Aug 25, 2008 9:58 pm US/Central
Multi-Million Deal Could Prevent School Boycott
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Sen. James Meeks is calling for Chicago Public Schools students to play hooky at the beginning of the year, as a way of calling attention to school funding disparities.
CBS
A plan is in the works to avoid a school boycott a week before it is scheduled to begin.
CBS 2 Chief Correspondent Jay Levine reports it involves spending tens of millions of dollars, but it's far from a done deal.
Speaking with CBS 2 Monday night before leaving for the Democratic National Convention, State Sen. James Meeks revealed he has more than just party politics on his plate.
Meeks, a Democrat, and Republican Ron Gidwitz are pushing a pilot program to spend $40 million a year on four clusters of schools – city, suburban, and downstate – to prove to legislators that spending money on curriculum, discipline, grading policies and student progress is money well spent.
"This is something we can do now so that when we do finally get the money, we'll know what to do with it," Meeks said.
The governor agreed it was an interesting idea.
"I'm very excited about what he's suggesting that we do," Gov. Rod Blagojevich said. "He wants to focus and change some of the curriculum and standards and some of the mechanisms to measure some of the results and focus on those kids early on."
But Meeks is also demanding the approval of Senate President Emil Jones and House Speaker Mike Madigan, whose spokesman asks: where's the governor going get the money?
"We'll all sit down once we get to Denver and see where the governor plans to get the money; he said it could be found and I believe it could be found," Meeks said.
But Meeks has not yet called off the September 2 boycott, endorsed by a number of his fellow ministers, and the plan to boycott the first day of class and bus some Chicago public school students to Winnetka, and others to downtown office buildings
"I was asked if the governor, Senate president, and House speaker approve, will I stop the boycott, and I said yes," Meeks said.
Given the contentious relationship between the governor and legislative leaders, Senator Meeks isn't counting on it.
But Gidwitz, whose call to Meeks sparked this bi-partisan proposal, tells CBS 2 that eventually it will happen, because it's all about accountability, proving to skeptical lawmakers that we'll get what we pay for.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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