The mayor in recent months has floated a variety of “help us” proposals, the most viable of which is to have the state assume unfunded Chicago pension liabilities as part of a package in which it also would help underfunded plans in numerous municipalities around the state. She’s facing a projected $838 million budget hole.

But a wide range of Springfield insiders say that’s not going to happen, at least not in the General Assembly’s fall veto session. Instead, a more limited plan that excludes help for Chicago is being teed up for consideration.

Activist teachers formed a national committee and prevailed on the National Education Association to adopt a resolution of endorsement. Thus was conceived the BLM at School National Week of Action, to be held annually the first week of February to set the tone for Black History Month. The following year, school districts in more than 20 major cities, including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Boston, and Seattle incorporated BLM at School Week into their curricula.

“You didn’t read about it? Probably not. That’s because it happened in Chicago.”