Chalkbeat

Chicago school board looks at possible preschool expansion, despite opposition from district leadership

2026-09-10T22:31:57+00:00

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The Chicago school board is weighing a resolution to explore offering full-day preschool to all 3-year-olds and shifting how it provides services for young children with disabilities.

The resolution, drafted by board member Anusha Thotakura, would give the district until next summer to study how families access early childhood programs and how it can better meet their needs before crafting a plan for a possible overhaul. For children with disabilities, Thotakura wants the district to consider sending staff to provide special education services in private childcare settings rather than busing children to district schools.

In a memo to school board members, CPS Superintendent Macquline King voiced strong opposition to the resolution. She suggested the administration was blindsided by it and argued the proposal could saddle the financially strained district with significant costs. King also said she was concerned that if the district starts sending special education staffers to daycares, it might also have to dispatch them to private and faith-based schools, which vie with district-run campuses for enrollment. The district conducted a small pilot starting in 2023 to provide federally required services for young children with disabilities in Head Start programs and found few families took advantage, the memo said.

But Thotakura and other board members said it’s worthwhile to study what early childhood access and services currently look like — including for bilingual students — and how the district can strengthen them. Thotakura said she understands the district’s financial constraints but argued that more robust early services could help reduce spending needed later to help students who fall behind academically.

“When we invest early in our students, that sets them up for success throughout their entire time in CPS,” she said.

The resolution echoes a campaign proposal from Hilario Dominguez, who was until recently the Chicago Teachers Union’s deputy political director and is running for school board president this fall with union support. Thotakura and other board members who voiced support for the resolution were appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson, a staunch union ally, or elected with CTU backing.

The district expanded access to preschool for 4-year-olds in recent years, and it offers programs for 3-year-olds in some schools. Those programs are generally half-day, a format that Thotakura noted is a poor fit for working families who might need full-day childcare.

Supporters on the board argued special education services in children’s childcare settings would spare them lengthy bus rides and disruptive transitions. The resolution also calls on the district to take a closer look at the city’s current Child Find system for identifying children who qualify for early childhood disability services, which Thotakura said is likely missing too many children.

School board member Debby Pope said research has shown that early childhood programs and interventions for students with disabilities can be especially helpful for children from low-income families and other disadvantaged students. She said her grandson, who has a disability, thrived after receiving special education support at his daycare in Pennsylvania.

“These types of programs can really benefit our struggle for equity and our desire to diminish the achievement gap that exists,” she said.

In her memo, King said the district was not involved in developing the resolution and that it could lead to a duplication of existing services.

“For the record, the District does not support moving forward with this proposal, given our current operational and financial context and the significant implications for students, families, schools, and District operations,” she wrote, adding that the plan could undermine the district’s credibility as it lobbies the state for more funding.

Some board members said they only learned of the resolution in recent days and have questions and concerns. Member Therese Boyle said she worries that moving some services to private childcare providers could hurt district enrollment. She also raised concerns about sending CPS staff to private schools.

“It seems like the resolution is biting off very large pieces to chew,” she said. “My head is swimming with it all, to be honest.”

Member Jennifer Custer said the board should not govern the district by resolution but instead work closely with district officials through new committees the board is launching later this year focused on student achievement, finance, and operations. Member Ellen Rosenfeld said she is concerned that a preschool expansion is something the cash-strapped district cannot afford.

“The district has to be able to implement something this massive and this expensive,” she said.

Thotakura said the board will continue conversations about the resolution in groups of five or fewer members, which would allow them to discuss it without calling a public meeting, and could vote on it later this month.

In an interview with Chalkbeat, Thotakura said she reached out several times to the district’s administration about working together on a proposal. She stressed that her resolution simply asks the district to explore the issue and identify barriers to access without committing it to take any specific action. Officials would have to develop recommendations for improving services based on next year’s study by June 30, 2028.

“The district’s memo made it seem like the resolution is asking for huge policy changes overnight,” she said.

Reema Amin contributed to this report.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago school board candidates sign pledge to ban AI use in schools

2026-09-01T15:07:13+00:00

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Roughly half of the 45 candidates running for the Chicago school board have signed a pledge to adopt a three-year ban on artificial intelligence use by CPS students and educators.

Crafted by a local nonprofit, the pledge also calls for eliminating school screen time before third grade and limiting it in later grades. It demands that the district hire a chief privacy officer and ban the collection of student biometric data, such as voice recordings captured by literacy software.

“The risks of AI are absolutely outweighing the benefits right now,” said Cassie Creswell, the head of Illinois Families for Public Schools, a parent advocacy group that has lobbied for more student privacy protections. “It’s perfectly possible to have a low-tech education and learn everything you need to know.”

