Once again Chicago schools are faced with a budget shortfall. Once again the crisis is revenue. Chicago`s school property tax rate, our only local revenue source, has been held hostage by politics.
Illinois` financial support has been so inadequate and so unequal that school districts and parents all over the state have taken the issue to court. State fiscal support has been inadequate for all schools, but for Chicago it has been mean-spirited.
The latest meeting of the Illinois State Board of Education reported anticipated 1993 school district funding problems: 43 percent of districts expect to lay off a total of 2,878 certified staff, 52 percent expect higher average class sizes and pupil-teacher ratios, 73 percent expect cuts in textbook and other material purchases.
Chicago fits right into that picture. Even though we all know that class size and good teachers with a variety of books and supplies are the key, everybody is looking for cuts. For Chicago, where 70 percent of our children are poor, we need smaller class size, even more resources and an atmosphere of cooperation and confidence to assure that every child learns.
Some 116 school districts in Illinois are on the State Board of Education`s financial watch list, and 14 are in serious financial trouble. More than 50 percent of the schools in the state are operating with some deficit.
Only the Chicago schools cannot run with a deficit by state law. Only the Chicago schools have this annual threat hanging over their heads and only the Chicago schools have a School Finance Authority dictating its course.
So much for local control.
If Illinois were not such a wealthy state, we could understand why the state is 44th in state support for schools. The ”tax and spend” smokescreen has protected the wealthiest 10 percent of Illinois taxpayers. This year, when the electorate is demanding truth in political advertising, it is time to look at Illinois` tax structure.
We believe this is the time to look toward a graduated state income tax for fairness and adequacy. However, the urgency of the situation for our schools in Chicago and school districts all over the state demands that we go to the legislature in this coming fall session and demand an increase in the income tax with an increase in the personal exemption for fairness.
The Chicago Board of Education must begin to show serious leadership and call on local school councils, teachers, principals, school reformers, the unions, the business community and not the least the School Finance Authority to join the crusade, if they are serious about school reform. The declining state share of financial support is unacceptable, and Illinois needs additional revenue to pay for it.
In addition, we must vote for the education referendum on the ballot this November that will secure Illinois` constitutional responsibility for the preponderant funding of our schools. It`s time we got our public school house in order for our children and our children`s children.
