Marathon Pundit: Chicago Teachers Union head uses race card on school closings

Karen Lewis, the loudmouth leftist who leads the Chicago Teachers Unions, is calling the closing of dozens of Chicago public schools "racist." Never mind that the city's population is declining, particularly on the predominately west and south sides.

The Wall Street Journal (paid registration required) isn't buying her bunk--and it comes out strongly for charter schools.

In Chicago, two-thirds of charter schools perform better on state assessment tests and at charter high schools three-quarters of graduates go to college. A recent poll by the Joyce Foundation and Chicago Tribune found that about two-thirds of Chicagoans support new charters opening in neighborhoods where kids are on the waiting list and 67.9% say it should be easier for charters to expand.

Charters also save the city money. State law says charters may get between 75% and 125% of per pupil spending in the district. But in practice most get an average of 78% what Chicago spends per pupil on traditional public schools, according to the Illinois Network of Charter Schools.

Mayor Emanuel campaigned on his support for charters and Chicago has approved 11 new charters for this fall. But to assuage the unions, [Chicago Public Schools chief Barbara Byrd] Bennett says she won't let charter schools use the empty buildings left from the 54 closing schools. Never mind that the buildings were paid for by Chicago taxpayers, and they'll go unused or be sold for very little otherwise.

Closing under-used and failing schools is among the remedies proposed by President Obama's Race to the Top program, and failing businesses are closed every day. Only in American public education do people argue with a straight face that failing schools need to be kept open "for the children."