Karen Lewis tackles Bruce Rauner - chicagotribune.com

Millionaire capitalist Bruce Rauner, ranked No. 90 on Chicago Magazine's "100 Most Powerful Chicagoans," and who donated enough money to the Noble Network of Charter Schools to get his name on one, published a scathing opinion aimed at Chicago Public Schools teachers in Wednesday's Tribune. The amount of anger and venom Rauner spits out at our hardworking CPS teachers is beyond reprehensible.

Rauner is so politically powerful he brought Stand for Children to Illinois to spearhead the controversial Senate Bill 7, which, among other significant changes, made teacher performance the chief component in job security, not seniority.

Rauner wrote: "This strike is about protecting political power." What is wrong with 30,000 teachers and staff belonging to a labor union and using their collective power for the betterment of the children of Chicago? Rauner has more political power than the Chicago Teachers Union all by himself, so what is he complaining about?

He claims "hundreds of thousands of children" will essentially amount to nothing in life because half of the teachers in CPS are unqualified to teach. He says he sat in a CPS math class and witnessed division "being taught incorrectly." Why was he in a CPS classroom to begin with? Did he use his political connections to finagle that field trip? Why wasn't he visiting any of the low-performing charter schools across this city?

Rauner claims that the performance of many CPS teachers is "grossly inadequate." Well, Mr. Rauner, have you visited every CPS school? Have you seen how grossly inadequate our facilities and teaching materials are? Have you been in a computer lab when the power went out while students were trying to take a standardized test? How about standing in a classroom where the roof leaks or snow blows in because the windows are in desperate need of repair? I wonder how well you would learn your ABCs in an overcrowded classroom where 10 percent of the children have asthma, 20 percent didn't get a good night's sleep and another 30 percent are recovering from witnessing a shooting in their neighborhood? Not to mention the number of students who haven't had two solid meals since their last school lesson.

Rauner claims he has "seen the standardized test scores of CPS teachers that indicate many of them aren't capable of scoring 21 on the ACT, the absolute minimum score needed to be ready for college." All of our teachers have bachelor's degrees, and a high number have their master's. What about charter school students who score a 16 on the ACT yet the charters claim 100 percent college-bound rates? What does he mean that he has seen the CPS teachers' test scores? Who showed them to him? Did he use his political clout yet again?

Rauner's solution to all these problems is to increase the number of Teach for America interns in CPS schools, to expand charter schools and to increase standardized testing. Obviously he knows absolutely nothing about education. If he even subscribed to any of the numerous education newspapers, like Education Week, he would know studies are showing Teach for America is not improving educational outcomes at low-income schools, that charter school performance nationwide is only on par with public school counterparts and that excessive standardized testing can have an adverse effect on students.

How much money has Bruce Rauner personally invested in all of these "solutions"?

Karen Lewis is president of the Chicago Teachers Union. To read Bruce Rauner's Perspective essay online, go to chicagotribune.com/rauner.