I followed Gov. Bruce Rauner around Homewood-Flossmoor High School for an hour Friday afternoon, hoping for a chance to ask him a question about school funding.
Rauner visited Homewood-Flossmoor because the school was a finalist in a video contest held by the governor’s office.
In H-F’s entry, students are shown talking about how fine arts education improves their overall academic performance by teaching them such skills as time management and the importance of meeting deadlines.
The quality of arts programs and the enthusiasm shown by students brought Rauner to the school.
A small group of demonstrators held signs near the intersection of Kedzie Avenue and Flossmoor Road, displaying such messages for the governor as “fully fund public schools” and “support unions.”
I wanted to ask Rauner about school funding, but I had to wait for the opportunity. He kept up with a full itinerary during the hour he spent there. The school had many examples of quality arts programs to show the governor.
As he entered the school, Rauner was greeted by officials while members of the school orchestra performed the title song from “The Sound of Music.”
“Go Vikings!” Rauner said every time he paused for pictures with students and teachers.
Rauner headed into the auditorium to hear a song from the hit musical “Hamilton” performed by senior James Rhyne on piano and junior Joy Woods on vocals. Woods is the younger sister of Jaime Woods, a 2008 H-F graduate who was nominated for a Grammy in 2016 for her vocal performance on Chance the Rapper’s song, “No Problem.”
“I look forward to seeing you both on Broadway some day,” Rauner told Woods and Rhyne.
From the auditorium, a group trailed Rauner to a courtyard where students are building a sculpture they conceived and designed. The sculpture is an obelisk that will be covered with pieces of broken glass from a mirror the governor shattered with a hammer.
“We were talking in class about ways to symbolize the division in politics — at the national level,” fine arts teacher Greg Petecki told Rauner.
The obelisk resembles the Washington Monument, and I inferred the pieces of shattered glass represent the fractured nature of political discourse in the country.
I thought it was also symbolic that the governor was the person who shattered the mirror with a hammer. The lack of a budget during Rauner’s two years as governor is, to me, like him fracturing an already fragile system of school funding.
From the courtyard, Rauner’s handlers hustled him off to a studio where H-F students learn radio and TV broadcasting skills. He sat for a session that was streamed live on Facebook and featured questions from students in a small studio audience and via Twitter.
“I’m a strong believer that arts play a fundamental role in education,” Rauner said. He talked about how his wife and his six children all play musical instruments, and how Rauner himself played trumpet when he went to school in Deerfield.
I was impressed by how well students articulated their questions. I admired how students seemed bright, motivated and respectful.
A student asked Rauner what he was doing to work toward improving funding for schools in impoverished areas of the state.
“I want more money for schools every year,” Rauner said. He said he wanted more equity in school funding, too, and that he wanted to free schools from the burdensome restrictions of unfunded mandates.
Outside the TV studio, Rauner paused again so students could take “selfies” with him with their camera phones. Then we headed to a studio art classroom where students were working on self-portrait paintings.
From there, we stepped outside and enjoyed a performance by members of the H-F band. We walked past large, outdoor sculptures created by students over the years and headed to the North Building, which was renovated and expanded in 2014.
Rauner stopped to view and appreciate several student paintings displayed in the North Building atrium and to pose for more pictures with students and teachers.
Finally, Rauner’s visit was declared concluded, and he headed out a door of the North Building with a small entourage. I figured this was my chance to ask a question, since I didn’t want to interrupt his earlier interactions with students in the auditorium, courtyard, TV studio, hallways and classrooms.
“One question, governor,” I said. Rauner turned and looked at me for a moment.
Then an aide interjected and said Rauner wasn’t taking questions.
“Please,” I said, “just one question as we’re walking.” We were on a sidewalk outside the North Building and it was a good 100 feet or so to the parking lot.
The governor turned away, but I went ahead and asked about something Rauner told students moments earlier about increasing education funding by $700 million.
The governor’s Twitter account also claimed, in a Tweet published at 11 a.m. Friday, “We’ve increased state support for K-12 education by $700 million, setting new records for funding levels.”
I thought the claims were disingenuous, seeing as how the state owes more than $1 billion to public schools as part of the massive backlog in unpaid bills due to the budget impasse.
General state aid for schools for the current school year was appropriated by the General Assembly and signed by the governor, but funding was not authorized for “mandated categoricals” that cover such services as transportation and special education.
“How can you claim credit for increasing education funding by $700 million when the state owes more than a billion dollars to schools?” I asked Rauner.
The governor continued walking as I followed behind.
“No response?” I said to the back of the governor’s head.
Rauner can seem genuinely concerned about addressing the state’s problems.
But criticism of Rauner includes observations that when he delivers polished responses full of talking points about making the state more competitive, he doesn’t really answer the questions put to him a lot of the time.
Rauner is also criticized for dodging responsibility for his role in the budget stalemate. Democrats led by House Speaker Michael Madigan share blame for the state’s fiscal problems, I agree, but at least Illinois had a budget — until Rauner.
I was left with the impression that there’s substance to those criticisms of Rauner as he walked away from me on Friday. The other key takeaway of the visit was that Homewood-Flossmoor High School students have many reasons to feel proud of their academic accomplishments, especially in the arts.
tslowik@tribpub.com
Twitter @tedslowik