Chicago Public Schools System Since 2007: Enrollment Down 10%, total annual spending is up a third, to a projected $6.48 billion.

Crain's Chicago Business reports on Chicago's public schools :

While CPS enrollment has dropped roughly 10 percent between 2007 and projections for this upcoming year, total annual spending increased by a third over that same span, to a projected $6.48 billion.

In the same period, the total number of CPS employees is down 20 percent, with the steepest drop in the central office rather than in the classroom. But in a real-life version of whack-a-mole, central office staffing has a tendency to pop back up after each periodic purge. Meanwhile, the district's general obligation debt has soared to $7.7 billion from $4.1 billion, with interest rates as high as 9 percent.

You might say public education just doesn't work in Chicago. No , you aren't a backward type if you don't support the status quo in Chicago.