Byrd-Bennett sentencing just tip of iceberg for CPS woes

Mayor Emanuel and Barbara Byrd-Bennett

In the end, she got what was coming to her, say her critics; after all she betrayed the trust that was given to her by the city’s mayor, but when Barbara Byrd-Bennett received her sentence of 4 and ½ years in prison on Friday for agreeing to take a bribe from a suburban education outfit, in exchange for $23 million in no-bid contracts to the SUPES training academy, it also spoke volumes about the long standing reputation of Chicago as being a corrupt city, but also about Chicago Public Schools, how decisions are made, and especially how Mayor Rahm Emanuel has become ensnared in the web of money, intrigue and incompetence that hold the nation’s third largest school system hostage.

“Byrd-Bennett was promised hundreds of thousands of dollars as a "signing bonus" once she left her duties at CPS and rejoined SUPES as a consultant, her plea deal said. The bonus was to be concealed in trust accounts set up in the names [of] her twin grandsons — with the cash available to her once she left CPS,” reported the Chicago Tribune.

The majority of the 400,000 students in CPS are Black or Latino, with the perception that the schools are inferior, and many white parents, especially of means, send their children to private, or parochial Catholic schools. While perception maybe one-tenth of the law, it holds more sway in a city noted for its long history of racial segregation.

Bennett’s deal simply added another layer to the perception of ineffectiveness, and corruption, that has many parents, and mayoral critics, throwing up their hands. The schools also face a budget deficit that cut help for special needs students, and removed most of the extracurricular instruction, and music.

When she entered the arena of bribes, she heralded a training class, for principals, by SUPES as Chicago Public Schools faced a debt of $1 billion, when it was approved in 2013; and there had been a great deal of complaints by some that the instruction provided by SUPES was inadequate, to say the least, and that the lack of true knowledge by the trainers was a source of contention among many educators.

Past History
Besides the financial hole, the relationship with CPS and SUPES had been long-standing, and had produced, before she was hired (to replace outgoing Jean-Claude Brizard), Byrd-Bennett worked “as a paid coach for SUPES while collecting a $21,500-a month paycheck from CPS as a contract education adviser to Brizard.”  

This spurred an investigation by the CPS inspector general based on revelations by Catalyst Chicago an independent “news organization that serves as a watchdog and resource for school improvement in Chicago,” according to its website.

The contract was the highest no-bid contract in the district’s recent history and much of the objections stemmed from the enormity of the contract, and should have sent alarm bells ringing up and down the corridors of City Hall.

Wendy Katten, president of the parents group, Raise Your Hand, said, “We went to the board and asked them to end this contract and redirect the money to schools. It shouldn’t have to lead to a federal investigation to get action.”

Expanding on her original statements, Katten also told FOX TV Chicago at the time, that “A $20 million no-bid contract … is a questionable use of funds at a time when our students have 94 less art positions, 58 less [physical education] positions, and 54 less music positions for the fall, and CEO Byrd-Bennett is in the press discussing online courses for these programs,” she says. “We have to ask where the priorities of this district are right now.”

Warning Signs

There were also earlier warning signs: As I noted, at the time, Bennett was “No stranger to controversy, or investigation, when she led the Cleveland school district she was accused of using private donations for lavish hotel accommodations, and “fancy restaurants,” but a probe revealed no wrongdoing, but investigators urged the district to keep a tighter rein on spending, and as the Chicago Tribune reported, there was a silver lining to that cloud, when “she was credited with straightening out finances, improving test scores and raising the high school graduation rate.”

Her performance in Chicago was mixed at best, with some saying, at least she had previous educational experience, and, as we have seen on the national level, that is not a prerequisite for a cabinet level position.

Elected School Board?

If oversight has been lacking, much of the criticism has been against Emanuel and his handpicked school board, and one that many say could be cured by an elected school board. Last November at a meeting held by State Rep. Greg Harris (D-Chicago) to support legislative action for it, apparent at the meeting was a growing sense of anger and frustration at a school board, and a system that many feel does a disservice to its students with draconian cuts, some schools that have lost $750,000 from its budget with a 20 percent staff reduction.

Present at that meeting was Kurt Hilgendorf, representing the Chicago Teachers Union who noted that in the recent advisory referendum in the last election, 37 wards voted for an elected school board, “more than for Rahm Emanuel [to remain in office].”

He also noted that Chicago’s appointed board had been in place since 1995, and that it “is bad for policymaking,” and “has limited participation for parents,” especially with “the rapid decline in neighborhood school enrollment,” which are being drained by the charter schools favored by the board.

