On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “Big Money Show,” Illinois State Sen. Willie Preston (D) discussed a report that 55 Chicago public schools have no students who are proficient in math and reading and called for an investigation into where the billions of dollars Chicago’s public schools have received from the state and from the federal government through the American Rescue Plan.
After Preston called for a reallocation of spending, co-host Jackie DeAngelis asked, [relevant remarks begin around 2:55] “$9.4 billion was allocated to Chicago’s public school budget by the state in fiscal year 2023, $1.8 billion was allocated to Chicago public schools by the American Rescue Plan. What happened to all of that money? And why wasn’t it used to facilitate having, for example, an assistant in every classroom?”
Preston answered, “Well, what I can tell you is, again, I’m about the facts. I think that what we should do is we should investigate where those dollars went. Not investigate those dollars just to put people in a bad situation, but to improve the problems. So, again, I think that it’s something that is the fiduciary responsibility of myself and my colleagues, and I think it’s something we should do. But again, I think we should always remember that the mayor of Chicago, Mayor Lori Lightfoot[‘s] position was to keep our schools open, and this is a direct result of that. If you think about, when a kid comes from summer school — from summer break, many of the teachers will tell you throughout the year they have summer learning loss. What we’re experiencing is COVID learning loss.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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