The Chicago area news is buzzing about a radical idea proposed by Reverend James Meeks from Salem Baptist Church. Rev. Meeks, who spoke in the past at our Leadership Summit, leads the largest church on the south side of Chicago. Because of the myriad of challenges faced by many under-resourced people in his community, Rev. Meeks also serves as a State Senator, trying to bring justice through the legal systems. In the state of Illinois, each school district spends money per student based on property taxes. Obviously the result is that wealthier districts with expensive homes - such as the New Trier High School district - have significantly more dollars to distribute to each student. The New Trier annual expenditure is $17,000 per student compared to about $10,000 in the Chicago schools.
So Rev. Meeks is challenging the students from the city of Chicago to board buses on the first day of school and head out to New Trier (on the North Shore in Wilmette) to try to register for school there. Now this concept has its critics, including those who say that while Rev. Meeks' goals for justice are on track, asking students to miss the first day of school in their own community will not only get them off to a poor start, but could also jeopardize funding for those schools that is based on attendance.
I am not going to debate whether or not this is the right plan - though I fully support the goal of creating equity in our educational systems. But I think Rev. Meeks deserves credit for an out-of-the-box idea that has captivated the imaginations and stirred up the passions of people to talk about the issue. Every news broadcast for days has been exploring the issue. People who were not even aware of the disparity are hearing about it. And that is a good thing.
I believe our God has powerful ideas for all leaders who will listen and who have the courage to look a little outrageous in our methods. Way to go, Rev. Meeks. I find myself much more engaged, as a wealthy suburbanite whose kids attend fantastic schools, in this issue of justice. I admire your leadership and your creativity and your guts...
I enjoyed reading your thoughts on Rev. Meeks' idea. I won't debate the merits of the plan either. That said, I am glad that this school funding issue is finally getting some press both on TV and in print. I live in Aurora,IL in a district that receives and educates children on around $9,000 - $10,000 per student or about the same as the Chicago schools receive per student. The test results for most schools are excellent and the graduation rate is high. We also have nearly 100% of the parents of high school students plugged into their student's progress at the high school. While I firmly believe that each student in each district in Illinois should be educated on the same amount of dollars, simply throwing money at the problem will not solve the problem. My city has 2 school districts both of which receive approximately the same amount of money per student, yet one district has more sucess than the other. Before we change the way the money is budgeted, we need to get to the real problem(s) in our public schools. We need to foster parent involvement, give families options as to what kind of a school their child attends, find new ways to educate kids that fall through the cracks. Personally, I would like to see us go to year round school so that the 3 months of summer vacation is spread out and kids don't spend September going over what they learned the prior year. These are just my ramblings. I hope that our state takes to heart what Rev. Meeks is saying and takes action to improve not only the Chicago schools, but all those underfunded in the state.
Posted by: Pat | August 18, 2008 at 04:23 PM