Paul Vallas is best known for his innovative work in public education — as superintendent of schools in Chicago and in the all-charter school system in New Orleans — and (most recently) his impressive campaign for Mayor of Chicago (he got 48% of the vote, running against the Chicago Teachers Union).
Here’s an excerpt from a recent essay Paul wrote for the Illinois Policy Institute:
Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) President Stacy Davis Gates recently went on Chicago radio station WVON to decry standardized testing as a holdover of “white supremacy.”
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson backed her up, saying school success is measured in the amount of money spent, not performance.
These are just the latest examples of CTU showing exactly how they approach public education. Their aim is not to better educate students, but to get more money and more CTU members while blocking changes to workload, job security and accountability.
CTU is trying to skirt accountability by claiming a lack of funding.
Let’s be clear: funding has never been the issue at Chicago Public Schools. The district spends the equivalent to $30,000 per student based on total operational budget and receives over $12,000 in property taxes per student. It budgets one teacher for every 15 students and one overall staff person for every 7.5 students.
If money creates success, then why are CPS academics abysmal?
About three-quarters of CPS students could not read at grade level on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness in 2023. Nearly 83% did not meet proficiency in math.
The attack on testing is an attempt not only to hide underperformance but also to avoid calls for greater accountability for both schools and their teachers.
It’s no coincidence that CTU leaders, including Davis Gates, Johnson and others either send their children to private schools or magnet schools; and that 3 in 10 CPS teachers send their kids to private schools. Meanwhile, poor families – overwhelmingly Black and Latino – are denied alternatives to their often-failing neighborhood schools. The quality of a Chicago child’s education is now determined by income and ZIP code.
Now that is racist – if not by intent, then by outcome.
Yet the CTU has killed school choice in Illinois and taken to attack public charter schools and magnet schools, which do a far better job educating Black children. They eliminated the private school escape hatch and are determined to eliminate public school competition that is embarrassing the CTU-preferred “sustainable community schools” model. That model is failing students in the 20 schools where it currently exists.
Aside from the abysmal state of public education in Chicago, we talked more generally about what will rescue public education in America. Joe conducted the lion's share of the interview. He’s been covering the “public education issue” for decades.
Paul Vallas.