The Bigger Scandal

Abstract

“The larger scandal is that Chicago has basically a two-tiered education system. While a handful of selective enrollment magnet schools, or boutique schools, have been set up in gentrifying and affluent neighborhoods under the Renaissance 2010 initiative, and charter schools in African-American and Latino communities, there has been a simultaneous disinvestment in neighborhood schools. Parents across the city are scrambling to try to get their kids into a few good schools. Instead of creating quality public schools in every neighborhood, CPS has created this two-tiered system. And under Renaissance 2010, CPS is closing down neighborhood schools and replacing them with charter schools and a privatized education system. They are firing or laying off certified teachers, dismantling locally elected school councils, and creating a market of public education in Chicago. This is the bigger scandal. This is now the national agenda for education under the Obama administration.”