First class schools for all children

It is so disappointing that many of our local elected officials discredit the proposed Sept. 2 Chicago Public School boycott - even though they acknowledge the pathetic and dismal state of CPS schools and the biased funding system that contributes to it.

While they fight our protest, they offer no alternative solutions to the underfunded school system.

Illinois is the seventh wealthiest state in our nation, yet we are 49th out of 50 in state school funding, and we lead the nation in school funding disparities.

This is indeed a travesty that is hurting the black and brown communities in disproportionate numbers.

We cannot afford to sit idly by and wait another decade on politicians to fix this crisis while we lose another generation of our children.

The reality is, this crisis may not be as urgent to many of these officials as it is to us, since many of their children don't go to nor have they gone to public schools.

According to a University of Chicago report, only six out of 100 high school freshman graduate from a four-year university. The lack of proper funding plays a significant role in this meager 6 percent success rate of CPS.

Until the CPS system gets the money due, so that dilapidated buildings can be fixed, old schools books can be updated, inadequate academic programs can be brought up to speed, top teachers can be hired and a full range of extra curriculum activities can be accessed, we will continue to be plagued by a 94 percent failing ratio, and a less that 50 percent graduation rate.

Many parents in the Save Our School Now coalition are growing increasingly tired of the redundant speeches from certain elected officials and the CPS brass about how they agree with our message regarding equitable schools funding, but they are against our method of addressing it.

Our response is "Show us an alternative plan." They have yet to offer one.

This one-week boycott of second-class schools will not hurt the children.

It will expose the disparities and inequities of Illinois school funding system, while at the same time pressuring our governor and the state's political leaders to develop a comprehensive plan to reform education funding in our state.

Sept. 2 will be the day we chart a new course for our children's future. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. once said "Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."

Ira J. Acree

Co-Chairman,

LEADER's Network

Chicago