Opinions do vary for an elected school board, and former Alderman Dick SImpson, now an associate professor of political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago,commented in 2012 for the Chicago Journal: “An elected school board would get the voice of citizens between the near dictatorial control of Mayor Emanuel and opposition by the Chicago Teacher's Union. We citizens pay for the school system and we parents depend upon the system to educate our children. We should have a voice separate from the mayor's that can provide a check and balance to both the mayor and the union.”

He also issued a cautionary note: “there are problems. First, if we held school board elections citywide rather than by district, we could end up with racial imbalance. Ninety percent of the students in the system are black and Hispanic but most of the elected board could be white. Second, with more than 600 schools to supervise, it is unclear how much any school board -- appointed or elected -- can do to really govern the system. Third, when we had elections of other local agencies like Model Cities, the political machine controlled the outcome in order to control the patronage jobs. The Democratic Party could control the outcome of school board elections as well.”

Noting that while an elected board is not a perfect panacea, especially for quick solutions for CPS indebtedness, Simpson concluded that, “on balance we need a positive start [towards change] and no solution, no financial solution, or representation problem can be solved easily.”

Naysayers do abound, and in an editorial last year for the Chicago Tribune, Peter Cunningham executive director of Education Post, a Chicago not-for-profit organization that supports education reform, and former assistant secretary for communications in the U.S. Department of Education, and spokesman for Chicago Public Schools, disagreed and said, “For the most part, elected school boards in large urban districts perpetuate the status quo. Examples abound, from the corrupt and ineffective pre-Katrina New Orleans school board to Los Angeles today, where paralyzing debates and acrimonious seven-figure school board elections are now the norm.”

WIth the Byrd-Bennett fiasco, many parents, legislators, and others want  tighter control over finances, and they think that it can be had with an elected board, yet Cunningham says just the opposite might happen: “Chicago mayors have directed billions of non education dollars to support schoolchildren. Without control, they may not.”

Financial Fiasco

Last year CPS faced a deficit of more than $1.1 billion, and according to their website, this year, they say, “due to a veto of the bill that moved toward more equitable pension funding for CPS, we have amended the online budget to reflect a reduction of $104 million in appropriation through furlough days and a freeze of non-personnel funds at schools.”

In the past, especially, under the Daley administration, pensions were either underfunded, or payments were not made at all, leading to a financial precipice.

They are referring to a veto by Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner last year of $215 million that was needed towards mandated pension obligations, that many felt would never materialize, other than hoped for. This prompted a response by Chicago Teachers Union, President Karen Lewis, who said: “He was never going to give us any money,” she told The Chicago Tribune, “He’s a liar, he always has been . . . He is trying to starve CPS, that’s his goal.”

Lawsuit citing inequity

Emanuel, for his part, besides trying to wrangle money from the state has also who steadfastly tried to to help either end the funding formula that has given less money to Chicago schools, or to give it a benefice of cash.  He also sued the governor and the Illinois School Board of Education under “separate and unequal systems of funding for public education in Illinois,” on behalf of African American and Latino students, a move that was defeated on Friday, that the suit lacked a “sufficient argument under law.”.  This not only lost the $215 million that was needed but also any leverage for the pension payments, or to finish the school year, on time.

The current budget gap is $129 million.

Cook County Judge Franklin Valderrama “said he is sympathetic to the needs of a district like CPS that represents hundreds of thousands of poor and minority children, and termed the state's defense of the current situation "startlingly out of touch." However, he added CPS' lawsuit "is not the vehicle to challenge that reality,” reported Crain’s Chicago Business.

On the heels of Valderrama’s decision, Emanuel told reporters that students will be in class till June 20, the formal end of the school year.  What remains is how to pay for it. Suggestions have been made to use funds -- again -- from the tax-increment financing funds, as proposed by local alderman, Roderick Sawyer and George Cardenas.

Back to finances

Chicago Board of Education President Frank Clark says that he doesn’t know where the money will come from either, but said, “We’re going to find a way to fund this.”

Complicating financial matters further was the 2017 CPS budget which held some questionable line items, such as $17.3 million for new annexes and classrooms in a district whose lowered enrollment is forcing some schools to consolidate with others.

But, most lacking, at the time, according to Laurence Msall, of The Civic Federation,was a plan for capital expenditures, who “recommends that the District provide a plan detailing how it will balance revenues with expenditures in the event that revenue and/or labor contract savings are not realized in FY 2017 and that it continue to work with the State to secure equitable funding.” A goal that is further complicated by a Fitch rating CPS bonds to junk status, which results in more expensive borrowing as Emanuel has discovered.

