Chicago students posted gains on the Illinois Standards Achievement Test for the seventh year in a row.

Mayor Richard Daley was on hand to celebrate the good news: Reading, math and science scores all improved in the district.

DALEY: This is a tremendous accomplishment!

Scores were announced at Ella Flagg Young School on the West Side, where in 2001, only about one in five students met state standards.

Today, 55 percent of students do. District wide, about two-thirds of CPS elementary school students now meet state standards.

But Mayor Daley says the district needs more money if Chicago students are to keep up in a global economy.

DALEY: No new money. You have to come up with 150 million one year, next year you have to come up with 175. Next year 200, then 225. It doesn’t grow on trees.

Daley also argued for a change in school funding to eliminate inequities between what rich districts and poor districts can raise through taxes.

I’m Linda Lutton. Chicago Public Radio.