Philly's cancerous approach to school funding

As if making schools dependent on property taxes wasn't bad enough, now Philadelphia Public Schools will have to rely on cigarette sales just to make it through the year. Without the regressive $2-a-pack cigarette tax increase passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. Corbett last week, the city schools and schools throughout the state are facing more draconian cuts in October. Much of the revenue generated by the new tax will be used to expand the already swelling ranks of privately-run charter schools in the city.

This from The Philadelphia Public School Notebook:

 Something is seriously wrong with this picture. Pennsylvania is not a poor state and is situated in one of the richest countries in the world. But many districts can’t provide our children with school personnel we once took for granted. Not to mention books, technology – and in some cases, soap and toilet paper.

That’s not just a Pennsylvania problem. The United States is unusual among industrialized countries in having it backward: We spend the fewest education dollars on the neediest students. If we want to spend tax dollars wisely and get results, we need to flip that script.

Three years of Rahm is enough... Andy Shaw, President & CEO of the BGA, tries to give a balanced assessment of the mayor's first three years. But he can't help conclude that Rahm's positives are mostly "low-hanging fruit" with "limited progress on the more daunting challenges, including comprehensive budget, TIF and ethics reform."

Shaw reports that under the current Chicago mayor's regime, "community participation is virtually non-existent, and there’s still a long way to go to eliminate pension woes, structural deficits, poor credit ratings and excessive long-term borrowing".

Worse yet:

The city hasn’t stopped using tens of millions of TIF dollars to assist wealthy corporations, institutions and clouted contractors in areas that aren’t truly blighted, when the money should be spent in struggling parts of the city that sorely need economic development.

Shaw might have included some mention Rahm's devastating closing of dozens of neighborhood public schools in black and Latino communities along with record levels of gun violence across the city.

Gated communities for children of privilege

Ald. Pat Dowell

Dowell is not about to use such divisive language. She just wants results. -- Sun-Times reporter Fran Spielman

Julie Woestehoff, executive director of PURE, is a straight shooter. She's quoted in PE&O, letting us know that since CPS leaders vacated the Consent Decree, the city's selective enrollment schools have been turned into “gated communities for children of privilege,” with soaring white enrollment. Remember, these schools were originally created under the deseg agreement as one way to combat years of racial segregation in city schools.

Tepid Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd) who walks a middle ground in the City Council, won't go that far. But even she and Ald. Burns are calling for hearings "with an eye toward modifying the controversial 'socio-economic criteria' put in place when the consent decree was lifted." OK, fine. Hold more hearings. Modify the socio-economic criteria or whatever.

But the usually reliable and accurate Sun-Time reporter Fran Spielman, has no business calling Julie's statement, "divisive" unless she's quoting someone else. It's poor reporting and it's wrong. What's divisive is Rahm using $60 million in TIF money to build another selective enrollment high school (Obama College Prep) in already saturated Lincoln Park. He's using $17 million in TIF funds to expand Payton by 400 seats. This, after closing 50 schools in black and Latino neighborhoods.

That's divisive!

More two-tier schooling in Rahm's Chicago

A couple of items before I shut down SmallTalk for the weekend and get busy on Bridging Differences with Deb Meier.

First is Rahm's decision to use $60 million from his TIF slush fund towards another selective-enrollment high school, this one named Obama College Prep, in the upscale Lincoln Park neighborhood. On the bad side, the planned school is too big. It's too selective and it's in the wrong location. On the good side...give me a minute.

Remember, the mayor just closed 50 schools in black and Latino neighborhoods on the south and west sides.

TWEET from Chicago poet Kevin Coval:

#BarackObamaHighSchool to b built on the grave of Cabrini Green It'll b selective enrollment We are ensuring a city for some rather than ALL

West Side activist Dwayne Truss called an Obama High near Halsted and Division “a slap to both black families and children.” Truss said the money planned for the school should be used “to provide adequate funding for all of Chicago’s neighborhood schools rather than cater to wealthy middle-class families the school is targeting.”

Pretty soon I expect to see selective enrollment schools popping up on every other north-side corner -- like Walgreens or Starbucks. Walter Payton (Bruce Rauner's fave is only a couple of blocks away). Then there's the super-selective IB program at Lincoln Park H.S. just down the road, which could be decimated by the new POTUS High. I can also imagine things getting intense as wealthy LP homeowners compete for seats in the new facility. I saw this happen a few years ago when wealthy suburban New Trier parents went to war over seats in the new school that was planned to relieve overcrowding. In that case, the competition was over who could stay at prestigious New Trier. It was resolved by turning the new building into a freshman campus.

South side parents and students at New Trier in 2008.

A FEW YEARS BACK... I rode the buses with hundreds of south-side students and their parents, up to Winnetka to try and register them at New Trier. Of course we knew that African-American kids whose parents could only dream of owning property on the North Shore, would not be allowed to enroll at Rahm's (and Donald Rumsfeld's) alma mater. But the demonstration did draw lots of media and the real issue of two-tier public education got some play in the press that week.

I assume the same issue will get lots of play here in the city as work on the new school gets underway and the 2015 elections draw near.

RAHMLAND...Speaking of 2015 and Rahm's plummeting ratings, the ego-maniacal little emperor made sure that the major CNN series Chicagoland would run like a paid campaign ad. He used his clout, his family connections and his boys to keep the propaganda series on message, especially about his school closings.

According to the Tribune:

More than 700 emails reviewed by the Tribune reveal that the production team worked hand in hand with the mayor's advisers to develop storylines, arrange specific camera shots and review news releases officially announcing the show.

Creator and executive producer Marc Levin [represented by Ari Emanuel's William Morris Agency] made a pitch to the mayor's office last May as Emanuel's hand-picked school board was two days away from a vote to close nearly 50 schools.

