Perspectives: The Powers That Be

On schools, Chicago’s next mayor should really listen to the community
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The failures of Rahm Emanuel’s education policies show the need for an elected school board and more accountability.
Chicago Reporter (https://www.chicagoreporter.com/tag/school-funding/page/2/)
The failures of Rahm Emanuel’s education policies show the need for an elected school board and more accountability.
As Rahm Emanuel courts flashy projects amid a slew of scandals, it seems the mayor is more accountable to big-money donors than to neighborhood constituents.
Ending the state’s flat income tax rate would reduce taxes for most while raising $2 billion in additional revenue a year, a new report says.
As Chicago Public Schools prepares to shut down more schools, it faces continued resistance from people like Irene Robinson, whose community was fractured by 2013’s mass closures.
Many families fleeing the poorest pockets of the city are ending up in cash-strapped school systems in the suburbs and northwest Indiana.
The former educator could bring a different perspective to pressing issues of privatization, special education funding and school closings.
Historian Nancy MacLean details how curtailing public education and unions are part of a long-running libertarian movement funded by the Koch network.
Republicans hijack negotiations over SB1 with a right-wing agenda straight out of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s playbook.
Racist emails, patronage, questionable TIF spending, school funding shortfalls, violence and youth joblessness signal how the mayor is failing to move the city forward.
The massive reshuffling of black students in Englewood and South Loop wouldn’t fly in a wealthier school district.