[drzaiusapelord]

Everyone seems to be obsessed with paying more into the education system. Chicago Public Schools have an average teachers salary of around $75,000. This in a city where the average household income is around $43,000. Clearly the money is there and teaching in Chicago isn't some poverty inducing measure.

The outcomes are fairly poor. For students that bother with the ACT the average score is 18, but for Illinois as a whole its 21. 18 is a score that only gets you into the most poorly ranked of colleges. CPS teachers also average 18-19 on the ACT as well. Graduation rate floats are 50% and the powerful Chicago teachers union fights against any performance testing of teachers impossible to implement.

The reality is that we absolutely don't need more education or more education dollars. We need higher quality education. Public sector unions have made sure to make this all about tax dollars, when it should be about teacher performance and student outcomes. This means teachers taking responsibility and administrators firing poor performing teachers. It means a lot of politically difficult things, thus why it doesn't really happen and why anyone with means in Chicago goes to private or charter schools. Or more commonly, white collar professionals move to the suburbs when they have children.

Also the mayor just wrote a op-ed piece against vouchers for private schools. What public school do his kids go to? None. They go to private school in Chicago.