Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner appointed Beth Purvis to be his point person on education. She's the CEO of Chicago International Charter School and was a member of Rauner's transition team.
At a meeting of school officials yesterday in Springfield, Purvis fielded questions from the audience.
"Probably the question that everyone has in the room: What will the governor be sharing with us tomorrow as to how he will fund these plans?"
"I don't like to start with a no comment, but to be candid, I don't know."
Purvis also had a ready reply for the suburban school official who asked why charter schools get to take funds away from public schools.
"The first thing I want to start with is that charter schools are public schools. And parents choose to enroll their children in charter public schools."
Purvis says charters won't be Rauner's first priority. That will be adequacy and equity of school funding for all schools in Illinois.
Purvis promised Rauner plans to eliminate costly political add-ons to standard curriculum.