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Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Schooling in the Ownership Society: How Sen. Steans greased the UNO charter deal

Schooling in the Ownership Society: How Sen. Steans greased the UNO charter deal:


How Sen. Steans greased the UNO charter deal

Steans
Greg Hinz has a great post on his Crain's blog today. It's all about the $35 million grant given to UNO, operator of a Chicago chain of privately operated charter schools tied into the old Daley political machine and now with connections to Mayor Rahm Emanuel. UNO Board Chairman Juan Rangel  recently served as finance chairman of Emanuel’s mayoral campaign The $35 million is as much as Chicago Public Schools gets for the entire city.

The money came from Springfield, through the back door, as part of anamendment to Sen. Bill 24 introduced by Senator (and billionaire heiress) Heather Steans. She and her sister Robin Steans have been active statewide in promoting privately-run charters,