proposed requirement beforehanding graduates in chicago their high school diplomas. introductions under way. >> welcome to the national press club. the place where news happens. my name is andrea. i'm part of the breaking newsdesk at bloomberg news and i'm vice president of the national press club. before we get started, i'd like to remind everyone again please in our audience to please silence your telephones. our viewing and listening audience, feel free to also follow along on twitter using the hash tag press club. for our c-span and public radio audiences, please be aware in our audience today are members of the general public. so any applause or reaction that you may hear is not necessarily a reaction of the working press. now i'd like to introduce our head table. please hold your applause until each head table member has been introduced. head table participants stand up when i say your name. we have jamal abdul alim, senior staff writer of diverse issues and higher education. we have jerry weller, former u.s. representative from illinois' 11th district and president of the illinois state society in washington. we have mike henpin supervisor for a.t. radio here in washington, d.c. we have tony tran, star scholar, graduate of the harry s. truman college in chicago and an incoming northwestern student who is planning to study neuro science. we have katherine skiba, washington correspondent for the "chicago tribune." we have amannedo rodriguez, president of the sarae good stem academy high school in chicago. we have lisa mathews, vice president media relations, hager sharp and co-leader of the npc head liners team. we're going to skip over our uest speaker for a moment. we have lynn suite, washington bureau chief of the "chicago sun-times." we have dr. gregory jones, principal at kenwood academy high school? chicago. we have bob weiner, president of weiner public news, op-ed columnist, and the n.p.c. headliners team member who helped organize today's luncheon. we have michael smith c.e.o. of green smith public affairs and contributor to campaigns and elections magazine. we have caroline hendry, executive director of the education writers association. thank you for joining us today. [applause] i'd also like to acknowledge additional members of the headliners team responsible for organizing today's events. betsy fisher martin, lawrie russo, kristen trinski, eleanor herman, and press club staff liaison, lindsay underwood. thank you-all. [applause] long before today's guest became a politician, he attended sara lawrence college. he spent his first two years there studying to become a preschool teacher. at college, before politics, and long before he was president barack obama's chief of staff, chicago mayor rahm emanuel taught preschool. mayor emanuel's will have of education followed him throughout his -- love of education followed him throughout his career. in his tenure at chicago's mayor or he oversees the third largest school system in the united states. he's credited with adding more than 200 hours to the school year, taking chicago from having the least educational time of any large school district in the country to being on par with its peers. e implemented full day kindergarten for every chicago child and fought for and won new accountability measures. during his tenure, the district wide chicago public school system graduation rate has grown by 16 percentage points, more than three times the national average for growth. and mayor emanuel made chicago the first city in the country to offer free community college for all high school graduates who earn a b average or better. chicago, change hasn't been easy for this big city mayor. early in his first term chicago endured an historic teacher strike and the state budget impasse now entering its third year has had a devastating financial impact on chicago's schools. he has also had to confront his city's persistent gun violence and grapple with how to run a police department facing questions about its treatment of african-americans. even with these challenges, the mayor, or rahmbo, which he's known in some circles because of his tenacity and intensity, the mayor has kept a steady eye on education. this year mayor emanuel introduced a plan called moving forward in chicago. youth graduation is not an end point but pathway to further education and employment. mayor emanuel's initiative will require high school seniors to provide proof of college or trade school acceptance, a job offer, for military service in order to graduate. this starts in 2020. the atlantic calls plans like the mayor's a seismic shift in american education. rahm emanuel served as a senior advisor to president bill clinton in 1993. in two he was elected to illinois' -- in 2002 he was elected to illinois' fifth congressional district. he served as president obama's chief of staff from 2008 to 2010. a year later he became chicago's mayor and was re-elected to that post in 2015. of course education is not the only issue that mayor emanuel has faced while overseeing the nation's third largest city. we look forward to hearing him address other matters as well as he works to move the windy city forward. please join me in welcoming chicago mayor rahm emanuel to the national press club. [applause] mayor emanuel: i just want to know i started this job 6-2, 250 pounds, now i'm 5'8", and 148 after hearing that. thank you for that introduction. a little over 30 years ago secretary william bennett of education for ronald reagan called the chicago public school system the worst public school system in the united states of america. let me give you the results today. our graduation rate when i first became mayor was 57%. and our freshman on track is for 87%. a growth of 52%. second, our a.c.t. scores after being flat are up over the last five years, 1.2%. third, 42% of all our students today graduate with college credit. while 85% of our kids are at or below the poverty level as defined by the federal united states government, 42% of our kids go on and accept to college equal to the