A Letter to a Legislator

In our class, Policy, we focused the first unit on legislature. We reviewed the functions of the government within its branches, committees, and roles. We discussed the difference between Policy and Law, their relationship being synonymous. What differentiates Policy from Law is that Law is set in stone and must be followed. Policies are guiding and have dynamic qualities. The three roots of Policy are polis, relating to the city/state, polites, relating to the citizens, and politeia for administration. Our classwork involved dwelling into World War 1 and War World 2. We read the chapter "War is the Health of the State" in Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. It focused on events that built up to War World 1. Such as, America's indirect involvement with England in selling weaponry that created an anti-German feeling from the mutual relationship. In 1915, the British ship Lusitania was shot down with a submarine missile that had Americans on board. This tension led up to the 1917 U.S. Declaration of war on Germany due to their policy of unrestricted U-Boat warfare, as well as their formed alliance with Mexico. We analyzed the language and legislation behind the United State's declarations of war until 1942, when legislation stopped being involved in declaring war. This was because many people have died in these wars and the congressional resolutions were taking a toll. It was also noticed that the language was recycled and gave the impression of the U.S. constantly being forced into these wars. We also reviewed progressive amendments from the Civil War; the 13th, 14th and 15th, then learned the 16th, the  17th, the 18th, and the 19th. These included income tax, direct election of senators, prohibition, and women's suffrage.

In a field experience, we were invited to the Chicago Commission on Human Relations due to our presence at a city council meeting on the sanctuary status of Chicago in our prior class, Argument. We met up to four commission members including chairman and commissioner, Mona Noriega, who is in the LGBTQ hall of fame for building support of the community in policy. We also met with the alderman Andre Vasquez of the 40th ward and discussed Policy with him at his office. He informed us on his origin story, his purpose in politics, and the process he went through to defeat long-term alderman Patrick O'Conner.

The action project I present to you today is a letter to a legislator of my choice.  I chose U.S. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois. My letter involves interest in a specific legislation that I agree with and will voice my connection, knowledge and support of to increase its chances of being passed through Senate:


1535 N. Dayton St.
Chicago, IL 60642
The Honorable Dick Durbin

United State Senate

Dear Senator Durbin,

I write this letter to you in regards of the legislation HB 397 that constrains the power of the Illinois Charter Commission so they cannot override a local district’s decision to reject new charter schools. I am an 11th grade student that attends the Global Citizenship Experience Lab school in Chicago. This issue impacts my personal academic experience, as well as the future of education access and quality for future generations. 

I agree with the decision to constrain the power of the ICC, due to their motives in overriding already existing schools to privatize what should be public education. There is no guarantee a new charter school will offer a “better” education, as stated in Charter Schools at the Crossroads by Chester Finn, M.A.T.'67, Ed.D.'70, who quotes that, "The charter track record can be best described as stunningly uneven." The quality of charter schools vary due to diverse leaderships. Therefore, I think it beneficial that a local district would have freedom to incorporate or reject new schools.

Despite having attended a K-8th grade charter school with little experience in public education, I now understand the gap between public and charter schools. This gap was not the prior intention for students as said in The Charter School Experiment, where authors wrote that early charter school supporters “envisioned small-scale, autonomous schools run by independent mom-and-pop operators who would be positioned to respond to local community needs.” Except that isn't the reality, and passing this legislation can offer some mutual relationship between the ICC and local districts, focusing less on the battle to conquer and spread.

With respect to the optimistic vision behind these schools, studies have shown that they benefit a majority of low-income black and Hispanic students. A specific example of what some charter schools provide is with The Alma Del Mar Charter School in Massachusetts. They lead monthly professional development workshops for public school teachers in neighboring towns and have partnered with the local high school, where either-graders can take ninth-grade algebra. On the other hand, it can still be quoted that, "after 25 years and some 6,000 schools, charters still on average produce results roughly equal those of the public schools to which they set out to be better alternatives." All things considered, quality of education shouldn't have heavy reliance on the presence of charter schools.

A present notion is that charter schools are taking financial aid that could be invested in improving public education. With that in mind, HB 397 is opening an opportunity for public schools to provide students what they weren't given before. Whatever supportive experiences I have had with non-public education should be opened to the people. The positive intention behind charter schools should be transferred to all students, as all people have potential.

I thank you for your time. It would be enlightening to see HB 397 passed through the senate.

Sincerely,

PKA 

Students at Harlem Success Academy. Photograph by Chris Hondros/Getty.

Works Cited:

Jason, Zachary. “The Battle Over Charter Schools.” Harvard Graduate School of Education, www.gse.harvard.edu/news/ed/17/05/battle-over-charter-schools.