Mayor Rahm Emanuel visits with Chicago Public School students Graphic Source
By Frank J Biga III -
One of my favorite governors in US History is Democratic Governor Al Smith of New York. Not only does he have a compelling slum to governor’s mansion story, but he was a true Jeffersonian. One of his more famous statements on our political system is that “all the ills of democracy can be fixed with more democracy."
As it currently looks, an absolutely golden opportunity to strengthen our democracy as Al Smith would have approved is being presented to Governor Rauner in the form of the CPS (Chicago Public Schools) financial crisis. According to recent reports CPS is facing an $800 Million funding gap for the upcoming school year. Mayor Emanuel might even categorize this as a crisis. If so, it should not be wasted.
Either way, what Springfield needs to do is to break up the CPS into more manageable independent school districts with separately elected school boards and taxing authority.
This is not a radical idea. Other large urban areas have either seriously considered it in the past like Philadelphia or had petitions circulated to put the questions before the voters as in Los Angeles. In Florida, a constitutional amendment was recently proposed that would allow the break-up of large bureaucratic school districts like Broward County. The usual complaints regarding these large districts, and this applies to CPS as well, lack of responsiveness along with the high costs of a centralized bureaucracy.
But the biggest advantage to breaking up these districts is the increased democracy that would follow. CPS right now has a seven member board that is appointed by the mayor. Most of the other nearly 900 school districts in Illinois have elected Boards. In a city like Chicago, a parent might as well go talk to the monolith considering there are only 7 members and the odds of personally knowing them are small. Such personal contact is an intangible factor that could increase parental involvement and thus improve educational outcomes.
Yes, the CPS has LSCs or Local School Councils which are elected and include parental input on certain issues like selection of the principal and the budget for the school. But these are a far cry from real power and responsibility that comes with being an elected official accountable to the people. When one has to levy a tax on one’s fellow neighbors every year, this really crystallizes the responsibility entailed with holding the elected office. Illinois used to have thousands of school districts – over 12000 at its high point in 1942. After WWII there was much consolidation so that by 1963 the total was down to 1463 districts. Ever since then it has been more and more consolidation. Why?
The economics of consolidation versus breaking up the districts is debatable. I would argue that greater oversight by more school boards will lead to better cost controls in the long run. There is the counterargument that more districts will require more employees but I really think this can be minimized by utilizing existing personnel in the CPS but spreading them across the new districts.
Unfortunately, Governor Rauner and Republican legislators are calling for a new bill to be passed that will have the state take over the CPS and allow the district to declare bankruptcy if necessary. It also calls for reforms in collective bargaining – a non-starter. What ultimately comes out of this mess is anybody’s guess but I bet in the end it will be more centralization and standardization, even if a single school board is later elected rather than appointed as now. So how about more than one school district with more than one elected school board instead?
State government is also considering further consolidation of other districts. What is the logic of this? Economies of scale? That has not worked thus far, what makes one think it will work in the future? It is clear that smaller districts are better as the elected officials come from a smaller geographical area and parents are more likely to personally know Board members or be involved themselves. Governor Rauner and his allies should rethink the urge to consolidate districts and drive to centralization. Has his hard-nosed approach worked so far in his first year? Not really. The ummm……separation of powers thing has stopped him from achieving many of his goals – at least thus far.
In my opinion, Governor Rauner needs to make adjustments to his approach here. It may go against the grain of everything he learned in business school, but he can be the Reaganesque governor that gave the government back to the people and one way he can do so is by a leading reform effort to break up the CPS into many smaller districts and encouraging the same in other districts across Illinois.
Responses to Mr. Biga's views are welcomed via email at [email protected], or feel free to comment below.