The nonprofit wanted to leverage the city’s first races to elect all 21 members of the school board to exact commitments from candidates, Creswell said, though last week she also called on the current, partly elected board to consider AI restrictions this fall. So far, 23 candidates have signed the pledge.

The local push comes amid a national parent backlash against education technology, including AI-powered software. But some Chicago school board candidates, district officials, and others said the pledge goes too far, denying educators useful tools and limiting their ability to help students thoughtfully and safely navigate an ubiquitous technology.

“I think an outright ban is unproductive, and it really negates our responsibility, which is to come up with better solutions so our kids can both access this stuff, but also so that we don’t do irreparable harm to them,” said Janice Jackson, a former CPS CEO who is now leads the Education and Society Program at the nonpartisan think tank the Aspen Institute.

In a statement, Chicago Public Schools said it remains “steadfast in its deliberate, responsible approach to artificial intelligence.” It noted that the Illinois State Board of Education’s recently released AI guidelines for school districts references CPS’ AI guidebook as a model.

Creswell points to a recent move by CPS to shelve a plan to give high school students access to Gemini — Google’s AI chatbot — as an early win for the effort, though CPS officials said they only briefly weighed that plan and nixed it last spring.

The district said officials considered “an aspirational plan” to enable Gemini access on its high schoolers’ Google Classroom accounts after a small group of educators tested the tool without letting students access it. But the plan was put on hold last May based on input from teachers “to prioritize individual school readiness and educator training.”

“CPS embraces AI’s potential to enhance learning while remaining fully committed to safeguarding critical thinking and student data privacy,” the district’s statement said.

The district said a group of high school students spent the summer designing a new Student Voice AI Council and drafting a Student AI Playbook.

Board member Debby Pope, an appointee and retired educator running to represent district 2b, who signed the pledge, worries about AI’s potential to undermine students’ ability to think creatively, write, and ferret out misinformation.

“It’s extremely important to take an approach of caution and care so we raise a generation that has critical thinking abilities and understands the importance of using multiple sources of information,” she said.

But she said she is concerned that an outright ban might hamper the district’s ability to teach kids already widely using the technology how AI works and how to navigate its pitfalls.

Ellen Rosenfeld, who is running to represent district 4b unopposed, didn’t sign the pledge. She shares many of the concerns in the pledge and supports taking a more critical look at tech use in CPS.

“I am concerned that on AI, we are building the plane while we’re flying it,” she said.

But she said she was uncomfortable signing a sweeping document with a yearslong commitment. She said she is unsure how much jurisdiction the board has to impose such a policy.

Some momentum for technology restrictions is building nationally. Earlier this year, Illinois joined a majority of states in adopting a new law restricting student cell phone use in schools that will go into effect next year.

But the state’s AI guidance is nonbinding, imposing no requirements on how districts regulate the technology’s use. Earlier this summer, the school board in Los Angeles — whose superintendent resigned amid a federal probe into a costly failed AI chatbot contract — passed a policy banning screen time before the second grade. This week, New York City is releasing a new policy that would restrict student AI use in the elementary and middle grades and set screen time limits though it stops short of a full moratorium.

Creswell, of Illinois Families for Public Schools, said the nonprofit’s Pledge to Protect Human-Centered Education was also inspired by a recent Brookings report suggesting that AI’s potential harms to students exceed the possible benefits. She said tech use in CPS and its cost to the district have expanded without enough evidence these tools are improving learning or vendors are safeguarding student privacy. The nonprofit is taking particular aim at Amira, an AI-powered tool for struggling readers that CPS says has shown promising results in supplementing more traditional instruction.

Jackson, the former CPS CEO, said school districts need to be more discerning in selecting education technology tools. A lot of them are “junk,” she said, and she does worry about how companies are collecting and using student data.

At the same time, she said teachers are embracing helpful AI-powered tools, for example using AI to more efficiently plan lessons geared to diverse student needs. Failing to teach smart, responsible use of a technology that has come to permeate daily life can leave students at a disadvantage compared with peers at better resourced districts.

“I don’t think we get rid of technology and educate a bunch of kids who don’t know how to use these tools efficiently, because that doesn’t set them up for success,” she said. “But I do think it’s a moment to take a step back and make sure there are guardrails in place.”

This story has been updated to include information on a newly released New York City policy on student use of AI.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago school board delays proposal to steer more dollars to Chicago Arts High School

2026-08-27T22:12:40+00:00

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The Chicago school board for the second time postponed a controversial proposal to steer an estimated $5.5 million to Chicago Arts High School, formerly known as ChiArts, a once privately run school the board voted last year to absorb to avert its closure.