united states of america, trust me our demographics is not the united states of america. another 21% go on to community colleges where the rate is 22% nationally. so even though the demographics for the city of chicago is different, we match the united states of kids going from high school to college and community college. hird, our eighth graders led the united states in math. our fourth graders were third in overall reading gains. there were only three school districts in the entire united states of america whose math and readings for fourth and eight graders went up, cleveland, washington, d.c., and the city of chicago. every measure of the city of chicago's educational gains are going in the right direction. our graduation rate for the last five years, every year, was triple the national average. so if william bennett could get through t.s.a., i would like him come back to the city of chicago and see what's happening. every measure on high school, college acceptance, college attendance, as well as in reading and math scores at fourth and eighth grade levels, chicago is exceeding the norm of the united states' progress. while the demographics of the city of chicago students are not the norm for the united states of america. now, some of the things that were noted earlier point to that direction of what was happening. when i became mayor, half our kids had a full school day -- half our kids had a full day of kindergarten, half did not. if you looked at the math the ones getting a full day deserved a full day and the ones getting a half day needed a full day. it was not determined upon the fact you should have a parent lobbying on your child's behalf for kindergarten. every child in the city of chicago today has a full day of kindergarten. we have had a 60% increase in our pre-k, full day, for all our children. we ran the first race to the top for our early childhood so parents can compare educational models of early childhood education, and we have dramatically also increased the funding for full day pre-k in the city of chicago for all 4-year-olds. the reason is you can see all the data, full day pre-k what it does for kindergarten, kindergarten what it does for first grade and on. i have a fundamental view shared by our schools that kids drop out of college this -- in third grade. they do not drop out freshman year. if they are not reading and doing math at third grade level in third grade, it's not like fourth grade is easier. what chicago is now expanding upon is i do not believe that the kinder guardent through 12th grade model ising an anachronism from the 20th crentry. we're going from a pre-k to college model. i have told you a couple things we have done on the earlier side. universal full day kindergarten, a race to the top model for pre-k, 60% increase for full day pre-k. one of the online portals that is now being praised by the united states government for its ability of transparency and parents to evaluate quality, we give quality scores on early childhood providers. i have and with me, so i understand, on the other side, the high school and post high school because we're in the process of a major reinvention of our high school education and what it prepares for. i just finished graduation,dy about five or six different schools. of chicago. ty crane high school, which is on the west side, medical district, rush presbyterian hospital and another hospital, cook county hospital. crane high school, which is on the west side, 100% college acceptance. all the way on the far south side in the roseland community, 100% college acceptance. chicago bulls noble charter, 100% chicago acceptance. we have with us armando from sara good, a p-tech school associated with i.b.m. i.b.m. to graduate they have a little over 90% of their students have graduated, seven of their students have graduated with their associate's degree in hand. they have won over $4.4 million in scholarships. for their students. and all of them are going on to post high school education to college. that's on the far south side. i have also gregory jones from kenwood, kenwood is also on the south side of the city of chicago. just north of the university of chicago. 94% of their freshmen are on track to graduate. more than half the students are earning college credit while they are in high school. he said to me, 72%. they earned this year -- $35 million in scholarships. at their school. they have the largest dual credit, dual enrollment in the city of chicago. now, what we're about and what we're trying to do is take our high school graduation, which was at 57%, by the class of 019, we're on track for 87%. 52% growth rate. triple the national average. we have a series of things we're doing to ensure that every child is college ready and college bound. we live in a period of time where you earn what you learn. you get a high school degree, that's probably going to be your income. you earn a two-year associate degree, you earn a college degree, you earn a post doctorate degree, we live in a period we earn what you learn. the question in front of me as mayor, in front of the principals that are here is what are we doing to better prepare our students for that economy. over 60% of all future job openings will require a minimum of two years' post high school education. we all know this. it's studied ad nauseam which is a high school degree is not ready for the 21st century economy. yet every educational model at the urban level, i don't care where you are, is in the 20th century prism of time. k through 12. pre-k through college model. first and foremost, while you are in high school we have the largest international baccalaureate program in the united states of america. and it's fancy way of saying a liberal arts education. we have more desires now for people to get -- have schools become i.b. in chicago than we can keep up with. because when you take that test you already graduate with college credit under your belt. your parents don't have to pay for it and you are better prepared for college. second, dual credit-dual