When we last updated you on the never-ending school crisis in Chicago, Mayor Brandon Johnson had demanded that Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez resign. Why? Because he refused to fund teacher union demands for salary increases, by taking out $300 million in high-interest-rate loans. Now the entire school board has resigned in opposition.
In a feisty press conference, Johnson explained what he wants to do with all that borrowed money:
I am just bold enough and honest enough to say out loud that what we have to do is make sure that every single child, — no matter what school, no matter what zip code — has social workers, counselors, nurses, mental health providers, sports and extracurricular activities. And that should be the case for every school district in Illinois.
Huh?
Notice he didn’t talk about making sure kids have access to the best schools. He didn’t say anything about shutting down failed schools. He didn’t even say he wanted to hire excellent teachers to improve student achievement in a city with some of the worst test scores in the country.
Instead, he wants to expand the school bureaucracy – what we call “the education blob.” Sure that will help – the unions.
Then, when Johnson was challenged where the money would come from, he accused those who opposed his loan of being the equivalent of Confederate slaveholders during the Civil War.
“You have a mayor who’s going to raise taxes, fees, fines, and whatever else he’s going to raise in order to pay back his friends, which is the Chicago Teacher’s Union,” says African-American City Councilmember Anthony Beale. “He’s going to bankrupt this city under the auspices of, ‘I’m a Black man.'”
Our advice: if you live in Chicago and have kids, get out of Dodge as fast as you can.