Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s plan to close a projected $1.2 billion budget gap in 2021 would hike sales and property taxes by $76.4 million, eliminate 1,921 city jobs and dip into the city’s rainy-day fund.
A return to in-person learning?
Parents and educators are growing increasingly concerned that remote learning for students at Chicago Public Schools has only deepened racial disparities in education during the COVID-19 pandemic. The district recently announced a plan to bring some students back into the classroom before the end of the calendar year, just as COVID-19 cases in the city begin to increase again.
“To be honest, remote learning is not working for a core group of our students, most notably our early learners as well as our special education students in cluster programs,” CPS CEO Janice Jackson said Tuesday on “Chicago Tonight.”
Last debate
Meanwhile, the Nov. 3 election nears — and voters can watch President Donald Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden square off for a second, final debate on Thursday. This time, some new rules will be in place to help avoid the chaotic scene from Sept. 30.
Our politics team of Amanda Vinicky, Heather Cherone, Paris Schutz and Carol Marin discusses these stories and more in this week’s edition of “Spotlight Politics.”
