Sunday, May 25, 2008

Parents group: CPS must answer to voters

Chi-Town Daily News has an interesting article on parents who wants an elected schoolboard with the idea that they will be accountable to the voters:

Parents United for Responsible Education (PURE), a parents advocacy group critical of a board plan that will lead to a dramatic series of school closings, has organized a petition drive to put an advisory referendum on the November ballot calling for an elected school board.

Julie Woestehoff, PURE's executive director, says frustration over the board's recent actions is driving the effort

"I don't think people have been this angry with the board in many years," Woestehoff says. "I think because people are just so fed up ...the idea ...is just permeating through the city."

The city's seven-member board of education is appointed by Mayor Richard M. Daley, who can appoint members to an unlimited number of four-year terms.

According to a spokesperson for the Illinois Department of Education, it is the only education board in the state whose members do not have to run for election.

The appointment process grew out of an effort to reform Chicago schools in 1995. Since then, the mayor has controlled all board appointments, including the naming of Arne Duncan as chief executive.

But critics say it is a system that leaves Chicago's board largely unaccountable to the public they serve.

"There's a feeling in community circles, let's go back to an elected board. We can hold them accountable," says Cecile Carroll, education organizer for Blocks Together, a community non-profit group on the West Side.

Woestehoff says the group has until Aug. 14 to get 40,000 signed petitions, equal to 8 percent of the votes cast in the most recent gubenatorial election.

State law prevents the group from seeking a binding referendum, she says, but the hope is that by putting the issue to a vote, the idea will gain momentum.

"It's a way of sending a strong message. It's a way of putting an issue on the table publicly," she says.

Via the aforementioned PURE.

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