Mayor Rahm Emanuel continues with his plan to downsize public education in Chicago, while privately managed (mostly non-union) charters proliferate. Rahm recently told Charlie Rose that school reform was his highest priority as mayor.
Here is a statement from a Chicago organization created to fight the endless budget cuts:
Raise Your Hand Coalition:
Press Statement in Response to Layoff Announcement of 2,000 Teachers
July 19, 2013
“The Raise Your Hand Coalition (RYH) is disgusted to learn that Chicago Public schools has laid off another 2000 teachers and staff, bringing the total number of layoffs for the year to 3500. This news lies in stark contrast to the ongoing CPS rhetoric to minimize any impact of budget cuts on the classroom. Now CPS is claiming that there will be “winners and losers.” Even if a few schools have been spared from these widespread and severe cuts, we believe that there are only losers in this scenario.
“RYH started in 2010 to advocate for improved funding because for too long, our children have been subjected to inadequate staffing and basic programs and standards at Chicago Public schools. The situation has only worsened under Mayor Emanuel. After pushing through a “full school day,” our mayor has chosen to prioritize property tax spending on unnecessary and frivolous projects such as $55 million for a stadium for DePaul University, while CPS continues to receive drastic funding cuts that severely impact our children’s ability to thrive and learn. The Mayor’s decision not to use TIF money to offset some of these cuts is deeply disappointing and is forcing many parents to leave the city. Parents who don’t have the option to leave will be stuck sending their children to underfunded schools that lack the appropriate staffing and programs needed to provide a realistic “full school day.” This is a frightening day for the children of Chicago.”
Amy Smolensky
amysmolensky@comcast.net
312-485-0053
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Chicago wants to go the way of Detroit. This mayor is destroying the city and public education in Chicago. He needs to go. The union and concerned adults need to work on getting him out, now.
How can Rahm be removed without waiting for re-election?
I have a lot of ideas, but unfortunately they’re all illegal. Maybe Rahm will visit Florida some day and someone can “Stand Their Ground” – it would be perfectly justifiable in my book.
Dienne, good Lord.
Rahm Emanuel is a Chicago thug…always was and always will be…He and his two Chicago buddies (Obummer & Duncan) are not only destroying Illinois but the country with their education agenda.
I never thought that I would have seen the “dark day” where today’s children would be in danger of losing their constitutional rights to public education that earlier generations have come to enjoy. Shame on the White House, shame on Ducan, and shame on other American politicians who themselves climbed the ladder of public education into prosperous careers then start to pull the ladder up from our youth as they seek to climb it too. Where is the Out Rage…?
This is a retaliatory measure towards Chicago teachers as well as an effort to save money by cutting services to poor children. I hope there are successful lawsuits in the near future.
Which saved money is soon going to end up in the pockets of his hedge fund/charter school cronies.
It’s also a way of driving those pesky poor people (especially poor black people) out of the city to make way for gentrification, all while looking like the “tough” Mayor who “made the hard decisions” – all the types of things that appeal to his affluent white base.
You are right….Payback for the strike. Rahm does not like to be made foolish….
Oh yeah…RHAMBO, the THUG.
While Rahm has been claiming budget deficits and cutting funds and jobs to public services, such as education and public health facilities, he has been diverting TIF funds to subsidize private for-profit enterprises. Pleasw sign this petition to change that here: http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/mayor-rahm-emanuel-empty?
PETITION STATEMENT
At the end of 2011, Chicago’s 163 tax increment financing (TIF) accounts had $1.7 billion in property taxes sitting in them. We, the residents of Chicago, demand a full accounting of these funds.
The city has showered public dollars on such large companies as Sears, Kmart, Target, Hyatt Hotels, Home Depot, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Coca-Cola, UPS, the company that bought the Sears Tower, and even Wal-Mart—the world’s largest corporation. Hundreds of millions of our dollars have been given to major downtown developers with no strings attached.
If these companies want to do business in Chicago, let them purchase sites and build their facilities using THEIR dollars, not ours. Public dollars should be used ONLY to enhance the PUBLIC sector.
Every dollar of our property taxes that goes to a Kmart, a Wal-Mart, or a Coca-Cola is ONE LESS dollar that gets distributed to our public schools, the CTA, the public library, the Chicago Park District, or Cook County. Since 1986, TIFs have extracted over $5 BILLION in property taxes. As far as we can tell, well over 50% of that money was given to private companies with no strings attached.
In the light of school closings, cuts in public transit service, closing of vital public health facilities, the shuttering of public housing, and the scaling back of city services on every front, we demand a stop to the use of our property taxes to enrich private businesses—to essentially bribe them to do what they’re supposed to do: take risks, make investments, and reap profits if they supply a needed service.
We want all TIF dollars currently sitting in TIF balance accounts to be released to the local units of government that SHOULD’VE received those dollars in the first place.
