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Motion, not movement

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State Sen. Kwame Raoul plans to hold public hearings across Chicago this summer in an effort to bolster support for a bill to replace the Chicago Board of Education — appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel — with one that’s elected.

The Illinois House overwhelmingly passed a bill in March that would create an elected school board — replacing the seven the mayor chooses with 21 democratically elected members. But the bill has been stuck in the Illinois Senate since then.

But on Wednesday, Raoul became a co-sponsor of the bill and the Chicago Democrat announced he’d hold hearings to gather input from parents and other community members to ensure fair representations in the transition to elections, which would be held in 2018 if the bill becomes law.

“Chicago’s children deserve nothing less than full equality with the rest of the state – parity in funding and in democratic governance of their school district,” Raoul said in a statement. “It’s time to get this right, and I look forward to working with our parents and advocates to give CPS the government our schools so desperately need.”

The bill is stuck in the Senate because the Senate President is Mayor Emanuel’s top legislative ally.

* Groups pushing for the reform are seeing through it…

Parent and community protestors are not letting up on Sen. President John Cullerton, whose stalling tactics are blocking the elected school board bill from advancing in the Illinois Senate. Groups are in their second week of daily protests and will hit Cullerton’s Loop law office Thursday.

The senator’s staff last week told parents he prefers to meet with constituents downtown instead of at his district office in Lakeview. So, parents and community members are heading to the offices of Thompson Coburn, Cullerton’s law practice, Thursday to send a message to the senator: protests will not let up until he moves HB 0557, the elected school board bill, and supports it on the floor of the Senate.

WHAT: Rally and picket against Cullerton stalling tactics on elected school board

WHEN: Noon, Wednesday, May 19

WHERE: Offices of Thompson Coburn, 55 E. Monroe, Cullerton’s law office

WHY: Cullerton is blocking HB 0557, the elected school board bill, even though he promised constituents he would allow the bill to proceed in the senate. Parents and community members demand that he keep his word.

VISUALS: Parents marching, chanting, carrying signs and disrupting the noon lunch hour in the Loop. Speakers begin at noon.

The elected school board bill sailed out of the Illinois House earlier this year by a vote of 110 - 4, but is now stuck in the Senate because Cullerton refuses to even assign it to a committee. At a meeting with parents last month, he pledged to advance the measure but has not kept that promise.

In response to three days of protests at his Lakeview office last week, Cullerton’s spokesperson said the senator’s not calling the bill because he’s got other, more pressing education bills on his plate.

That didn’t sit well with parents and community members who hold the unelected CPS school board accountable for the chaos and financial catastrophe the district now faces.

On Wednesday, Sen. Kwame Raoul replaced Cullerton as chief sponsor of the bill, a sign that the community protests are working. But as Senate president, Cullerton controls how and when legislation advances and he still needs to assign the bill to committee for it to advance.

The elected school board bill passed out of the house on March 3. Even though the measure has widespread support among Chicagoans and Cullerton’s own constituents, he has blocked the bill in the Senate for the last two months.

A non-binding referendum last February passed by nearly 90 percent in the 35 wards where it appeared on the ballot, including Cullerton’s own 33rd ward. But the Senate President continues to side with Mayor Rahm Emanuel over his constituents and other Chicagoans who are demanding more democracy and accountability in Chicago Public Schools.

The Cullerton protests are being coordinated by the Grassroots Education Movement (GEM), a coalition of labor, parent and community groups working for an elected school board for Chicago.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, May 19, 16 @ 10:57 am

Comments

One could make an argument on either side on whether an elected school board is better than one appointed by the Mayor. Anyway, it’s not going to matter. Public education in large school districts doesn’t work. The bigger question is how much longer can coerced funding of education last?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-census-chicago-losing-population-met-20160518-story.html

Comment by Steve Thursday, May 19, 16 @ 11:14 am
Chicago has 50 Wards, already nicely evened out by population and such. Why overlay that with a 20 school board districts? Wouldn’t it make more sense (and be easier for everyone to implement)to make it 25 districts and just have one school board district for every 2 wards?

