catalyst-chicago.org

Dozens of grants that lawmakers earmarked for building repairs and after-school programs at individual Chicago schools are among the $463 million in spending cuts Gov. Rod Blagojevich made Thursday, a Catalyst budget analysis shows.

He also cut $5 million statewide for severely overcrowded schools, and $3.5 million in charter school startup grants. For Chicago, that means a loss of $3 million for overcrowding relief and $3 million for charter school startups, according to CPS' Chief Financial Officer Pedro Martinez.

Now that the Illinois Legislature is in overtime, organizers from A+ Illinois, the coalition of groups that support an overhaul of state school funding, are working to gauge support among rank-and-file lawmakers for a marginal income tax increase to support education. Ryan Canney, deputy campaign manager and field director for the group, talked with Catalyst Springfield correspondent Aaron Chambers about the group's strategy in the overtime session.

A: How do you define a marginal income tax increase, and what have been the results of your talking to legislators?

Chicago would get 15 new charters, but have limits placed on expansion campuses of existing charters, under proposed legislation crafted by Senate President Emil Jones Jr. and the Chicago Teachers Union.

At least three of the new charters would be required to serve chronic truants and dropouts, an idea hatched by legislators who recently visited several such schools in California.