was missing. In a disingenuous manner he said: “This isn’t about pointing fingers or assigning blame. We are where we are. It’s not about the past; it’s about how we move forward together. It’s not going to help us move forward if right after this speech, Democrats run to the media claiming we’ve never proposed a plan to balance the budget. And it’s not going to help us move forward if Republicans run to the media to point out that the Democratic legislature’s never passed a balanced budget.”
Specific references to education abound, but the governor noted, “We propose a record level of funding for our schools. We supported our K-12 schools at an unprecedented level in the last school year, and then we came back and did even more for this school year. Let’s begin to implement the recommendations of the school funding reform commission to make sure every child gets a shot at the American dream, no matter where they live.” But, yet again, no real plan, only reports to gather dust, and no real money for Chicago schools? He vetoed much needed funds before, so what makes this statement different?
With the addition of support for the earned income tax credit and broad support for the Senate leader, John Cullerton and minority leader Christine Radogno “grand plan,” and coming together in earnest, it is apparent that the needle has not moved and neither has the governor. So, we are back at square one, with mostly retreads from previous speeches and positions.
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