Protect LSC Authority To Select Principals 

Late in the spring 2007 legislative session, State representative Dan Burke prepared to introduce legislation  requiring LSCs to renew the contracts of their principals, if the central administration had given the principal a satisfactory rating.  Rep. Burke and other legislators were flooded with calls from supporters of school-based improvement and swayed by the views of the former Senators del Valle and Berman.  Within four days, Rep. Burke announced that he was withdrawing his legislation and asked that supporters of school-based improvement "stop calling my office with all of these calls."LSC supporters must now prepare for another battle, If Chicago Board President Rufus Williams follows through on his threat to once again seek legislation to gut LSC authority.  At the  twentieth  anniversary of Parents United for Responsible Education, current Senator Education Committee Chair Kimberly Lightford expressed her opposition to any weakening of LSC  authority.  But she warned the supporters of school-based improvement that they should be ready to fight another effort this spring to strip LSCs of their powers.