>> Hello and thanks for joining us on Chicago tonight.

Black voices, I'm Brandis Friedman.

Here's what we're looking at.

President Trump is cutting nearly half of the staff of the Department of Education.

What it could mean for Illinois students, teachers and schools.

And one on one with Illinois Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton.

Talk about the challenges facing the state under the Trump administration.

>> And now to some of today's top stories, the teenage activist whose teeth were knocked out by Chicago police officer during the summer of 2020 will receive a $280,000 settlement after a vote from city Council today.

Miracle Boyd was 18 years old at the time and planning to attend DePaul University on a scholarship.

She told older people the incident derailed her life in addition to losing a tooth and a half, she suffered nerve damage and pain and dropped out of DePaul Awt Tw News analysis shows Chicago taxpayers have spent nearly 8.7 million dollars on lawsuits against the police department over its handling protests that summer.

All the people today also voted to reject a push that would ban the sale and distribution of for in the city.

Supporters of the bill say the measure would have been a step forward in anti animal cruelty.

But its opponents say banning the product puts for years.

People who sell firs and entire communities in a sticky situation.

If this ordinance goes through.

>> There will be 2 businesses that closed their doors.

Jobs.

Sales tax.

That's another example.

Of white businesses don't want to locate in the city of Chicago.

>> Some cities across the U.S. and the state of California have active for bans.

The CTA is rolling out cameras to catch bus lane scofflaws.

The transit agency's board of directors approved a contract today to purchase 6 AI equipped cameras that will rotate among bus routes in the automated bus lane enforcement pilot area which runs from the lake to Ashland and Roosevelt Road to North Avenue 8 city vehicles already have cameras.

That scan for drivers parked in bus and bike lanes the CTA expects to install its cameras in May or June after a 60 day training period.

Warnings and tickets start going out in July or August.

Illinois is expanding its real ID services in an effort to meet unprecedented demands before the May deadline for Real ID Super Center opened today downtown offering non appointment walk-in services Monday through Friday.

The secretary of state's office also introduced Real ID Saturday's extending hours at 6 point with the cities and opening a dozen others exclusively for real ID walk-in services beginning May 7th, you will need a real ID to fly domestically unless you have a passport.

For more on the documents you'll need.

You can check out our Web site W t Tw Dot com Slash news.

Up next, what cuts to the Department of Education could mean for students in Illinois?

>> Chicago tonight like is made possible in part by the support of these.

Don't use.

>> the Department of Education will soon be shrunk to half its size.

The Trump administration says its plan to lay off or that it plans to lay off more than 1300 of the department's employees, which critics say is part of the president's plan to dismantle the agency.

The administration says the cuts reflect the department's commitment to efficiency, but opponents say it will put billions of dollars in education funding at risk.

Joining us to discuss the potential impact on Illinois students are Paul Vallas, former Chicago Public Schools, CEO Peter Cunningham, former assistant secretary of education and Leo to Scott, a professor of education at DePaul University.

Gentlemen, thank you for joining us.

Welcome back.

Welcome.

Let's start with your reaction to the administration's move to shutter the Department of Education Liotta.

Scott, I'll start with you, please.

Well, first of all, I think one of the things that struck me immediately was this notion of thinking about the states and bringing it down to the states.

>> And really from education from the beginning has always been connected to our democracy.

And so really we need a national view of thinking of education and to break it down to the states would be era because we all need to have education just as it was founded.

And this goes back to the pretty much the agriculture business agricultural establishment that we thought about education as in showing educational opportunity for every individual.

And so we want to make sure that that includes those in low-income communities, those who are disenfranchised and so bringing down to the states, we may run the risk of losing these voices and have them not have access to education.

You're going him.

I would say the actions by the Trump administration raise one fundamental question is education a matter of national interest?

>> Every president before him has agreed that it is going back to Lincoln to start the LeBron colleges that you were sort of talking about Eisenhower to Nixon to Reagan.

Maple believed it.

And the you know, the fact is it's still mostly controlled the state and local level, only about 10 to 12% comes from the feds.

But the feds played vital role in protecting most vulnerable students.

And that's I think what's really at risk here is the most vulnerable students.

>> I think there's 2 issues.

One is the Department of Education bureaucracy itself and in the second is to programs and of course, to actually close to implement of education or to get rid of those programs require.

My congressional action.

So I think they're talking about collapsing the bureaucracy, not necessarily just a new program.

So we have to separate that.

Secondly, looks, you know, the Department of Education has been controversial, very controversial both on the left and the right.

You recall during the Obama administration Hughes were in a poor because Department of Education was trying to to mandate the Common Core curriculum and the charred trying to dictate local cricket local con ability there tying some additional funding to that.

And actually both the left and the right join into an alliance to get legislation passed almost checkmate.

department during the Bush administration.

