Tyrone N. Butts
APE Reporter
16
Judge says it may be time to end desegregation deal
A federal judge Monday prepared to wave goodbye to a 23-year-old agreement to desegregate Chicago's public schools, saying by 2006 it should be time for "Big Brother to bow out.''
Meanwhile, as part of a new, temporary desegregation plan, Chicago school officials released an onslaught of school-by-school spending data that raised immediate questions, including from Hispanics who wondered why their schools were receiving fewer per-pupil dollars than mostly white or mostly black ones.
"We're bein
left behind,'' said Ismael Vargas, assistant director of Parents United for Responsible Education, or PURE, and an adviser to 18 mostly Hispanic schools.
***
DESEGREGATION IN CHICAGO <
br><
br>White students: 19 percent of system in 1980; 9 percent in 2002-2003.
Number of schools more than 70 percent white: 1 in 1980; 11 in 2003-2004
Desegregation costs: $96 million annually, including $35 million on busing.
Elementary spending: $5,336 per pupil is citywide average
Black/Hispanic*: $5,593 (48 schools)
Mostly black schools: $5,556 (250 schools)
More than 70% white: $5,282 (11 schools)
15-70% white: $5,271 (83 schools)
Mostly Hispanic: $4,957 (104 schools)
Black/Hispanic/white: $4,646 (4 schools)
* No more than 70 percent of either group.
Per-pupil spending excludes transportation, janitorial services, food, counseling, social workers and nurses.
Source: Chicago Board of
Education
School - by - School Data
The Chicago Public Scho
ols has pos
ted school - by - school expend
itures on its website showing that while spending is done fairly evenly across the board, racially isolated African-American schools receive the most money-per-student and racially isolated Hispanic schools receive the most money-per-school.
Elementary - Per Pupil Education Spending
High School - Per Pupil Education Spending
***
However, Chicago Board of Education attorney Ru
th Moscovitch insisted that the numbers showed overall equity among schools. Although mostly Hispanic elementary schools averaged $4,957 per pupil -- or $599 less than mostly black schoo
ls and $225 le
ss than overwhelmingly white ones -- their average budgets were at least $1 million more because of larger enrollments, she said.
But the questions that arose Monday set the tone for wha
t may greet the system in the future as it enters a new era of "transparency'' demanded by the interim agreement approved by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Charles P. Kocoras.
Kocoras agreed with a deal, worked out by Board officials and U.S. Justice Department attorneys, that commits the Board to 50 "obligations,'' including considering new standards for magnet school admissions and making public reports on such issues as school-by-school spending, extracurricular dollars and attendance boundaries. The judge said the system had changed considerably since t
he 1980 agreement, when it was 19 percent white compared to 9 percent white today.
"It can be fairly argued that 23 years is plenty of time to complete whatever can be complet
ed and all the rest is need
less trifling,'' Kocoras said. "It is not wise for things to go on forever. There's a time for Big Brother to bow out.''
Kocoras even said he wanted to consider terminating the temporary agreement by the end of the
2005-2006 school year.
Although critics said mostly Hispanic schools faced a "double whammy'' of crowded classrooms and fewer per-pupil dollars, Board spokewoman Celeste Garrett said the system has been "working very hard'' to address crowding by building new schools. "The consent decree wasn't designed to make schools less crowded. That's a whole 'nother topic of discussion,'' Garrett said.
Monday's data also showed a $25,000-per-pupil elementary spending gap, with To
nti Elementary, with 1,100 students and fairly high test scores, receiving the least, at only $3,623 per pupil, and Rudolph Learning Center, with only 93 students -- mostly special ed
ucation -- garnering the most, at &
#036;28,300 per pupil. The disparity reflects different programs in the two schools and Rudolph's smaller, more expensive population, said budget director Pedro Martinez.
Northwestern University Professor G. Alfred Hess questioned whether racially isolated schools were getting the extr
a dollars envisioned in the original decree. He said the largest chunk of poor schools, which tend to be racially isolated, are getting far fewer dollars per pupil than more affluent schools.
*********
Memo to judge: Quit wasting time and end this fiasco!
