Students and representatives from the Grow Your Own Teacher Program rallied together to support House Bill 174. On April 7, these two groups held a rally to notify students about this bill and its purpose. Many of the members of the Grow Your Own Teacher Program were, or currently are, students at NEIU.
House Bill 174, as John Yaou explained, will help raise funding for important budget areas. One of the four major areas of the Illinois State budget is education funding. If House Bill 174 were to pass, there would be a raise on income taxes to help supplement the budget deficit.
The purpose of the rally was not only to inform students about this bill, but to also inform them about the rally in Springfield that took place on April 21. At this rally, they passed out postcards for students to sign and write to their local representatives. There was also a table with petitions and a sign-up sheet for the bus trip to Springfield. The bus trip was fully funded, so students did not have to pay for transportation to Springfield for the rally.
Speaker Ralph Martire spoke about how Illinois is the fifth richest state in the United States, yet it cannot afford to fund its education system. He said that when compared to the other states, Illinios ranks 45th in funding state projects. Even worse, Illinois ranks 49th in funding schools. Martire said that Illinois’ state budget is $24 billion, which is mainly spent on four things, half of which Illinois doesn’t have the money to fund.
Teaching professionals, like Myra Gonzalez ,spoke about how the budget cuts would affect them. “I would not be able to complete my education if the budget was cut,” said Gonzalez. Her reason for supporting this bill was that, if passed, it would be beneficial to both “current and former students.” This position was supported by many of the speakers.
NEIU students were allowed to take a stand at the rally as well. The first student to speak talked about how he believed if funding for education was cut, it would result in a higher imprisonment rate for minority students. He said that “prison is an industry” and without proper education, there is a higher incidence of criminal activity.
Other students spoke about how their loved ones would be forced to drop out of school if Monetary Award Program (MAP) grant funding was cut. Even a non-student said that, athough she was not a student in college, she would be willing to pay more taxes to help fund education.