Chicago Reporter (https://www.chicagoreporter.com/author/jim-broadway/)
SPRINGFIELD – The pending amendment to SB 16, the 419-page school funding reform amendment, was pored over and examined and scrutinized, argued over and debated by witnesses and legislators on the Special Issues Subcommittee of the Senate Executive Committee for nearly three hours yesterday before it was approved for full committee consideration.
SPRINGFIELD – The CPS request for an extension of its Saturday deadline to announce school closures easily made its way through the final legislative hurdle Thursday.
SPRINGFIELD – CPS took another step to getting a critical deadline on school closures extended to March 31 when the House voted 84-28 Wednesday in favor of an amended Senate Bill 547.
Without an extension, CPS would have to make public – by Saturday – a list of schools that the board and new CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett plan to close at the end of the current school year.
SPRINGFIELD – Despite a last-minute wave of angry opposition, the Illinois House Executive Committee voted unanimously, 11-0, on Tuesday to give the Chicago Public Schools until March 31 to “announce all proposed school actions to be taken at the close of the current academic year,” as provided in a House amendment to Senate Bill 547.
SPRINGFIELD — The Chicago Teachers Union and other charter critics spoke out strongly in opposition to a proposal that would increase the funding that school districts must provide for charter schools, squaring off against supporters who want equal funding with traditional public schools.
SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois House Executive Committee voted 10-1 Wednesday afternoon to approve a bill that would significantly increase the amount of funding that school districts have to provide for charter schools.
The vote came despite a furious campaign against the bill by the Chicago Teachers Union and others who fear the bill will divert millions of dollars away from neighborhood public schools.
SPRINGFIELD — Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard and members of his staff were grilled for more than two hours by legislators who sharply questioned the district’s decision-making on school closings and turnarounds and called for a summit of the CPS facilities task force.
High level employees of Chicago Public Schools took an unprecedented scolding Monday on the subject of school closings and turnarounds in the city – and even more heat for CPS’ perceived “disrespect” for the Illinois Legislature by the absence of its leader, CEO Jean-Claude Brizard, at a hearing at the Capitol.
SPRINGFIELD–Noble Street Network of Charter Schools Superintendent Michael Milkie brought a busload of parents and alumni with him to a Senate Education Committee hearing at the Capitol in Springfield on Wednesday. The affection the group had for Milkie was obvious.
They sat through three hours as the committee debated multiple issues, listening attentively and looking proud as Milkie parried with senators who challenged him at every turn. They gathered around at the end of the day, posing for group photos with Milkie in the center.
SPRINGFIELD–Halfway through his presentation of a bill to force the Chicago Public Schools to testify as to how it plans to spend block grant money it receives from the state, Rep. Luis Arroyo (D-Chicago) was asked to take the bill “out of the record.”