Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Meeks and Blagojevich talk about school funding

Clout St.:
State Sen. James Meeks finally met with Gov. Rod Blagojevich Monday after weeks of demands but emerged without a firm commitment on his plan for a $120 million pilot program to help struggling schools.
...
Blagojevich said they talked about ways to fund Meeks’ proposal to test a comprehensive approach for fixing underperforming schools. More discussions are needed, Blagojevich said, before deciding "if this is the sort of thing we can all get behind."

Meeks said he will continue to seek legislative support for his plan in coming weeks while also pushing for long-elusive changes to how the state funds education. He sidestepped his past comments about challenging the governor.

More from CPR:
But as they took questions, it was clear they made little progress on the core issue—inequities in state’s system to pay for schools. Standing in front of a crowd of black ministers, Meeks said even if his plan gets approved, he'll continue to pressure the governor to increase education funding.

MEEKS: It's our community that's bearing the scars. It's our community that's that's paying the price. It's our community that for 25 to 30 years now has waited on broken promises from Springfield and we can't wait anymore.

Meeks’ proposal would create a 3-year pilot program designed to improve clusters of poorly performing schools. He and the governor are supposed to meet again in two weeks.
I hope Meeks won't find himself trusting the governor when he decides to be loose with his promises.

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