Marchers rally for more state aid to schools

October 14, 2006 (CHICAGO) (WLS) -- Education, religious, business, and community leaders marched Saturday for more state aid to schools.

After rallying at the Federal Plaza, they marched to the Thompson Center. They favor House Bill 750, which makes income taxes, not property taxes, the main funder of education. Chicago schools CEO Arne Duncan said Illinois ranks next-to-last in per-capita state school aid.

"We want a school system that funds education. The fact that we're 49th out of 50-- we should be ashamed," said Duncan.

"It's beyond ridiculous that the state has not fixed this problem yet," said Ralph Martire, Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. "We have a $490 billion a year economy in this state. If we were a country, we'd be the 27th biggest country in the world. We're bigger than Saudi Arabia. And we can't put half of 1 percent of that economy into making sure every kid in our state gets a quality education?"

Reverend Jesse Jackson said the candidates for governor should debate education funding.

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