In These Times: Illinois Schools On Uneven Field

[marmar]

Illinois Schools On Uneven Field
A Chicago educational reform movement keeps fighting to address the suburban-urban funding disparity

By Ben Strauss


CHICAGO — When the Chicago Cubs hosted Game 1 of their opening round playoff series on Oct. 1, more than 40,000 fans packed Wrigley Field. Outside the ballpark, another group was also trying to make history. Roughly 1,500 parents, students, teachers and activists protested for state educational reforms.

Crowded around the foot of a flatbed truck, the rally was the latest in an educational reform movement, led by Democratic State Sen. James L. Meeks, a pastor at Salem Baptist Church on Chicago’s South Side. For six years, Meeks has tried to pressure Illinois lawmakers to address the disparity between dollars spent per child in wealthy suburban Chicago and the dollars spent in the inner city and downstate.

“We do not want the City of Chicago to pay more attention to the Cubs and White Sox than to their kids,” Meeks said at the demonstration.

Although Illinois has the fourth-highest GDP in the country — at $741 billion — it ranks 49th in public-school funding, forcing local communities to foot the bill.

School districts in wealthy communities in Illinois provide more than 80 percent of school funding through property taxes. Low-income districts hover near 45 percent, resulting in an average of $4,186 less spent per student, according to the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability (CTBA), a nonprofit advocacy group. .......(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/4063/illinois_schools_on_uneven_field

[acmavm]

1. People are not looking ahead. They don't understand how this will

affect the future. We need smarter citizens in every city, town, borough, district. Not just a privileged few.