Chi-town's school system is a disgrace and a mess. The personal feifdom of the Daley family ,it has consistently underperformed with students going on the achieve a batchelor degree about half the national average;with a high dropout rates, with around half of students failing to graduate for the past 30 years. Chicago Public Schools - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Not only that,but the Daley's seem to go out of their way to keep standards down. There was the case of Paul Vallas who refused to allow 7th graders to advance if they were illiterate or couldn't read up to standards . Daley had him replaced .By almost every account I've read ,the system is a broken basket case.
The Chicago Tribune reports that efforts to give choice and alternatives to the parents and students have been squashed by the teacher's unions.
School vouchers goes down in Illinois House - chicagotribune.com
Support for the measure was bipartisan and emotional . There was desperation in the pleas made during the debate as if this was one last chance to salvage some kind of life for the children of the city.Quote:
A measure to let students in Chicago’s worst-performing and most-overcrowded elementary schools use taxpayer-funded vouchers to attend private schools was defeated in the Illinois House on Wednesday, giving teachers unions a major victory.
But such a move could have an effect of reforming a political system in the city based on old school patronage and spoil.Quote:
Fighting back tears during the lengthy debate, Rep. Suzanne Bassi, R-Palatine, called on fellow lawmakers to “search your souls” to support the measure because “we have failed these kids in the inner-city schools.”
“I’m pleading with you,” said Rep. Ken Dunkin, D-Chicago, who represents an area with four public schools where students would have been eligible for vouchers. “I’m begging you. Help me help kids in my district.”
This bucks a trend statewide that has shown an increased use of the charter school alternative.Last year the number of charters increased from 30 to 45 schools .
It is of course understandable why the teacher's unions would oppose this. Charter school teachers are held accountable . Teachers there are non-union ,receive no tenure ,and are results oriented .
Chicago Public Schools' Charter Schools Performance Report for 20042005
It seems nationwide there is a fullcourt press by the liberal establishment to either minimize the reputation of charters ,or in the case of the DC school district where Chi-town pol/now President Barak Obama and his Democrat majority cronies have the final say,to kill them outright.
But eventually they will have to answer the question ;what (and who)benefits in keeping inner city students stupid ?