enrollment. the chicago community college city in our city, mayoral directed, the second largest in the united states of america. so we -- when i became mayor there was about 400 to 600 students in dual credit-dual encontrolment, today we're north of 4,000. kids are already graduating not only high school, getting a high school degree, they are graduating with college credits under their belt. in fact, at kenwood, greg has more students involved in that dual credit-dual enrollment than any of our high schools, over 110 of them. they are not only graduating with high school degrees, they have college credit under their belt. third, advanced placements. we have one of the largest programs by data points i think it's 60% increase in people passing that test. so the dual credit, dual enrollment, international baccalaureate, as well as a.p., advance the placement, we're ensuring that the kids in the ity of chicago graduate with college credits already under their belt, and unless your parents went to school, the college experience under their belt. and i can't say enough about what that means for kids who with any our children are not only kids of color but kids who are at or below the poverty level. they are not only getting college credit, they are getting that college experience. so that first six months, they are familiar with it and familiar with the rigor of that effort today right now in the city of chicago, 42% of all our children not only go to college, college raduate with credit underneath their experience at high school. we set a goal by 2018 to grow that to 50%. at armando's school, which we have four of them at that level, they are not only doing high school, he has seven graduates as i mentioned that graduate not only with a high school degree just last week, seven have graduated with an associate degree already under their belt. done. free. have i mentioned free yet? parents don't have to pay for it. in the same way that greg's class, 72% graduating with college credit. free. it's a big challenge, which is we all know is cost for higher education, chicago's got a model in which every child regardless of income, zip code, background can graduate with college credit under their belt, free. where cost is not the prohibitive factor. i do not believe parents should take a second job or mortgage to give their kids a shot at the american dream. that's what chicago's embarked on. then lastly, what we have done is -- not lastly, additional, andrea talked about, which is if you get a b average in high school, we're the only city in the united states of we make community college free. two years of your education is free. and then we have what is called the chicago star, that's the program called the chicago star. the chicago star plus, which is where tony is part of, and the first cohort, chicago star plus is, if you maintain your b average in community college, so high school, b average, community college, free. you maintain the b average in community college, every one of the universities in the city of chicago, northwestern, university of chicago, roosevelt, colombia, northeastern, will give you you anywhere from 25% to 45% off your tuition. tony went to pierce elementary on the north side. went to north side college prep. best high school in the state of illinois. that's not just me, that's "u.s. news and world report." got into university of illinois, could not afford it. even with the scholarship. he went to truman community college with a b average, for free. maintained his b average, and now he's going to northwestern university with a scholarship for his education. he will come out with a degree in neuro science from northwestern university and basically, basically have no college debt. put that in your pipe and smoke it. that's our educational plan in a nutshell in chicago. go from kindergarten, 12th grade to pre-k to college model. finally what we embarked upon is what was just described, let me give a full description of it, which is, today if you look at college acceptance and community college acceptsance and the armed forces, i want to get back to the armed forces, i forgot about it, chicago has 65% of our kids already going to college or community college. they are taking college credits in high school. they got international baccalaureate, a.p. or dual credit-dual enrollment. we match the united states in both those categories even while our population is different than the overall united states demographics. what we want to ensure, and 42% of our children are graduating with college credits under their belt even though we match that together. we want to make sure by the child f 2019, 2020 every has a post high school educational plan that the economy is already requiring of them. so we want you to have a letter from college or a letter from a community college, these are acceptance letters, a letter from a trade, or letter from a branch in the armed forces. and a letter from a job. it's essential to make sure that while kids are in high school they have a post high school educational plan. one, in the 21st century economy you know the data already, basically 80% of all future jobs will require a minimum of two years post high school education. we have to restructure our educational system to meet the demand of what the 21st century will require of our kids in the same way as the high school education in the 20th century met the demands of the 20th century economy. second, we already got 65% of our kids getting there. i cannot in good conscience as a mayor allow the other 35% not have a plan that the economy's going to require of them. when you have all the support system in place in a school rather than if they graduate i'll figure this out when i'm 18 or 19. that other 35% are the one that is need the support to have a post high school because they are more likely to execute it. and fourth, while i don't know everybody in this room, i can say this as a father of three, to all the parents in this room, to any one of you leave it to chance for your kids? raise your hand if you