Number of half-empty Chicago public schools doubles, yet lawmakers want to extend school closing moratorium – Wirepoints
April 19, 2024
17 Comments
A set of state lawmakers want to extend CPS’ current school closing moratorium to February 1, 2027 – the same year CPS is set to transition to a fully-elected school board. That means schools like Manley High School, with capacity for more than 1,000 students but enrollment of just 78, can’t be closed for anther three years. The school spends $45,000 per student, but just 2.4% of students read at grade level.
Hopefully, all media will get the message, in Illinois, too.
Ted joined Tom Miller of WJPF to talk about Illinois’ highest-in-the-nation property taxes, why lawmakers don’t want to touch the tax’s cost drivers, just how much Illinoisans’ tax burden has grown over the decades, why Gov. Pritzker failed to meet his promise to reform property taxes, and more.
If I may insert my layman’s math here, this is an additional $19.25 billion we’ll be spending on schools over the next 10 years. Remember how hard it was to find an extra $350M for this year’s budget, even with the tax hike? For next year’s budget, we have to find $700M more than this year. Year 3 is $1B more than this year. And so on until we hit the magical $3.5 billion. Another way to think about it…state education funding will consume an extra quarter percent of state income tax rate every 3 years (a quarter percent =… Read more »
Right. And what nobody has modeled is what happens when that funding does not materialize, and it won’t. That’s where the 4-tier formula is rigged in favor of Chicago. Others will be cut back first and Chicago will get a disproportionate share of what there is. That favoritism is in addition to the express $300 million or so bailout for Chicago in the bill.