A Democratic state senator and a former Republican candidate for governor on Monday proposed a pilot program aimed at proving that better funding and more resources would translate into better students at low-performing schools.

Sen. James Meeks (D-Chicago) told the Chicago Tribune editorial board that he would drop plans to have Chicago students boycott the first day of schools Sept. 2 if Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Senate President Emil Jones and House Speaker Michael Madigan would publicly back the proposals.

Meeks is threatening to bus Chicago students to the New Trier School District Sept. 2 and then sit in the lobbies of downtown businesses in following days to dramatize state funding inequities between wealthy and poor districts.

Meeks and Ron Gidwitz, a former Republican governor candidate and former head of the State Board of Education, said their plan would set up four clusters of schools—two in Chicago, one in the suburbs and one Downstate—to examine curriculum, discipline, student progress and grading policies.