A bill to put a to put a temporary moratorium on school closings
advanced in the Senate Education Committee Tuesday, however it was
“shelled” and all language was stripped out, according to a spokeswoman
for Sen. William Delgado (D-Chicago), the legislation’s chief sponsor.
The bill, SB 1571, was changed because the votes in the committee weren’t all there for its approval and its language needed to be strengthened.
Lawmakers were also feeling the heat of getting bills out of committee by this week’s deadline, the Associated Press reported.
Stacy Davis Gates, legislative and political director for the Chicago Teachers Union, which sent members
to Springfield to testify on the moratorium’s behalf, said stripping
the language was a “legislative maneuver,” because if it stayed in
committee, it would be dead.
“The biggest part is it’s alive,” she said. “Had everything stayed in as is, it probably wouldn’t have gotten out.”
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A group of education activists boarded a bus to Springfield this morning to campaign for a moratorium on school closings in 
A 
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel unveiled today the members of a city task
force empowered to decide what is to happen with the Fisk and Crawford
coal-fired power plant sites when they go offline, as well as the
best way to clean up pollution from the century old facilities.