The extra money would come on top of $5.7 million already earmarked in the budget passed in July for its transition to a district-run school. School board members who back the proposal say the added money would allow the campus to more fully preserve its conservatory model, in which students receive hours of training from professional artists alongside each day’s academics. But district officials cautioned they would have to dip into funding for some of CPS’s 72 other, generally less intensive arts schools — a move that critics said would be unfair and damaging to other schools.

Supporters on the board said the extra dollars would tide the school over for a year until it cultivates philanthropic backing for its conservatory — a push that curtailing its arts offerings could undermine. Under the proposal, the school would keep more of roughly 70 teaching artists involved with its conservatory last school year.

The push comes after months of vocal lobbying of the board by students, parents, educators, the Chicago Teachers Union, which represents them, and other backers — and at a time of intense fiscal stress for the deficit-plagued district.

“I know this is not the same school people signed up for,” said board member Michilla Blaise. “We need to step up and make sure an extremely successful school continues to be extremely successful.”

Blaise authored the resolution to provide more funding and moved to table it until the board’s Sept. 10 meeting, saying conversations with district officials are ongoing. Blaise’s resolution includes no dollar amount, but the district estimates it would take $5.5 million to provide the additional staff it calls for.

District officials have balked at the proposal. In an internal memo obtained by Chalkbeat, Superintendent Macquline King told board members that CPS had already delivered on its promise to preserve the conservatory model “to the greatest extent practicable.” She noted that other arts high schools received $53,000 on average for their arts programming this year. And even with the backing of a now-dissolved foundation that actively fundraised for the school, its previous model had ultimately proved unsustainable, King wrote.

Chicago Arts High School’s total 2026-27 budget is $14.4 million. With an additional $5.5 million, per-pupil spending at the school would increase to almost $40,000, compared with a district average of about $20,000 — a cost supporters say makes sense for an intensive, specialized program preparing students for arts careers.

Under the district’s existing plan, the school’s nine-hour day was shortened by 50 minutes, to what CPS said was still longer than many comparable schools nationally. The district said it created 20 positions for resident artists, whom the school could eventually share with other area campuses.

At Thursday’s meeting, King said transitioning the school to district management had been a “herculean effort.” The school will now offer eight Advanced Placement classes as well as online courses for about 200 students who are not on track to graduate. Officials said preliminary enrollment this week is down almost 40 students, to about 500, in line with districtwide decreases.

“We needed to create a new school and adjust the model to ensure long-term sustainability and academic rigor,” King said.

In her memo, King had urged board members to weigh their decision in the context of already substantial resources that CPS devoted to absorbing five campuses of the Acero charter network — more than $13 million so far — as well as millions more to deal with fiscal trouble at the now defunct EPIC Academy High School and the ASPIRA charter school network, which closed its campuses in recent years.

In an open letter to the board, Joe Ferguson, the head of the Civic Federation, had urged the board to reject the additional money, arguing that siphoning the funding away from other schools would set a “dangerous” precedent.

“This is the worst kind of Chicago parochialism — favoring one small but vocal group over the needs of the many,” he wrote.

At Thursday’s meeting, board member Che “Rhymefest” Smith, who is an advocate for more robust arts education across CPS, once again voiced opposition to granting Chicago Arts High School more resources, saying many schools in his South Side district had not received any additional funding for arts programs. He said pushing for more resources for one favored program to the possible detriment of others “borders on corruption,” a comment for which board President Sean Harden censured him.

Blaise said she believes the idea that steering more dollars to Chicago Arts High School would siphon off resources from other campuses is “preposterous.” She noted the school’s students are predominantly Latino and Black and come from across the city.

“The narrative that this is some kind of specialty program for rich white kids is completely false,” she said.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Jennifer Custer drops out of race for Chicago school board president

2026-08-27T20:35:15+00:00

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Jennifer Custer, an incumbent school board member, is withdrawing from the race to be the first elected Chicago Board of Education president.

In a statement, she said she filed paperwork Thursday with the Chicago Board of Elections to withdraw. Custer was the only candidate in the race whose petition signatures were not challenged.

“I am exiting because it became abundantly clear that various special interests are prepared to spend millions of dollars in this race,” she wrote in the statement. “Going up against that kind of spending in our political system creates an uphill battle that I ultimately decided I did not want to put my family, endorsers, volunteers, and supporters through.”

Custer did not make an endorsement, but left the door open to doing so. Four other candidates remain: Jessica Biggs, a former CPS principal and incumbent school board member; Hilario Dominguez, former political director for the Chicago Teachers Union and former special education teacher; Victor Henderson, an attorney, and Sendhil Revuluri, a consultant and former vice president of the school board appointed by then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

“I know the other candidates in this race well, and I will ask the same question I have asked throughout my time on the Board: Who shares my North Star of doing what is best for our children?” Custer wrote.

