Wasn't it just six months ago that the Chicago teachers went on strike shutting the schools down for a week demanding higher pay, better benefits etc.

Then they cry foul when the District doesn't have the money to keep the schools open.

The crooked politicians took all the money!

What do you expect from a group of clues administrators..... They did not have the BALLS to stand up to the UNION so now they are going to cut..... Yep it is for the kids all right, both side are just screwing the kids.....

LOL.....(and this is not a laughing matter but at the Mayor)

Wow, put the kids on the streets and see what will happen. What a golden opportunity for the drug cartel recruitment.

Chicago, Detroit, New York City, and San Francisco are all on the Progressive downward spiral.

Where is the BACON, Mr. Obama ?

Wait a minute....the Progressives are running these cities like Obama is running the Federal government.

And just think....Mr. Foul Mouth Mayor is indicating a Presidential run in 2016.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rally cry from the teachers union on the picket line asking for more pay, more health care benefits, and less class sizes:

• "It is for the Children"

Simple answer why!

Capacity is 20% which means these kids are not going to school and the school facilities are not utilized properly. Ergo, close the extra capacity and combine the schools and make them teachers work instead of sitting in front of half empty classes. Besides, those kids are not necessarily learning anything anyway if you look at what comes from Chicago!!!! Get it? No, too bad, go back to school.

The picture just shows a bunch of Obama voters on a picket line. You can't have welfare AND education so live with your choice.

Because this is Obama's Home area and the town runs the city like our U.S. Congress and the leader in the white house. Great Techers//

Hey Chicago

how's all that liberal BS working for ya?

Chicago a totally failed liberal Democratic city

I guess they haven't figured out that all those welfare recipients don't pay taxes.

The corrupt complicity between greedy Unions leaders, and Democrats in power ,are the origin of this kind of insanity. The teachers , the ones that provide money to feed those corrupt big fat Unions leaders, are the ones to be fired ,but none single crooked immoral Union mob boss will be . Union leaders and corrupt Democrats colluded in complicity, in order to stay in power , providing benefits to the city employees to buy their support, without even care about the consequences , that is what we are facing right now, the city is going to a economical collapse.Teachers are the victims along with the students , those corrupt leaders, should go to jail like many other corrupt Democrats . Gov. Scott, Gov. Christy are cleaning the garbage left by the same kind of people , that we have in Chicago, and that is the kind of leaders we need, but good luck with that, because for some insane reason, those people are been reelected. Is that a collective blindness. Where is Rahm Emanuel the White House Chief of staff, he is the one elected to fix the problems of his city.

The classrooms are not full therefore everyone's money is being wasted. This is occuring in many places, not just so called "liberal" Chicago. Look at FL, not so liberal, same thing. The children will not be on the streets, they will be in different schools. Unfortunately it does impact the neighborhoods significantly when schools close. Unfortunately that is how life is, there are changes. My daughter was in three schools in three years. We never moved, school district lines changed as communities changed. She graduated, is a good kid, was never on the streets, has a real job.....

All Emanuel has to do is say, "I talked to Barrack, and he said he approves of the steps we are taking, and the federal government is going to increase the aid to our struggling city". Result? Immediate adulation and approval! Along with cries of, "Duz we be gits our free Obama I-phones now"?

Amazing that they would rather destroy their Children's future education than actually deal with the problem of excessive handouts.

It looks like the exodus from Chicago will continue... another city just like Detroit where dozens of homes are bulldozed every day just to get rid of crime-ridden vacant neighborhoods.

I'm glad they're at least cutting back on some spending. But what really needs to be cut are salaires, especially those of the bureaucracts.

The major problem with the plan is this: When schools are closed, rivals gang members often end up in the same school.

Since when did it become the taxpayers' responsibility to accommodate gangs?

