Emanuel wants $6M tobacco tax for school programs

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

Mayor Rahm Emanuel wants to slap a $6 million tax on cigars, roll-your-own tobacco and smokeless tobacco to pay for a one-week summer transition program for all incoming high school freshmen and two weeks of summer school for eighth-graders identified as drop-out risks — even as the district braces for mass cuts to existing programs and staff.

Supporting freshmen while they are making a traumatic transition from nurturing grade schools to large high schools has long been a focus of the Chicago Public Schools. But the “Freshman Connection” high school programs, which begin this summer, have been limited to selective enrollment schools.

Rahm's big dreams for Blue America. The compassion of theft.