In Chicago, August is the time of year for budget crises and last-minute labor talks with teachers.
But this year a new sideshow has developed: bashing the School Finance Authority.
On Monday, state Rep. Monique Davis used a public hearing as a not-so-subtle forum to accuse the authority of acting as a ”secret group” that is using its budget-oversight powers to set policy for the Board of Education and to promote a school voucher system.
The finance authority responded just as strongly. Chairman Martin Koldyke questioned Davis` motives, saying the Chicago Democrat also is school employee.
He labeled her accusations ”all nonsense.”
”This is a painful business, but to have people whose motives are highly suspect calling into question our good intent and our good will, when the law is very clear . . . is a little frustrating,” he said.
Barbara Holt, the finance authority`s executive director, said the five members of the authority oppose vouchers, a system that would aid families who want to send their children to private schools and is considered elitist by some.
Davis threatened to introduce a bill in the General Assembly to abolish the authority, established in 1980 to guide the schools out of bankruptcy and later given oversight of certain parts of school reform. She also said she and several other legislators are considering suing the authority and asking a judge to define its powers.
”The obvious fact is they have overstepped their authority,” Davis said after the three-hour hearing in the State of Illinois Center, attended by three other legislators, Ald. John Steele (6th), Board of Education President Florence Cox and members of several school reform groups.
Davis also said: ”They are demanding that the Board of Education do things that ultimately will lead to a voucher system.”
She denied that her role as a school employee had anything to do with the hearing. She said she had been asked by 21 neighborhood groups to hold the hearing.
Davis makes $54,971 a year as a coordinator in the educational service center, which is involved with staff development.
Some school board members also have been criticizing the finance authority, apparently irked by the authority`s more energetic role in the board`s development of its annual plan for reform.
So far, the authority has rejected both the board`s proposal for a budget and its reform plan. The budget is due Monday. The first day of school is set for Sept. 8.
Cox bemoaned the current budget crisis but stopped short of suggesting motives for the authority`s rejection of the board`s budget.
Regarding the board`s fight with the authority, Cox said, ”It`s inconceivable that we`d fight over governance when the kids are falling like leaves from the trees.”
