Boycott over, Meeks to meet with Blagojevich

The state senator who led a school boycott to protest underfunded Chicago schools cut it short after two days and said Thursday he will be talking to Gov. Rod Blagojevich soon to discuss solutions.

Sen. James Meeks said the governor's office has suggested Monday or Tuesday as possible dates for a meeting.

Meeks had announced late Wednesday that his boycott, which began Tuesday, was being ended because Blagojevich said he wouldn't meet while it was still in effect. It was to have lasted through Friday.

"The governor stated that he would not meet until the boycott was called off, so we are going to not only call his bluff but trust that he keeps this word," Meeks said in cutting the protest short. "We trust that the governor is a man of good will and good sense."

Meeks said he could not yet estimate how many students participated in the boycott's second day, but he said the number was in the hundreds. While the number was only a fraction of the district's 400,000 students, Meeks said it was successful in publicizing the funding problem.

Blagojevich spokesman Lucio Guerrero said the governor was happy to talk with Meeks but it was up to the legislature to approve funding.

Meeks spokeswoman Tasha Harris said all boycotting children should have returned to school Thursday. Schools spokeswoman Anitra Schulte had no immediate detail on the day's turnout, but said first-day attendance Tuesday had actually risen from last year, despite the boycott.

In a statement, school district CEO Arne Duncan said: "We are happy that those calling for the boycott were able to focus a lot of attention on our severe need for better state funding. We're even happier, though, that it's over and everyone is in school."

Meeks wants the governor to call a special legislative session to pass a short-term education funding plan immediately, and to then begin discussing a long-term overhaul of Illinois' system.

Property taxes make up about 70 percent of school financing in Illinois, so rural and inner-city schools are usually less well-funded than suburban schools. Critics say the system makes for unequal educational opportunities between poor and rich, and black and white.

Mayor Richard Daley had called the boycott "irresponsible," and Blagojevich said Meeks was using children as "pawns."

On Tuesday, when the school year started, more than a thousand students instead boarded buses to suburban Northfield, where they symbolically registered at the affluent New Trier High School.

On Wednesday, protesting students attended impromptu lessons in the lobbies of downtown Chicago government and business buildings. Retired teachers gave lessons in math, reading and writing as a substitute for regular classes.

"We don't want them to miss a day of learning, not by any means," said former teacher Lenette Edwards.