Yeah, it's always the government's fault when local governments have to pour millions into to teacher's union pay raises and other perks. Then they scream the government is the one at fault. One of the most greedy organizations on earth is the NEA. I never forget what the outgoing President, or as I call him, outgoing a$$-wipe said in an NEA speech. Paraphrasing it to: {Regardless of what the people/voters believe, are sole purpose is not to better educate the students, not to make their lives easier in school, or anything of that nature. The main purpose of the NEA is to get better wages for their union members. That and only that is the main purpose of the NEA.}

What a first class POS! So yeah, close down the 54 schools that are half empty. Put those overpaid teachers in the unemployment line to give them a taste of humility, which they damn sure need to learn.

It's the same old story that their freaking union pulls every year. Go on strike and use the children for bait. Not to get better tools, books, classrooms, but to give the teachers more wages and fatten their retirement pot. But these lying POS's will tell you its for your kids' future, you must save the children. Except, they run out of children to dangle in front of the media! The teacher unions are the biggest lying theiving sacks of sh!t that slime the Public Employee Unions. ROLMAO

David Noah

Wasn't it just six months ago that the Chicago teachers went on strike shutting the schools down for a week demanding higher pay, better benefits etc.

Then they cry foul when the District doesn't have the money to keep the schools open.

BINGO!!!!!!!

Let's not forget how wonderfully all those teachers are doing "ejukatin" our children.

These are the results of the Chicago Public Schools 2011 scores for 11th Graders Meeting College Readiness Benchmarks: 21% in Reading, 19% in Math, 11% in Science, 38% in English!

And we wonder why America is collapsing.

There is a mathematical error in paragraph 3, sentence 2: 'The district will save $500 million to $800 million for each school that is closed,' The words 'for each school that is closed' should read, 'for the total of all 54 schools closed.' Otherwise if they saved $500 million to $800 million for each school, then they would only have to close two schools to save $1 billion to $1.6 billion (i.e. 500 million x 2 = 1 billion) So, much for school district's chief executive's education or the writers ability to quote properly.

1 billion dollar deficit, 30,000 teachers and you claim all the blame lies on them. So that is what a $33,333.33 dollar pay cut for them to fix the problem. Teachers in Chicago make an avg salary of $56,720. I know, I know the right leaning site say more, because they count college professors, who make allot more. But for sake of argument we will use the right's avg of $74,000. Still they would be looking at making less than $41,000 a year by your numbers, and the cost of living is high because its a city. And even worse by the actual pay figures they would be earning less than $23,400 a year.

I am sure more pay for next year did not help the budget but lets be realistic. Stop clinging to your old tired party line that its all the blame of a union. It took me less then 5 min to find all this info on the net. How about next time you bother to look up facts instead of just blindly towing a party line sheeple.

@Seven2Seven-

LOL, "you can't have welfare AND education"? Well sheet how the fokk you think the middle class was built in the first place? Welfare AND education.

Its just precious how a certain cultural majority began to sour on government, welfare, and public education the second they found out they had to share it with the rest of the people living here. I guess membership has its privileges.

Ciewyth or whatever that mess you call yourself. "Well sheet how the fokk you think the middle class was built" ??

When you go back to school and learn the English language you may get an answer. I expect you are a product of the fine Chicago school system. Word up dog.........

FlatIron720, when they starting shooting innocent people. There is a law on the books that require children to go to school. You cannot require someone to go and get shot.

"murder" - What an appropriate term for the people in the murder capital of the U.S. to use.

How fickle the public can be. They elected Emanuel because they saw it as an opportunity to have a brutha save them. Now that the brutha does have enough of other people's money he has to cut corners by closing underused schools and laying off underperforming teachers.

will further destabilize our neighborhoods

The positive point to this comment is that they recognize there is little stability in their 'hoods. How much should the taxpayers pay to support that instability?

But....but....if they close the schools...who's going to feed these poor children their breakfast and lunch?

It's because Chicago is loosing population. It will look like Detroit in 10 years. That is what happens when tax happy gun control communists highjack a city government.

Plus, Chicago is a dump anyway.

