Stripping schools to the bone
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is ready for the next stage in his cruel war on public education--and students and teachers will pay the price, writes .
June 18, 2013
Students protest Emanuel's plan to close dozens of Chicago elementary schools (Sarah-ji)AFTER CLAIMING that closing 50 elementary schools will improve the quality of public education, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) officials are preparing the way for cuts throughout the system that will lead to teacher layoffs, overcrowded classrooms and the elimination of what CPS calls "specials," like art and music instruction.
A new budget system for the schools--pushed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel's handpicked school board weeks after it approved the biggest round of school closures in a single city in U.S. history--is an attempt to use CPS's claimed $1 billion budget deficit to push forward with the latest craze in corporate school "reform." It's called "principal autonomy"--and the aim is to promote market-style "school choice" and weaken teachers unions.
"There is a literal wealth of revenue that the district has ignored," Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) President Karen Lewis said. "CPS claims to act in the interest of the