Apply Leadership to School Crisis

It's time to start thinking about the unthinkable.

With Chicago school officials faced with a $383 million budgetdeficit they don't know how to close, scenarios of a prolongedstrike, shortened school year or court takeover of the Chicago publicschool system are being openly discussed.

In a nutshell, the School Board's problem is this. It can raiseabout $220 million by the fall if Gov. Edgar, Mayor Daley and theLegislature give it the authority to implement a host of one-timerevenue fixes, all of which in a perfect world are distasteful.

These fixes include a final-year delay in Chapter 1 anti-povertyfunds to individual schools, a speed-up in state funding …