It seems like only a short time ago I was at my national teacher union convention speaking for a more aggressive approach to organizing charter school teachers.
While I still have friends who believe that organizing the unorganized it tantamount to approval of charter schools, that view seems to have been in retreat in the face of successful organizing drives, particularly in Chicago by the CTU and their former (now merged) ChiACTS charter teacher affiliate.
If the recent successful strike by Chicago Acero charters teachers didn’t put the final nail in that argument’s coffin I’m not sure what could.
The February Chicago mayoral election will be another opportunity to give charters a further shellacking.
Chicago can elect an anti-charter mayor. The pro-charter Rahm has been a main obstacle to passing a bill stripping the state’s Charter Commission of its power to overrule local home rule authority to deny charter applications.
Several candidates have come out as opposed to charters schools: Lori Lightfoot, Tony Preckwinkle, Ja’Mall Green and Amara Enyia among them.
Paul Vallas would be an obvious choice.
Or Maybe Bill Daley.
Current Illinois State Comptroller and leading mayoral contender Susana Mendoza has a pro-charter record as a legislator including in 2009 as a co-sponsor of SB612, which doubled the number of charter schools in Illinois.
When Mendoza ran for Chicago City Clerk, some argued she was the candidate of UNO (which gave birth to Acero charters). She kicked off her campaign at an UNO school, surrounded by UNO stalwarts. She’s got a grand from the d’Escoto window operation.
You remember Fred d’Escoto from the scandal involving UNO head and Rahm election co-chair Juan Rangel.
Now WalMart is looking for a a best choice charter candidate to back. They will have no trouble finding someone.
Fred Klonsky 
Vote in a Dem and keep the city the pile of crap that it’s been for roughly the last 75 years. It’s like a dog chasing it’s tail. And people wonder why the city is shitty in the way you do.
I’m pretty sure that you are using “Dem” as a code word for Black and Brown people. Nobody I know thinks the city is shitty in the way you do. So stay where you are.
Hope we can find out where/to whom the charter PAC $$$$ will be going. Will be watching the Reform Illinois (formerly the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform) website to look up those contributions.
(All will undoubtedly be hidden as dark money.)
But, as journalists like Lynn Sweet continue to do their jobs, the people will be informed.