New Chief Education Officer for CPS

A new Chief Education Officer of of Chicago Public Schools was announced on Friday, February 11.  Charles M. Payne, is now in what is called the number two position in CPS, number one being Terry Mazany. Mr. Payne is a professor at the University of Chicago.  He teaches urban education, school reform and race minority relations. He is also the author of "So Much Reform, So Little Change: The Persistence of Failure in Urban Schools".  The Chief Education Officer position was most recently held by Barbara Eason-Watkins, who left last June to become the superintendent of the Michigan City Indiana public schools. The position has remained vacant since her departure.

Ideally the number one person handles the business end of running CPS, the number two person oversees and directs the academic end of things.  While it is good to see this position filled after months of being vacant, the clock is running out on the Daley administration and positions both one and two will be up for grabs with the swearing in of the next mayor. Payne has said he is on loan form the university and in not interested in the CPS job full time.

Aldermen Are Key in This Town

Election day is only a few weeks away.  While there has been high drama and high media coverage surrounding the mayoral race, aldermanic seats are also up for the taking.  Chicago is made up of 50 wards and each alderman acts as a mini-mayor of their ward, their territory, and the residents who live there. Aldermen make about $110,556 a year and while some do this job full-time, it is technically a part-time job.

ABCs of School Funding

Lakeview High School - 2/8 at 7pm

Come hear public policy and tax expert Ralph Martire discuss the ABCs of school funding. He will be able to answer all your questions about how schools are funded in Illinois and Chicago, how our taxes impact education funding and more. Sonia Kwon from Raise Your Hand will speak about the CPS budget for F2012. Admission is free and there is parking available at the school. Hope to see you there.

January 3-7, 2011

Here are two blogs from RYH members:

Springfield Visit - About our trip to Springfield for education funding(also know as Trip Unbountiful)

Shame on You! - One person's opinion on the CPS Inspector General's findings.

Holding Pat Quinn Accountable

It took a while, but Pat Quinn was ultimately declared the Governor of Illinois. Via the strange events surrounding his predecessor's swift exit, Mr. Quinn has had the advantage of actually knowing what he was getting himself into prior to winning this race.  He was an unelected incumbent, but an incumbent nonetheless.  Previously, Mr. Quinn had the governorship thrust upon him.  It's different now.  Now the people of Illinois have purposefully elected him as their governor and thus, have a higher level of expectation of him and his staff in Springfield. Due to the peculiar way Mr.

Voters Decide the Funding of Illinois Schools

Along with filling President Obama’s old senate seat, choosing the state’s next governor, deciding whether or not to amend the Illinois constitution, and determining the fate of copious judges, many Illinois residents were also asked to vote on various education referenda. Individual school boards vote to put these bond issues and tax hikes on the ballot in an effort to increase the funding to their school district. Once on the ballot, these school boards hope their communities will vote “yes” to the referendum, there by creating an influx of cash into the local education system. Here are a few education referenda results from the Illinois November 2, 2010 election:

Response to "Waiting For Superman"

Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 10/27/2010 - 3:44pm

The title of the recent documentary “Waiting for Superman” refers to a story that charter school
pioneer, Geoffrey Canada relates. As a child, he was dismayed to learn that Superman was not real
and would not be swooping in to fix problems for people. He extends this notion to the public school system, suffering from entrenched problems, and suggests that our trust should not be placed in the current system; there is no “Superman” who is going to fix it. (Ironically, the film gives both Canada and the Chancellor of DC schools, Michelle Rhee, quasi super hero status in the film, portrayed asattempting to change the stubborn status quo). This tenuous reference to superman was my first inkling that this film might feel pasted together.

Another Response to "Waiting For Superman"

Submitted by sskcorn on Tue, 10/26/2010 - 5:53pm

A group of us closely involved with Raise Your hand went to see the movie together. We have all heard so much about this movie and Oprah's show about the movie.  Finally public education was being represented.  But what a representation!  What is this movie about?  Charter school good, Public school bad. That's it.

Quinn vs. Brady on Education

As a service to our membership and Illinois voters who are interested in education issues, the Raise Your Hand coalition has compiled a side-by-side collection of information regarding where the gubernatorial candidates of the two major parties stand on educational issues. This list was collected from various sources including the candidates' websites, candidates' campaign representatives and online media sources. For the purposes of this document, we have included a detailed breakdown of the two candidates who are the apparent leaders in the Governor’s race at this time: 

Mayor Daley Proposes Use Of TIF Surplus In City Budget – $90 Million To CPS

Thank you to all who participated in the push to refund the surplus Tax Incremental Finance (TIF) to the original taxing bodies.  Our efforts continue to pay off.

In his final budget address on Wednesday, Mayor Daley for the first time proposed declaring a surplus in the TIF district funds, which would result in over $90 million to CPS.

“By declaring $180 million in once-sacred tax increment finance district funds as surplus, $38 million would be pumped into city coffers. The balance would go to Chicago Public Schools and other local governments.” – Chicago Tribune

While this is a monumental move by the Mayor, the City Council still needs to vote to approve his proposed budget.  This means that the people of Chicago must continue to put pressure on local Alderman and the Mayor by going to www.noto37.org and make your voice heard. 

The Raise Your Hand Coalition has worked hard to illuminate the TIF issue.  This has historically been an off-limits topic with Mayor Daley.  When RYH first broached the TIF topic with political insiders, CPS officials and others, many believed that although it was a bold endeavor, they doubted our ability to have any impact. Well, we proved them wrong!

Below is a summary of key TIF initiatives from RYH:

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