Fair funding protest at state hearings. We got a ticket for protesting without a permit.

IEA outside Lincolnwood town hall.

The movement to change the way school funding is done in Illinois came to the Chicago suburb of Lincolnwood on Monday night as more than 50 IEA members rallied at the town hall. I was there along with other PREA members.

Representing school districts from the Northern suburbs and North Shore of Chicago, districts not normally considered sympathetic to changing the way things are done, teachers, students and education support staff rallied for more than an hour as state budget hearings were scheduled to get underway. Many of the demonstrators went inside to testify.

IEA activist Tom Kucharski from New Trier.

Among them was IEA activist Tom Kucharski, social studies teacher from New Trier High School. New Trier was recently in the news as students, parents, administration and teachers warmly welcomed CPS students led by Senator James Meeks when they came to New Trier to illustrate the funding gap in Illinois schools.

Lincolnwood police gave us a ticket for protesting without a permit. Apparently the constitution is still up for debate in Lincolnwood, Illinois.