Last week, a breakthrough occurred in the battle for fair and equitable public school funding for the children of Illinois.
Last week, a breakthrough occurred in the battle for fair and equitable public school funding for the children of Illinois. On a sunny morning last week, in the auditorium of Roberto Clemente Community Academy on Western Avenue in Chicago, I was joined by a remarkable and diverse group of Chicago leadersincluding Rep. David Miller (29th District); Miguel del Valle, Clerk of the City of Chicago; Alderman Billy Ocasio (26th); Michael Scott, president of the Chicago Board of Education; Ron Huberman, CEO of Chicago Public Schools; Lisa Scruggs, law partner at Jenner & Block; Dr. Byron Brazier, pastor of Apostolic Church of God; Dr. Leon D. Finney, Jr., chairman of The Woodlawn Organization; and Bobbie L. Steele, former president of the Cook County Board of Commissioners. This extraordinary group came together to share in a milestone that marks a big step forward in reforming Illinois education.
Readers of this column know that last summer the Chicago Urban League and a coalition of Illinois families and Urban League affiliates joined together in suing the state of Illinois and the Illinois State Board of Education to force a change in the way public schools are funded. That system of funding, we argued, favors wealthy districts over poorer ones, leaving minority children in poorly funded schools with below par educations. Changing the way the state funds public schools has long been a goal of education reformers, but twice in the past, Illinois courts have ruled that any change must come from the legislature. That is until now.
In a decision last week that made education reformers cheer, Judge Martin Agran of Cook County Circuit Court rejected the state of Illinois’ and ISBE’s request to dismiss our lawsuit. But what really excites us is the court’s ruling that our central claim-that the state’s funding system violates the civil rights of poor and minority students – has merit. So while the judge’s ruling doesn’t settle the case yet, it marks a major milestone, a major hurdle cleared. In other words, we’re going to have our day in court.
“We are thrilled by this victory,” said Lisa Scruggs, the Jenner & Block law partner who is lead counsel for this case. “Now the plaintiffs turn their focus to litigating the disparate impact discrimination claim in the trial court. We look forward to proving that the school funding system results in an unjustifiable and inequitable allocation of resources to those schools that serve predominantly minority populations.” I couldn’t have said it any better. We will fight vigorously to prove and win our case.
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