Comment by titan Thursday, May 19, 16 @ 11:32 am
The bill should be amended to treat CPS like all other schools in the State. Not only for an elected school board, but State oversight and take-over abilities.

Comment by Not It Thursday, May 19, 16 @ 11:49 am
Low voter turnout is already a problem. the elected school board will just be connected people

Comment by Square Pegs Thursday, May 19, 16 @ 11:56 am
21 members!
Are there any examples of effective boards with 21 members?
CPS has a brutal decade ahead of it. This will not help.

Comment by Fred Thursday, May 19, 16 @ 12:22 pm
You go step by step through every bad decision, corrupt decision, and politically disingenuous move that the Board has made over the past two decades and you realize that they can’t do worse. Chicago has low voter turnout because the machine makes people feel like their vote doesn’t matter. Letting the machine control the school board only makes this worse.

Comment by Carhartt Representative Thursday, May 19, 16 @ 1:18 pm
–Low voter turnout is already a problem. the elected school board will just be connected people–

Might as well not have representative democracy at all.

Would you want the mayor in your town running the schools, too?

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, May 19, 16 @ 1:24 pm
21 is a lot. Even deciding where to meet could be a hassle. Is there any other school board with that many members? I guess I’m not sure why they couldn’t have an elected school board with a normal, effective amount of members, 7, maybe 9?

Comment by A guy Thursday, May 19, 16 @ 1:35 pm
Keeping the mayor in charge keeps the focus for education reform on one person, the mayor. A independent school board would be able to push for property tax hikes which are probably needed for Chicago schools. Currently City Hall blocks such efforts to keep the mayor from getting the blame. However any board with 21 members is a bad joke destined to fall flat. The inability of media to cover a race with 42 or more candidates assuming there were just two candidates for each spot would leave board members open to special interests, either the CTU, an repugnant union with a history of metaphorically throwing kids under the bus, or activist groups more interested in a race-based ideology than education reform.

There will be no reform unless parents are given the ability to choose the schools where they want to send their kids. Likewise, Chicago should be treated like every other school district in the state. That includes the threat of a state takeover when it fails, or in the case of Chiago Public Schools, as soon as possible.

Comment by Downstate Illinois Thursday, May 19, 16 @ 1:41 pm
The GA is elected and they can’t accomplish anything. The City Council is elected and they can barely accomplish anything. How is an elected school board going to solve CPS’ massive problems? I’m not opposed to it on principle, but it seems like shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic.

Comment by ChicagoRepub Thursday, May 19, 16 @ 2:24 pm
The elected school boards are doing a good job in the Chicago suburbs in my area. We have balanced budgets, excellent test scores, and a high graduation rate.

Comment by Enviro Thursday, May 19, 16 @ 2:29 pm
Some of you complain of any state money going to the CPS. You believe they should be treated like any other school district in the state. However, you believe that the appointed school board that put them in such debt should be kept and they shouldn’t have an elected school board like any other district in the state. Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.

Comment by Carhartt Representative Thursday, May 19, 16 @ 3:01 pm
Lost in the wake of the Barbara Byrd Bennett corruption case and the CPS fiscal crisis (driven not by CPS but by massive state education cuts and unfunded pension mandates) is the remarkable academic gains of CPS students since mayoral control in 1995. All major indices are at unprecedented, record levels, and its been a steady upward projectory.

Mayoral accountability has clearly worked from an academic standpoint, replacing the chaos and failure of the old boards. Going back to unaccountable committees, full of competing personal and political agendas, is not a sign of progress for the City.

Comment by Chicago Schooler Thursday, May 19, 16 @ 3:16 pm
An elected school board is a good start for *real* CPS reform.

That being said 21 is a ridiculous number of board members.

Los Angeles Unified Schools, which has an elected board and serves nearly twice the # of students that CPS does, has 7 members.

Meanwhile, setting aside the likelihood of this bill making it to Rauner’s veto (an elected board wouldn’t be in the best interests of his charter schools), Senator Raoul is certainly making the most out of this by holding unnecessary citywide hearings that will serve as good promo events for him and garner name recognition for a future citywide or statewide bid.

Comment by Brendan Thursday, May 19, 16 @ 3:20 pm