This is the fourth installment in our occasional series on segregation in Chicago’s schools.
Parker is “deliberately composed of a diverse group of people so that we may learn how to honor the dignity and experience of every human being.”
But socioeconomically diverse schools are the exception in CPS. Nearly a third of Chicago’s 658 public schools have enrollments that are at least 95 percent low-income.
Reich’s essay continued: “By lowering the taxes of the donor and diminishing the tax revenues that would otherwise have been collected and partly distributed to rich and poor schools alike, federal and state governments are in effect subsidizing the charitable activity of parents who donate to their child’s school.”
In 2011 the credit cost Illinois more than $81 million, Illinois Department of Revenue spokesperson Sue Hofer tells me. While proponents of the law had maintained it would primarily help low-income parents, that’s not the way it’s worked. Figures Hofer gave me for 2011 show that 58 percent of the tax-credit dollars that year went to families with incomes of at least $75,000, while only 11 percent of the savings went to families with incomes of less than $25,000.
Given their professed belief in the importance of diversity—including socioeconomic diversity—you’d think these schools would be happy to disclose specifics about their enrollments. But I found instead that they’re less interested in talking about diversity when they’re pressed for particulars.
