Progress Illinois

Back in August, Gov. Pat Quinn dealt a blow to school transparency when he issued an amendatory veto against a bill that would give the public a voice in the rapid privatization of Chicago's schools. The measure, introduced by State Rep. Cynthia Soto (D-Chicago), initially called for a moratorium on school shutdowns, which was spurred by a dozen controversial closures in Chicago last year. But during the legislative process, lawmakers stripped HB 363 of its original intent, opting instead to create a committee that would hold hearings to investigate how and why schools are selected and to make legislative recommendations for shaping the process in the future. Quinn's decision to weaken the measure further -- by giving Mayor Daley more power to stack the committee with sympathetic appointees and to push its deadline back by five months, well after this year's school closures will have been decided -- blindsided Soto. Yet the decision made perfect political sense for Quinn, according to State School News Service's Jim Broadway. "The issue has the makings," he writes, "of a significant political resource for Quinn in the Democrat primary in February."

From the time Quinn inked the bill, Soto vowed to override his veto. And yesterday she succeeded. But the delay will have consequences. Julie Woestehoff, director of the education advocacy group Parents United for a Responsible Education (PURE) notes that the October 31 deadline could strain the potential committee in charge of the review:

Since we have to assume that the committee has not yet been named or officially appointed, it's very hard to see how anything helpful can be done by the end of the month.  Even if someone has already been writing the not-yet-existing committee's report, that tight timeline does not allow for any meaningful public input, which is a key element of the bill.

After agreeing to lift the cap on charter schools last spring -- a measure that  zipped through both chambers within 24 hours --  it's good to see that lawmakers are serious about holding Mayor Daley and Chicago school officials accountable for their notoriously-secretive school closure process. With the number of charters set to double in coming years, more neighborhood schools will inevitably be shuttered and Soto's measure is a first step toward making sure the process is finally transparent.