Full Text of HR0361 98th General Assembly
HR0361 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The Illinois State Constitution provides that the | 3 | | fundamental goal of the
people of this State is the educational | 4 | | development of all persons and that the State shall
provide for | 5 | | an efficient system of high quality public educational | 6 | | institutions and
services; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, It is the intent and policy of the State of | 8 | | Illinois as previously established by
the General Assembly to | 9 | | make the individual school in a school district the essential | 10 | | unit
for educational governance; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, The Chicago Public School (CPS) system estimates | 12 | | that it will have a
budget deficit exceeding $1 billion for its | 13 | | fiscal year 2014 budget; and | 14 | | WHEREAS, CPS indicates that it needs to close, co-locate, | 15 | | and turnaround underutilized
and underperforming schools in an | 16 | | effort to attempt to close the estimated fiscal year
2014 | 17 | | budget deficit; and | 18 | | WHEREAS, After providing a preliminary list of 129
schools, | 19 | | and participating in a series of public meetings regarding the | 20 | | schools on the
preliminary list, CPS, on March 21, 2013, | 21 | | announced proposed actions involving 114 schools; and |
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, A major factor contributing to the | 2 | | underutilization of CPS schools is the
expansion of school | 3 | | capacity; currently CPS has only about 1% fewer students than | 4 | | it did
in 1991 but has almost 100 more school facilities; and | 5 | | WHEREAS, Nearly 50,000 CPS students will be impacted by | 6 | | overall school actions; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, The CPS school closing plan will impact 6,479 | 8 | | students with disabilities,
each of whom has an Individualized | 9 | | Educational Plan; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, School closings often have profound ramifications | 11 | | for the educational
experience of students and the surrounding | 12 | | community, as numerous studies have shown
that when a school is | 13 | | closed or negative actions take place, student academic | 14 | | outcomes
are negatively impacted, safety concerns are | 15 | | increased as children have to travel farther
and through | 16 | | sometimes dangerous territory, and parental and community | 17 | | confidence in
the school system is shaken; therefore, be it
| 18 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | 19 | | NINETY-EIGHTH
GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 20 | | we urge the Chicago
Public School system to actively engage | 21 | | parents, local school councils, educators, and
communities |
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| 1 | | affected by the proposed school actions prior to taking final | 2 | | action on any
schools; and be it further
| 3 | | RESOLVED, That the Chicago Public Schools system is urged | 4 | | to provide information to families
affected by the proposed | 5 | | school actions and to the Illinois General Assembly on cost
| 6 | | savings from planned school closings, extra security and safety | 7 | | programs for students,
as well as equipment upgrades for | 8 | | "welcoming" schools prior to final action on the
school | 9 | | closings issue by the Chicago Board of Education; and be it | 10 | | further
| 11 | | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | 12 | | delivered to the City of Chicago
School District 299.
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