Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, will tout their education policies to the nation this week at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Walz, a former teacher married to a former teacher, speaks often about his time in the classroom. But anyone curious about the future of education under a Harris-Walz presidency would learn more by looking outside the convention than inside it.
Chicago schools will be almost completely empty this week. That is by design: This year, district leaders pushed the usual start of the school year back by a week to help the city "accommodate an estimated influx of 75,000 visitors" and "[allow] time for students to attend, volunteer, and participate in the civic process of hosting the Convention."
That’s right: 320,000 students are being kept out of school so they can watch a political party talk about the importance of education. Teachers are still expected to report to work for professional development days, and the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is busing teachers to Soldier Field on Thursday night to watch Harris’ acceptance speech on the big screen.
