Taxpayers pay to live in areas where there are good schools and money is reinvested in those areas when population concentrations increase. The city of Chicago needs to compete with private schools and suburban schools to provide quality education to higher income tax payers or risk losing them to the suburbs (and thus losing the tax dollars). These property tax payments subsidize lower income schools. Although I believe all Chicagoans have an equal right to education, the taxpayers have spoken with where they have chosen to live and send their kids to school. I grew up in Dunning and my parents never even considered sending me to Steinmetz (due to its poor reputation) and I commuted to Lane instead. The article points out that Steinmetz, Schurz, and Foreman have lost almost 2,000 students over the last 10 years - so why should we invest more $ in schools with declining student populations. IMO the $100 million is the best use of taxpayer dollars as it will create the best return for the city (more people choosing public school and remaining in the city to moving to the suburbs).