La Shawn Ford, who represents the 8th District in the Illinois House of Representatives, filed a resolution in May calling for immediate construction of a high school in Austin.
The resolution is an effort to support educational equity on Chicago’s West Side, where student enrollment has been declining for years as a result of school closures and the rise of magnet and charter schools.
“Students go outside of Austin to find schools to meet their needs,” Ford said.
And a new high school would encourage people to move to, and stay around, Chicago’s West Side.
“When people look for a place to move, they ask, ‘What school will we send our kids to?’” Ford said. “It’s good for population growth. It’s good for property value, and it’s good for a healthier community.”
With the construction of a comprehensive high school, including programs for arts and the trades, Ford said he expects Austin’s under-enrolled public high schools, Austin College and Career Academy and Frederick Douglass Academy, to be consolidated. He added that the empty space could become housing, a resource center or a site for the new high school.
“I’ve heard that we’re under-enrolled in the neighborhood and there’s no need for a comprehensive high school,” Ford said. But, he added, “I don’t know if there’s enough confidence in Austin High School and Douglass High School for parents to feel that that’s their number-one choice.”
Austin College and Career Academy High School has 157 students, according to Chicago Public School data. Frederick Douglass Academy High School only had 33 students enrolled going into this school year.
Ford said construction of a high school will come with new resources that attract quality teachers and technology to improve enrollment in public schools on the West Side.
“If you’re under-enrolled and you only have 30 students, it’s hard to have the resources to provide the needs for the students,” Ford said. “The money follows the students.”
And with that money, a comprehensive high school could become so much more than a place where students take classes, like a resource or community center. On weekends, Ford said the new high school in Austin could stay open for students to play sports and work out, plus socialize while feeling safe.
“When I was going, you didn’t have to leave school when the bell rang,” Ford said of his high school. “Many students don’t go to school just because they want to be smart or learn. Sometimes, it’s the result of them being attracted to extracurricular activities.”
Funding and support
Ford said he’s filed similar resolutions to build a new high school every year since 2007, when he was first elected.
But this year’s resolution comes with more funding via capital money that’s a part of the Illinois budget for the 2025 fiscal year. The Illinois House of Representatives passed the budget late last month, and Gov. JB Pritzker signed it June 5.
The new capital bill sets aside $3.5 billion for infrastructure projects, half a billion more than Pritzker’s February budget proposal allotted, according to Capitol News Illinois. It also allocates $400 million for local road projects, which Ford said could create better streets around a new school and develop the Austin neighborhood.
In addition to a previous lack of funding, Ford said it has been difficult to get support for a new high school in Austin. To see movement on his most-recent resolution and get money from the state budget, Ford said he needs help from Mayor Brandon Johnson.
“This is the best time, like never before,” Ford said of building a new high school in Austin. “We have a mayor that says that education is his priority. We have a mayor that says that he wants to invest more in neighborhood schools.”
After getting backing from officials, Ford said the school will need input from locals.
“Once we get an agreement that we’re going to do this, I think the community should definitely be a part,” Ford said.
“If you open a new business and you support it with the things that people want and need, you will do well,” Ford added. “And that’s what a comprehensive high school would do.”
The post Rep. La Shawn Ford pushes for construction of high school in Austin appeared first on Austin Weekly News.
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June 6, 2024 at 02:21PM
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