leave it to chance, figure it out on your own. ok. honey, if you got seven, i'm building you a bridge. because let me just say this, on the first two you didn't leave it to chance. on the last five you said i'm over this. i got three. we do not leave it for our children. we don't leave it to chance. not when you have the support in place, not when you're the first child in your family to make it to college, with a chance. not when the economy of tomorrow requires that education today equals it. so while you're in high school, we're going to enyou get college credit and graduate with the confidence you can do it. we graduate with not only the confidence, but your parents never have to pay for it. it's the number one thing that's stressing parents out is how to figure it out. third, as i said, it's what the economy requires, we would not only have 65% of our kids going to college, going to community college or the armed forces, but also make sure that the other 35% don't just happen to have play by the russian roulette table. so we have given ourselves three years to prepare the system and prepare the expectation of all children. i would let you know it's not just in high school. across the city of chicago in elementary schools we're teachers and schools who put up college banners in the hallways and front door of the classrooms. from kindergarten forward. so kids get the expectation and the awareness socially at school about expectations. you raise those expectations, trust me, the two principals here and the student will tell you this, not just me, if you raise those expectations and support the effort, kids will meet those goals. everything i'm telling you, if i told you about crane school, sara good school, kenwood school, the spanning letter -- spangler, all the cynics, naysayers, doubters would have said not those kids. not from that background. not from that socioeconomic class. fangler, 100% college acceptance. crane, 100%. chicago bull, 100%. sara good, 94%, 4.5 million in scholarships. kenwood, $35 million in scholarships. 72% with college credit already. by every measure with some person, some propeller head will tell you based on background, race, income, neighborhood, family, socioeconomic class, those kids couldn't do it. it can be done. done. ld be it should be done. it must be done. you just don't put a requirement on it. you support kids. and you raise their expectations and you help them all the way. there is not one of us who are parents in this room that went -- wouldn't do anything for our children. by ensuring the other 35% while they are in high school and elementary school, they have the support to prepare -- it's not like we're going to drop it on them senior year. we prepare them. we work with them. we give them the support to figure out how to apply to college or community college or branch of the armed services or trade or job. i left out in my litany what we're also doing besides the largest i.b. program and largest a.p., every branch of the armed forces in chicago runs a high school. it's the only city in the united states. every branch. their high school they have basically seven applicants for every seat. 80% graduation rate. when i just told you already, which is last year, not the year they closed but the year before, where it's nearly 74%. they have a 90% college acceptance. every school is a one or level one plus school. so the branch of the armed forces, it's not just when we say it we also have the junior rotc program in the united states of america, 10,500 kids. and lastly, let me close on one thing, when i talk about all that we have done and what we have accomplished, i believe firmly in the power of education. none of us would be in this room if we didn't have two things in common -- the love of our parents and a good education. and as mayor i have a responsibility to ensure that every child has a chance to succeed. and i have to make sure that the system and the structure and the support and our principals have what they need to succeed. we did expand the school day. we had the shortest school day and shortest school year. these data points are not mine. they are what our principals, our teachers, students and parents accomplished. the gains being associated with graduation rate, college acceptance, college completion, community college acceptance, math gains and reading gains are because once you took away the impediment to the shortest school day and school year, our principals could design a structure and academic schedule to allow our students that always could have succeeded to succeed. not one point is going in the right direction and others wrongly. at the elementary level, high school level, the college acceptance are pointing in the north end. now, i'll close on this one point because we're in a big debate. i think the debate is wrong. it is not a debate of neighborhood versus charter. both principals here are from neighborhood schools. it is about quality versus mediocrity. i think the entire debate that's happening nationally, even in my city, it is not on target. if you are parent and sitting around thinking about schools, you don't think about oh, is this a good reform school? you think about quality versus mediocrity. my responsibility as mayor is to ensure whether you want a military school, stem school, neighborhood school, selective enrollment school like our students here went to, tony, or any one of our high schools, international baccalaureate? it has quality, you pick the right school for your student. your child. it is quality versus mediocrity, not charter versus neighborhood. we have expanded charters and closed failed charters. we have expanded neighborhood schools, crane high school is a perfect example, and also turned around neighborhood schools. we have consolidated those that didn't work. and quality was our north star. that's where this debate must go. i'll close on this other point. it's also a mistake to have an entire debate around just teachers. one, you got to have three things. an involved parent, a teacher that