>> i want to bring in diane ravitch.the argument here is there is around 100,000 empty seats that are wasting taxpayer money. what is your response to that? >> over the past several years, we have seen federal government and a lot of local governments saying that kids need smaller schools. in new york city, many schools have been broken up into five or six schools and many new small schools have been created. all of these schools could have served as the ideal small schools. there's really no reason to close them rid many people think it may have been paid back to the teachers' union for having the strike last september. other cities that have closed schools have found no cost savings because the children still need services, still need teachers, so there really is no cost savings. emanuel's part, he's fallen in the footsteps of his predecessor arnie duncan. arne duncan had this idea that the way to improve schools is to close them, which is a ridiculous idea. he closed three schools in 2002 and two years later he announ