The former suburban educator and mom of three narrowly won her seat in 2024 over Michelle Pierre, who is now running again to represent district 1b. Custer had the support of the Chicago Teachers Union, but forged a more independent path over the past two years serving on the board.

Recently, she was the only no vote on the board’s decision to put two non-binding referendums about raising new revenue for CPS on the November ballot. Both questions were put forward by Mayor Brandon Johnson’s allies and Custer was the only one of a more independent bloc of school board members to attend the meeting. She was also the lone no vote against hiring Chicago Public Schools CEO Macquline King as the permanent leader.

In July, Custer joined with six other school board members to vote against an amended budget that assumes $150 million more in state revenue. She also voted against taking out a high-interest loan last year to reimburse the city for a portion of a payment to a municipal pension fund that supports non-teaching staff and retirees in CPS.

Custer’s fundraising lagged behind the other candidates in the race. One of her top donors has been the political action committee of the Operating Engineers Local 150, where her husband, Jeremy, is the political director. In April, she told Chalkbeat one of her biggest campaign expenses has been child care, which is a permissible expenditure under state campaign finance laws. Arranging care for her children had allowed her to visit schools, meet with potential supporters, and attend board meetings, she said.

In her statement, Custer thanked her campaign staff and her family, “especially my three little ones, who have seen less of me than they deserve,” she wrote.

Prior to serving on Chicago’s school board, Custer worked as a paraprofessional, and classroom teacher and administrator in school districts in Wisconsin and Chicago’s suburbs. She served for two years as president of the teachers union in Itasca and was an assistant principal and interim principal in Addison School District 4.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago’s first day of school brings excitement and concerns about possible budget cuts

2026-08-24T20:57:10+00:00

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Eleven-year-old Carter Darling was so excited Monday morning that he was awake before his mom and the sun.

By 6:45 a.m., Carter was wearing his backpack and the school uniform he typically hates: a black cardigan with the school’s name embroidered on the upper left corner, a white collared dress shirt, a plaid tie, gray slacks, and black sneakers.

“I feel good,” he said, smiling, before embarking on the two-block walk to his first day of sixth grade at Robert A. Black Magnet Elementary School in the Calumet Heights neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side.

Carter is one of more than 300,000 Chicago Public Schools students who returned to the classroom Monday. It’s a big year for the nation’s fourth largest school district. Mayoral control is set to formally end in January and be replaced by a fully elected school board that will manage a $10 billion budget, oversee district leadership, and set the vision for the city’s more than 600 public schools.

The school board’s decisions directly affect schools like Carter’s. Last month, the current board approved a budget that assumes CPS will get $150 million more in state funding than Illinois lawmakers allocated in May. The additional money would help reverse summer layoffs, but schools could face midyear cuts if it doesn’t come.

Before Mayor Brandon Johnson rang the first bell Monday at George Leland Elementary School in the Austin neighborhood where he lives, he repeated his push for Illinois to implement a state millionaires tax to fund public education.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson walks Chicago Public School students to their first day of school at George Leland Elementary School on Aug. 24, 2026.

“We’re going into a season where we have to demand more from those who have the ability to give more to actually do more,” Johnson said. “You have politicians that have greater expectations of third graders than they do of themselves.”

Back on the South Side, Carter’s mom, Jaciel Cathey, recounted taking a photo of Carter shaking hands with Johnson last year when he visited his school alongside then-interim CPS CEO Macquline King.

Cathey learned more about the district’s budget situation during one of the district’s family webinars last week but said she still doesn’t know what it will mean for her child’s school.

“Why are we including money in the budget that is not set in stone?” she said. “You’re depending on money that is not there.”

Cathey hopes to use her new role on the school’s Local School Council to help address funding and resource gaps, including securing money to fund a crossing guard for the small but sometimes busy streets around the school.

She and Carter are also trying to remain focused on what they can control.

Carter will probably take an admissions test this fall for sixth graders interested in attending the district’s selective middle school programs, known as Academic Centers.

The family is no stranger to navigating CPS through periods of instability. Cathey grew up in the Woodlawn neighborhood and graduated from CPS schools before becoming a CPS teacher and later changing careers.

When Carter turned 3, Cathey enrolled him in a full-day preschool program at Holy Angels, a Catholic school near her Bronzeville home, with hours that allowed her to work.

Before Carter entered kindergarten, CPS schools saw midyear cuts, then received a historic funding commitment from the state. In 2019, the Chicago Teachers Union went on an 11-day strike. Cathey said this unpredictability made her want to keep him at Holy Angels through eighth grade.

“You knew they would have the staff, you knew they would have the resources,” Cathey said of the private school, which costs about $7,000 annually.