A mere pittance when compared to the costs associated with the costs of being a "sanctuary city, and state"!
http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/illinoisreview/2007/07/illegal-aliens-.html

Education. Based on estimates of the illegal immigrant population in Illinois and documented costs of K-12 schooling, Illinoisans spend more than $3.1 billion annually on education for the children of illegal immigrants. This estimate does not include programs for limited English students, remedial educational programs or breakfast and lunch programs available to students from low-income families. An estimated 10 percent of the K-12 public school students in Illinois are children of illegal aliens.

I wonder what the actual costs are now 6 years later?

NVArt

The crooked politicians took all the money!

Now hang on a minute - the mayor is one of obama's favorite buddies and a former obama employee. He can't possibly be crooked....

Hey GovHater..............."

All of you Reicher's talking about a failed blue state, lets talk about the failed red states that are supported by the same blue states... yeah I thought so!"

your wrong............http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2012/10/24/red-state-blue-state-who-receives-the-most-federal-funding-not-ready-hold-for-wed-am/

Chicago, you are the new Detroit. How does it feel? Both of your pathetic cities are the are in the desperate situations you face due to decades of union a$$ kissing and corruption at every level of government, a government that was claiming to represent Joe lunch box, the little people, the middle class. Nothing could be further from the truth. When both these bergs go begging to DC for tax money, they shouldn't get a dime. They made their respective beds, now sleep in them.

@Michael Mellnick

Schools 20% under capacity with 30,000 teachers. Cut 20% of staff (6,000 teachers) making, as you say, $56,720/ yr and you save $340,320,000. If you can't understand a number that big, that's over $340 million. A third of the way to closing the budget gap, and that's not to mention administration, maintenance, and other support staff in those 54 schools. Then you have utilities and upkeep for those facilities. It's simple math, what they are trying to teach those kids, and the teachers apparently don't get it.

Schools need to be run like a business, with the kids' educational perfomance being the measure of profitibility. In business, hard decisions are made every day, because you either succeed or cease to be. There is no option to be propped up by the tax payer, (unless you are too big to fail, but don't get me started). We need to have educators competing to be the best, with big fiscal rewards at the end of it. Not this beaurcratic nonsense created by the unions.

@Mitty:

Except if you were to cut 6,000 teachers, you lose the tax money they would have paid. And you also have to pay for unemployment. So while it would save money, it certainly wouldn't be anywhere near the figure you quoted.

It's obvious the school board should be fired!

"The school district's chief executive, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, said the district is 20 percent under capacity — almost 100,000 students — leaving many schools half-empty. The district will save $500 million to $800 million for each school that is closed, she has said in community forums and news interviews leading up to Thursday's announcement.

'We've got at least two decades of decay, of children not being able to receive the kind of education that they should.'"

So, for two decades they've known that they haven't been educating the kids and no one saw fit to do something about it?

Saving $500-$800 million for each school that is closed? Must be a typo. But, then again, libs are great at exaggerating the truth. Kind of like Charles Rangel claiming yesterday that "millions of kids" are killed with assault weapons, as his argument to ban them. But, I suppose a lot of libs believe that too.

This could have been done over time. I question shuttering so many schools at once, relocating thousands of students, and putting so many people into unemployment so abruptly. Many of these teachers have houses, mortgages and the ridiculously high property taxes. When I left Chicago, the average property tax for a modest home was $6K a year! And in Chicago, if you are late paying your taxes, they are sold immediately to "investors" who won't care that you lost your job.

Much of the property tax is allocated to the school system. Does this mean that homeowners can look forward to a reduction in their taxes?

I'd be surprised if Emmanuel is re-elected.

@krazymop

While in reality, you are correct, in accounting and beaurocracy, you're off a bit. In business accounting, or government beaurocracy you have different budgets or "buckets" that money is coming from and going to. While money would have to be paid for the things you mentioned, that money would not be coming from the school budget, or even the city taxes at large. Also the lost tax revenue would be in State and Federal income taxes, not property taxes that usually are the revenue source of schools.