"This is a real opportunity to highlight the Mayors leadership – his ability to balance the need for reform and fiscal reality with compassion for affected communities and concern for the safety of Chicago's school children," Levin wrote of the school closings to Emanuel senior adviser David Spielfogel and two press aides. "We need the mayor on the phone in his SUV, in city hall with key advisers and his kitchen cabinet and meeting with CPS head BBB (Barbara Byrd-Bennett) and with CPD (Superintendent Garry) McCarthy."

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

Nelson Mandela 

Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity. It is an act of justice. It is the protection of a fundamental human right, the right to dignity and a decent life. While poverty persists, there is no true freedom.”  -- Johannesburg   July 2, 2005

Secret Teacher

My son brought home a Christmas card that consisted of a piece of white card folded in half which had been decorated with pictures from clipart. It had a typed message on the back about the learning objectives covered in the task. Disappointing. -- Guardian

Amisha Patel, Chicago Grassroots Collaborative

 “To even force a City Council debate around TIFs for the first time was amazing, and we’re going to continue to push. You don’t get to bury legislation in committee and think your work is done anymore." -- Huffington

New Jersey State Board of Education V.P, Joe Fisicaro 

“In my district, they would have had a revolution,” Fisicaro said of [Trenton Central High School]. “We would have parents all over the place.” -- Huffington

Martinez won her seat with union backing.

Weekend's Worst Quotable comes from IL State Senator Iris Martinez in a letter she sent to her constituents (including me). The letter tries to explain why she voted for the pension-robbing SB1 bill, even though she opposed it, knew it was unconstitutional, and unfair to workers.

 "While SB 1 will alleviate some of these budget pressures, it does not – in my opinion – meet the requirements of the state constitution. I believe sending a plan to the courts is the necessary next step. It is my hope that, once the new law is ruled unconstitutional, my colleagues and I will be able to return to the drawing board and agree on a negotiated, fair solution that does not unilaterally diminish benefits."

Safe Passage = trauma for kids. But it's safe for Whole Foods & Walmart.

"We recognize this is a community we haven't served." -- Whole Foods CEO

I wonder what message the mayor is sending to families in Englewood as he closes their schools and courts Texas-based Whole Foods? He's using $10 million in TIF money to entice WF CEO John Mackey to grace the black community with one of his stores. That's money that should have been used to save schools and teaching jobs.

Yes, the store should open up a few low-wage, temporary and part-time jobs. And finally, a market in the "food desert."  But who is all this really for?

Whole Foods, the second largest union-free food retailer behind Walmart, has taken a position that unions are "not valid.” The company gives its workers a pamphlet titled “Beyond Unions," which has helped to fend off unionizing attempts in several cities. Mackey has even compared unions to “herpes." 

BTW, while Walmart is being targeted by thousands of protesting union workers and supporters today nationwide, Chicago Walmart workers are facing a struggle of their own. Tyrone Robinson, a local leader of the 83rd and Stewart Walmart store (Chatham neighborhood) of Chicago was retaliated against and fired after his participation in the June 7th, Caravan for Respect to Bentonville, AR shareholder meeting.

Join OUR Walmart and Warehouse Workers for Justice

Stand with Walmart Workers in Chicago! Rally for Respect!

Thursday, Sept 5 at 4:00 p.m.

Meet up at Heritage Green Park, 610 W. Adams St., Chicago

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Seven more shot in Chicago yesterday, one fatally. At least eight dead (including a 16-year-old) and 25 others wounded in shootings over the Labor Day weekend. More shootings on Safe Passage routes. But Rahm and Byrd-Bennett breathe a sigh of relief. At least none of the victims were shot on the way to or from school.

In the Roseland neighborhood, half the safe passage workers quit last week alone.

Bob Jackson is a supervisor at Nehemiah Roseland Ceasefire, another group responsible for monitoring safe passage routes. The agency lost half of its workers when 13 of the 26 quit the day after school started. 

“Last week was a very hot week,” he said. “A lot of people have health issues and were not ready to be out in the sun.” “Some called a half hour before the shift started. some just didn’t return.” Weather may be one reason. Supervisors say others find full-time, better paying jobs.

Chief McCarthy says first week of Safe Passage was a great success. "“We’re making progress, step by step by step.”

But for thousands of children, school closings and  the Safe Passage program have been traumatic. More instability. Separation from familiar teachers and friends. Loss of special ed programs. Walking longer distances to school through dangerous territory under police and security guard with the prevailing expectation of violence.

WEEKEND QUOTABLES

"My best meeting with him was off stage, away from the lights at a private table in a steakhouse." -- J.C. Brizard 

CPS grandmother Irene Robinson

"This is safe passage? No, this is murder city," Robinson said, shaking her head. -- Aljazeera

 Ex-Marine  Col. Tom Tyrell

There are obvious differences between closing 50 schools and starting a new country or fighting terrorism. But there are also similarities. "Surge teams are available." -- WBEZ

 J.C. Brizard

“We severely underestimated the ability of the Chicago Teachers Union to lead a massive grassroots campaign against our administration... It takes a ton of inner strength to watch 4,000+ people in red shirts outside of your window protesting while a very heavy police presence looked on." -- Flypaper 

Dave Zirin

The people at this march are the face of resistance to what Dr. King called the “evil triplets of militarism, materialism and racism.” -- The Nation

Wilbur Millhouse 

 ...there are a ton of ideas pouring in about what to do with the 50 shuttered school buildings and the possibilities are somewhat unlimited.  I can’t say that if that community says they want to make it a charter school that we would say no. That hasn’t been given to me as a parameter to stop any community from turning it into a charter school. -- CBS News, Emanuel Names Panel To Decide Fate Of Shuttered School Buildings