will motivate you, and a principal that will be held accountable and is not scared to be held accountable. every child is homeschooled. every child. and their jobs are easier when that's happening. when it's not, we need to make sure they have all the support from early childhood education to highly motivated teachers, to principals who not only are scared to be held accountable, want to be because they want the independence to be held accountable. and i would say to you that the principals and the parents have been left out of the discussion of the last 20 years, which is always just about teachers as if the other two don't play a role in the education and socialization of our children. and we're missing the debate and you think go back to your own experience, that's what motivates, that's what changes an education f you're going to make fundamental reforms, that's what has to a we may be, last as opposed to the other last point i made. we may be the first school district the united states to embark on a post high school education model. mark my words, we're not going to be the last. new york has their deal. arkansas has their deal. oregon has their deal. tennessee has their deal. city of chicago has ours. but everybody's going to be going this way because that's what the economy requires, that's what our children need if they are going to succeed in the 21st century. thank you for being here. like forward to taking your questions. [applause] andrea: thank you, mayor emanuel. how are you funding, starting with questions from the audience, how are you funding the education add-ons you describe? how do you convince your constituents in those anti-tax, anti-government area to make the investment? mayor emanuel: well, you left out of my bioi was a dancer. i'm tap dancing my way through this. let me walkthrough a couple things. s -- couple things. just as examples, etc.. the chicago star, which is if you get a b average, community college is free. we spend today at community colleges around, i'm doing this around, 30-plus million dollars on remedial education. o we took a portion of it into if you get a b average or better, you get free community college. why? i'm rewarding success rather than purchasing an insurance policy on failure. so we just channeled the dollars differently. just at kenwood, again north of hyde park and university of chicago, it's actually president obama's neighborhood, they have the largest use in the city of the dual-credit dual enroll. they are getting college classes or go to any one of the community college and take credits. that's split between chicago public schools and community colleges. in armanneda's model, sara good, that's done with i.b.m. and also dual credit-dual enrollment, they are in high school taking qualified already college classes. that's an example how we're funding it. i'll just say this, i'm -- once i think we have proven, and i have raised taxes for public schools. not only for the teachers' pension, for school modernization facility. and i have no goats. you want a 21st century education, i can't have children in hallways, stair wes, without air conditioning. we once had a meeting, greg, he had seventh and eighth grade, called academic excellence, plus high school. and we were going to take another school over and put the seventh and eighth graders there. he held a meeting with me anti- alternate at the time in a room that had no air conditioning. by the next starting of the beginning of the school year. they got air conditioning. it was in the middle of summer. by this summer we'll complete every classroom in the city of chicago that hasn't been done since 1963 will have air conditioning. i raised taxes to pay for modern facilities. i got no problem. i'll be up front about it. what i also want to be up front about, if you want more revenue? i want more quality. i think that's a fair trade. people make that trade. i have been up front about it and we succeeded. i'm not just for more revenue. i'm for more revenue that succeeds quality versus mediocrity. andrea: do you anticipate you might use some of that revenue to hire more guidance counselors to increase the ratio of guidance counselors to high school students? mayor emanuel: i think -- you could always use more. we're going to have to get to our goal, it's going to be a combination. we have -- i'm putting both my principals on, you know one goal. i don't know if they are in your school, it's a not-for-profit. one goal does superb work. another group in chicago called a million degrees that works on completion rates. that we work with. we're going to have to invest in this. that's why in our policy we gave urselves to 2019-2020 class. we're ready at 40% of all our counselors trained. so over the next three years we'll get ourselves to 100%. two goals to remember, by 2018 we want to be 50% of our kids graduating with college credit already under their belt. and by 2019, to graduate and we'll support you a letter of acceptance from one of five things -- college, community college, armed forces, a trade, or job. andrea: how are you preparing your community college for the influx of students? i imagine you anticipate -- proud ofnuel: i'm very this. so when i became mayor, we were one of the worst systems in the united states. the world bank came out three years ago and wrote a report that chicago has got the best college and career program in the united states. a, chicago has the most diversified economy in the united states of america. one of the most diversified in the world. no sector of our seven sixthors controls -- sectors controls more or contributes more than 13% of our employment. we copy, ready, the german model. malcolm x on the west side is all health care. the lead is rush presbyterian hospital with children's memorial, walgreens, abbott, baxter. they help us. without going through them all. washington downtown led by aeon insurance, professional service. i don't want -- i.t., advanced manufacturing. human services. every school is aligned with the fastest growing part of our economy