Education advocates have had a busy week. Not only are they holding their breaths and rallying for Gov. Pat Quinn to sign one reform bill into law, but many are also simultaneously seething over a controversy surrounding another.

First, there’s SB 630. The schools reform bill guides how Chicago Public Schools can build, repair and close schools, in an effort to achieve fairness and transparency in how schools are physically addressed. The bill is a more comprehensive and technical version of SB 620, which Progress Illinois previously covered. Although both have reached the governor's desk, advocates tell us they are pushing hard for SB 630.

Backed by the Local School Councils, SB 630 also has support from the mayor’s office and the Chicago Board of Education and includes many of the recommendations suggested by the General Assembly's Chicago Education Facilities Task Force (CEFTF). If signed, the bill would require the creation of the Chicago Educational Facilities Planning Commission.

Both bills come at a time of major contention between community members and parents and the school system. Earlier in the spring, Progress Illinois covered a battle in the Logan Square neighborhood concerning two schools in the area. Parents, community members, and the Avondale Local School Council (ALSC) were floored when three CPS officials walked out of a scheduled meeting to discuss plans to consolidate Avondale Elementary and Logandale Middle School. Despite protests and outrage from the community, their concerns fell on deaf ears and the consolidation was eventually approved.

And in education news heard around the country, the head of the non-profit Stand for Children’s Jonah Edelman is suffering from the mighty embarrassment of his arrogant rant at a forum in Colorado last week. The viral video shows Edelman, for nearly 15 minutes, talking about how his group pushed through SB 7. “We hired 11 lobbyists, including four of the absolute best insiders and seven of the best minority lobbyists, preventing the unions from hiring them,” Edelman said. The controversial education reform bill cripples teacher unions' ability to strike. It passed in the spring after some watering-down from its previous anti-teacher version and Quinn signed it into law last month.

Lawmakers and education advocates in Illinois are seething about the manipulative tone of Edelman's rant. The Washington Post’s Valerie Strauss has even picked up on it, saying “The reason the video is worth watching is because the details behind the campaign are fascinating and reveal how some modern school reformers work politically behind the scenes.”

See the video here:

Photo courtesy of Enviroblog.com.