He used Department of Education in a heavy-handed way to try to force districts to privatized the use of up one dollars to hire a private consulting private tutorial.

You talk about collapsing, the bureaucracy of the Department of Education.

Peter Cunningham isn't us.

And actually one of the smallest of not the smallest.

>> agency of its kind cabinet level agency.

And give us a sense also, if you would, what the department is responsible for briefly.

So it is smallest agency about 4200 employees or at least that's what the number was until.

>> Yesterday and what they primarily do distribute money, targeted too low vulnerable populations.

Low income kids, rural kids, students with disabilities.

>> Bilingual students and what you have is a very, very small number of people whose job it is to make sure those dollars are spent in the way that Congress intended them.

And they're the only ones who are making sure that and what what what they're talking about doing now is just saying, let's just block grant everything, give it back to the states.

But they're very explicit in the president's executive order last month that he's basically saying the states, if you want to convert that to about your program, you can and that will have consequences for people.

So those dollars and not going to be as targeted as they could be.

>> newly confirmed Secretary of Education, Linda McMahon has said exactly that that the intention is to send funding to the states through block grants.

What might the impact be?

I'm gonna come back to you.

Paul Vallas.

If block grants are smaller than what the state where the school district's budget in 4.

>> Well, again, that's a separate issue.

I'm either going to do Spock Ranch either.

The gun reduce the total on funds.

that's a separate issue.

Then in effect reducing the size of the U.S. Department of Education.

Look prior to the creation of the U.S. Department of Education, the grant programs were handled by then health, education and welfare.

And of course, you when it came equal rights and things like that advocacy Sohn on on, student writes on parental rights that was done through the Justice Department.

Of course, student Loan Program D manage student loan program could have it could easily be handled through the Treasury Department.

So, you know, at the end of the day I'm not making about I'm kind of agnostic on whether or not you have a department.

One might argue that if your route, if you if you're fearful of what Trump might do, >> you might more fearful of a department of Education.

That is obviously run by Trump appointees because department has been intrusive in the past.

I mentioned going show is that the the workload then could be distributed and that in some of that workload has, of course, distributing funds are saying that could be farmed out to various other departments.

But Lee Otis Scott, I want to come back to you.

>> Are you concerned?

Because this is something you've mentioned inequities being furthered without a Department of education overseeing all of that?

Yeah, absolutely.

I think even thinking about.

>> The thought of education, even the student loans to point going into another department would be a fundamental misunderstanding of what education is because education was more of an investment towards those students and not more of a sense of alone or any other type way, which we think of it.

So if we have to think back of the investment part of the loans and why we did it in the first place.

But let me respond what his title Congress you.

Our viewers know a one dollar part yes and a special and then go.

The legislature tells you how to spend that money.

It's same thing with the student loan program.

The problem and I'm just saying that the criticism of the department is they've gone in and they've done their own rulemaking.

>> For example, during race to the top, they tried spin off some money and allocate that money to the schools based on whether or not they were going to comply with with the federal mandates.

I know we all come participate in a recent stop sweepstakes.

A Bush administration tried to challenge our use of our title one money because they wanted us use our title one money or a portion of it to hire private tutorial firms to provide intervention services.

So the even during the Biden administration, if you remember, look at how the allocated look at how they allocated the COVID money.

They totally discriminating against both charter schools and private schools in the allocation of COVID phone as a mansion title one dollars because according to the University of Michigan's Poverty Solutions for the 2020 21 school year.

So several years ago, we admit Illinois received about 645 million dollars.

>> In title one funding, which as we said, supports programming for low-income schools.

Cps received about 262 little almost to 63. to Scott.

How could if if funding like that is a cut, if it's impacted, what is the impact on low-income and particularly black brown students in Chicago?

>> Yeah, we have to go back to access.

>> It's having equal opportunity, equal educational activity for everyone, every individual.

And so that's what we missed by doing that.

One thing I want to say to your point, even about the Department of Education, Paul, was that department education is more than just elementary and secondary education.

It also includes post-secondary education also includes career technical and adult education.

And this speaks to how education is multigenerational.

It includes everyone.

And I think sometimes when we have this conversation and we just talk about a missing 8, well contact, I think we missed a lot about the role that education plays going back to my point.

Time to democracy is not connected together.

And that's how we think of it in America and I would.

I'd like to add something also, you know.

>> When the Department of Education started in 1979 19% Americans had college degrees today.

38% have them.

People are 10 to just talk about the test scores and that they're the same.

And that's why reason why they haven't gone up, maybe one reason is because the kids themselves are still coping with the same root causes that caused that, you know, they don't have the preschool.

They don't have the support at home.

They don't have what it takes.

But when you look at the college attainment level, that's a serious, serious improvement to safety.

