I was too tough on Illinois State Senator James Meeks.
Last week, I offered both a commentary and a rigorous interview of Rev. Meeks on the WLS airwaves as to Meeks’ controversial declaration that he will bus thousands of Chicago Public School (CPS) students up to New Trier High School on Chicago’s ritzy North Shore for the first day of school next month to protest state education funding inequities.
While I stand by the substance of what I said, I violated a cardinal rule of politics in making the perfect the enemy of the good.
On The Don & Roma Morning Show last week, in addition to discussing his PR stunt, Meeks also explained that he would be introducing legislation to effectively create statewide school choice whereby students could take state dollars and attend any public school they wish.
Meeks is on the right street but he’s at the wrong address. While I have no philosophical aversion to his approach, major surgery on Illinois education is only politically salable at present to the sucking chest wound that is CPS.
Rather than creating regional conflicts that further push off the promise of choice in education, Meeks should use his political capital both in Springfield and among minority families in Chicago to apply pressure on a system whose results are indefensible by any measure.
While Meeks correctly identified the multitude of problems with CPS, Meeks failed to embrace the inescapable conclusion that followed his premise when he suggested that Illinois taxpayers pour $2 billion more into a system he concedes has proven to be incapable of educating our young people.
CPS should not be given more money; it should be subjected to a RICO prosecution.
His internal contradictions notwithstanding, Meeks is doing more than any other legislator, Republican or Democrat, to spotlight the ongoing criminal enterprise that is the Chicago Public School system, robbing young people of their futures, and to demand justice.
If Meeks can shed his misdirected allegiance to the CPS bureaucracy, he has the opportunity to be for Chicago what Polly Williams was for Milwaukee nearly two decades ago—a black, inner city legislator with the courage to take on the teachers unions on behalf of low-income families whose children deserve so much more. In other words, Meeks has a chance to be a hero.
Read More of Rethinking Meeks off-site...Pat Hickey says:
Bill Old Pal, credit Meeks for knowing the problem and very deftly avoiding it and its repercussions.
The problem has nothing to do with funding, but everything to do with misuse of millions of dollars - taxpayers dollars - by public schools.
Really reform begins and ends with Real Choice - give every EVERY - family the choice of where to send their kids.
Competition breeds reform. Accountability breeds stewardship.
Tossing dollars at any problem breeds deficits.
John says:
This country has an history to forget the past, lets not forget that on 17 May 1954 your US Sepreme Court passed a law the says separate and unequal schools voilates the constitution. Now we find the so called African Amerian race right back at square one.
Rev Meeks cried openly over this situation on several occasions during church service because as an legislator he believes he should be able to get the job done without any resistance from his fellow white senators.
You know america really did not want colored children to learn and the jim crow laws still exist today. AMERICA WAKE UP AND TREAT ALL CITIZENS ALIKE............ALL CHILDREN ARE OUR FUTURE...........
John says:
Just thinking....Maybe African Americans should finally get their race orgin and status in America right by changing it from African Americans to Non-Imigrant Africans.
You already know that the so called hispanic's will not stand with the black's on this issue even though they will again benefit from our labor.
Hispanic's really dont know the history of this country...but I am sure they will soon find out just how much america loves their race.
Bruno Behrend says:
You weren't to hard on him. Make him toss his precious teacher's unions off the bus, or suffer the accurate critique of being a hypocrite.
The first half of the Urban League suit/Meeks view is somewhat accurate, but not really for Chicago, which has plenty of money to spend on kids (above $10K/kid)!!!
The real culprit is the "district based" scheme that enshrines educational apartheid while simultaneously creating a spending ratchet that only enriches teachers unions and their bureaucratic allies.
If you opened CPS books to close scrutiny, you would find that the disparity of spending INSIDE Chicago is probably greater than the disparity between many suburban schools.
There is only one rational solution, and that is to FUND CHILDREN fully and directly, and allow for their parents' choices to drive the bureaucratic waste and fraud out of the public schools.
Unions and bureaucrats have created dangerous cycle where they use OUR wishes for our children to create a permanent jobs program for an army of politically powerful and protected public employees.
Just look at the arguments here. This system is pitting citizen against citizen, and region against region, as it cynically drives public sentiment for ever greater taxes to fund their greed (and their political machine).
It isn't white suburbs against black cities, but citizens against a corrupt and powerful cabal of teachers unions and connected companies enriching themselves off of your dreams for your children.
Here is the solution.
1. Abolish the school district
2. Zero out the property tax for schools ($12 billion Cut)
3. Increase Sales and Income taxes about $9 bn. (resulting $3 bn cut for IL citizens as businesses)
4. Fund each child with about $8000
5. Convert every school into a 501(c)3 charter managed by parents, teachers, and a principle.
Transition to this system can be handled by a re-write of the school code. The current school code was written by teachers unions, bureaucrats, and handed to their purchased legislators (both parties) for passage.
You can fund an educated populace, or you can fund a corrupt and greedy education bureaucracy. You can't do both. Pick one.
Ed O says:
Enough of these low hanging fruit picking savages,lets talk about inportant things like,should I have spaghetti tonight or not!
SAY NO TO B.O.& JOE
Shawn says:
From a former pupil of CPS change wont come unless we all take a stand! If Rosa Parks nevr stod up we wold nevr ben able to seat @ the front of busses.
Reverend Senator Meeks is correct he is able to see how the government get the money and channel it throughout the state from beginning to end, I'm quite sure more disproportionate dollars will be expose.
If Rosa Parks never sat still and took a stand, we would never been able to sit at the front of the bus. Illinois is unfair and unequal, the poorest communities play the most lottery dollars, but yet the money are shared across the state, property tax dollars should be distributed across the state the same way as lottery money.
Also, the so call prominent school districts does not have the same problems as CPS when educating not only out of district pupils, but illegal immigrants who want their children to be educated, whereas they may not received a education of any means in their homeland they snuck out of and continue to sneak out of, so of course they would not support the boycott.
D-Man says:
If you want to know the problems with our school system - it's all outlined in this report. Anybody who is serious about looking at our school system should watch this video.
Pat Hickey says:
Every public person who gets behind this redistribution of wealth scam; every Reverend who encourages children to be truant and every editorial board backing this nonsense, do-nothing, stunt should be held legally responsible for each truant child resultantly injured, traumatized, threatened, or God Forbid murdered.
Now, that would be a genuine redistribution of wealth!