Earlier today, more than 1,000 Chicago students and parents boycotted the first day of classes in the Chicago, Ill. school system. The reason behind the boycott was that the amount of funding per student was considerably lower in the city of Chicago than in the outlying wealthy suburb of New Trier. The difference, according to msnbc.com, is $17,500 per student in New Trier to $11,300 per student in Chicago. Therefore, the Chicago students made a symbolic move by filling out applications to be educated in the New Trier school district. The superintendent of the New Trier district reported having received about 1,250 applications.
State senator James Meeks organized the protest himself. He spoke to the Associated Press, saying, "I do not believe that a child's education should be based on where they live...We undereducated these kids' parents, we undereducated their grandparents and now we're in the process of undereducating them." Meeks has requested that the Governor of Illinois, Rod Blagojevich, and his legistlative leaders start a $120 million dollar pilot program, funding school systems in the west side, south side, south suburbs and downstate sections of Chicago. As of yet, the Governor has not responded to these requests.
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2 comments:
Great to hear that kids are wise enough to take their education into their own hands...(see Mark Twain on education)...
Let's hope Obama will lend some support to resolving this Chicago problem and that this will bode well for education at the nationl level once he becomes president.
Thanks for the update...
In CT education budgets come from property taxes, so suburbs with a large tax base and smaller populations can afford to spend more per student than some cities can. Anybody know if Illinois works the same way?
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