Alderman, CPS official raise race as factor behind CPS money woes

The head of the City Council’s Education Committee and a top city education official suggested Thursday that Chicago Public Schools wouldn’t have been left in the lurch financially by Springfield if the school system didn’t mostly serve black and Hispanic children.

Ald. Howard Brookins (21st), chairman of the City Council’s Education Committee, raised the specter of race-baiting by Gov. Bruce Rauner in a statement Brookins released Thursday. The South Side alderman blasted what the release called Rauner’s “racially tinged attacks on Chicago’s public schools.”

Brookins was referring to a statement Rauner was quoted as making at a public appearance Downstate on Wednesday in which the governor blasted Democrats for failing to pass a budget.

Rauner said, “The Senate and the House were competing with each other – who can spend more to bail out Chicago with your tax dollars from southern Illinois and central Illinois and Moline and Rockford and Danville, the communities of this state who are hardworking families who pay the taxes. The taxes should go into our communities, not into the Chicago political machine. That’s where Speaker Madigan and his allies want the money to go.”

Brookins fired back: “I’m appalled that Gov. Rauner would say that Chicago families are not hardworking and don’t contribute to the tax base of Illinois. In fact, we pay a larger percentage of our incomes in taxes than the governor or his billionaire friends, whom he continues to protect from paying their fair share while ordinary people suffer.”

“Perhaps Gov. Rauner believes there’s something about the 84 percent of Chicago Public School students who are African American and Hispanic that makes them undeserving of the full funding provided to other communities in Illinois,” Brookins continued. “Or, perhaps he is trying to stoke racial resentment with these divisive and misleading attacks.”

The Republican governor walked his remarks back on Thursday in Itasca as he continued a statewide tour to promote his stopgap measure and an education funding bill his party sponsored, saying he’s “all in for Chicago,” but must also work for the rest of the state.

“I’m a property owner in Chicago and a big taxpayer in Chicago,” Rauner said, “I care very much about Chicago. And let me be clear, I care very much about Chicago Public Schools.”

Rauner, who sent a daughter to CPS’ prestigious Walter Payton College Prep High School, said he’s donated tens of millions of dollars to CPS for teacher training, scholarships for low-income students and teacher bonuses.

He blamed Democratic leaders for pushing policies that give Chicago one leg up “to the detriment of other communities.”

“That’s not fair,” he continued. “And that I am standing up for. Not to hurt Chicago but to be fair and equitable to all the families in the rest of the state.”

But the damage apparently had been done.

At a separate event Thursday, Janice Jackson, CPS chief education officer, raised the issue of race as well as part of a student forum about CPS’ financial woes at Whitney M. Young Magnet High School.

Jackson departed from her usual conservative course when she spoke frankly about the role race played in CPS funding issues.

“At the end of the day, this isn’t a popular opinion, but it’s my honest to God truth: This would not be allowed to happen if CPS was not a predominantly African-American and Latino district. I’m just sorry,” she told several hundred juniors and seniors, who applauded.

“The reason I say that is because nowhere else would there be a question as to whether or not schools deserve money to have a quality education,” Jackson continued. “We’re not asking for extras. We’re asking for basic financing to run our programs, and I think if we take the issue of race and poverty out of it, we’re fooling ourselves.”

Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis also apparently took notice of Rauner’s use of “taxpayers” at a press conference about CPS’ funding troubles.

“Taxes are going to go up, and I’m tired of people acting like we’re not taxpayers. We are taxpayers too,” she said of her members, whom she noted live within city limits.