The Chicago Tribune reports:
Mayor Richard Daley laid some political ground cover for a potential property tax increase for Chicago Public Schools on Wednesday, saying such a hike would occur if the system doesn't get at least $180 million from the state this year.
As proposed in Gov. Rod Blagojevich's budget, the city's schools stand to get $60 million more, "which is not enough," according to Daley.
"We don’t want to raise property taxes, we want to avoid that. I want to make it clear, the Board of Education is forced to raise property taxes this year it will be because Springfield forced them to do that," Daley said at a news conference.
And just how should the state come up with that kind of money? Daley replied the state has assets that it can lease to private operators, much as the city is attempting to lease Midway Airport.
Chicago Schools CEO Arne Duncan said $180 million in new state money is the "bare minimum" to allow the district to expand kindergarten, evening classes and foreign-language instruction, among other programs.
You've got to love the twisted logic.Nobody is forcing anybody to do anything.Daley just doesn't mind raising taxes for half empty schools.Here's
CBS TV Chicago on the situation in Chicago:
Half-empty schools are "unacceptable" because they don't serve their students or the communities they're supposed to anchor, Mayor Richard M. Daley said Thursday, setting the stage for the biggest wave of school closings in decades.
Officials contend 147 of 417 neighborhood elementary schools are from half to more than two-thirds empty because enrollment has declined by 41,000 students in the last seven years. A tentative CPS plan calls for up to 50 under-used schools to close, consolidate with other schools or phase out over the next five years.
41,000 less kids but Mayor Daley can't seem to close enough schools.
