Today at the School Board: Legislative Agenda

The hot item at today's school board meeting– its legislative agenda--is scheduled to be addressed right before the board enters closed session. The agenda had been on hold since January, and was held for an additional two weeks for updating after the spring legislative session ended.

Here's the question behind everything: if lobbying Springfield is the key to unlocking much-needed new revenue for Chicago Public Schools, why was that handled ineffectively last session? A few answers:

CPS lacks relationships in Springfield. The school district's lobbying department, known as Intergovernmental Affairs or IGA, has been without a chief for months. The only lobbyist on staff right now, Jamel Chambers, has extensive experience working with City Council, but far less with the state legislature. CPS is in the process of hiring an IGA chief, and the top priority for the role is to hire someone who already has strong working relationships with state legislators.

Chicago can't go it alone. While there has been a lot of talk about organizing with other school districts to press for more state money, the action has been lackluster. Coalitions that have been advocating for years, like Funding Illinois' Future and the PEER Illinois network, continue to organize and lobby. Board Member Jitu Brown has spoken at meetings about the need to work with other school boards on lobbying, but it's unclear how much progress has been made.

At Tuesday's budget roundtable, Chicago Teachers Union members handed out flyers urging folks to call Gov. JB Pritzker and request a special legislative session on school funding. (The thinking seems to be, if we can do it for the Bears...). It remains to be seen whether any momentum on this will stretch beyond the city limits. Last October, CTU President Stacy Davis Gates was elected president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers, to the dismay of union opponents, but we have yet to see that translate into a winning lobbying strategy on school funding.

What's the Plan?

The legislative agenda up for a vote today mirrors many of CTU's proposals, including advocating for a special session on school funding, "alongside other school districts across the state." The priorities include:

Full state funding for legally required services. By law, school districts must provide special education services, including tuition for private programs when the district can't serve a student, and transportation for eligible students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). The state only pays a portion of these costs. School districts must make up the difference, and that gap is growing.

More money for K-12, early childhood, and teacher pensions. As well as asking for more for K-12 schools, CPS will lobby to increase its share of Early Childhood Block Grant funds by $53 million. On pensions, CPS will argue it should get more money, but it will not push to merge the Chicago pension fund with the state fund.

Taxes. In most years, CPS receives more from the Personal Property Replacement Tax, a tax on corporations, than any other local government body in Illinois. The school district will lobby to cap the state's ability to divert that revenue back to itself. The school district will also push to create a millionaire's tax and earmark a percentage of digital ad tax revenue directly for schools.

Tighter rules for charter schools, per last year's charter resolution.

The plan commits to "host dedicated Board advocacy days" in Springfield and to partner with Funding Illinois' Future, other large school districts statewide, Illinois Action for Children, Local School Councils, and others.

Seen

Plenty of power players showed up at the first of six community roundtables on the CPS school budget, including five board members and three candidates. Board Members: Ed Bannon (1a), Jennifer Custer (1b), Debby Pope (2b), Karen Zaccor (4a), and Ángel Vélez (9a).

School board candidates: Hilario Dominguez (though he left before the table conversations started), Jason Dónes (3b), and Angel Alvarez (4a).

Others of note: Ald. Walter "Red" Burnett, Heather Anichini, executive director of the Chicago Public Education Fund, CTU Recording Secretary Vicki Kurzydlo, and Arnie Rivera, executive director of the Chicago Education Alliance.

West Side power couple Dwayne and Cata Truss also attended and reported back from tables. I'm sure Superintendent/CEO Macquline King was relieved that this year's event went more smoothly than last year. Over the past year, King has earned the backing of the West Side NAACP.

Tuesday night's meeting showed King and her staff had learned lessons from last year. For example, the budget presentation included a discussion of special education focused on many years of flat funding from the state and federal governments in the face of rising costs. It made clear that serving students with IEPs is a routine part of serving all students, not an undue burden on the school district. Last year, parents pushed hard for this perspective shift.

Birthdays: Happy 10th birthday party tonight, Illinois Families for Public Schools! (This post has been updated to reflect that Illinois Families for Public Schools is separate from PEER Illinois.)