Jaciel Cathey walks her son, Carter, to school on Mon., Aug. 24, 2026 in Chicago, Il.

But Cathey felt Holy Angels focused too heavily on the arts and disciplining students and not enough on reading and math. When it was time for kindergarten, Carter applied and was admitted to Walt Disney Magnet School, a coveted public magnet school on the North Side.

They liked the school. But at the end of first grade, a white child called Carter a racial slur on the playground, Cathey said. According to an incident report reviewed by Chalkbeat, staff planned to hold a “restorative conversation” with the other child. She didn’t feel the school was being responsive enough to her or handling the situation well, so Carter returned to Holy Angels for second grade.

“Let’s put him in CPS, see what happens — well, he gets called the n-word,” Cathey said during an interview last week. “OK, let’s go back to what we know.”

CPS now has a Black Student Success Plan, meant to improve outcomes and the school experience for the city’s Black students. But the Trump administration is investigating CPS in part over the plan, claiming that it discriminates against students who aren’t Black.

By the end of second grade, the Cathey family had moved further south to Pill Hill. Black Magnet was just a five-minute walk from their new home. The state has labeled the close-knit, small school “commendable,” and students last year outpaced their peers across the district and state in math and reading proficiency.

Carter enrolled at Black Magnet in fourth grade and in the two years since, hasn’t looked back. He likes the staff, has made friends, and enjoys learning — especially the “pretty fun” projects in science, he said.

Cathey said Carter will stay at Black Magnet through eighth grade if he doesn’t get into an Academic Center. But she wants him to have “consistency” as he prepares for college, and that means leaving CPS for high school, she said.

“We need for him to get the most support that he can get and the most rigorous education that he can get without, you know, Mr. Johnson teaching math on Monday, then Mr. Johnson is laid off because Springfield didn’t send the money,” Cathey said.

As the mother and son walked up to Black on Monday morning, Cathey reminded Carter about their annual tradition of getting ice cream after school on the first day. She gave him a hug and sent him into the building with a tote filled with paper towels and tissues for his classroom.

Mila Koumpilova contributed.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Board of Education 101: Know the basics of the soon-to-be elected board guiding Chicago Public Schools

2026-08-20T10:00:00+00:00

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If it seems like you’ve heard more about Chicago’s school board in the past two years than ever, it’s for good reason.

That’s because for the first time after 30 years of mayoral control, the Chicago Board of Education will be fully elected in November. No matter what involvement you might have with CPS — as a teacher, a parent, an administrator, a student, or a community member — all registered voters can cast a ballot for one representative from their local electoral district and one person to lead the board as president.

It’s historic. It’s unprecedented. But if you’re not tapped into CPS school board politics, it might also be confusing.

Here’s everything you need to know about the school board and the shift from mayoral control to elected representation.

What is the Chicago Board of Education?

The city’s school board is the primary entity tasked with creating the vision and setting priorities for Chicago Public Schools. Its role differs from that of CPS’ central office, led by CEO Macquline King, which handles more of the district’s day-to-day operations.

The Chicago Board of Education shares many responsibilities with school boards across the country. It is meant to follow several guiding principles laid out by the Illinois Association of Schools Boards, including clarifying the district’s purpose and monitoring its progress toward the goals it sets.

Chicago’s school board is enshrined in state law, but its structure has proven malleable in reality. Most notably, in 1995, as part of a broader state legislative package to improve CPS’ academic performance, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley was given responsibility for appointing a five-member board — known as the Reform Board of Trustees — to spearhead transformative reform.

In 1999, it reverted to its old title as the Chicago Board of Education and increased its membership to seven people. It grew to 21 people after 10 members were elected in 2024 and were joined by 11 mayoral appointees.

What does Chicago’s school board specifically do?

Some Chicagoans may be most familiar with one of the board’s core functions: making financial decisions. The school board has the power to raise local property taxes and decides how to allocate local revenue and streams of state and federal funding to schools.

While more granular spending decisions are usually left to school and district administrators, the board’s budgetary clout can supersede their authority. This was demonstrated in the board’s latest budget approval last month, when a narrow majority of members voted to rescind hundreds of staff layoffs that King’s office had made to address the district’s more than $700 million budget deficit. The board instead built in a revenue assumption that state lawmakers would provide $150 million more than they had already allocated.

Another one of the board’s key powers, hiring a district leader to fill the roles of CEO and superintendent, has been in the spotlight for much of the past year. After choosing someone to head the district, the board evaluates that person’s performance.

Important paperwork, such as collective bargaining agreements with labor unions and contracts with charter school operators, also requires board approval.

A school board is supposed to be responsive to the communities it serves. In Chicago, the board now has power to gather community input through referendums. It also must gather input on proposed changes to district policies.

