In 2016, 56 LSC candidates across Chicago signed on to a common 7-point platform. Most of us were elected, and this common platform informs not only our own efforts on behalf of the schools we serve, but truly reflects the efforts of many more LSC members around the city.
Those seven common planks are:
Our Common Planks
Full and Equitable Funding
We need new, fair revenue sources, including but not limited to a progressive state income tax, a Financial Transactions Tax, and the release of TIF funds.
Elected School Board
The current appointed board does not, and cannot, adequately represent the people of Chicago.
Moratorium on Charter Schools
The dilution of scarce resources severely damages neighborhood schools and cannot continue.
Health and Environmental Safety
Every school should have a full-time nurse and a full-time building engineer.
Culturally Appropriate Curricula
Chicago is a richly diverse city, and curricula should reflect and celebrate our diversity.
Curtailment of High-Stakes Testing
Testing is out of control in our schools, and is robbing children of actual learning time.
Commitment to Transparency
All stakeholders should be able to understand what is happening in their schools.
For many people, the neighborhood school should be a place as free of politics as possible. Unfortunately, under the current hyper-politicized climate, individual schools are often the frontlines. On the one hand, it becomes very important to shield students as much as possible. On the other hand, our technical constituencies are parents, community members, teachers, and staff, and as the most local of elected officials, it is incumbent upon us to keep our communities informed. It is in the spirit of the above platform, and with the input of LSC members who signed on, that this site exists to help provide better information to LSC members, so that they in turn can be better able to perform their duties, and better able to share information with their school communities.