What we’re reading this week: May 11th
This week, we’re reading about the illusion of school choice and how Chicago communities are pushing back against it, the impact of Chicago’s demographic changes, and some real solutions for CPS’s budget woes. 1. The Real Problem with Chicago’s...Crashing
A review of the hundreds of expenditures every year authorized by the unelected Board of Education shows hundreds of millions of dollars in payments to vendors. These vendors are seldom required to prove that they are worth the money paid to them.
From Humbolt Park to San Juan, big banks are robbing our children’s futures
Community groups, members of Chicago’s Puerto Rican community, religious leaders, and union members made a joint statement on Thursday, decrying the predation of financial institutions on Puerto Rico’s public services and residents, and calling on the U.S. Federal Reserve Bank to step in and offer Puerto Rico assistance similar to which was given to big financial institutions over the last decade.
CPS Continues Special Ed Distortions
Just days after schools found out about another outrageous round of cuts to their special education staff, the district’s Office of Diverse Leaners and Support Services (ODLSS) offered a defensive presentation to the Board of Education filled with even more distortions. District Chief Education Officer Janice Jackson prefaced their presentation, stating that misrepresentations were circulating about special education, that the district would explain how the layoffs were decided, and repeated their assertion that the district was committed to meeting all legally required services in students’ IEPs.
How Should We Fund Schools in Illinois?
Contrary to the claims of some econometric reformer types, money matters in schools. To understand why Illinois and Chicago don’t have to be like they are, we must survey the national picture of school funding. Illinois has a revenue problem, and Minnesota points the way toward a solution.
Phantoms Playing Double-Dutch: Why the Fight for Dyett is Bigger than One Chicago School Closing
They were gathered in the name of Dyett, the high school that the leaders of Chicago Public Schools (CPS) announced in 2012 would be shuttered at the end of 2015. This group of parents, community members, and students sat in the 95-degree heat to demand a meeting with the alderman, Will Burns. They wanted…
CPS: No Plan A
New CPS CEO Forrest Claypool has made it clear that the district has no Plan B if the state does not step in to close the $480 million budget hole in CPS 2016 budget. The district is proposing their FY 2016 budget…
CPS: Broke on purpose
As the new fiscal year started for the Chicago Public Schools, Rahm Emanuel and interim-CEO Jesse Ruiz announced $200 million in cuts, including 1400 layoffs, while warning that even more devastating cuts to the classrooms will be coming down the line if the state fails to act on his legislative agenda – a legislative agenda that included no new progressive revenue sources.
