This is a podcast created by Jennifer Berkshire (the blogger formerly known as Edushyster). Her podcast is called “Have You Heard?”
In 2013, a PhD student named Sally Nuamah attended a community meeting in the Chicago neighborhood where she’d grown up and where a public school was slated for closure. Residents talked about the issue in “life or death” terms, recalls Nuamah, who has been studying the long-term impact of the school closures. In this episode, Have You Heard talks to Nuamah about one such impact: a decline in voter participation and support for Democrats. Why would shuttering schools cause a drop in political engagement? And why would local residents fight so hard to keep open schools that, according to many metrics, were failing? Well, you’ll just have to listen and find out! To learn more about Nuamah’s work, visit her website.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Thanks for posting this, Diane. Sure is spot on.
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Democrats should not be surprised that mass closures of schools leads to a mistrust of democratic institutions, and voters that are less likely to show up and vote for Democratic candidates. When a school is closed, it has widespread social, emotional and political implications. Chicago’s disregard for its public schools have contributed to the mistrust residents feel toward the Emanuel administration. Democrats an ill afford alienating voters this way.
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When they close your public school and open a charter, your “choice” is gone. When they set up an online App, like “One Newark” did, and close your schools and open charters, and have you make 8 “choices” and the algorithm puts your kids, all 4 of them, in 4 different charter schools, your choice is gone. When your neighborhood school still exists, down the block from your home, and the algorithm sends your 1st grader, on a bus at 6:00 a.m., across town an hour away in morning traffic, your choice is gone.
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