When the Illinois State Board of Education met this week in Springfield, a new chairman was running the agenda.
One of the first appointments made by new Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner was James Meeks -- a former Democratic state senator from Chicago and long-time pastor of the city’s Salem Baptist Church. Meeks had led the Senate Education Committee and sponsored legislation to try to change how the state funds schools.
In 2010, Meeks focused a spotlight on funding inequity of districts when he took hundreds of inner-city kids to a Chicago suburb to symbolically register in prosperous school districts.
Meeks was asked if he would be coordinating with Senator Andy Manar, the Macoupin County Democrat pushing the latest bill to revamp school funding.
“Yes. We did have a conversation, and the conversation was simply: Let’s meet concerning the bill.”
Meeks’ appointment has to be confirmed by the Illinois Senate, but he said he expects no problems since he “still knows a few people there.”