With the partisan standoff, in Springfield, this is hope that springs eternal. As the Board of Education, sought to obtain $945 million in borrowing for capital projects, without any long-term capital improvement plan, the “the budget becomes self-defeating by accounting standards. But, spokesperson Emily Bittner insisted that “CPS’ revenues match expenditures, and expenditures are down $232 million from FY16.”

Despite the optimism it seems like a lose-lose situation, without even a Hail Mary pass from Springfield, the effect on students, and morale, is bound to be deleterious, as the clock ticks.

New study shows cost of segregation to Chicago region

It’s been well established that Chicago is one of the nation’s most segregated cities, a legacy of what has been a century of racially motivated behaviors that have disenfranchised and divided the city, lessening, and in some cases, thwarting economic development, as well as access to education, public resources and education.

“After the start of the Great Migration in 1916, the Chicago Real Estate Board (CREB) instituted racially restrictive covenants that prohibited African Americans from purchasing, leasing and occupying housing outside of a small area on the city’s South Side. These covenants were legal and allowed racially discriminatory housing policies to continue for decades,” notes a recent study by the Metropolitan Planning Council, that takes a wider look at the region, on the whole, a departure from most academic and policy studies that have focused on the city alone.

With the tile of The Cost of Segregation,” the MPC results were shared at the April meeting of the Chicago Fair Housing Alliance last Wednesday, to local service providers, and advocates. As Patricia Fron, executive director of CAFHA, notes, “our region's segregation did not happen organically, it is the direct result of public policy.”

The Council, together with Urban Institute and a team of regional policy advisors, analyzed segregation patterns in the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the country.  They were driven by two questions, “What does it cost all of in metropolitan Chicago to live so separately from each other by race and income? And, what can we do to change these patterns of segregation, so that everyone living in our region can appreciate in and create a stronger future?”

For many that are not affected by segregation, there is often a lack of concern, or even awareness of the costs to the city, as well as to the region, on the whole. Study authors sought to show the loss for the region, as well as for the individuals. They examined three types of segregation: economic, African American-white, and Latino-white. That led to a central question: “if the Chicago region reduced its levels of segregation to the median levels of segregation of the nation’s 100 biggest metros,” what would it look like?

Over generations, subsequent policies, and practices, have have created barriers between people of different races and incomes.In turn these have had a profound effect on key areas such as education, employment and residence; making one’s zip code a determinant. The resulting devastation, as MPC, has shown affects “entire city neighborhood and suburban villages, towns and cities,” they noted.

Earning our daily bread is a common factor for nearly all of us, and the researchers found “that economic segregation and income inequality compound and exacerbate each other’s effects.”  An examination of the data shows the unfortunate result: ”a self‐reinforcing cycle, in which income inequality creates segregation and segregation furthers income inequality. These lowered incomes have a cost: research has shown that if the average incomes of people of color were raised even beyond the national median, up to the average incomes of whites, our gross national product would increase by $1.9 trillion.”

Using economic standards,”incomes for African Americans in the Chicago region would rise by an average of $2,982 per person per year—or an overall increase of $4.4 billion in additional income in our region—if we reduced the levels of economic and African American-white segregation to the national median,” statistically speaking.

Looking ahead, if those numbers were to change, in keeping with white median figures, there would also have been an increase of more than $3,000 from African Americans, over $8 billion dollar in overall income, and a 30 percent decrease in homicides.

Solutions may, they claim, may not be simple, but one idea is a “local Earned Income Tax Credit to housing policies that avoid concentrating where the wealthy and the poor live, to more transit options to connect workers to jobs.”

There are perhaps few people in the country, much less Chicago residents, who are unaware of the increasing violence, mostly fatal, that has plagued the city and exceeded previous records, especially with homicides.  “In 2016, murders in Chicago totaled 764, a 58 percent increase from the previous year. This sudden spike in gun violence has garnered both national and international media attention, earning Chicago the reputation as the murder capital of the United States,” MPC cited in a February article.”

“Using the region’s 2010 homicide rate—the most recent figures available at the regional level—our study found that the Chicago area could have boosted its economy simply by being a safer place to live,” researchers summarized.

Examining the relation between safety and livability, and how can it be proved to save lives as well as increasing  the latter are topics for the “next phase of work, which will be  “focusing on four areas: police reform, the geographic concentration of crime and violence, criminal justice policy, and how place impacts the re-entry and recidivism of people with criminal records.”

Meanwhile here are some startling statistics: ”167 more people would have lived that year, [2010] earning some $170 million over the course of their lifetimes; The region would have saved some $65 million in policing costs and an estimated $218 million in corrections costs; and the region would have saved some $65 million in policing costs and an estimated $218 million in corrections costs.”

