Governor Quinn on Re-Imagining Illinois

photo via United Power

Sunday is usually a day reserved for hope, family and reflection. This Sunday, May 17, at Congregation Solel in Highland Park was just such a time. My colleague Carlos Perez and I joined a multigenerational, diverse audience of over 700 people eager to participate in Re-Imagining Illinois. The event was a dialogue between DuPage United, Lake County United, Chicago PACT, United Power for Action and Justice and Governor Pat Quinn. For some participants, having Governor Quinn in office is like having the fairy Godmother of progressive politics in charge for a change. The four key issues on the table included the state budget, affordable housing, education reform and political corruption. All of the speakers were eloquent, but this was a great opportunity for Lake County United members to talk about the recent defeat in their battle to get authorization for a charter public school in Waukegan. They asked for Quinn’s help with a school district apparently hostile to charters. These eloquent speakers shared their personal stories, called “education the new civil rights movement” and said that “zip codes should not determine the type of education a child receives.”

Quinn left no doubt that he agrees with President Obama’s support for charters. “I support charter public schools, not just for Chicago but for all of Illinois” he said. In response to their requests, he promised to look into funding issues as well as to learn more about independent authorizing.

We have new hope in Springfield in the Governor’s office and with elected officials like Senator Lightford, Senator Steans, Representative Mitchell and others. But Governor Quinn says elected officials alone can’t bring education reform to Illinois. If Sunday’s gathering is any indication, the voice of the people is ready to be heard. The panels were not made up of professionals but rather concerned residents. The very kind of people the Governor may look to when he fills the vacant seat on the Illinois State Board of Education this summer.

View a recap of the event below:



Related: Governor Quinn's Illinois Reform Commission

charter schools and imPURE thoughts

Charters are at the center of a great (and urgent) debate about public education reform. This is terrific news for students and teachers who day in and day out work together on academic excellence. It’s also terrific for those of us looking for new metrics and new methods of public accountability to open the next breakthroughs in American public education. It’s great news for teachers seeking higher status and support for their profession and for parents seeking more respect from the institutions of public education.

It’s disappointing then when voices in the debate pick and choose their fact to fit another agenda, as Parents United for Responsible Education (PURE) did in their recent blog entry. The fact is charter public schools and closing unacceptably low-performing schools are two totally separate issues in this great debate. If individuals associated with PURE actually looked at the whole picture, they would not be attempting to discredit charters as part of their honest questioning of school closing policies in Chicago.

In the 21st century, we must regain our place as the leader among nations in giving every single student an equal chance at the education necessary for their lifelong success.