Chicago school construction furthers race, class segregation

CHICAGO (AP) - Under Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Chicago Public Schools has spent millions on new schools and pricey additions while putting little effort into creating more racially and socioeconomically diverse schools.

Documents obtained by WBEZ-FM (http://bit.ly/29TS8OU ) show that Emanuel plans to continue this pattern, using revenue from a record property tax hike passed last year.

Over the past six years, the school district has spent $320 million on new school construction. It's planning to spend another $330 million.

Emanuel justifies this spending because the schools are short on space and overflowing with students. But there's been little attempt to try to get white, middle- and upper-middle class students at these schools to instead attend one of the more than 300 Chicago schools that are deemed underused, even when those schools are close in proximity. Most of the underused schools serve poor, black and Latino students.

One such example is Manierre Elementary. Emanuel and school district officials have made a series of decisions that have essentially guaranteed that the school in a historic district on the city's North Side wouldn't be integrated with children beyond those in nearby subsidized housing.

Richard Kahlenberg, an expert on economic integration who works for the bipartisan think tank The Century Foundation, said that the result is that the underused schools are kept economically and racially isolated, which is not only expensive, but bad for children.

"We know that in trying to raise academic achievement, providing an economically integrated environment for students is far more powerful than spending extra resources in high poverty schools," he adds.

A spokeswoman for Emanuel says he declined to comment for story. In an email, the mayor's office wrote that Emanuel is following through on his commitment to invest in the city's schools.

___

Information from: WBEZ-FM.