In 2010, the number of African American homicides was over 17 times the number for whites; and, as the media reports of the intersection of violence with race and segregation, and poverty, gives the study results an even stronger understanding of the relationship between factors.

Another widely held misbelief is that, for far too long, is “many have had the misperception that Chicago’s violence did not impact them. In fact, violence has a ripple effect: it removes residents from communities by death and incarceration, unravels families and traumatizes survivors. Each of these factors saps the capacity of students and workers and makes the city and region a less appealing place to live and work. Of the 10 U.S. cities with highest murder rates, Chicago ranks eighth. Most of these cities have high levels of economic and racial segregation as well.”

Frequently overlooked, in the equation, are Latinos who are frequently underrepresented in discussions of segregation, and overlooks some important deficiencies. For example, while 25 percent of this population are available for Chicago Housing Authority units, they occupy only 9 percent of available units.

Going even beyond that measure, Latino household mobility is often the result of displacement caused by real estate speculation rather than the family’s upward economic mobility. Many of them are “displaced by urbanization, and gentrification, in their neighborhoods,” which can be seen in the city’s Pilsen and Logan Square neighborhoods, and is sharply increasing, recently, in the Albany Park neighborhood.

Housing, specifically affordable housing, is becoming a scarcity in Chicago, and even regionwide there is a challenge for middle and lower middle class residents. But, mention the word, affordable housing, and opposition grows, with scaremongers raising the spectre of crime, and decreased housing value.  The “not in my backyard” syndrome known by the acronym NIMBY has become part of social service vocabulary.

Andrew Geer, Vice President and Chicago market leader for Enterprise Community Partners, showed the attendees slides of some of the more negative comments gleaned from social media -- nearly all negative, many racist, and largely uninformed.

He also gave several points for those providers and advocates attending, some of which were explaining how the system shapes the discussion, connect housing to community issues, and show how affordable housing is a vaccine to prevent social ills, such as homelessness. But, most of all show what will be lost to communities, if there no affordable housing.

Finally, education, the bellwether of middle class attainment, has been compromised by segregation. Researchers “found a correlation between lower levels of segregation and a higher percentage of the population holding a bachelor’s degree, for both African Americans and for whites, this means the Chicago region is losing out on some $90 billion in total lifetime earnings as a result of our education gap.”

Simply put, “Latinos have the lowest bachelor’s degree attainment at 12% with African Americans at 20%,” and while “the U.S. President’s Council on Jobs and Economic Competitiveness found that by 2020 there will be 1.5 million too few college graduates nationwide to meet employers’ demand,” it’s not hard to conceive how much of a stronger workforce the region could have had.

Without direct and consistent efforts, another decade may pass, with yet another study, released, again deploring the deleterious effects of racial and economic segregation in the Chicago region.

As the current study has shown, change requires effort. And, as Fron noted, “since segregation impacts all residents, limiting individual opportunities, and diminishing our region's economic prosperity, it will therefore take effort to change.”

Lack of Illinois budget stays, governor faces challengers

The story remains the same: No budget for the state of Illinois. A recalcitrant Republican governor and an equally stoic Democratic legislature have not been able to work together, at all.  In the almost two years since billionaire Bruce Rauner was elected, or some say bought the governorship, to the nation's fifth largest state, it is awash in red ink, and unpaid bills. Total debt is $267 billion, or put another way, $56,000 per Illinois household.
 
Rauner has Insisted that his “turn around agenda” be implemented before any budgets can be approved, including union busting, tort reform, deregulation and weakened workmen’s compensation, to name a few, and in this blue state, the standoff has remained. So much so, that there is $12.5 billion dollars in unpaid bills, and the state has the worst credit rating in the United States. And, in February, FItch gave a rating to the state, at just above junk bond status.
 
On the horizon, despite hand wringing, and partisan anguish, Illinois is now subject to speculation, and hope; recently pinned on revenue gain with the legalization of marijuana; a bipartisan “grand bargain”; and a bill to force the gubernatorial hand at a balanced budget. Observers say that the chance for pot and the new bill, are slim, and  even in a best case scenario, might provide no relief, which was so desperately needed, yesterday.
 
Illinois Policy, an independent policy organization, focused on the effort of HB 3868 which was introduced by State Rep. Jim Durkin, (R-Western Springs) which “would allow Gov. Bruce Rauner to reprioritize and cut spending to balance the state’s budget, as the Illinois Constitution requires. If the General Assembly sends the governor an unbalanced budget for fiscal year 2018, this bill would enable the governor to refocus the state’s spending on those most in need and to align the cost of government with what taxpayers can afford,’ they summarized. In short, the bill, which has been sent back to committee, would continue to pay for government services, transfer unspent monies to the general fund, amongst others.
 
