CHICAGO (AP) - The Latest on Chance the Rapper and education funding for Chicago Public Schools (all times local):
3:40 p.m.
Grammy-winning artist Chance the Rapper is calling on Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner to use executive powers to better fund Chicago Public Schools and has donated $1 million to a foundation for schools.
The hip-hop performer from Chicago, whose real name is Chancelor Bennett, announced the donation Monday from an elementary school on the city’s South Side near where he grew up. It comes after a meeting Friday with the first-term Republican that the artist said didn’t go well.
Chance told reporters Monday that conversations continued over the weekend, but weren’t successful. He criticized Rauner for not funding schools “without caveats or ultimatums.”
The two sat down for a highly unusual, one-on-one meeting last week to discuss CPS funding amid a two-year state budget standoff. The meeting was set after Chance won three Grammys last month and Rauner tweeted congratulations. Chance asked for a sit-down.
Rauner’s administration circulated a memo Monday with options for recovering $215 million in pension relief he vetoed last year. Rauner says he wants long-term reforms.
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11:35 a.m.
Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration is circulating a memo with options for funding Chicago Public Schools days after a meeting with Grammy-winning artist Chance the Rapper.
A Monday memo first reported by the Chicago Sun-Times outlines two options for the nation’s third-largest school district to receive $215 million in pension relief Rauner vetoed last year. The cash-strapped district had factored the funding into its annual budget. Rauner says it should’ve been tied to larger pension reforms.
The Chicago-native rapper, whose name is Chancelor Bennett, planned a news conference Monday at a school.
Rauner and Chance met Friday to discuss CPS funding after the artist asked for a sit-down. He attended city schools.
However, Chance says the meeting didn’t go as planned and Rauner left him with “vague answers.”
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This story has been corrected to reflect that Chicago Public Schools is the nation’s third-largest district, not second-largest.
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