with the fastest amount of jobs where the industry helps us on curriculum. it was written up as the best college career program. they are getting an influx. first of all, i don't mean to do this to you, tony, but tony went to the best high school i told you in the state. north side. it's also top -- one of the top 30 in the united states of america. trust me. truman high school -- truman community college, north side graduate. they have a north side graduate who is going on to become an aclum us in next two years at northwestern university. he always wanted to go big ten. but because of the chicago star scholarship, which is free. have i mentioned free yet? it's free, because of the partnership of star plus, he's going on to northwestern, graduate debt free. i'd love to have a state budget and united states government backing us up. but that's how we're going to do it. we'll increase the quality of our students and more importantly, for the students that don't go on to northwestern, they are not just coming out with an associates degree, they are coming out with a degree that was designed by the industry so they know the credentials, and they are not just getting a job, but if they are in health care they are getting a job as a career that leads them to the middle class. key difference. you're in health care, you want to be a nurse. we got a way to do it. second, you want to bounce yourself up as a higher grade nurse, we have the educational system. we're more than just a job. we're a career that helps you get up that economic ladder. andrea: with the new requirements for students starting in 2020, if a student doesn't present these qualifications -- mayor emanuel: they go to that woman's family's house. andrea: will they be considered a dropout? mayor emanuel: let me say this. it is a requirement. let me do two things. first of all it's not like we tell you senior year in september. we're doing this all the way through and helping kids. we're going to support them. and ensure they get there. and give them the support to get there. that's a. b, i'm going to tell you this, outside of you, nobody in this room doesn't do this for their own children. both subtly and directly. i'm going to make sure that the 35% aren't by chance but have a plan and support system. and we're going to help them get there. today to graduate you have to do 40 hours of community service in chicago. you have to do four credits' worth of science. to graduate sara good you take four years of i.t. we have a whole host of requirements. don't think i don't think it's -- our kids graduate and our graduation rate is going up. i do not think it's a stretch to -- yes it's a requirement, but we're going to support you to also ensure you have a post high school educational plan. we have -- you have to do 40 hours of community service in the city of chicago to graduate. you have to have science requirements. you have to have arts requirements. i'm a former dancer. i'm for that. the idea that you are going to actually have a post high school educational plan and all of a sudden we're putting a burden on our kids' backs, i guarantee those kids of chicago will be better prepared for the future than any other child. every other school system today leaves it to chance i'll tell you this. i would rather leave the insurance policy of the kids that go to kenwood high school to greg jones and what he's giving them than just say, good luck. figure it out. sara good, where armando is principal, coy go through all the schools, these are kids of color. overwhelmingly on free and reduced lunch. i don't know the percentages, but a good percentage are the first ones in their family to go to college. i and amy have five degrees between us. that's my wife. we have all the support we can give our kids if they want a college counselor, advice, tutor . i'm supposed to leave to chance a child, the first one in their family to go to college outside of the support of sara good and all the infrastructure around? it would be morally reprehensible of me to do that. we could do the opposite. that's what we're doing. it is a requirement. when they get there, we're going to ensure they have a plan. andrea: getting your priority on education, what would the government administration's proposed cuts in college loans and grants do in chicago? how would that affect chicago's -- mayor emanuel: you mean the u.s. government? hard for me when you say cut. i think of the state of llinois. lisa and i just talked about this. i have not -- talked about a group, talking about the return on investment of a college education. and on over a lifetime. i bet you return of investment on higher education is better than return on investments of a home. you look at your mortgage write off. i'll take a stab at that. if it's not equal, it's better. that is an education over a home. 'm telling you guys, i grew up in a home, this is engulfed in me, beaten into my d.n.a., and i have a father who was an immigrant. couldn't have been cheaper about everything in life except for one thing. education. that's true of how i raised my kids. don't talk about if it's education, it's just not a sacrifice. i think we're nuts as a country given what we know about the world, what we know about the competition is getting more fierce in the 21st century, not just from china but a whole host of countries, that we would not make access to higher education affordable. i think it is morally wrong to ask parents to take a second job, second mortgage, if i'm taking a second job it's usually the third job in a home of two parents. not the second job. second mortgage to give their kids a shot at the american dream. and i'll just tell you this. i forgot -- i left it out. the chicago star scholarship, the free community college, is the only public school larship in the united states that's opened to dreamers. everyone in the program, meaning the chicago star and chicago star plus is opened to everybody, dreamers included. meaning northwestern, they do the add-on. northeastern. i think it's crazy to cut