High Stakes in Chicago

Each year, the Chicago Public Schools system (CPS) spends over $13,000 per student in order to graduate 60 percent of its 400,000 students. In an attempt at reform, Mayor Rahm Emanuel has pushed to increase teacher accountability and extend the system’s school day, which at 5 hours and 45 minutes is currently the shortest of any city in the country. The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) has responded with a tantrum and on Monday launched a strike that’s capturing election-season headlines.

The dispute has national import because its outcome will have national implications. The mayor, President Obama’s salty-tongued former chief of staff, is challenging the CTU to accept the same kinds of reforms that the president has championed, and the contretemps has highlighted the tension between teachers’ unions and Democratic reformers.
Unlike the many mayors, school boards, and superintendents who have folded at the first sign of union displeasure, Emanuel has stood tall. Even though this has meant possibly dragging the president into a nasty intraparty battle, Emanuel has sought to do right by Chicago’s students and taxpayers. Good for him.

Read more: http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/316579/high-stakes-chicago-frederick-m-hess