I've worked for a few large corporations and find that the "spreadsheet junkies" never do take into account the real world ramifications of decisions that look good on paper. But in the end, the numbers don't lie, and the business as a whole does better.

You bring up an area though that I feel needs to be approached and treated in an entirely seperate realm as education. Unemployment and welfare need to be addressed on their own grounds, and success of those programs should be judged on their own merit, not tied to education. Also education needs to be dealt with, without regards to how it will affect unemployment and welfare.

To sum it up with an anology, it's like my son saying he can't clean up because he can't find his shoes. In his mind, one has to to happen before the other, but in reality, they aren't related.

Nancy,

We are talking about a failed BLUE city in an otherwise RED state. Nix communist Chicago and Illinois goes to the Red team.....bet on it!

Chicago will be a desolate urban wasteland in 10 years. It is already happening. It started in the 70s and will be complete in short order. The place is a dump, the politicians are crooks....and not even the somewhat comparably honorable crooks of old who knew it was wise, as parasites, to form a symbiotic relationship with the host....by the time it is a desolate wasteland, all the tyrants and crooks responsible for its death will have moved on.

People are leaving because you cant even drive an already ridiculously taxed automobile thru the city without the stinking toll roads costing you 50 bucks....one way! And they aren't even all that good. Chitown is full of tax happy criminal politicians and they are always on the take.

Chitown is dying...you can hear it's death moans from Miami!

Unions, crooked politicians, thugs, gangsters, druggies and hookers...and to a lesser degree, communists mascarading as liberal democrats, are killing it. Too many parasites eating on the host.

@ govhater-There are failed red states? Could you name them so I can investigate myself. Thank you in advance for the help.

The Politicians will close the schools but you can bet that they will not cut a single benefit for themselves or any government staff member, or any retired politicians. They will all just keep sucking up the taxpayers money until it's all gone and blame it on the unions or teachers or anything except themselves. The politicians in this country are just grabbing all they can while there's something to grab, after that it's off to Europe or anyplace where they can hide from their misdeeds.

Tis is what happens when morons who want something for nothing, can vote.

"The district will save $500 million to $800 million for each school that is closed"

This cant be correct. $500-$800 MILLION for each school? What do they build schools with gold in chicago?

Thanks MSNBC interns for ruining my chance to make a judgment on the matter.

Khaled from Riyadh

The only reason gang members would go to school would be to sell drugs in the morning and afternoon.

Seven2Seven

The only reason gang members would go to school would be to sell drugs in the morning and afternoon.

...not to mention those delicious meals courtesy of the taxpayer....yummy....

"I gots to get me some mo' food!"

GoletaMonitor,Most gang members attend continuation schools because they've been expelled for one reason or another from the traditional public schools.However,if they annihilate each other it will be a big savings to the tax payers and a boon to their community.

The school chief must have flunked math.

"The school district's chief executive, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, said the district is 20 percent under capacity — almost 100,000 students — leaving many schools half-empty. The district will save $500 million to $800 million for each school that is closed, she has said in community forums and news interviews leading up to Thursday's announcement."

Closing 50 schools will save $25B to $40B ?!?!?! I think she meant a TOTAL OF $500M to $800M.

After Los Angeles spent $578 million building just 1 school those numbers wouldn't surprise me.

I agree, but let's not forget that the government spent an outrageous amount of tax dollars while the neocons were in power as well. Both sides have their hands deep in this mess.

The "NeoCons" have nothing to do with Chicago or Illinois. So let's keep it real. Budget problems in cities of the states of IL, NY, and CA are all on the liberals. They have controlled the governments for so long, there isn't even any way you could blame Bush for it.

I never said they did. But he brought up Obama, so now we're talking federal politics as well.