T.N.B.
Judge says it may be time to end desegregation deal
A federal judge Monday prepared to wave goodbye to a 23-year-old agreement to desegregate Chicago's public schools, saying by 2006 it should be time for "Big Brother to bow out.''
Meanwhile, as part of a new, temporary desegregation plan, Chicago school officials released an onslaught of school-by-school spending data that raised immediate questions, including from Hispanics who wondered why their schools were receiving fewer per-pupil dollars than mostly white or mostly black ones.
"We're bein
left behind,'' said Ismael Vargas, assistant director of Parents United for Responsible Education, or PURE, and an adviser to 18 mostly Hispanic schools.
***
DESEGREGATION IN CHICAGO <
br><
br>White students: 19 percent of system in 1980; 9 percent in 2002-2003.
Number of schools more than 70 percent white: 1 in 1980; 11 in 2003-2004
Desegregation costs: $96 million annually, including $35 million on busing.
Elementary spending: $5,336 per pupil is citywide average
Black/Hispanic*: $5,593 (48 schools)
Mostly black schools: $5,556 (250 schools)
More than 70% white: $5,282 (11 schools)
15-70% white: $5,271 (83 schools)
Mostly Hispanic: $4,957 (104 schools)
Black/Hispanic/white: $4,646 (4 schools)
* No more than 70 percent of either group.
Per-pupil spending excludes transportation, janitorial services, food, counseling, social workers and nurses.
Source: Chicago Board of
Education
School - by - School Data
The Chicago Public Scho
ols has pos
ted school - by - school expend
itures on its website showing that while spending is done fairly evenly across the board, racially isolated African-American schools receive the most money-per-student and racially isolated Hispanic schools receive the most money-per-school.
Elementary - Per Pupil Education Spending
High School - Per Pupil Education Spending
***
However, Chicago Board of Education attorney Ru
th Moscovitch insisted that the numbers showed overall equity among schools. Although mostly Hispanic elementary schools averaged $4,957 per pupil -- or $599 less than mostly black schoo
ls and $225 le
ss than overwhelmingly white ones -- their average budgets were at least $1 million more because of larger enrollments, she said.
But the questions that arose Monday set the tone for wha
t may greet the system in the future as it enters a new era of "transparency'' demanded by the interim agreement approved by U.S. District Court Chief Judge Charles P. Kocoras.
Kocoras agreed with a deal, worked out by Board officials and U.S. Justice Department attorneys, that commits the Board to 50 "obligations,'' including considering new standards for magnet school admissions and making public reports on such issues as school-by-school spending, extracurricular dollars and attendance boundaries. The judge said the system had changed considerably since t
he 1980 agreement, when it was 19 percent white compared to 9 percent white today.
"It can be fairly argued that 23 years is plenty of time to complete whatever can be complet
ed and all the rest is need
less trifling,'' Kocoras said. "It is not wise for things to go on forever. There's a time for Big Brother to bow out.''
Kocoras even said he wanted to consider terminating the temporary agreement by the end of the
2005-2006 school year.
Although critics said mostly Hispanic schools faced a "double whammy'' of crowded classrooms and fewer per-pupil dollars, Board spokewoman Celeste Garrett said the system has been "working very hard'' to address crowding by building new schools. "The consent decree wasn't designed to make schools less crowded. That's a whole 'nother topic of discussion,'' Garrett said.
Monday's data also showed a $25,000-per-pupil elementary spending gap, with To
nti Elementary, with 1,100 students and fairly high test scores, receiving the least, at only $3,623 per pupil, and Rudolph Learning Center, with only 93 students -- mostly special ed
ucation -- garnering the most, at &
#036;28,300 per pupil. The disparity reflects different programs in the two schools and Rudolph's smaller, more expensive population, said budget director Pedro Martinez.
Northwestern University Professor G. Alfred Hess questioned whether racially isolated schools were getting the extr
a dollars envisioned in the original decree. He said the largest chunk of poor schools, which tend to be racially isolated, are getting far fewer dollars per pupil than more affluent schools.
*********
Memo to judge: Quit wasting time and end this fiasco!
T.N.B.