Board schedules budget hearings November 5 simultaneously at King HS and Payton HS.... Board still keeps budget books from public, refusing to print copies to distribute to aldermen, libraries, and schools
As they stated at their October 24, 2012 meeting, the members of the Chicago Board of Education have re-scheduled their hearings on the "Amended Budget for Fiscal 2013" for November 5, 2012. The hearings will be at King High School and Payton High School and will begin at 6:00 p.m. on each day.
Chicago Board of Education President David Vitale at the Board's October 24, 2012 meeting. Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.As they did in July, the Board officials have scheduled the hearings simultaneously, instead of over a period of days. The Board also continues to refuse to make printed copies of the Budget available to the public in public libraries, at schools, and at the offices of the city's 50 alderman, as it had been doing for more than 140 years prior to the installation of the Board appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel in June 2011. The only physical copies of the budget that the Board states will be available are to be found at the Board's central offices at 125 S. Clark St.
The July hearings on the Proposed FY 2013 budget were held away from Chicago public schools at City Colleges sites, also simultaneously. The hearing transcripts were not available to the public until after the Board of Education meeting that voted in favor of the budget.
CPS Communications Department officials continue to discriminate against Substance, as part of the policy of the Vitale administration. Substance receives no press releases or official announcements from Becky Carroll's "Office of Communications", and CPS has ignored Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests from Substance for one year. The Office of Communications itself is a budget issue, since in October 2012 it is three times larger and more expensive than the same office was in October 2010, a few months before Rahm Emanuel appointed the current school board.
The public announcement regarding the hearings follows:
NOTICE. PUBLIC HEARING. PROPOSED AMENDED SCHOOL BUDGET, 2012-2013, CHICAGO BOARD OF EDUCATION
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN:
Public notice is hereby given by the Chicago Board of Education that it has prepared its Amended School Budget for the 2012-2013 Fiscal Year in tentative form, and that five (5) copies thereof, available for public inspection, have been filed and are now on file in the Office of the Board of Education, 125 South Clark Street, 6th Floor, Chicago, Illinois, and that said Board of Education will hold two (2) concurrent Public Hearings upon said Budget on the 5th day of November, 2012, at the hour of 6:00 p.m. on said date, at the following locations:
Date: Monday, November 5, 2012, Locations: King College Preparatory High School, Auditorium 4445 S. Drexel Blvd., Chicago, IL. Walter Payton College Preparatory High School Library, 1034 North Wells St. Registration: 5:00pm - 6:00pm
Hearing time: 6:00pm - 8:00pm. Or until last registered speaker has concluded whichever is earlier
By: David J. Vitale, President
Attest: Estela G. Beltran, Secretary
