Emanuel adds 12 Catholic high schools to Star Scholarship program

Two weeks before leaving office, Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Monday made a dramatic and controversial change to his signature plan to help parents put their kids through college without going to “the poor house.”

Instead of limiting the Star Scholarship program to Chicago Public School graduates who maintain a “B” average, City Colleges of Chicago will extend the lucrative benefit to low-income students from 12 Catholic high schools in Chicago.

The Star Scholarship covers tuition and books at Chicago’s seven City Colleges for up to three years and qualifies participants for a host of scholarships from dozens of participating colleges and universities.

The benefit will now be available to the dozen Catholic high schools that partner with the Big Shoulders Fund, provided that students: live in Chicago; graduate with at least a 3.0 grade-point average; are “nearly college-ready”; have a family income less than $50,000.

Participating high schools are: Christ the King Jesuit College Preparatory School; Cristo Rey Jesuit High School; De La Salle Institute; DePaul College Prep; Hales Franciscan; Holy Trinity High School; Josephinum Academy of the Sacred Heart; Mount Carmel; Our Lady of Tepeyac; St. Francis de Sales; St. Rita of Cascia and Leo High School.

According to City Hall, more than half of all seniors at those 12 schools qualify for free or reduced-price lunch programs. Nearly 80 percent of students at those high schools are either black of Hispanic, officials said.

Alex Luchenitser, associate legal director for Washington D.C.-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said “legally, constitutionally, there would be nothing wrong with allowing graduates of private schools to participate” in the Chicago Star Scholarship.

But, he said, “If this program is expanded only to graduates of twelve Catholic schools and not other private schools, that would raise an issue of whether the city is favoring a particular religion over other religions and over non-religious private schools.”

Ald. Howard Brookins (21^st), chairman of the City Council’s Education Committee, raised similar concerns.

“If you’re gonna open it up, why are you limiting it? It doesn’t logically make sense how you justify that. Why are you discriminating against the kids who otherwise may qualify that would go to other Catholic schools other than those twelve?” Brookins said.

“I’m not concerned about the church and state piece of it because those kids and their parents are Chicago residents also. I’m just concerned about why are you discriminating? It doesn’t make any sense. And if you don’t have enough for everybody, then why are you opening it up now?”

Emanuel rolled out the Star Scholarship program on the eve of his 2015 re-election bid. The program had been open only to CPS schools and charter schools bankrolled by CPS. Undocumented students also are eligible.

It has since benefitted 6,400 Chicago Public School graduates from 75 different ZIP codes and more than 200 different high schools.

According to City Hall, 63 percent of Star Scholars are women. Nearly two-thirds are Hispanic.

Together, they have earned $3.8 million in scholarship offers from 26 four-year colleges and universities that have forged partnerships with City Colleges.

Emanuel announced the expansion Monday at Malcolm X College, 1900 W. Jackson Blvd.

One again, the retiring mayor choked back tears as he talked about the joy he and his wife, Amy Rule, will feel attending the June graduation of their son, Zach, from UCLA.

“There’s not many times in public life you can give people the same joy that you have in your own life,” the mayor said.

Emanuel called the Chicago Star Scholarship one of the things he is most proud of “in my whole, entire public life.”

He recalled the emotional graduation ceremony for Chicago Star Scholars that took place a week ago.

“Two hundred-some-odd parents who literally two years ago, three years — if it wasn’t for Juan [Salgado, City Colleges chancellor] and I and others — weren’t sure if they had to take a second job, a second mortgage or pick between the two children who gets to go to college and who doesn’t,” Emanuel said.

“That, my friends, is not the American way. No mayor, no parent, no father, no mother, no grandparent should have to think twice about whether their child can go to college. Not when you have … drive, determination and purpose. If you want to handle income inequality, you’ve got to deal with the diploma divide in this country. And Chicago is showing a different way.”

Josh Hale, president and CEO of the Big Shoulders Fund, called the expanded scholarship program a “game-changer” for students and for the city.

“Each year, we’re graduating a thousand high school students from the twelve high schools we work with. For many, this will be, not only the right choice, but the best choice,” Hale said.

“These students will now have even deeper ties to the city and even deeper loyalty to being a part of the city’s future. They will go on to become community leaders [and part of the] talented future workforce that Chicago needs to flourish.”