Receiving community input is one of the main functions of the Chicago Board of Education, which can included feedback from Chicago Public Schools students themselves.

It’s not always easy to reach a consensus on these recommendations. The board now has 21 members, each with differing views on how best to serve CPS students and educators.

Why do we have so many school board members in Chicago?

We know, 21 people is a lot of school board members. Chicago has one of the largest elected boards among major U.S. cities. It dwarfs Illinois’ average of about seven school board members per district, according to Ballotpedia.

The Illinois General Assembly passed a bill in 2021 to triple the board’s membership from seven to 21 people, including the board president.

A desire for better representation on Chicago’s school board — rather than unceasing mayoral control — played a large part in adding more members. To determine how those members would represent different parts of Chicago, state lawmakers passed separate legislation in March 2024 dividing the city into electoral districts.

The expansion received mixed feedback. Some education advocates applauded the move, while others feared the large school board would create a messier policymaking process.

As a compromise, lawmakers created a transition period that started in 2024 with the election of 10 members who joined 11 mayoral appointees for a two-year hybrid period.

Why didn’t Chicago always vote for school board members?

Outside Chicago, elected school boards aren’t a novel idea. Most school boards in Illinois and across the U.S. are elected.

Illinois legislators initiated the process to fully elect the board by 2026 in the same law that put 21 members on the Chicago Board of Education. Despite pushback from some local groups and former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the bill passed the legislature and was signed into law by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in 2021.

Demands for an elected school board long preceded the bill’s passage, with prominent organizations such as the Chicago Teachers Union championing the change as a way to hold the board accountable to families and educators. Several decisions made by the appointed board had soured public perceptions of the governing body, including its unanimous vote approving former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan to close about 50 schools, which disproportionately affected Black students.

As part of the path to a fully elected board, lawmakers required half the board to be elected in 2024. The other half remained mayoral appointees. Voters delivered disparate results on what local factions they wanted to represent them by voting in four CTU-backed candidates, three pro-charter candidates, and three independents.

Two years later, Chicagoans will be deciding who represents them in all 21 board positions.

Does that mean I have to vote for my school board member every two years?

It depends where you live in your district and what year it is.

Each of the 10 districts Chicagoans voted in during the 2024 election had about 275,000 residents and has since been divided into two subdistricts. Voters will elect a candidate running in their half of the district, referred to as the “a” or “b” subdistrict. That means each district will produce two elected school board members.

Per state law, members elected to replace mayoral appointees will initially serve two-year terms, while those taking office in subdistricts represented by members previously elected in 2024 will serve four-year terms.

The term lengths will swap starting in the 2028 general election. So, a school board member elected this year to serve a two-year term will be up for a four-year term if they win reelection in 2028.

What’s in it for the CPS board members? Do they get paid?

No, members do not get paid for serving on the board. Illinois state law prohibits it, although members can be reimbursed for related job expenses. Serving on the board averages about 25 to 30 hours per month for members, according to the board’s website.

Some current board members have quit their day jobs to give more of their time to the position. Critics argue the lack of pay disincentivizes working parents and teachers from running for office and have called on state lawmakers to legalize some form of compensation. An effort to make that change fizzled out in the House earlier this year.

Opponents of board compensation contend that creating salaries for board members would siphon money away from already underfunded school resources.

For now, board members are compensated with something a bit less tangible: influence over the fourth-largest school district in the country.

Makiya Seminera is a reporter covering how the state and federal government affect education in Chicago and across Illinois. Contact Makiya at mseminera@chalkbeat.org.

A divided Chicago school board adds referendums on new revenue to November ballot

2026-08-13T19:24:26+00:00

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For the first time in its history, Chicago’s school board voted Thursday to put two questions on the November ballot gauging voter opinions on proposals to bring in more money for the deficit-plagued district.

One referendum would ask voters if they support a statewide millionaires tax to raise money for public education. The other would ask if they would favor a new financial penalty on the owners of vacant city land to steer additional dollars to Chicago Public Schools. The school board needed to decide on these questions before a Monday deadline to add them to the ballot.

Because both are non-binding, neither would compel the state or the city to enact the new taxes and turn the revenue over to the district. But supporters of the referendums hoped they could put pressure on state and city decision-makers. Last spring, state lawmakers considered a binding referendum to enact a millionaires tax to fund education and provide property tax relief on the ballot. But the measure failed.

In response to board members arguing the referendums do little to ease CPS’s immediate fiscal pressures, board President Sean Harden argued the board should pursue more urgent fixes but also let the public weigh in on possible longer-term solutions.

“What we have before us is a window of opportunity — pretty short in nature — to activate and use a new muscle,” he said.