funding and leave it just to banks. i'm using tony as an example. there are hundreds of students -- i know the seven students at sara good who graduated not only with a high school degree, their associates degree. these are working families. tony's parents could not -- he could not go to a state university, university of illinois, because the aid in a school even with aid was too expensive. he's going to northwestern now. i think this is crazy what we're doing at the country. we're taking our staff and trying to reverse that and make it better. andrea: coming to illinois' state administration. mayor emanuel: you guys got another hour? andrea: i wish we did. i really wish we did. mayor emanuel: more therapy for me than anything else. andrea: two related questions. do you think that the state of illinois will enact a budget before the 2018 gubernatorial election? and will the chicago public schools, this fall, if the state of illinois doesn't pass the budget? mayor emanuel: we have already answered number two. we're opening up on time. i'm not going to take all the -- parents don't need the anxiety about that. we're opening up on time. we're going to meet our responsibility. it's time the state of illinois meet their responsibility. let me say a couple things. first, illinois is dead last in funding public education in the united states of america. we beat out mississippi, alabama, and louisiana for dead last. we're the fifth most populous state. the city of chicago by a.t. carney is the second most competitive economy in the united states. seventh in the world. if you are poor, we really whack you. it's not only dead last, it's one of the most inequitable funding systems in the united states of america. we're going to ep up on time. wife gone -- open up on time. we have gone 700-plus days without a budget. the governor has gone 00-plus days without introducing a budget. you will never have a budget until the chief executive of a city or state, this case a state, introduce as budget. i can't make a prediction. i can tell you i hope it does. it needs to. the governor has an obligation to introduce a balanced budget that shows all his priorities. our students are going to school. that's where they belong. we will do whatever it takes to ensure our kids go to school. our doors will be opened. they will be learning. and we'll be beating records. i mentioned this. in the last three years every gain in the state of illinois, graduation, reading, or math, has come out of the city of chicago. if you take the city of chicago out much illinois, which every day i want to do, if you take them out, the state of illinois' graduation rate either falls flat or dekwline, reading scores flat or decline, math scores flat or de-- key klein. it's because of the men sitting in front of you and their 600-plus colleagues. illinois without chicago would be falling back wars ---backwards. we're opening our doors. the governor has to figure out what every other school district does that is poor or represents minority kids. chicago will be opened for the future. i can't say that about illinois. andrea: including education, what has been the biggest disruption for the city of chicago from the budget impasse? mayor emanuel: from the budget impasse? i'll give you -- there's two hings. let me give you a couple of their points that you may not know. for five years in a row chicago's the number one city in the united states for corporate relocations. not one, not two. every year for five years. for five years in a row, chicago's the number one city for direct investment in the united states of america. in 2016 we're the only city in the united states on the top 20 and our entire net investment was greater than miami, atlanta, and montreal all combined. for five years in a row, chicago's economy grew faster than the united states, faster than new york, and faster than d.c. do i not have wall street or the federal government in my backyard. thank god. get to my answer. the reason is is bus we have created certainty. -- is because we created certainty. 36% of the kids in the city of chicago have a four-year college degree or better. united states, 27%. largest capital investment in the united states in transportation system, both public and aviation. we also home to the largest amount of graduates from the big ten. we have a community college system that's already outlined. we have a transportation, technology, training, transparency, and also what i said in the effort of the transportation system. all the five t's. talent, training, transportation, technology, and transparency. we have created certainty. the biggest drain on the city of chicago is the uncertainty of a budget. i think this also this debate about taxes, businesses, big, medium, small, any size is looking for is certainty. you create certainty around talent, you create certainty around the pool and resources of talant coming in, you create certainty around a 21st century transportation system. certainty around public finances and ill aget investments. you create uncertainty, you'll get the net result of that. so the biggest drain for chicago by any global standard, a.t. carney just came out two weeks ago, seventh most competitive economy in the world. second in north america. is uncertainty. there are other human resources as it affects the homeless, domestic violence shelters. taking care of indigent and poor. i can't tell you what it means not just the budget, the actual infrastructure around human support is atrophy for all these people that say government's the enemy, go look at a state that oesn't fund basicp operations. -- basic operations. it's in a third world place. so it's not just -- i would say on the human side it's been tremendously draining. on the business environment it is -- in chicago is doing what it can. i would rather have -- just don't be a drain. you can't be a net plus to the state of illinois, don't be a drain. i will say this, let me close on that one. the governor's about to give a special session. he's about to give a speech. i just want