Mayoral candidates grade schools very low
BY ABDON M. PALLASCH Political Reporter December 16, 2010 2:40AM
Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM
Four top mayor candidates agreed Wednesday that Chicago Public Schools were broken.
Asked to grade the system, two candidates gave it a “D.” Two gave it a “C-minus.”
Wincing and holding her head in her hands, former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, said, “I’m sorry, I think I maybe have to give it a ‘D.’ There are schools in this city that are, for all intents and purposes, drop-out factories. More students drop out than graduate. Teachers just come there to pick up a paycheck.”
State Sen. James Meeks also gave the schools a “D” and said Mayor Daley has to accept some of the blame for that.
Former School Board President Gery Chico and City Clerk Miguel del Valle both gave the schools a “C-minus,” for “unevenness,” saying that some schools — like Walter Payton High School where Wednesday night’s forum was held — were doing “A” work, but other schools were not.
Congressman Danny Davis had to fly to Washington for a vote and former White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel refused to attend the forum — as he has with all the forums so far — drawing some ribbing from his colleagues who did attend the public forum.
Chico, del Valle and Meeks agreed on the need for a state income tax hike to better fund education, with Meeks saying legislators and state voters will support a tax hike if it can be shown the money will improve student performance.
Moseley Braun disagreed, saying, “I don’t support a tax increase — I think we need to live within our means.”
Moseley Braun stared wide-eyed at del Valle, sitting directly next to her, as he rebuked her on the issue.
“We are facing a $13 billion deficit,” del Valle said. “Anyone who says they are opposed to an income tax increase are not coming face-to-face with the reality in Illinois.”
The candidates split 3-to-1 on whether the schools should be led by a superintendent with an education background or a CEO — and whether former CEO Paul Vallas should be brought back for the job.
Chico, who served with Vallas at the schools, was the minority vote on both issues, saying a CEO with no education background could run the schools with help from a sidekick with an education background.
Perhaps surprisingly, the biggest cheer of the night went to Sen. Meeks when he urged more transparency in the creation of Tax Increment Financing Districts. He, Moseley Braun and del Valle all said the program as currently administered diverts money from schools.
“The main problem is we don’t have transparency. The TIF program is not intended to be the mayor’s private piggy bank, or the City Council’s private piggy bank,” Meeks said to cheers and applause.
“TIF dollars are diverted away from schools and we need to bring more dollars into those schools,” del Valle agreed. Moseley Braun called for a moratorium on TIFs.
Only Chico defended TIFs as beneficial for schools.
Closing the forum, Meeks looked at his fellow candidates and said, “Everybody up here, we went to Chicago Publics Schools, so there was a day when Chicago Public Schools used to work. Something happened along the way and we have to fix it.”
Comments Click here to view or make a comment