Education Summit: Chicago United releases a report showing that the most important management reforms it had recommended to the School Board in 1981 had been either ignored or "were buried in classic obfuscation."

Chicago United goes on to join Designs for Change and the Chicago Panel in pushing for school system decentralization.

March: Panel lobbying The Chicago Panel seeks legislation to phase in local control of budgets, curriculum and school operations.

June: Local control conference
The Chicago Teachers Union, along with Chicago United, hosts a conference on school-based management, featuring programs crafted jointly by unions and school boards from around the country.

September: Marathon strike
School employees strike for a record 19 days; it is the ninth strike in 18 years.

October: UIC meeting
Mayor Washington calls citizens to a mass brainstorming session at the University of Illinois Pavilion; close to 1,000 show up. Washington pledges to present a plan within 120 days to reform schools and funding.

November: Parent/Community Council
Mayor Washington appoints a 50-member Parent/Community Council and expands his then-dormant Education Summit to include grass-roots activists.

November 25: Washington's death
Suddenly, Mayor Washington dies of a heart attack at his desk in City Hall.

Bennet quote: Following a meeting with Chicago United, U.S. Education Sec. William Bennett declares Chicago has the worst school system in the country but that "the right ideas are winning."