But Alas the REDS have the highest welfare recipiants and pay the least amount of taxes. They take in more than they payout. So if these other states such as NY, CA , and IL stopped funding the RED states to support the mountain sized welfare handouts going on then this would be happening in the first place. No blaming Bush on this but before you throw the finger I suggest you go to IRS.gov and just see exactly where the real problem lies that affects states paying more taxes than the RED states do. You might shock yourself to find out that it's thanks to the lack of paying the faire share in taxes and revenue is soaking the system up dry. IF you can do some math IRS.gov is your friend. And you might eat those words you just spout when you see where the problems really are. CA pays 4 times the amount than Texas does in yearly taxes and right below it sits New York. And based on welfare numbers the so called lobbies are footing your bill. I say we turn your butts loose and the tax paying states that are paying their fair share should stick it right to the repubterd states. The proof is in the pudding and it's a click away at IRS.gov so read it and shut your piehole.

I am an old time conservative. I was so pissed at the Republicans when they finally got their chance and spent money like the Democrats. Both parties suck in general these days. I guess when the amount of money gets so very large and it's difficult to grasp what the numbers really mean they no long care.

But Chicago, NYC, LA and SF are liberal model cities and they are all in dire straits financial wise. Chicago's tax rates are horrendous and they still have this massive deficit. Their school performance is near the bottom of the heap. They collect all this money. Where does it go?

You asked where does the money go? If you had read my comment above yours and are capable of using the irs.gov website the money is going to the RED states. They are taking in more than they pay out. You need to check your facts their buddy.....

I find it painifully funny when someone like yourself posts that ignorance of where does the money go? Then you sit their in one of the highest ranking in unemployment and welfare numbers. Without those liberal states forking in more money than the red states you answered your own silly question!

@laksideguy

City taxes and finances have nothing at all to do with with federal welfare recipients. The IRS has as much to do with the financial stability of the CITY of Chicago as the price of rice in China. Your comments are about as useful to this conversation as yelling "hey look a purple donkey".

I find it painifully funny when someone like yourself posts that ignorance of where does the money go? Then you sit their in one of the highest ranking in unemployment and welfare numbers. Without those liberal states forking in more money than the red states you answered your own silly question!

And how do you even know what state he lives in? He could live in NY or CA for all you know. I guess the "facts" are whatever you decide they should be? Typical ignorant liberal bs. You find one stat that you like and stretch to be the "truth" of whatever manure you're spreading today.

@ lakesideguy - Funny guy. All the property taxes, state payroll taxes, sales taxes (Except federal excise taxes) stay in the state. Where does it all go? Chicago is falling over a cliff and laughing all the way down.

Because they like to spend others' money and they think it has no consequences to keep squeezing the producers for more and more money or borrow it.

Do you understand math? grossly overpaid? not even by the right leaning numbers.

1 billion dollar deficit, 30,000 teachers and you claim all the blame lies on them. So that is what a $33,333.33 dollar pay cut for them to fix the problem. Teachers in Chicago make an avg salary of $56,720. I know, I know the right leaning site say more, because they count college professors, who make allot more. But for sake of argument we will use the right's avg of $74,000. Still they would be looking at making less than $41,000 a year by your numbers, and the cost of living is high because its a city. And even worse by the actual pay figures they would be earning less than $23,400 a year.

I am sure more pay for next year did not help the budget but lets be realistic. Stop clinging to your old tired party line that its all the blame of a union. It took me less then 5 min to find all this info on the net. How about next time you bother to look up facts instead of just blindly towing a party line sheeple.

It isn't just the teachers that will be "relieved of duty" with school closings. There will be a corresponding number of administrators that will also be given pink slips. They make far more than the teachers in their bloated high-salaried positions. If the admin isn't reduced then you know where the real problem is.

It took me less then 5 min to find all this info on the net.

Can't argue that point. But finding info on the net and finding accurate info on the net are two very different matters. People can always find supporting data for their position.

MM, great math. Unfortunately you failed to include the 2 - 3 times salary cost of their sweet benefits (you know, retirement, insurance, etc). Your are either being disingenuous, or you have no concept of employment costs. Either way, your argument is flawed.

Well true. Very sad

Eavedestin YM,You are one of the few intelligent people on this forum who realize this.We need a strong third political party.

