Schools Face New Funding Setback // Edgar Scraps Plan For 3-Way Talks

Gov. Edgar on Monday shot down the first new idea in days toaddress the Chicago school funding crisis by refusing to head"multilateral" talks among unions, school officials and politicalleaders.

Mayor Daley's riverboat funding plan for schools also suffered anEdgar setback, and no progress was reported on the possibility of aspecial legislative session to address the Chicago school system'smoney woes.

Despite a whirlwind day of meetings by political leaders,Chicago seemed no closer to getting its schools opened on Sept. 8 asscheduled.

By the end of the day, House Majority Leader Michael J. Madigan(D-Chicago) said he was less optimistic about schools …