Amid the state of Illinois' sustained budget woes, school districts in Chicago and elsewhere in the state have lined up to ask courts to intervene on their behalf and order the state to pay what they assert is its proper share of education funding.
But history has indicated such lawsuits have limited chances of success.
After their first attempt to obtain a court order to compel a rewrite of the state's education funding rules was rebuffed, the Chicago Public Schools have renewed their legal challenge, again asking a Cook County judge to force changes in a school funding system they call discriminatory.
Over the objections of the Chicago Public Schools board, a federal judge will allow the Chicago Teachers Union to pursue a class action lawsuit alleging CPS discriminated in focusing past teacher layoffs at African American teachers and staff working in schools in predominantly African American neighborhoods.
Saying the demands sought by the Chicago Public Schools “would inject widespread chaos into the entirety of the State’s public education system,” a Cook County judge has denied the request by CPS and other plaintiffs to force the state to funnel more money into Chicago’s public education system, dismissing a lawsuit CPS said it brought to address systemic and illegal discrimination within the state of Illinois’ educational funding system.
A state appeals panel has said parents suing athletic trainers for allegedly failing to properly treat their son for concussion and other brain injuries during a high school football game must present medical expert testimony to demonstrate the trainers essentially committed malpractice, and not just negligence, to continue to press their case.
An Illinois appeals court has upheld a Cook County judge's ruling to deny a protective order sought by a group of parents to keep their children from being made to sit for depositions as part of proceedings in a lawsuit brought against a Chicago elementary school for failing to supervise the children, who then engaged in sexual conduct in a bathroom.
Chicago Public Schools is accusing former charter school operator Prologue Inc. of withholding financial documents that would reveal whether it mismanaged $25 million in public funds, according to a complaint filed March 3 in Cook County Circuit Court.
Saying Illinois state government has created a funding imbalance, in part, by requiring the Chicago Public Schools to divert money from education to fund worker pensions, when it places no similar demands on the state’s other school districts, CPS has now asked the courts to step in and force the state to rewrite its school funding rules.
Saying nothing in federal law entitles Chicago residents to a right to an elected school board, a federal judge has tossed a lawsuit from a group of plaintiffs, including parents of Chicago Public Schools students and former Ill. Gov. Pat Quinn, who had asked the court to side with their contentions that a state law granting the mayor of Chicago the power to appoint members of the Chicago Board of Education was discriminatory and violated their voting rights.
In the wake of a decision by Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner to kill a $215 million state bailout for Chicago Public Schools’ pension funds, the Chicago Board of Education is expected to vote on whether to dole out about $155 million annually to two private vendors to take charge of building maintenance at about 470 Chicago public schools.
A former bus attendant for the Chicago Public Schools has delivered a class action lawsuit against the state’s largest school district alleging he and others like him worked hours for which they were never paid.
Former Gov. Pat Quinn has joined state and federal lawsuits aiming to change the way Chicago Public Schools Board members are selected, saying state law giving the mayor of Chicago, and not voters, the power to select the Chicago Board of Education violates voters’ and taxpayers’ rights under the U.S. and Illinois constitutions.
A mother of two minor children is suing the Chicago Board of Education, Chicago Public Schools and the Public Building Commission of Chicago, alleging her children were harmed by carbon monoxide leaking from improperly maintained boilers.
Revenue collected in the city of Chicago's Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts will increase 23.9 percent this year, according to a report recently issued by Cook County Clerk David Orr. But it appears that failing neighborhoods that need revitalization the most are not seeing as much benefit from TIF, relative to areas that are already thriving.
A federal judge has agreed to dismiss a lawsuit brought against the Chicago Public Schools by a school nursing contractor who accused the city’s school district of helping a competitor poach their employees after CPS awarded a new contract for its special needs school nursing services. But the judge left the door open for the plaintiffs to rewrite their complaint and resume their lawsuit, if they could.
CHICAGO — A grandmother is suing the Board of Education of the City of Chicago, Chicago Public School District #299, individually and doing business as Chicago Public Schools, and Public Building Commission of Chicago, alleging negligence and insufficient measures taken to prevent injuries.
Even as Illinois' governor has openly discussed the possibility the Chicago Public Schools could seek bankruptcy protection, a municipal bankruptcy expert has noted only four school districts have declared Chapter 9 bankruptcy in the past 62 years, and two of those abandoned the process.
As attention increasingly builds on lead content in municipal drinking water in Chicago and elsewhere, an Illinois city has become the first community to receive aid from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency specifically targeted at alleviating problems with waterborne lead.
A Chicago teacher who had been fired for failing to report a principal’s request to fudge state test scores will be allowed to keep his job, and collect back pay and benefits, after a state appeals court upheld the decision of a lower court to overrule the Chicago Board of Education’s move to fire the teacher.
