{"id":25517,"date":"2016-01-26T14:28:48","date_gmt":"2016-01-26T20:28:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=25517"},"modified":"2016-01-26T14:28:48","modified_gmt":"2016-01-26T20:28:48","slug":"republican-takeover-proposal-frustrates-school-officials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/republican-takeover-proposal-frustrates-school-officials\/","title":{"rendered":"Republican takeover proposal frustrates school officials"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Morgan Gilbard<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The financial future of Chicago Public Schools already looked dire to those on the inside before Republican officials proposed a state takeover of the district last week. Now, many opponents see it as a vibrant political circus.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSuggesting the state manage the affairs of Chicago Public Schools is like recommending a cocaine addict handle the affairs of an alcoholic,\u201d said Troy LaRaviere, principal of Blaine Elementary and an outspoken critic of Illinois legislative leadership.<\/p>\n<p>The Republican bill would disband the Chicago Board of Education, transfer district control to an independent party and possibly allow the district to file for bankruptcy in an attempt to close a $480 million deficit.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>But LaRaviere believes that the takeover proposal is a \u201cbluff\u201d to convince the Chicago Teachers Union to surrender in contract negotiations with city officials that will enter its final phase on Feb. 1 after a seven-month stalemate. To him, it is neither a probable idea nor a good one.<\/p>\n<p>LaRaviere is not alone in his sentiments. Senate President John Cullerton <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/news\/local\/politics\/ct-illinois-republican-cps-bankruptcy-met-20160120-story.html\">candidly dismissed<\/a> the prospect of the bill becoming law. Karen Lewis, president of CTU, called Rauner \u201cdelusional\u201d and his plan \u201ccraziness.\u201d State Board of Education member Lula Ford doubts that the plan will gain traction in the General Assembly and had no knowledge of the proposal before it broke last week: \u201cI think we were all surprised.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Rauner on state&#039;s plan for Chicago Public Schools\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XhcEtH2bydA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Doubt in Springfield\u2019s ability to fix problems is not the plan\u2019s only weak spot. Rauner\u2019s critics <a href=\"http:\/\/www.chicagotribune.com\/news\/local\/politics\/ct-illinois-republican-cps-bankruptcy-met-20160120-story.html\">accuse<\/a> the governor, a former private equity investor, of using the CPS crisis to further charter school expansion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese kinds of state takeover models don&#8217;t work out in the interests of the people because they are not intended to,\u201d said Adam Gottlieb, an arts and writing instructor for private programs that work with CPS. Gottlieb opposes any model that would tip Chicago\u2019s scale towards more charter schools, citing concerns over corporate interest in public education. However, last week\u2019s takeover proposal did not address how the plan would impact the ongoing battle for funding between CPS and charter schools.<\/p>\n<p>CPS officials announced lay-offs for 227 employees on Friday, plus another 206 terminations in coming weeks. If passed, the Republican proposal would also allow CPS to terminate union contracts.<\/p>\n<p>Education policy experts hesitate to guess how the bill would impact CPS over the long haul, with few examples to draw upon.\u00a0 Only six districts declared bankruptcy throughout the country since 1954, according to a 2012 <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/nation\/2014\/05\/28\/stateline-states-school-districts-bankruptcy\/9667691\/\">book<\/a> by financial analyst James Spiotto.<\/p>\n<p>The bill also proposes to create an elected Chicago Board of Education after resolving the city\u2019s finances. It\u2019s a change that students like Sherelyn Garduno have advocated for extensively in a grassroots campaign to fix CPS.<\/p>\n<p>The senior at Benito Juarez Community Academy believes that an elected board would be \u201ca crucial first step\u201d in creating a more effective system. She supports an overhaul of CPS, but not at a risk to the livelihood of teachers.<\/p>\n<p>Fellow student activist Nidalis Burgos, a senior at Lincoln Park High School, offered similar criticism. \u201cChicago Public Schools is a puppet show. There\u2019s nothing else to it,\u201d she said while protesting CPS policies earlier this month. \u201cThe board meetings don\u2019t mean anything. Even the board meetings inside Chicago Public Schools are a joke.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"featurecaption\">Photo at top: The fate of Chicago Public Schools would rest with an independent outside party in a Republican-proposed takeover bill. Lincoln Park High is shown here. (Morgan Gilbard\/Medill)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Morgan Gilbard The financial future of Chicago Public Schools already looked dire to those on the inside before Republican officials proposed a state takeover of the district last week. Now, many opponents see it as a vibrant political circus. \u201cSuggesting the state manage the affairs of Chicago Public Schools is like recommending a cocaine [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":193,"featured_media":25525,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,497,30,675],"tags":[309,269,930],"class_list":["post-25517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-interest","category-medill-newsmakers","category-public-affairs","category-social-justice","tag-bruce-rauner","tag-chicago-board-of-education","tag-state-legislature"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Republican takeover proposal frustrates school officials - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/republican-takeover-proposal-frustrates-school-officials\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Republican takeover proposal frustrates school officials - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Morgan Gilbard The financial future of Chicago Public Schools already looked dire to those on the inside before Republican officials proposed a state takeover of the district last week. Now, many opponents see it as a vibrant political circus. \u201cSuggesting the state manage the affairs of Chicago Public Schools is like recommending a cocaine [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/republican-takeover-proposal-frustrates-school-officials\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-01-26T20:28:48+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/lincoln-park-hs-web.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1100\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"825\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"morgangilbard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"morgangilbard\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/republican-takeover-proposal-frustrates-school-officials\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/republican-takeover-proposal-frustrates-school-officials\/\",\"name\":\"Republican takeover proposal frustrates school officials - Medill Reports Chicago\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/republican-takeover-proposal-frustrates-school-officials\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/republican-takeover-proposal-frustrates-school-officials\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/lincoln-park-hs-web.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-01-26T20:28:48+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/#\/schema\/person\/ae7dc6a523d7150000ec7437da2e8121\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/republican-takeover-proposal-frustrates-school-officials\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/republican-takeover-proposal-frustrates-school-officials\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/republican-takeover-proposal-frustrates-school-officials\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/lincoln-park-hs-web.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/s3.amazonaws.com\/medill.wordpress.offload\/WP%20Media%20Folder%20-%20medill-reports-chicago\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2016\/01\/lincoln-park-hs-web.jpg\",\"width\":1100,\"height\":825,\"caption\":\"CPS schools like Lincoln Park High School are at play in the new Republican takeover bill. 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