While noting that putting that much power in the hands of a governorship known for corruption, Illinois Policy stresses that  there would be safeguards. They emphasize, “it has safeguards to prevent abuse of the expanded budget-cutting authority. First, the governor would not be arrogating more power to himself, but rather exercising limited budget-balancing authority at the direction of the General Assembly. Moreover, this expanded power is intended to bring the state in line with the explicit requirements of the Illinois Constitution and to rein in government, not expand government at the expense of private citizens.”
 
Last week, we had the following: “in a report issued Thursday, Moody's Investors Service contends the state's financial pressures are the result of a "lack of political will" between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democrats who control the General Assembly rather "than a recession or other factors beyond the government's control, “ reported The Chicago Tribune.
 
As the end of the legislative season approaches, on 31 May, it seems that the state will fall off the proverbial cliff, financially speaking. "State leaders are at a critical juncture, facing a choice between further credit deterioration without a compromise or potential credit stabilization with a budget agreement," the agency said
 
If the situation continues, what they called “political paralysis” will begin for a third year, then the financial picture will further increase to over $28 billion dollar in unpaid bills.

Gov. Rauner

In the midst of all of this are the often bewildering statements from the governor, witness the latest comment. "This is, you know, some people call it sausage being made or whatever. It is a difficult process, and there is give and take," hardly words to inspire confidence in his leadership. Even those that are motivated by charisma in politics, Rauner comes up short. Some critics are looking back longingly at the Quinn administration, a politician noticeably deficient in this regard, according to contemporary standards.
 
The Tribune also reported that, “While state government has been able to stagger along without a budget, Moody's says a third year without a budget agreement will "signal political paralysis" and could lead to a credit downgrade as Illinois may be forced to put off debt payments and cut pension contributions in order to fund day-to-day needs.”

"By not fully paying its bills, Illinois is facing a growing risk of long-term damage to the state's public higher education system and its network of human service providers," the agency said. "While this pressure might fuel urgency for legislators and the governor to reach a fiscal compromise, there are signs already that protracted payment delays are causing perceived harm to these public programs."
 
With the country just easing itself from the Great Recession, there are many that are vulnerable and service organizations in the state  need continued, and consistent help, from job training programs to mental health and addictions treatment; all are begging and many have had to restrict, or eliminate programs, or depend on volunteers, to provide service.
 
Perhaps nowhere is this seen more than in education, where junior colleges and regional four-year institutions, are suffering and being forced to take furlough days, and cut programs to stay afloat. As Moody’s noted, “long term changes to the state's public higher education system and its network of human service providers,” are greatly affected.
 

Less than two weeks ago college and university presidents went to Springfield to vent their frustrations and share the consequences of the absence of a state budget. “We no longer have any tissue, any additional cuts that we can cut," Chicago State University interim President Cecil B. Lucy said. "We are basically down to the bone. We have nothing more to give."
 
For the regional schools, the people most often hurt are low income minority students of color, often, the first, in their families to go to college and earn a degree.  As the Tribune noted, “particularly at the state's smaller regional universities that have long served as affordable.”
 
Last year, these schools “received only infrequent and unpredictable funding,” and the future looks grim, as “universities across the state, hundreds of employees have been laid off, dozens of academic and athletic programs cut, weeks worth of pay erased through furloughs, maintenance projects halted, vendor payments delayed and reserves emptied,” said the paper.
 
Statistically, “About 25 percent of students enrolled in Illinois universities attended public institutions in 2015, according to the Illinois Board of Higher Education. Of that, about 48 percent chose one of the regional institutions,” an important fact, as many of these schools serve as a conduit to the middle class, and a boon to the social capital of the state.
 
Stepping into the morass of Illinois finance and politics are contenders for the next gubernatorial race in 2018 is another wealthy businessman, J.B. Pritzker, heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune, and wealthy investor and entrepreneur. While the Pritzkers have been associated with liberal causes for sometime - $200,000 to Democratic causes, and serving as a national co-chairman for Hillary Clinton in 2008, in her unsuccessful bid against Barack Obama -  this entry might prove to be the road less traveled - great wealth.
 

Notably, Rauner spent $27.6 million of his own money, plus the $65.3 million, from other sources, thus earning him the right, some consider to buy the governor’s office. While that, in and of itself, might be questioned, there is no doubt that money plays a vital role in this state.
 
To be fair, Pritzker did identify several key issues that have frustrated residents in his assessment. As he said, “I've traveled across Illinois, I've listened to people express their deep concerns about the direction of our state. It is clear that having a governor who's unwilling to address our state's challenges is having a real impact on people's lives," Pritzker said in a statement, released last month.
 
