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1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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11 | RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be | ||||||
12 | delivered to the City of Chicago
School District 299.
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