Number of half-empty Chicago public schools doubles, yet lawmakers want to extend school closing moratorium – Wirepoints
April 19, 2024
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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.
I have a great idea. Let’s cut spending! Get rid of the flowers in the parkways, the stupid street sweeping, all social justice initiatives, close all the useless Office of This and That located all around the city, limit overtime (and threaten to fire anyone who ‘slows down’ because they can’t do overtime), and so on, and so on. The City’s budget last year for 2018 was $10.1 Billion. A 10% haircut should be easy. Heck, I bet I can cut $10,000,000 a day for the next 100 days and hit a billion and hardly anyone would notice.