He has also said, and as the Tribune noted, that “he would be willing to self-fund a campaign for governor.” And, in the stratosphere, of personal wealth, “Pritkzer is listed at No. 190 on Forbes' annual list of the 400 wealthiest Americans with an estimated net worth of $3.4 billion, and he is one of the few in Illinois who could self-fund a campaign and outspend Rauner,” who is the poor boy with only $188 million in 2015.
 
Also throwing his hat into the ring, is one iconic name in American politics - Kennedy - to be exact Chris Kennedy, the son of the late Robert F. Kennedy, and nephew of President John F. Kennedy, and cousin of Caroline Kennedy. He previously ran the Merchandise Mart and his name alone could garner votes. With a tradition of funding national political campaigns, it’s a sure bet that there is still money left over for a run at Illinois.
 
Capturing, and charming, listeners, at a fundraiser for the Special Olympics Chicago, he reminded them, at his acceptance speech that he was “an immigrant to Chicago,” and that despite his Boston roots, “I’m a convert, And there’s not faith as strong as a faith of a convert,” and that giving is far better than receiving.
 
In a hard hitting statement, Kennedy also said, "I think Gov. Rauner's taken a state government budget problem and turned it into economic chaos for the rest of the state. I don't think it needed to go that way. And I think it's fixable.”

Chris Kennedy

The Rauner-backed GOP also referred to Kennedy as a Madigan "lap dog." Kennedy, in turn, called the attacks "desperate" and "pathetic."  "I think it's an insult to me, an insult to the entire Kennedy family and an insult to the voters of Illinois to make a statement like that that anybody's going to believe," he told the Chicago Tribune.
 
In an even tougher vein, “Kennedy, however, contended it was intransigence Rauner has shown in seeking his economic agenda that has damaged the state in a historic stalemate that has left Illinois without a full-year budget for 19 months.”
 
With time ahead, Illinois can no longer afford to look down, versus up, for whoever wins next year, and while there are other contenders, this election, like the budget itself, may take money, as well as moxie.

Proposal to legalize pot in Illinois, a first for the Midwest

State Rep. Cassidy

Updated April 28, 2017

As the state of Illinois goes into its 19th month without a budget, and is in increasingly dire straits, especially for social service agencies and schools; even as colleges, are forced to take furlough days, the old adage of “desperate times call for desperate measures,” seems to have been in mind when State Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago) introduced legislation Wednesday to legalize and tax marijuana as a source of much needed revenue for the land of Lincoln, the sixth most populous state in the nation.
 
“Governor Rauner’s utter failure to introduce a plan to address the needs of Illinoisans has held our social services and programs hostage through the impasse he has created,” Cassidy said in a press release. Furthermore, she  continued, “His refusal to compromise has forced legislators to find new ways to create revenue. Our state is in a crisis situation, and instead of spending vital public resources arresting and incarcerating individuals for distributing marijuana, our state should create a legal avenue for selling cannabis to increase revenue for our schools, anti-violence programs and services for the most vulnerable people in our state.”
 

However, Cassidy believes that given the current financial situation Illinois is in, the legalization and taxation of marijuana could help fill the much needed revenue gaps in our budget. In Colorado, marijuana sales generated about $70 million in revenue during the first year of legalization.
 

“The fact of the matter is that marijuana is being bought and sold throughout the state right now, unregulated and untaxed,” Cassidy said. “Because of the Governor’s inability to do his job and fund the state programs that people in communities throughout Illinois rely on, we must look at updating our drug policy as a possible avenue to bring much-needed revenue to our state.”
 
The state would license and regulate businesses to grow, process and sell plants, and it would write safety regulations such as testing and labeling requirements, the sponsors said.
 

This proposal would also allow residents to possess up to 28 grams of pot, or about an ounce, and to grow five plants, and would be a first for the Midwest. 

Joining Cassidy on the Senate side, is State Sen. Heather Steans (-D-Chicago) who has also proposed legalization of cannabis. She, in turn, has said, much of what Cassidy noted in her statement, “Right now, all the money being spent on marijuana is going into the pockets of criminals and cartels,”  And, “In a regulated system, the money would go into the cash registers of licensed, tax paying businesses. [where] It would generate hundreds of millions of dollars per year in new revenue for our state. Prohibition is a financial hole in the ground, and we should stop throwing taxpayer dollars into it.”
 
Legalizing recreational marijuana has swept the nation. During this past election, voters from coast to coast passed ballot initiatives to legalize its use, making recreational marijuana now legal in eight states, and Washington, D.C.
 