The special meeting initially lacked a quorum. Some board members who showed up — largely those appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson or elected with backing from his former employer, the Chicago Teachers Union — accused their colleagues of boycotting to derail the referendums. Some of the missing board members decried the hastily called special meeting to vote on what they described as half-baked proposals and said it conflicted with prior commitments or work. The meeting was eventually reconvened, with two board members supportive of the referendums joining virtually.

The debate about the referendums comes a couple of weeks after a majority on the board rallied around a high-stakes budget gamble: They rejected educator and staff layoffs under CEO Macquline King’s budget proposals. King had argued the layoffs were a responsible way to address the district’s deficits after years of shrinking enrollments and a growing workforce. Instead, the board opted to balance the budget by assuming an influx of additional state revenue. If state lawmakers do not approve that revenue during a November veto session, the district would likely face disruptive midyear cuts and other fallout.

Angel Velez, the board vice president, invoked a growing gap between what Illinois’ formula considers “adequate” district funding and the amount CPS receives. The tax on high earners is a favored proposal of Johnson, who appointed Velez.

“This is fundamentally about how we build the public support needed to move our schools from scarcity to adequacy,” Velez said during Wednesday’s board meeting to review this month’s agenda.

Cydney Wallace, another Johnson school board appointee who introduced the vacant lot question, said the thousands lots across the city are eyesores that impact public safety and cause other issues. She cited research suggesting that developing vacant urban land leads to improvement in residents’ mental health.

“Safe passage to school should also include healthy, cared-for blocks,” she said Wednesday.

Some board members voiced concerns about how the city would target vacant land for the new financial penalty without inadvertently punishing owners who plan to develop it. Supporters of the proposals argued that it will be up to the city to work out the details.

Jennifer Custer, the sole no vote on both ballot questions, said the board must focus on finding immediate solutions to the district’s budget crisis rather than soliciting voter opinions about proposals other agencies would have to enact.

“I don’t see these as being actionable items,” she said. “I see them as window dressing to a larger problem.”

Like Custer, the Civic Federation, a nonpartisan watchdog group based in Chicago, noted in a statement that referendums make little headway in addressing CPS’ pressing financial challenges and urged the board to stay focused on fixes that it can directly control.

Jessica Biggs, a board member who like Custer is currently running for school board president, said the last-minute special meeting showed a board term “rife with chaos and disorganization.” But she said she would have backed the millionaires tax referendum if she had been able to attend.

“I have been clear that I believe it is long past time to require the very wealthy and big corporations to pay their fair share so we can fully fund our schools,” she said in a statement.

At Wednesday’s meeting, the board also appointed a new chief lobbyist to lead efforts to secure the additional $150 million from the state that the board baked into its amended budget. Iris Millán, now the associate vice chancellor of government affairs and civic engagement at City Colleges of Chicago, will become CPS’s new chief of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs — a position vacant for more than a year.

Some board members, such as Michilla Blaise, ripped into colleagues who missed the Thursday meeting, accusing them of “lack of leadership.” On social media, Blaise referred to them as “the recipients of Billionaire Mike Sacks donations” — a Chicago hedge fund executive and donor to Democratic causes — invoking a line of attack against non-CTU-aligned school board members that the union has embraced ahead of the November school board races.

Several school board members criticized the hastily called meeting to take a vote, saying they couldn’t miss work or other commitments, especially after a marathon board meeting the previous day. One member, Che “Rhymefest” Smith, said the last-minute meeting to vote on proposals he said lacked detail or teeth showed “really poor planning on someone’s part.”

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

The Chicago Board of Education voted to reverse layoffs, but CPS says not all positions can be restored

2026-08-12T21:06:13+00:00

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Despite a directive from the Chicago Board of Education to reverse hundreds of layoffs across Chicago Public Schools, district officials said they can’t afford to reinstate every position cut earlier this summer.

The board’s 11-7 vote revised CPS’ proposed budget, assuming the district will get an extra $150 million in state funding, with $100 million of that going to help reverse hundreds of layoffs, including teachers and support staff. Even if that money comes through, it won’t be enough to bring back everyone who was cut, district officials said Tuesday night.

While students will see many reinstated teachers and other staff on Aug. 24, the first day of school for most students, not all laid-off educators will be able to return. CPS has not said how many employees will get their jobs back.

CPS sent out surveys Tuesday night to principals asking about their most pressing staffing needs related to students and academics and separately asked laid-off teachers if they’re interested in returning to their schools. The surveys, which Chalkbeat obtained, provide the clearest information educators have received on next steps since the board adopted its revised budget roughly two weeks ago. Teachers will be notified of possible reassignments between this weekend and the first day of school, according to the teacher survey.

