A plea to Legislature: Provide schools with more funding

New school funding is working, but it’s only a first step.

We are grateful for the legislators who voted last year to fix Illinois’ broken school funding formula. After years of inequitable funding, dollars are now going to schools equitably, meaning more money is flowing to English learners and low-income students — some of the most vulnerable students in the state. Schools are telling us they are now able to hire more staff to serve the unique instructional needs of English learners, who make up nearly 10 percent of Illinois public school students. The new formula is functioning as it should be.

Yet we can see that, on average, schools statewide are funded at only 74 percent of the resources needed to provide the best education to kids. That’s why we and other organizations are asking that an additional $400 million be allocated to K-12 education. With further investment, the equity gap will close even further and the quality of education will continue to improve, which benefits the entire state. We urge our legislators to support an investment of $400 million in K-12 education in the Fiscal Year 2019 state budget.

Caroline Sanchez Crozier, founding president,

League of United Latin American Citizens,

Illinois Education Council 5238

Protect immigrants who survive domestic violence

The #MeToo movement is creating a platform for women to step forward to tell our stories. But as we harness this moment, we must ensure that the voices of all women, including women of color and immigrant women, are included. Nobody should be left behind. That is why here in Illinois, we enthusiastically support the VOICES Act, Senate Bill 34.

According to the Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence and the U.S. Department of Justice, 85 percent of domestic violence is perpetrated against women, and 90 percent of rape victims are women. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey found that one in three women have been victims of physical violence at the hands of an intimate partner within their lifetime. However, these crimes go largely unreported. Some three out of four physical assaults and four out of five rapes never get reported to police.

For immigrant women, the problem of underreporting is worse due to language barriers and other anxieties, compounded on top of an already horrifying situation.

The VOICES Act creates a standard for law enforcement so that victims will get consistent support from their local agencies, while eliminating some of the barriers faced by immigrant crime survivors that exacerbate Illinois’ underreporting crisis. The VOICES Act will benefit all of our communities.

We invite our male colleagues/allies to join us in passing the VOICES Act and urging the governor to sign it into law without delay. Time’s up.

State Rep. Lisa Hernandez, D-Cicero

State Rep. Margo McDermed, R-Mokena

Trump said what?

My jaw dropped to the table when I read the headline “Trump accuses Mueller team of meddling in midterms” in Wednesday’s Sun-Times. Evidently, our dear leader and hypocrite-in-chief is only concerned about meddling in elections when the outside forces are not working for him.

Don Anderson, Oak Park

Trump should testify

The exhaustion that I have had to endure over the continuous coverage of our president’s behavior in regard to his ties to Russian interference in the last election could easily be resolved by an innocent person. Cooperation with the investigative body should be the behavior of an innocent man.

Why drag on such suspense and mystery over presidential ties to such Russian interference? Why not just cooperate, with evidence proving President Trump’s innocence? The nation is exhausted over such subterfuge. New revelations on other matters have tarnished the status of the office. Rants continue. It tarnishes our country. Testify and eliminate this great cost to our country.

Vincent Kamin, La Grange

Definition of trump

I don’t know if I’ve seen this mentioned before, but while doing my Sun-Times crossword puzzle I had occasion to look up trump for a synonym.

Roget’s doesn’t say much but a simple soft cover dictionary has as one definition for “trump” — “to fabricate.” Ironic?

Roger Gorlicki, Buffalo Grove