With a high school graduation level.

So the only way I want to get to this and and everybody's going to get him got a couple minutes left to the Illinois State Board of Education says that so far they've received no formal communication or guidance from the Department of Ed on this.

>> A statement from a spokesperson reads, quote, This is the extent of the information is be has available at the moment, which is not much and it is deeply concerned about the potential implications is be will be seeking clarity from senior officials at the U.S. Department of Education to help get families and students information they deserve to know about the 3.5, 6 billion dollars in federal funding we expect to receive in fiscal year 2025.

Peter Cunningham, I want to come back to you because we talked about, you know, issues with other departments absorbing the work of What are your concerns with that?

My concerns is that it's just moving the deck chairs instead of dealing with one central.

>> Agency that deals with education, school districts and states now have to deal with justice and civil rights issue in department.

Also, the civil rights complaint Department oversees civil rights right now.

And now it's just going to be one of many priorities in the Justice Department and they'll have to go to Treasury on student loans and they'll have to go to HHS title and they'll have to go labor for workforce.

Tough it see what the point is.

If if they're not, that is moving it around other agencies, why is that better?

It's not at all clear why that's any better.

>> And I think my response in terms of the criticism, might not to go the route or not.

You have a department is is the fact that the department under successive administration's has gone far beyond villages mandates and they've literally legislated themselves through the rulemaking and they did it in race to the top.

They did it in practically every single education Me tell you well, the record on higher Ed is not the most stellar record you're going tell next time we have this conversation because we're out of But I thank you all for joining me now.

Welcome you back.

>> For further discussion, Paul Vallas, Peter Cunningham, and we're just got things, everybody.

Thank Thanks.

Up next, a one-on-one conversation with the Lieutenant Governor of Illinois.

Illinois is facing challenges in the still early days of President Donald Trump's second term in the state is pushing back.

>> Democratic officials are sounding the alarm and in some cases filing legal challenges about the president's flurry of executive orders and policy changes.

Joining us now with more on how the state is responding is Juliana Stratton, Lieutenant Governor of Illinois Lieutenant Governor.

Welcome to Chicago tonight.

Like was a sense for joining us.

Thank you for having So let's start with getting your take on some of the news of the day.

Actually, your reaction to the Department of Education beginning to shutter laying off pretty much the entire staff in the regional office that's based in Chicago.

What's the impact going to be on black and brown children in Illinois?

Well, when you think about the U.S. Department of Education and by the way, this really doesn't come to as a surprise.

Donald Trump.

>> always talked about trying to dismantle department and we see this as something that is an attack on public education.

And it's certainly going to have a tremendous negative impact on black and brown children all across the country.

Title one funds which really focus on students that are from the lowest income communities.

Students who need more resources were already in under-resourced schools.

They're going to be impacted.

Students have 504, plans or IEP students with disabilities who need additional resources.

They're going to be impacted.

So this is going to impact our students across Illinois as well as the America.

It's going to impact our teachers and educators in all of the staff.

And it's going to have devastating impacts on the education system.

Another issue that the Trump administration has come for in schools and in other sectors, as of course, diversity equity and inclusion.

Why do you think this has become such a target?

>> It's become a target because Donald Trump and his cronies want to pit people against one another.

And that is really the goal so that we can't focus on what they are really doing in Washington, which is really trying to enrich themselves and empower themselves.

Government should really be about making people's lives better.

And that's what Donald Trump said he was going to do.

But he's been nothing but broken promises to working families all across this nation.

Look at, you know, here in Illinois, we believe that our diversity is our strength.

And we've been very bold about saying it's important to make sure that we continue to be inclusive and create opportunities that can help level the playing field.

But Donald Trump and Elon Musk and others in the White House want to pit people against each other and make people feel like they don't belong in.

We're not going to stand for it.

Many top Democrats in Washington have said they want to find ways to work with the Trump administration.

But you said this is not the time to pick and choose our battles.

How do we get stuff accomplished like that?

And do the Democrats need to be more aligned in their approach?

Well, clearly Donald Trump is not interested in getting things done or making any progress on behalf of working families.

We're saying that I mean slashing 10's of thousands of jobs.

threatening to take away health care.

You know, he promised that he was going to lower prices.

We're not seeing that happen.

Instead, we're seeing prices go up.

In fact, picking fights with our allies.

That's going to cost through purported trade wars.

It's going to cost American families about $1200 per family.

I mean, clearly there is no intent to try to make progress and get things done by this administration.

So what we need to do is we need to keep speaking to working families of America.

We need to keep talking about the issues that really matter to them how to make things more affordable for them out.

Those are the issues that we're focused on an impact.

When we look at what the key issues that people are concerned about, according to polling its prices and how to make sure the prices can come down.

We're seeing costs go up because of Donald Trump in Illinois.