For several years, cannabis legalization, both pros and cons, have been discussed in both academia, the recovery community, and by lawmakers. Yet for several decades prior to Wednesday's announcement, as far back as the 70’s, discussions among users was that “the government should just go ahead and tax it, and be done with it.” Now, it seems that those thoughts have become reality.
 
“It is clear that individuals across the nation are receptive to purchasing marijuana through a legal market,” Steans said. “Legalizing and taxing marijuana will not and should not solve all of our budget woes, but it should be a part of the conversation about resolving Illinois’ worsening budget problems. Every bit of new revenue will help to close the governor’s $5 billion budget gap.”
 
Steans’s website also states that “In 2016, the state of Oregon collected more than $60 million in new revenue from a tax on marijuana – more than six times what the Oregon Liquor Control Commission expected for the 2015-2017 budget period. In Colorado, which legalized marijuana in 2012, the state collected more than $140 million in 2016 from taxes on legal marijuana sales.”
 
For those concerned about the effect on addiction, especially, young people, she notes that,“Though recreational sales in Colorado began in 2014, according to the Healthy Kids Colorado Survey, marijuana consumption by teens has not increased since recreational marijuana was legalized.”
 
In addition, there is some evidence that marijuana can ease opioid addiction, Increasingly, says Steans, researchers are finding that marijuana can be an effective alternative to opioids for pain management. “According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, opioids killed more than 33,000 individuals in 2015 alone. In Illinois, 75 percent of drug overdoses in 2015 involved opioids according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.”
 
“I believe that we should explore all options to ending the opioid epidemic,” Steans said. “I think that by legalizing marijuana, we could see a drop in opioid overuse,” says the senator.
 
Marijuana has also been used to treat patients with chronic pain, cancer, epilepsy and some psychiatric conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder.
 
The bills propose taxing marijuana at a rate of $50 per ounce wholesale, plus the state's standard 6.25 percent sales tax, said the Tribune report.

State Sen. Steans

Despite earlier,and successful, attempts by Steans, and Cassidy, to pass bills that exchanged prison time for a fine, for small amounts of pot, there is still controversy regarding how the police looked at adjudication, especially when it came to people of color. This proposal would help to remove the role of race and unequal legal application,and level the playing field where previously whites have been given fines in lieu of jail time granted disproportionately for blacks and Hispanics.

In the past many have not been supported the prospect of legalization, and felt that there are unknown effects on usage, ages, and deleterious results such as vehicular accidents, and for young people, graduation rates. Yet, those concerns aside, alcohol, widely available, has been shown to cause more car crashes, and damage more marriages, plus other societal effects, than has  been proven with marijuana.

A recent poll conducted for CBS News, conducted in mid April now reveals growing support for legalization, across all age groups, especially those under 64 years-of-age. 61 percent of Americans think that marijuana should be legal, a 5 point increase from last year; the highest ever in this poll. 

Looking at political affiliation both Democrats and Independents are in favor of legalization, while Republicans are divided.

Even more significant are the data that show 71 percent oppose the government prevention of sales and use in states that have legalized it. Also, 65 percent think that marijuana is less dangerous than most drugs.

Only 23 percent think legalization will lead to an increase in crime, a sharp swing from that of US Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who sees a correlation between pot use and violent crime. Also, most Americans think habitual drug use is an addictions issue that should be related and not a criminal offense.

The Chicago Tribune reported that “The co-sponsors, Sen. Heather Steans and Rep. Kelly Cassidy, both Democrats from Chicago's North Side, said they don't plan to call the bill for a vote this session but will hold hearings to get feedback and see whether some version of a legalization bill can get support next year.”

Both Steans and Cassidy have recently held local town hall style meetings in Chicago, where most of the attendees showed overwhelming support, across all age groups, up to seniors, said Jon Pearl, Cassidy's Chief of Staff.

Chicago charter school teachers will strike unless demands are met

In the battle over education - with the longheld dream of Republican lawmakers for vouchers, fulfilled with the confirmation of Betsy DeVos as the new secretary of education, now comes the fly in the ointment over advocates for school choice: a first ever strike by charter school teachers in the nation, in its third largest city Chicago, could happen in 10 days.

In a statement Educators at ASPIRA charter schools have set a strike date of March 17, citing “a standstill with management in both economic and non-economic issues.”