In many places this may be true, but we are talking Chicago my friend. William Hale Thompson was Chicago's last republican mayor, from 1927 to 1931. People in Chicago vote democrat and then do it again and again for over 80 years. 42 of the last 55 years were ruled by the Daleys father and son. Maybe the first question should be "Who let the school system run up a one billion dollar deficit in the first place?".

Illinois owes 80billion to public servant sector retiree pensions, which was somehow guaranteed constitutionally.

So they send schoolkids an IOU.

Chicago voting makes Illinois blue, the protesters need to take a good look in a mirror and picket themselves.

"The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." Margaret Thatcher

"The problem with capitalism is that eventually the rich get richer and the middle class shrinks." Lesson from the 2007 economic depression.

What a stale argument Gina.. who is telling you that you can't be one of those rich 'bad' people?.. work your a$$ off and become rich, and then if you want, give your money to the middle class and the poor... nothing stopping the rich liberals from doing that, and I dont see them doing it either.

The problem with capitalism is the lower end thinks everyone above them owes them something just because they are there. Don't teach us to fish when you already have plenty of fish, just give us yours.

tiny-2847455 : Best, most truthful post I've read in years. Your post shows that "Truth" and "Political Correctness" have absolutely nothing in common.

The problem with capitalism is that by definition there can only ever be a small minority who are rich.

The problem with capitalism is that by definition there can only ever be a small minority who are rich.

I'm sorry, but I don't see the "problem". We can't all be superstars. We can't all be geniouses. We can't all be rich. It's called American Exceptionalism. In America, you get rewarded for being a badass when everyone else is being a puss. If you don't want to put forward the effort to excel, then you get what's left over.

WTF?

No it is not conservatives fault Chicago runs Illinois they outvote the rest of the state by a wide margin

cattle, swine, wheat, corn and beans count for exactly zero votes.

Chicago votes blue, left, demorat, socialist, union, Chicago machine their votes have powered 100 years of BLUE.

Scarier than the impoverished condition of Chicago is the fact that somebody doesn't know the difference between the words "fought" and "fault".

They are not even close homophones of one another, and no, igby, a homophone is not a gay communication device.

Scarier than the impoverished condition of Chicago is the fact that somebody doesn't know the difference between the words "fought" and "fault".

Proof positive the schools in Chicago are not doing their job. The system wasn't able to educate igby that much before he left the system for the higher education level of street smarts.

Well don't count on the red state children

Is that why they go by their street name of Shorty when their mother named the LaTonishanikwa?

the thinker-318752

Is that why they go by their street name of Shorty when their mother named the LaTonishanikwa?

LOL...."I cants even spell my own name....damn"

This will result in more students facing long bus rides

You missed yesterday's article about several schools that were just blocks away from each other. Parents Mothers are worried about the kids having to cross gang boundaries to go to the other schools.

the thinker-318752

This will result in more students facing long bus rides

You missed yesterday's article about several schools that were just blocks away from each other. Parents Mothers are worried about the kids having to cross gang boundaries to go to the other schools.

awwww....kids today...they grow up so fast in da hood....

One day they're walking to school with a back pack and the next day they're sticking a gun to your face demanding the keys to your car

I'm not unsympathetic to their concerns, but it sounds like GANGS are the problem they're worried about, not schools. If the kids can't be around each other without killing each other, it's not the school districts responsibility to keep this from happening by making sure each gang has it's own school so they never run into each other.

I agree. Stupid parents should be taxed for their indiscriminate breeding practices. But wait and see what happens when you try to take a welfare check from those people.

I ask all the time why I have to pay into schools since I'm not married and have no children. I am told that because I'm single I can afford more (Which is actually a pretty crappy response IMO.). I point out that I didn't cause the problem.

Now I know that schools should be covered by our general taxes. I'm not opposed to that. I hate the special taxes that get tacked onto things for schools.

Yeah Spo that did sound a bit over the top to me as well, good catch.