Petition Background
In 2011 Chicago’s 163 TIF districts extracted $454 million in property taxes. In 2012 TIFs took $457 million. The Mayor has closed schools, cut back mass transit service, closed public health clinics and is poised to privatize Midway Airport. We can’t be broke if we are stockpiling property taxes in order to give them to such major corporations as Wal-Mart, K-Mart, Target, United Airlines, Coca Cola, UPS, Wilis Insurance, Home Depot and The Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Empty the TIF bank accounts and send that money to the units of local government (Chicago Public Schools, Chicago park District, etc) that SHOULD’VE received those property tax dollars in the first place.
BATs are slamming Emanuel with tweets, emails, phone calls and comments to the Mayor’s Facebook page.
I imagine the souls of the children Rahm has harmed with his educational “reforms” relentlessly haunting him in his sleep.
Is impeachment an option?
Now, who might it be that we want to impeach?
Take two guesses, Madame, and the first one doesn’t count. ; )
The mayor is hellbent on dismantling our public schools and is following the ‘deformers’ ‘ playbook to the letter. He just won’t admit it. Instead he talks about the need for teacher pension givebacks, and a mythical $1 billion deficit. We need a forensic audit of the CPS budget ASAP.
The Sun Times’ story.
Wendy Katten posted in RAISE YOUR HAND – CPS Parents for Fair Funding 12:29pm Jul 19
According to Lauren Fitzpatrick of the Sun-Times, CPS held a press briefing this morning and refused to discuss layoffs. They invited the press to discuss safe passage the morning after announcing 2085 layoffs. Their tactics are alienating everyone. How insulting.
Time for Rahm to go to prison, just as Snyder and all of the rest of the crooks who are pilfering the public treasury for private gain.
Compounding the mayor’s arrogance, which only seems to expand with every manufactured crisis, is his proposal to give $55 million in Tax Increment Financing funds -to DePaul for a basketball arena. DePaul is a wealthy, private Catholic university. The United Center, where the Bulls play, offered its arena to DePaul for FREE for 10 years. It even threw in the profits from concessions and parking. But DePaul refused the generous offer. A DePaul alum got 3,000 signatures asking the university to give up the lousy plan. This quote is from WBEZ’ Linda Lutton.
“I know that if I had to foreclose my home, I certainly would not go out and buy a Range Rover two days later,” Wozniak said. The DePaul alum delivered 3,000 petitions asking that the taxpayer money go to schools instead.
“The students and alumni of DePaul urge Father Holtschneider, president of DePaul, to tell Mayor Emanuel and the City Planning Commission thanks but no thanks—as this gift of $55 million is being given at the expense of the children of our city,” she said.
Will our spineless aldermen be justly punished at the polls for voting to support the Mayor’s and DePaul’s new arena while starving its schools and ruining thousands of teachers’ livelihoods?
What do you think?
Carrie, voting these people out is a way to make a BIG difference. In order to do that, good people need to run, such as Matt Farmer, Wendy Katten, LSC members who are currently voting down the budgets that CPS is attempting to ram down their throats.
Yes, YOU can! Look at the LAUSD School Board, the election of Glenda Ritz in Indiana, and other positive events throughout the country. It is up to US to save US.
Oh–& I forgot to mention the 18 school districts in Illinois that VERY effectively kept out the Virtual Charter Schools Network (aka, K12). AND–after that–the great legislators
(LaChapa Via & Jakobson–sp.-?) who sponsored the one year moratorium on virtual schools–& for all the Illinois legislators who voted for it (it passed!).
People–DON’T give up, wherever you are & whatever is happening in your part of the country.
P.S.–I have recently been seeing K12 school ads here, on TV. $$$$ Can’t sell them to school boards, so they’re going after parents now. (If anyone has access to a video of one, please send in a link–the commercial is ludicrous–albeit attractive–and everyone should see it!)
A Chicago Tribune editorial:
July 17, 2013
Chicago Public Schools officials revealed Tuesday that only 52.5 percent of the district’s elementary students met or exceeded state academic standards in the last school year. That’s a nearly 22-percentage-point plunge from a year earlier.
The results will be ugly. Thousands of students statewide who were rated as meeting standards in 2012 will not make the cut in 2013. Teachers, principals and ISBE officials are bracing for a torrent of angry, confused and disappointed parents.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/editorials/ct-edit-schools-20130717,0,4146161.story
Must be Common Core
So they’re saying that last year nearly 75% of CPS students were meeting or exceeding state standards? That sounds pretty damn impressive, frankly. And if it’s now, one year later, down to 52%, shouldn’t we be looking to Rahmbo and his hand-picked school board for answers?
Does anyone know when the results of the hearings will be shared regarding the Chicago School closings? It’s sickening just sickening.