Charter School Advocate Bruce Rauner Pulled Strings To Get Daughter Into Elite Chicago Public High School
By Chuck Sudo in News on Dec 31, 2013 5:00PM
Bruce Rauner
"The critical issue is to separate the union from the teachers. They're not the same thing," Rauner said. "The union basically is a bunch of politicians elected to do certain things — get more pay, get more benefits, less work hours, more job security. That's what they're paid to do. They're not about the students. They're not about results. They're not about the taxpayers."
Rauner regurgitates those thoughts in his latest campaign ad where he doubles down on his desire for charter schools, merit-based pay and greater parental control of schools.
If Rauner is so gung-ho on charter schools then why did he use his clout to get his daughter into the elite Walter Payton College Prep? That's what the Sun-Times has been asking.
According to a CPS source, an investigation by the Chicago Public Schools inspector general indicated that Rauner called the office of then-Schools CEO Arne Duncan about his daughter’s chances of getting into Walter Payton College Prep, and she was admitted after a top Duncan aide called Payton’s principal.At the time, the daughter had not made the list of students accepted based on a strict formula involving test scores and other academic factors, the source said.
The incident was one of dozens involving clout-based admissions investigated by the inspector general.
“She was admitted within days of him making a phone call,” the source said.
Rauner's campaign spokesman Mike Schrimpf told the Sun-Times Rauner's daughter was admitted to Payton off the principal's list and Rauner told the Sun-Times editorial board last summer it was "stuff that doesn't matter."
But it could if he continues to market himself as a pull himself up by the bootstraps populist who just happens to have a real estate portfolio that rivals Sam Zell and can have an audience with Mayor Rahm Emanuel with a single phone call.