The Good, the Bad, and (potential) Ugly of Chance the Rapper’s Strategy to Secure Funding for Chicago Public Schools

The Good, the Bad, and (potential) Ugly of Chance the Rapper’s Strategy to Secure Funding for Chicago Public Schools

By: David Adeleye

Like you, I’ve been anticipating Chance the Rapper’s formal response to his meeting with Governor Rauner last week.  By Chance’s demeanor, we could tell the initial meeting didn't go as planned and left us wondering what he would roll out Monday.   Without a formal readout of the meeting though, we really don't know all that was discussed or said; but we do know the governor did not give Chance the answers he wanted.  This was evinced by his account of the governor giving him vague and frustrating answers to his pointed questions.

Today, Chance delivered.  In an emotionally charged press conference, he pledged $1 million dollars to support arts programming in Chicago Public Schools and made a separate $10,000 donation to Westcott Elementary School.

Chance didn't stop there.  He also challenged and asked Chicago’s private business community to put their dollars towards efforts to support CPS, too.  Tweets and posts in support of Chance’s “call” have filled my timeline ever since. 

Now, here comes the “but.”

Separate yourself as a fan of Chance the Rapper for a moment and ask yourself these questions: Is this call to action sustainable?  Does this solve the original issue(s) at hand? Do we want private money to fund our public schools?

To address these questions, I present you with the good, bad, and ugly of Chance’s strategy to obtain funding for CPS.

The Good

Chance put the kids first and not for one moment did I think his efforts were insincere.  He admitted that he had little experience in political advocacy and used his platform for what he thought was right.  For that, I salute you Chance.  

The way Chance attacked the press after his meeting with Rauner was, um, bad.  And generously interpreting his announcement today tells me that he learned from that mistake.  Sure, outlets like Complex and Billboard report on some unimportant moments, like you walking down the street, but there is a different way to address this.  Today, he proved that by calling a press conference and making them report on what’s important.

The Bad

Now, the bad.

We have to remember what the initial meeting with Rauner was prompted by.  A tweet.  Yes, a tweet.  A tweet in which Governor Rauner reached out to Chance to congratulate him on his 3 Grammy wins.  Chance then immediately responded to the tweet asking for a meeting re: CPS funding.  The governor gladly accepted.  Judging from this interaction, it didn't seem they had any contact before this.  It was good for Chance to seize on the moment, but this would have been better done offline.  In my eyes, it looked like a public attack on the governor and immediately put Rauner on defense mode.  With an offline conversation (maybe a DM?), Chance could have called for a meeting, addressed his issues in-person, then report back to the media on the results of the meeting.  The media was going to pick the meeting and story up anyway.

Next, Chance let our officials off the hook a little too easily with this announcement.  They are put in office for a reason.  One of the most critical reasons is for them to come to a consensus on a budget and appropriate funds to keep our public goods, like education, running.  Now, with Chance’s pledge, there may be an influx of private donations to schools, but does that solve the initial problem?  Does it help the children in the long run?  And did that take just a tad bit of heat off the governor and Illinois General Assembly (do not forget about them)?  Yes, to that last question.

The Ugly

This now brings me to the ugly.

Among the potential many, I have two concerns:

1) Research has continually shown that private money in schools is not a good replacement in lieu of public funding or the best use of capital.  The capital Chance is expending to raise funds can be used to corral support for the Illinois General Assembly and Governor Rauner to “do their jobs.”  Instead efforts are being diverted to the business community, when our elected officials are supposed to be doing just that.  (This deserves an article in itself.  NY Times did a good job addressing this here.)

2) Do we want our public schools to bank on private money as a source of funding?  I believe not.  The money does and will eventually dry up, leaving schools to be back in the first place we started.  Yup, here.

Going forward:

It’s time for Chance and Co. to whip up a new strategy.

Governor Rauner has had a really bad 3 years in the eyes of many Illinois voters.  He has not a signed a budget, he continues to clash with the Illinois General Assembly, he’s trying mess with people’s hard-earned pensions, and it’s reported people continue to flee from Illinois due to its uncertain economic prospects (could also be that it’s cold).

Strategy wise, maybe this isn’t the best use of Chance’s platform?  Identifying a candidate that will fight for his issues (CPS funding), then supporting him or her in the primary and general, then rallying to get Rauner out of office in 2018, would be the best use of his capital - in my opinion.  He clearly has the support, energy, and political capital to do so.

Your thoughts?

Follow and/or tweet me: @david__ayeee

David Adeleye is a former political appointee in the Obama Administration, serving at both the White House and US Department of Homeland Security.  He now spends his time helping clients develop novel strategies and messaging to foster the everlasting change they seek in society.