Chance The Rapper Vents About Frustrating Meeting With His Governor In Video
Chance the Rapper was not happy about a meeting he had with Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner.
The "Coloring Book" rapper had been working on setting up a meeting with Rauner for weeks. They interacted publicly over Twitter to make a meeting happen.
Rauner tweeted a congratulations at Chance for winning at the Grammys. Chance thanked him and requested a meeting.
After some exchanges and a rescheduling due to tornadoes, Chance and the governor were able to meet on Friday.
Chance was intent on having this meeting because he wanted to talk about Chicago Public Schools (CPS).
The schools were supposed to get $215 million in a proposed budget. Instead, politics happened and the budget wasn't passed.
$46 million in discretionary funds for CPS were frozen. That money was going to go to things like new textbooks, technology, field trips and non-salary staff, so it's pretty uncool to not have.
Chicago Public Schools cover a diverse student body with a high rate of students living in poverty. Meanwhile, CPS has seen a series of budget cuts over the past few years, as principals have been asked to "do more with less."
Chance the Rapper is a CPS alum, having gone to Jones College Prep, a selective high school. So he knows personally what that money could do for young people in Chicago.
He met with Rauner in Chicago on Friday afternoon to talk about public education in the city.
The Grammy winner did not look happy leaving the meeting.
He told reporters,
I'm a little bit flustered. Just a little bit frustrated.
Chance said that it went differently from how "it should have." The rapper said,
It sounds like [the funding is] hinged on passing other bills. I'm not a politician. I'm here because I'm a dad. I'm an after-school teacher. I care about the kids. We talked for a second, it sounded like there might be something happening next week.
"He asked me where the $215 million was going to come from," Chance said, with a confused grimace.
He said he wants people to do their jobs -- including the press, who he asked to investigate how the CPS system ended up in this situation.
Chance the Rapper tweeted after the meeting that his fight for schools was far from over.
Rauner also took to Twitter to talk about the meeting, although his tweet seemed more optimistic.
After he tweeted that, Chance tweeted again to say he'll have a plan for Chicago Public Schools on Monday morning.
He then retweeted a series of tweets from MTV detailing the failings of the CPS system, including racial implications.
Citations: Chance the Rapper to Rauner: 'Take our kids off the table' (Chicago Sun Times), Chance The Rapper To Meet With Governor Rauner (ABC Chicago), CPS TO FREEZE $46 MILLION IN SCHOOL SPENDING (ABC Chicago)
