Chicago school closure initiative harms students and staff

No matter how great a new idea is, effective planning and implementation are more important. That’s one lesson we can learned from Chicago Public Schools’ (CPS) decision to implement choice-based school reform.

In 2012 and 2013, after approving the opening of many independent public charter schools, CPS turned to the task of right-sizing their portfolio of traditional public schools. As the school year neared an end, the City of Chicago finished a long, public planning process and published the list of almost 50 schools to be permanently shuttered when the summer holiday began. The great idea of school reform—letting market forces force poor schools to close—was in full bloom...