The strike would be the first of a charter school network in the nation. ASPIRA runs four publicly funded Chicago charter schools serving roughly 1,800 mostly Latino students. ASPIRA educators – all members of ACE, “A Council of Educators” with ChiACTS Local 4343 – have been negotiating for a new contract for ten months.  Recently, 99% of voting bargaining members voted to strike on Feb. 22

“Our priority is our students’ education -- and all of us, from our principals and vice principals to mentors and support staff, work tirelessly to support our students’ intellectual, social, and emotional growth,” said Marines Martinez, acting president of ACE. “Together, we are the backbone of great schools that deserve management’s support and respect -- and while we don’t want to strike, we will if we must to take a stand for our students and our larger communities.”

They announced that teachers will rally on Thursday at 4:30 pm at ASPIRA Business & Finance High School, 2989 N Milwaukee Ave. -- just before the beginning of the educators’ next bargaining session at that location.

In what is now familiar territory, to date, management they say has “balked at providing an additional $135,000 next year in economic support for teachers in a four-school charter network with an annual budget of more than $15 million dollars.”

That’s less than 1% of ASPIRA’s annual charter school budget, which they note delivers a surplus in public dollars to ASPIRA’s overall organizational budget, including its non-charter school operations. And, their administrative overhead is one of the highest of all charter networks according to recent records.

Again, on familiar territory, to public schools, negotiations have also stalled over non-economic issues that include reducing the school day and year for educators -- but not students.

In addition, teachers argue that theirs is one of the longest work days and years for educators in Chicago’s charter school system. They also face the self-imposed mandate of educating the city’s Hispanic students. As they noted, ACE educators have historically worked considerably longer work days and put in more non-academic hours than peers in Chicago’s public schools and other charter networks out of an embrace of ASPIRA’s founding principles to serve the Hispanic community.  The schools have 1400 students, and who are mostly Latino.

To fulfill that mission, their educators have taken less compensation than peers at other public schools to support ASPIRA’s mission “to nurture the leadership, intellectual, and cultural potential of Latino youth.”

“We’re forced to deal with chronic staff vacancies, too much turnover among experienced educators who simply cannot afford to work for ASPIRA schools under these conditions, and substitute teachers rather than full-time, dedicated educators,” said ACE member Tito Rodriguez. “At the same time, we’re doing jobs that management is responsible for, from student recruitment and janitorial upkeep to fundraising for our students’ classroom needs, while management has cut support for critically important non-academic programs that range from music to athletics. If we have to strike to get management on track and preserve excellence in our students’ educational growth, we’re prepared to hit the picket lines.”

Closely related to one of the charges against charter schools are frequent turnover and teacher retention leading to student achievement and instability and lack of accountability and even at the executive level. In the last 6 weeks alone, they note “the charter network’s CEO and Chief Academic Officer have been removed, only one school has the same principal and vice principal who began the school year, and the system’s COO – who had essentially been running the charter school network – recently resigned.”

The recent complaints of public school teachers are echoed by the ACE complaint and which seems to be indicative of a war on teachers as professionals. “Our ACE educators are simply asking that they be afforded the basic rights any teacher deserves,” said Chris Baehrend, President of Chicago ACTS Local 4343.

“That includes the right to earn a living wage that respects our teachers’ experience and commitment, the right to working conditions that lift up and support our students’ academic achievements and our teachers’ dignity, and the right to work under policies and best practices that create an empowering, supportive school culture.”

In a concluding statement, Bernard said, “If it takes a strike to convince senior management of the critical importance of these most basic of rights -- rights that are grounded in our educators’ commitment to the well-being and success of our students -- then our educators will strike.”

UPDATE: Educators at ASPIRA’s charter schools came to a tentative agreement, on Thursday, with management tonight, averting what would have been the first strike of a charter school network in U.S. history. “This tentative agreement acknowledges the vital importance of union educators in the quality of education in our schools,” said acting ACE president Marines “Mari” Martinez. “This has always been about, first and foremost, creating working conditions that support the sustainability of four great schools and the students who rely on us for a quality education. We think this tentative agreement advances those goals.The tentative agreement includes:

For 2016-2017, a 3.25% raise retroactive to the start of 2nd semester.

For 2017-2018 a 3.0% raise.

Maintenance of the 2% employee pension contribution with 7% pension pick-up paid by management.

A reduction of the 2016-2017 school year by 1 1/2 day with NO impact on educational time for students.

A reduction of the 2017-2018 school year by 4 days with NO impact on educational time for students..

A reduction in the 2017-2018 school day from 8 hours to 7 hours and 35 minutes with NO impact on educational time for students.

Minimal increase in insurance costs.

An increase of four weeks of vacation time, plus 13 additional PTO days for 52-week counselors and mentors (these members were recently added to the bargaining unit in via an election in June 2016).

An increase in salary from $33,000 to $40,000 for two 52-week mentors.
Educators  also maintained a strong layoff policy that prohibits layoffs after the last day of the school year.