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That is the charge being levied by a band of student and community groups who on Tuesday released a new report, Big Dollars Little Sense, in which they examined the numbers used by CPS to justify the closure of public schools and the expansion of charter schools across the city.
Members of Communities United for Quality Education (CUQE) and Chicago Students Organizing to Save Our Schools (CSOSOS), who commissioned the report, along with other concerned parents, students and community members rallied outside the CPS headquarters Tuesday to present their findings to the city and call on the Board of Education (BOE) to take their objections seriously.
"It's not right that CPS is lying to the people to justify these charter expansions," declared one student, named Sarah, a representative from CSOSOS.
"BOE, after stealing $168 million from neighborhood schools, now wants 52 new charters," wrote the student advocacy group on their Facebook page. "Smells like privatization of public education!"
"At the level of state and federal education policy," writes Stan Karp at Rethinking Schools, "charters are providing a reform cover for eroding the public school system and an investment opportunity for those who see education as a business rather than a fundamental institution of democratic civic life."
In August, the BOE voted to cut classroom spending by $168 million for the 2013-14 school year which critics promised would have a "devastating impact" on the city's neighborhood schools. According to the groups, that decision was put forth just 16 days after CPS "quietly" released a new 'Request for Proposals' (RFP) for charter school expansion to supposedly relieve overcrowding in some of those same communities.
In response, the community groups conducted an independent analysis of CPS' rationale for charter expansion and the impact that it will have on neighborhood schools.
Among their findings, the report concludes:
The Board of Education is expected to decide on any new charter schools in January.
Read the full report below or download it here:
Big Dollars Little Sense Report
_________________________________________________
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That is the charge being levied by a band of student and community groups who on Tuesday released a new report, Big Dollars Little Sense, in which they examined the numbers used by CPS to justify the closure of public schools and the expansion of charter schools across the city.
Members of Communities United for Quality Education (CUQE) and Chicago Students Organizing to Save Our Schools (CSOSOS), who commissioned the report, along with other concerned parents, students and community members rallied outside the CPS headquarters Tuesday to present their findings to the city and call on the Board of Education (BOE) to take their objections seriously.
"It's not right that CPS is lying to the people to justify these charter expansions," declared one student, named Sarah, a representative from CSOSOS.
"BOE, after stealing $168 million from neighborhood schools, now wants 52 new charters," wrote the student advocacy group on their Facebook page. "Smells like privatization of public education!"
"At the level of state and federal education policy," writes Stan Karp at Rethinking Schools, "charters are providing a reform cover for eroding the public school system and an investment opportunity for those who see education as a business rather than a fundamental institution of democratic civic life."
In August, the BOE voted to cut classroom spending by $168 million for the 2013-14 school year which critics promised would have a "devastating impact" on the city's neighborhood schools. According to the groups, that decision was put forth just 16 days after CPS "quietly" released a new 'Request for Proposals' (RFP) for charter school expansion to supposedly relieve overcrowding in some of those same communities.
In response, the community groups conducted an independent analysis of CPS' rationale for charter expansion and the impact that it will have on neighborhood schools.
Among their findings, the report concludes:
The Board of Education is expected to decide on any new charter schools in January.
Read the full report below or download it here:
Big Dollars Little Sense Report
_________________________________________________
That is the charge being levied by a band of student and community groups who on Tuesday released a new report, Big Dollars Little Sense, in which they examined the numbers used by CPS to justify the closure of public schools and the expansion of charter schools across the city.
Members of Communities United for Quality Education (CUQE) and Chicago Students Organizing to Save Our Schools (CSOSOS), who commissioned the report, along with other concerned parents, students and community members rallied outside the CPS headquarters Tuesday to present their findings to the city and call on the Board of Education (BOE) to take their objections seriously.
"It's not right that CPS is lying to the people to justify these charter expansions," declared one student, named Sarah, a representative from CSOSOS.
"BOE, after stealing $168 million from neighborhood schools, now wants 52 new charters," wrote the student advocacy group on their Facebook page. "Smells like privatization of public education!"
"At the level of state and federal education policy," writes Stan Karp at Rethinking Schools, "charters are providing a reform cover for eroding the public school system and an investment opportunity for those who see education as a business rather than a fundamental institution of democratic civic life."
In August, the BOE voted to cut classroom spending by $168 million for the 2013-14 school year which critics promised would have a "devastating impact" on the city's neighborhood schools. According to the groups, that decision was put forth just 16 days after CPS "quietly" released a new 'Request for Proposals' (RFP) for charter school expansion to supposedly relieve overcrowding in some of those same communities.
In response, the community groups conducted an independent analysis of CPS' rationale for charter expansion and the impact that it will have on neighborhood schools.
Among their findings, the report concludes:
The Board of Education is expected to decide on any new charter schools in January.
Read the full report below or download it here:
Big Dollars Little Sense Report
_________________________________________________