a budget. just make -- look, harry s. truman signed, did he say go see am rayburn or the buck stops here? every chief executive has the responsibility of the office, here's the budget. here's where i want to invest, cut. here's the choices i'm going to make. we have gone 700-plus days with our chief executive never introducing a budget. every scratches their heads with a budget. we don't have one introduced. introduce it and the legislative body and i have been in congress, we'll get to work on it. andrea: do you plan to run for a third term of mayor of chicago? what will your campaign narrative be in a nutshell? mayor emanuel: first of all i plan on running for a third term. the first person that will -- i'll talk to will be my i'll talk to will be my wife, not you. i plan on running for a third term. i have already said that before. it's not a big surprise. i got to be honest. look, i have been honored to work for president clinton, president obama, i have been honored to represent the north side. no job has been more intellectually an emotionally rewarding. any mayor will tell you that. it is emotionally also hallenging, but i look at what we have done. i can't say we got it 100% right, but i can tell you we're trying. i was at the other day at a community college, we did our first chicago star plus. a young man just like tony introduced me. he is a star, got a b. he got a b average in community college. he's going on to dominican school. i'm going to graduate debt free. he said i'm the first in my family to go to college. immigrant. dreamer. he said i could not do it without what you did, mr. mayor, i want to thank you. i got to that podium and i could barely hold it together. i cannot think of anything better in public life than to know that you can make an immigrant, put your thumb on the scale, and tip it towards justice and equity. and i will say to you is in a time in which we live with greater polarization, period of time where people want more sense of ability to influence their own lives in the democratic process, local government is where that's possible. right now the rest of us look at this city as disneyland on the potomac. i will tell you if you look around the world, there is 100 cities that are driving the economic intellectual curl energy of the world economy. chicago is one of them. i plan on attending to keep it in the top 10 as a global leader economically, culturally. then my mentor as a meyer. my measure as a mayor. just to make sure, i got it, that the kids of rogers park where tony went, the kids of ravens worth where i live, and the kids in roselands park on the south side when they look at this great city and see the power and energy represented by the city, that they all share the same sense that that's my city. if they do, london, berlin, beijing, tokyo, new york watch out, chicago is coming for you. nothing will hold us back. that's the measure of our success. andrea: thank you. mayor emanuel: i got four minutes? andrea: two more questions. as someone often credited with being one of the architects of the democratic takeover of the u.s. house in 2006, what will it mean for your party's prospects john 2018 mid terms if ossof wince in ga-6. and do you -- you hopefully the last democratic takeover the congress happen in 2018? mayor emanuel: sure it can happen. anybody that tells you it will happen this far out hasn't been in campaigns. it's too far to predict. i'd rather be a democrat today going into 2018 than a republican. and you didn't pay me to say that. ok. every time the house of representatives ever flipped has been a midterm election. that's a fact. no party has gone into a midterm with a president this unpopular at this point, 18 months, 17 months, without a severe consequence to that party's position in the house. you have three factors. maps, voting rights, and money that are different than any other time before. we don't know the consequences. in gicks, in the six year of a presidentcy, when we did last time, you had beginnings of a recession, two unpopular wars, unpopular president, and corruption scandal. there were enough candidates in places to create a wave and ride it. i don't know what's happening across 18. i want to say as somebody who spent my life building the party, we are 1,000 he seats shorter today than we were in 2009 or 2008. this is not about one election, it's about building a party, building an apparatus. what i mean by that, chris murphy out of connecticut, class of 2006 to congress. christine gillibrand, class of 2006. joe donnelly, the class of 2006. i'm about building a party. so if it's not about one election, it's about making sure that we win statehouse seats in north carolina, georgia, new mexico, in all these areas, and other people and promote not just to congress. anybody says what's happening in 2018. 2020, 2024. are we doing what's necessary intellectually? organizing and party building to make sure we're prepared for the next decade not for the next election. andrea: thank you. before you leave we have a small gift for you. it is a long-standing tradition at the national press club to present all of our luncheon speakers, each one of them, with a mug from the national press club. we hope that you use it in good health. thank you. mayor emanuel: thank you very much. [applause] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] an dequa: very briefly, i want -- who was your favorite teacher and why? mayor emanuel: larry gould, history stever. in high school. he was also my home room teacher in high school. andrea: thank you so much. plause -- [applause] >> national press club in the search box. live now, the house gaveling in. chaplain conroy: let us pray. god, father of us all, we give you thanks for giving us another day. please send your spirit upon this assembly, that the men and women who serve the united states in contentious times such as these might better work together for the benefit of our nation. this is not easy. so bless them with your wisdom and give them the patience and understanding to rise to t