Chicago’s transition to an elected school board doesn’t start for another year and a half, but the predictable is already unfolding. A draft map released last week is gerrymandered by race, so racial fighting ensued, as reported by Chalkbeat and others.
“We demand legislators go back to the drawing board and create districts that are more representative of CPS,” Daniel Anello, CEO of Kids First Chicago, said in a statement Saturday. “Go back to the drawing board,” said the Chicago City Council Latino Caucus. And the leader of a group called Illinois African Americans for Equitable Redistricting called the map a “non-starter.”
The draft map proposes seven majority white districts, seven majority black districts, and six majority Latino districts, according to Chalkbeat. But the city student population is 46.5% Latino, 36% Black, 11% white, and 4% Asian American, contributing to the squabble.
It’s up to the Illinois legislature to approve the map. See the ridiculously distorted districts in the draft map for yourself:
In a sane system, Hispanic candidates should have to compete for black votes, whites for Hispanic votes, blacks for Asian votes and so on. No racial gerrymandering, in other words.
Instead, we have yet another chapter in racialized everything.
The results should be no surprise: racial division. In 2001, 62% of white adults rated U.S. race relations as good or very good, and an even higher proportion of blacks – 70% – said the same. Now, however, those figures are just 43% for whites (a 31% drop) and a stunning 33% for blacks (a 53% drop).
Maybe none of this will matter because the Chicago Teachers Union may effectively choose the board. It will be flexing its muscles like never before in the school board races. With the election of its own Brandon Johnson to mayor of Chicago, it may be unbeatable.
As summarized by WBEZ, the city will begin to transition to an elected school board starting in 2025 after an election in November 2024. At first, 10 members will be elected and the other 10 members and a school board president will be appointed by the mayor. By 2026, the 11 appointed seats will switch to elected.
Thank the Illinois General Assembly and Gov. J.B. Pritzker for that foolish transition to an elected board.
– Mark Glennon
The bill passed despite their votes in response to certain incidents where local prosecutors are thought to have been too lenient with non-citizens assaulting cops.
The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board cited Wirepoints’ analysis of Chicago student proficiency data in their latest piece condemning the Chicago Teachers Union’s outrageous contract demands…all while a vast majority of Chicago’s children graduate unable to read at grade level.
Ted joined Tom Miller of WJPF to talk about the details of Gov. Pritzker’s proposed $52 billion budget, why the state is struggling now that federal covid dollars have run out, the controversy surrounding Tier 2 government pensions, why Illinois’ expensive education system fails to teach children to read, the outrageous demands of the Chicago Teachers Union, and more.
Ted joined Jeff Daly to discuss how politicians can never spend enough on education despite there being no accountability for that spending, the growth of education staffing across Illinois, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s $1 billion demand for Chicago schools, why Gov. Pritzker is providing $830 million in taxpayer subsidies to struggling EV carmaker Rivian, and more.
Here’s an article (somewhat long) from The 74 about Chicago schools and the new mayor. Never heard of this guy.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/interview-researcher-anthony-bryk-chicago-101500174.html
People of Illinois you expected anything other than what has happened?
By the way my downstate district got practically zilch last school funding redo but naturally Chicago got plenty of school funding increases. Down here we have tax referendums for new schools while Chicago gets them more or less for free.
Illinois…the land of equality
Aren’t we glad the CTU chose our new mayor? Gives one a warm, fuzzy feeling
CTU only endorsed a candidate. The voters chose the mayor. The choice was between the CTU’s endorsed candidate and the ex-CEO of Chicago Public Schools. Clearly the majority of the voters thought the CTU candidate was the better choice.
The voters of Chicago are not victims. This is what they want.
CTU did not just endorse a candidate, they funded him with illegal loans. The voters in Chicago are indeed victims…of their own stupidity. They would have to get smarter just to be stupid.
No matter how they draw the maps only 25 to 30%, more or less, of those eligible to vote will even bother to vote. Nobody pays any attention. Nobody uses their voice until the vote is over and they are unhappy, then they will all be screaming at the top of their lungs. Chicago Status Quo.
The solution to this problem is very simple – direct democracy. Instead of schoolboard wards, every resident of Chicago gets to vote on every issue. This might be time consuming, but does eliminated the identity based allocation of schoolboard seats.
Folks, by now you should know better than to confuse CPS with education.
Chicago parents really shouldn’t complain about any of this. They’ve allowed the union to control their schools. They’ve voted for a union hack as their new mayor, or worse, they didn’t bother to vote. Only a fraction of them will bother to vote for these board seats while the union rallies its minions to back their candidates. End result? Monopoly. And monopolies, much like political supermajorities, don’t care much about anything but themselves. And the downward spiral continues . . .
This ridiculous map is just a equity hustle feel good smoke screen a dullardr public by CTU which now 100% runs CPS (and maybe the city) so they can keep their hands on the $ & jobs as student population tanks. It’s 7 white, 7 black, 6 hispanic districts are based on what? Geography? student demoghaics? The last thing CTU cares about are the kids, parents or taxpayers.
Also, CTU/Brandon just appointed CTU apparatchik, member Jennifer Johnson as deputy of education
https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-brandon-johnson-chicago-teachers-union-deputy-mayor-education-20230511-m4hokgkxvrcjropfmqum54rgae-story.html
and, here’s Stacy Gates from a week ago in Springfield lobbing for $$$ along with CPS CEO Pedro Martinez….CTU /Brandons not even mayor yet!! unbelievable!!
https://www.ctulocal1.org/posts/springfield-davis-gates-martinez/
One-third of Chicago’s population is white but only 10% of CPS student body is white. You can’t squeeze race from a turnip.
It’s intentional.
I recall that Chicago is actually a predominantly Hispanic city, with significant decline in black and white populations, and that US census data is inaccurate regarding splits. Asians, of course, are yet ignored altogether by Chicago race-baited politics. That said, “racial representation” within school board has little to do with hard fact issues confronting CPS schools: poor academic performance by majority of students, resource squandering caused by underutilized under-enrolled “neighborhood” schools, and lackluster academic resumes of many CPS teachers themselves. When you hire teachers that garnered ACT 19 scores themselves, you can’t expect stellar results from their teaching efforts. CPS… Read more »
How is this sort of race quota garbage still being taken seriously? — Illinois, that’s how.
Democrats doing what they do best, screwing things up, cheating, rigging elections, putting their fingers on the scale. What an absolutely disgusting political party and I say the same about the numbnuts that vote for them.
I love how you get a thumbs down from somebody who clearly doesn’t have a cogent argument to make. Otherwise, they would comment.
Democrats are parasites. I do love it when they start eating their own however, such as what’s happening here and the arguments about where to house illegals.