Group: Public School Funding Methods Violate Civil Rights
CHICAGO (WBBM) -- The head of the Chicago Urban League says the group is pressing forward with its lawsuit against the state of Illinois over the way public schools are funded across the state.
As WBBM Newsradio 780 Political Editor Craig Dellimore reports, Urban League president Andrea Zopp says the lawsuit contends the school funding system in Illinois is a civil rights violation, because reliance on property taxes makes funding lower in poor communities, and that affects minorities disproportionately.
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Zopp says the state itself spends relatively little.
"When you really look at the poor school districts, (they) have dramatically different results, from different graduation rates, different test scores – and so we have to fix the funding system," she said.
Zopp says the Urban League will be building public support for the civil lawsuit in the coming months.
She is the guest on WBBM 780's "At Issue" program, this coming Sunday at 9:30 a.m. and 9:30 p.m.
