After a disappointing meeting with the Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner on the last Friday to discuss recently announced cuts to the school funding, Chance a Chicago Rapper has decided to address the issue by himself.
The Chicago-bred rapper, whose full name is Chancelor Bennett, announced in a news conference on Monday that he would be donating $1 million to the Chicago Public School system.
The announcement comes just few days after the three-time Grammy-award-winning rapper brokered a half-hour meeting with the Republican governor after an exchange on Twitter."He gave me a lot of vague answers, so we'll see what happens," the rapper told to ther reporters on Friday after the two met.
On Monday, Chance said that he and the governor spoke by phone over the weekend, but the talks did not yield a solution for the issue.
Just over a week later, the Chicago Board of Education and also five families of the Chicago students brought a lawsuit against the state of Illinois, alleging it prioritizes state funding for the schools outside Chicago based on race.
Eleni Demertzis, the spokeswoman for governor's office, also pointed out the near $20 million which Rauners have donated to Illinois education initiatives since the year 1997.
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Chance's announcement came as a solution to the governor's staff was looking for to the $215 million deficit. A couple of options were outlined in a memo sent on Monday to Rauner's chief of staff. One involved asking Mayor Rahm Emanuel to transfer $215 million in the Tax Increment Financing dollars.
The other choice was to add the school district's request to the SB16, a bill involving the state employee pension packages making its way through the state Senate.
When asked about the steps that governor has taken, Chance said that it was Rauner's responsibility to ensure children of Chicago receive a quality education.
Chance the Rapper also encouraged the companies in Chicago and around the country to donate to Chicago schools, calling his contribution as "a call to action."
In addition to the donation of $1 million, Chance announced that for every $100,000 raised, the SocialWorks, a nonprofit organization which the rapper co-founded, would donate $10,000, starting with the Westcott Elementary School.
Mrudula Duddempudi.