We did things like cut eliminate the grocery tax that's going to help families where we raise the minimum wage that's going to help families.

So we're going to keep doing what we do it here in Illinois.

Under the Pritzker Stratton Administration.

And that's making sure that we're listening to working family speaking to their issues and making sure that we get things done on their behalf.

you mentioned the grocery tax.

That's a one cent per $100 of groceries.

So that ends up being about a dollar.

If you buy $100 of groceries and also raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour which when we came into office, I think it was 7.75, or 8.75 >> So over the years we raise the minimum wage.

So when you're putting money back into the pockets of working families, all of it matters.

Trust me.

As we're seeing grocery prices go up, they're going to be glad that that grocery tax was eliminated this year.

You've launched her own political action committee called Level There's been speculation about whether Senator Durbin will run for reelection.

Also speculation about your boss, Governor Pritzker and whether or not he has an Iowa higher office in his eye.

Given all that's happening in Washington right now.

If Senator Durbin does retire, are you considering a run for Senate?

Well, first of all, let me just say I consider Senator Durbin to be a real champion for working families across our state and he should decide on his own timeline what he wants to do and when he wants to do it, he is been somebody who has been a great friend and certainly I will get respect him in that space.

What I will say is just like any elected official.

I'm always evaluating where I can best serve the people of Illinois and how you can make an impact.

And I'll continue to do that.

But right now I love my job as Lieutenant Governor in hope to keep doing it as long as I can.

How would you say the Pritzker Stratton Administration is responding to the actions of the Trump administration and their impact on Illinoisans?

Well, we're responding boldly responding directly.

You know, both the governor and I have made it a point to use our bully pulpits to make sure that the people of Illinois know that we are going to stand with them, stand for them and we're going to fight against anything that threatens their well-being.

We have been vocal.

know, you've seen the governor.

He's been out there talking about it.

I've been out there talking about it.

And I think the other thing besides just talking is we've been making real progress on behalf of people.

I mentioned what we've done to address, you know, rising cost.

We've also, you know, look at what's happening out of Washington with threatening to through this.

You know, congressional Republicans and Donald Trump threatening Medicaid.

I mean, who would take health care from our most vulnerable Americans.

But here in Illinois, what we're doing is we're eliminating medical debt and we're making health care more affordable for people.

So again, we're showing the contrast between the Pritzker Stratton Administration and the chaos we're seeing in Washington but said 2.4 million, Illinois.

And so 43.8% of voters cast their ballot for Donald Trump in the 2024 election.

What does that signal to you and and how are you in the governor reaching them as well?

Well, what it signals to me is that people bought into the lies that Donald Trump put forth and what he said.

He was promising.

He said it be a champion for working families that on day one he was going to get to work and life get better for working families.

And he's done the exact opposite.

And so what we need to do is we need to make sure that we're getting our message out to all voters because remember when health care is stripped away, it's going to include people who voted for Donald Trump when the prices of eggs go up as they have, it means that the people voted for Donald Trump are also going to pay more.

And when we look at jobs that have been slashed, tens of thousands of dedicated public servants, including veterans.

By the way, who have lost their jobs.

Those going to be people in our rural communities are suburban communities and urban communities.

So these issues are now touching everyone.

They're going to feel the pain.

And we as Democrats need to continue showing that we're making progress to make their lives better.

And unfortunately, Donald Trump has is not before we let you go is in the governor last year, former Vice President Kamala Harris lost her bid for President Donald Trump.

Of course.

What do you think that signals to black women in politics and women of color?

I mean, I think she was a wonderful candidate and did everything she could.

I mean, there's nothing that she did wrong for my estimation, it was a very challenging circumstance to try to run a presidential race within 107 days.

But look what she was able to do during that time and motivate so many.

It wasn't the outcome that that I hoped for many others hoped for.

But what I would say is that she was an example of what you can You know, the day after she, you know, after Election Day, you know, was a morning that I woke up saying is this moment where take our ball and go home or is it a time that we lean in and get back to work and my choice was to get back to work and keep focused and pack is an example of why that's my declaration that there's more to do.

And while we did not, you know, weren't successful in that moment, we're inspired to keep going.

And that's that's how we'll make real progress.

And Kate, lots to talk about.

We did not get to your birth equity initiative will do that.

Next time you join us.

Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton, thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you for having me.

And we're back right after this.

And that's our show for this Wednesday night.

Stay connected with our reporters and what they're working on by following us on Instagram at W T Tw Chicago.

>> And join us tomorrow night at 5, 30 10.

We'll hear more about this week's lunar eclipse.

The blood moon, which will be visible tomorrow evening.

>> And for all of us here in Chicago tonight, Black Voices Brandis Friedman, thank you for watching.

Stay healthy and safe and have a good night.

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