the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Nov 23, 2015
Chicago Public Schools announced at its October Board meeting that it had placed four charter schools on a list to be closed.
Over the past 17 years, CPS has opened more than 130 charter schools, at the same time that it has closed more than 100 public schools. Neighborhood activists, students, the teachers union and politicians are denouncing opening new charters, when the Board is cutting the budgets at so many neighborhood schools.
The Board’s new response is that they will hold these four charter schools “accountable.” All four of these charter schools are performing poorly. But it is no coincidence that all four are also in working class black neighborhoods with impoverished student populations–the same neighborhoods where Mayor Emanuel closed almost 50 schools two years ago.
If the board wanted to improve students’ education, it would fold these schools back into the district, bring up the funding and allow the teachers to join the union. Instead, it proposes to attack these communities again–only now with the closing targets being the very privatized schools they created.