Progress Made with PEER IL
The time is always right to do what’s just. When The ACE Project was approached by Naoma Nagahawatte of Raise Your Hand for IL to join PEER IL, a statewide coalition of organizations dedicated to fighting for full and fair public school funding, we heeded the call.
ACE has always been sensitive to addressing the needs of students and the community. Born out of necessity for afterschool programming due to lack of federal funding, ACE has been serving School District # 148 for nearly 10 years. Since 2018, ACE has been recruiting and training parents to serve as paraprofessionals in the classroom providing direct support to teachers, staff and students through our Parent Mentor Program via a partnership with the Parent Engagement Institute (PEI).
PEI has served as a gateway for PEER IL to connect with parents to organize and advocate for the equitable funding of school districts across the state. PEER IL is also part of a nationwide movement of state-driven coalitions that advocate for education equity, racially-just public schools and putting an end to the ongoing divestment of public education including but not limited to Illinois and Maryland.
In 2017, landmark legislation was passed promising Illinoisans one of the most progressive education funding policies in the country, the Evidence Based Funding for Student Success Act (EBF). However, the state has not met its funding obligation in order to ensure that school districts with the most need will be fully funded by 2027 as mandated. In fact, as of 2022, the EBF was underfunded by more than $4 billion and at the State’s current rate of investment, won’t reach full funding until 2042 which means nearly 2 more generations of public school students will be denied their right to a quality, fully funded public education. This is unacceptable.
Specifically, SD #148 has been identified as a district that’s currently under-resourced so the burden of funding local schools have been unduly placed on residents resulting in exorbitant property taxes. Hence, Riverdale was considered a prime location to launch PEER IL’s campaign because it exemplifies issues associated with the underfunding of schools.
This past September, Lorée Washington, a former parent mentor and the Ladders Organizer for ACE, spearheaded and organized in partnership with PEER IL a press conference that took place near the local school district’s office to kick-off PEER IL’s advocacy effort and it achieved great success receiving coverage from many media outlets. At the conference, there was also representation from the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council (BPNC), and the Hispanic American Community Education and Services (HACES).
With a background in community organizing, Lorée and ACE share PEER IL’s belief that every child, no matter their race or whether they live in an urban, suburban or rural area, deserves a quality education. Illinois school districts face some of the most unequal funding in the nation so ACE will continue to rally parents and concerned residents to participate in actions that advocate that the state commit to fully funding all communities according to their established adequacy target by 2027.
To continue ACE’s support of this effort, Ms. Washington will be providing a testimonial for the upcoming Illinois State Board of Education’s (ISBE) public hearing. In addition to ACE’s mission to nurture children living in underserved communities through the sport of tennis, the organization has also been masterful in improving access to equitable resources in each community it serves. ACE has been a leading provider of innovative positive youth development programs, and it is also our hope to become a leader in the fight for equity-based funding of education throughout the nation.
