Al Sharpton Backs CPS Boycott

By Margaret Lyons in News on Aug 11, 2008 6:12PM

Rev. Al Sharpton joined the call for CPS students to boycott the first day of school. State Senator Rev. James Meeks suggested the boycott, which includes taking CPS students to schools in the suburbs to highlight the funding disparity, at the end of July.

Sharpton, preaching at New Landmark MB Church on the West Side Sunday, said that Illinois's education system violates Brown v. Board of Education. "Whether it will be funding or graduation rates, we are still separate and unequal," he said, and he also vowed that his National Action Network would litigate to change Illinois's educational funding model, which relies more heavily on property taxes and less on state funding.

Blago's not too keen on the boycott idea. He issued a statement saying,

I respect and agree with Reverend Meeks' goal to increase education funding. To that end, I have called the Legislature back into special session on Tuesday to focus specifically on school funding. But I think it's wrong to encourage kids to miss school. Every time a child misses a day in school, that child misses a chance to learn.

And CPS? They're against it, too, especially when Arne Duncan has made such a big deal about attendence on the first day of school. CPS president Rufus Williams said last week, "If the message is to fix school funding, we're all for it. If the method is to keeps kids out of school, we are completely against it." [ABC 7, CBS 2]