Student leaders from Chicago and the suburbs are forging ties to fight for a cause: education funding reform.
The members of the Illinois Council of Students, a group of Chicago and suburban public school students, believe that student voices are an important missing ingredient in the school funding debate. They believe that student activism can help break through the stalemate that has stalled funding reform.
The group’s founding members came together after state Sen. Rev. James Meeks’ (D-Chicago) first-day boycott of CPS, when about 1,000 city students traveled by bus to wealthy suburban schools and to a school funding rally at nearby Harms Woods. Four students from New Trier High School—Matt McCambridge, Amanda Cohen, David Walchak and Ada Sochanska—attended the rally and met Brandon Saunders of Morgan Park High, Sabrina Walker of Gwendolyn Brooks College Preparatory and Edwillis Wright of south suburban Rich South High School.
