By John Ruberry
William J. Bennett, when he was Education Secretary under Ronald Reagan, declared the Chicago Public Schools system was the worst in the nation.
Decades later, CPS still might be at the bottom, despite a recent influx of federal COVID-19 relief cash.
According to Illinois State Board of Education test results, nearly three-quarters of CPS students can’t read at grade level and over eighty-percent of them aren’t proficient in math.
Not shockingly, many Chicago parents are finding alternatives their children’s education, such charter and private schools, or moving out of Chicago altogether.
The sad irony is that many CPS schools call themselves things like “school of excellence,” or “STEM academy,” or “college prep high school.”
One-third of Chicago’s traditional public schools, Wirepoints reports, are under half of enrollment capacity. One high school, the somewhat modestly named Manley Career Academy, which was built for 1,000 pupils, has just 100 students enrolled there. “Journey to world class” is the school’s motto.
There’s state-enforced moratorium preventing school closings, but that expires next year. But the Chicago Teachers Union, the straw that stirs the drink in city politics, is vehemently opposed to that.
Fewer schools means fewer union jobs.
The CTU and its allies say that Chicago schools are underfunded. However, they never say what the proper amount is. Just more, more, and more.
CPS-per-student funding has increased by 40-percent since 2019, when scores were higher, the district now spends nearly $30,000 student, while the statewide average is just $24,000.
As I reported here earlier this month, Chicago’s leftist mayor, Brandon Johnson, who prior to his election last year was a CTU organizer, saw his school board resign because, according to media reports, “Branjo” was pressuring them to fire the CEO of CPS.
Johnson appointed that entire board.
CTU was the primary funder of Johnson’s campaign. That union is fond of Alinskyite tactics, particularly creating and demonizing an enemy. Usually that’s the mayor, but Johnson is on the CTU team.
Johnson and CTU–assuming there is a difference between the two–are pushing for high-interest loans to increase spending for schools on things like salaries and pension obligations, rather than for capital projects, which is what fiscally responsible school districts use loans for.
CPS has a junk credit rating.
Johnson’s new appointees will be out of office soon. A new 21-member board–10 elected and 11 appointed by the mayor, will take over shortly after Election Day next month. Many of the electoral candidates for the new school board are endorsed by the CTU.
Things have gotten so bad that even the Washington Post has taken notice.
Chicago and CPS appear to be in a death spiral. How both got there goes back decades. As for the misdeeds of the last few years, the Chicago Teachers Union deserves much of the blame.
Getting out of this mess won’t be easy. While Governor J.B. Pritzker is also a Democrat, he and Branjo aren’t close. Pritzker is a liberal, but Johnson is a quasi-socialist. But a state takeover of CPS isn’t likely. Pritzker wants to run for president one day and if the state is in charge of Chicago’s schools, then CPS becomes his problem.
Even if Kamala Harris wins the presidency next month, a federal bailout of CPS is very unlikely, especially because the district squandered COVID funds.
And Chicagoans are stuck with Johnson until at least 2027.
John Ruberry regularly blogs at Marathon Pundit.
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