Principals, whose budgets were finalized in June and likely have scheduled classes, will not have to reopen their budgets, district officials said. Instead, the district will use the survey results to hire back “selected positions” centrally and assign them to schools, the district’s acting Chief Talent Officer Jerry Taylor wrote in the survey.

The rehiring process excludes positions meant to reduce class sizes or those associated with special education, CPS said, which has a separate appeals process, Taylor wrote to principals.

During a Tuesday night webinar for families, Chief Education Officer Karime Asaf said officials are working to implement the adopted budget, but it will take time.

Asaf added that “every decision we make will always put students first, and we will always be honest with you about what is happening.”

One CPS principal addressed the school board Wednesday to decry the uncertainty and disruption that attempting to reverse layoffs is creating. Jeff Finelli, the principal at Edison Park Elementary, said restoring some positions, particularly those of assistant principals in small schools, is worthwhile. But he said kicking off the year takes months of “meticulous, relentless planning,” and rethinking staffing at this late stage is a “massive, unnecessary distraction.”

“Instead of focusing on our students and staff, principals will be forced to navigate logistical nightmares with no current answers,” he said. “This breeds confusion and takes our focus away from what’s most important.”

CPS had warned the board against revising the budget to include more money than expected, because a funding shortfall could result in midyear cuts. Securing more state funding this fiscal year would require a three-fifths majority approval from state legislators in both the House and Senate during the November veto session.

Hundreds of employees received layoff notices last month before the budget vote, including Andrew Feigenbaum, who taught third grade math and science and led an after-school club at Oscar DePriest Elementary School in the West Side’s Austin neighborhood.

CPS says 65 to 85% of laid-off teachers typically get rehired into vacant positions at other district schools. Feigenbaum said he’s applied to about 30 schools since learning of his layoff in mid-July but hasn’t heard back from any.

Feigenbaum, who has taught in CPS for two years, said he had received almost no clarity about next steps between the board vote and the district’s survey Tuesday night. He hopes to be rehired at DePriest.

Feigenbaum said he was frustrated that teachers were laid off before the board’s vote — which is typical at CPS — and wished the district would decide on a budget earlier in the spring. After teaching for more than a dozen years in other districts, Feigenbaum said the layoff experience at CPS has “kind of soured me to the district.”

“This is, like, all you see on the news — ‘the board voted to rescind the cuts’ — (but) what does it actually mean?” Feigenbaum said. “Now we fill out some survey so that maybe we’ll get our old job back, and maybe we won’t.”

Two of the major unions representing CPS workers are split on the board’s decision.

The Chicago Teachers Union pushed board members to revise the budget to pressure the state to boost dollars for CPS, which the state considers to be 70% adequately funded, and pointed to supportive statements from some key state lawmakers. On Wednesday, the union held a press conference to continue pressuring state officials for more money.

But SEIU Local 73, which represents thousands of support staffers, is skeptical more funding will come and warned that midyear cuts would devastate its members and students. Earlier this week, the union formally requested a detailed plan from CPS leadership and the board by Aug. 27 outlining what cuts would take effect without state funding and what protections it would provide to workers and families.

The union also asked state legislators, including House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, who previously said he would push for more school funding, to make concrete commitments and provide detailed plans for approving additional CPS funding during the fall veto session.

Mila Koumpilova contributed.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Board of Elections rules on final challenges to school board candidacies

2026-08-11T18:42:22+00:00

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Four final candidates for Chicago school board — including two incumbents — survived challenges to their signature petitions and were cleared to get on the November ballot at a Tuesday meeting of the city’s Board of Elections.

The board commissioners rejected efforts to block the candidacies of board members Karen Zaccor and Michilla Blaise and would-be members Claudia Peralta and Connie Anderson. Candidate Kernetha Jones was kicked off the ballot.

With those decisions, the ballot for November’s historic Chicago school board races is close to set, though appeals of decisions clearing six candidates are pending in Cook County Circuit Court.

For the first time, Chicago residents will elect all 21 members of the board, after decades of mayoral appointments and a transition stretch in which the board was partly elected and partly appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson. In three of the races, incumbent board members will be the only options on the ballot, though in at least one case a challenger has vowed to mount a write-in campaign.

The circuit court is slated to rule on a number of dual circulation petition challenges in which challengers argued the petitions should be thrown out because the candidates in the nonpartisan board races enlisted petition circulators who had also collected signatures for partisan candidates in Illinois’ March primary.

The Board of Elections commissioners roundly rejected the argument that those petitions should be invalidated earlier this year. Adam Lasker, general counsel for the board, said Tuesday he expected more appeals could follow the meeting. The board’s work on school board petition challenges is now done. `

Signature challenges to remove candidates from the city’s ballot are a longstanding fixture of Chicago’s rough-and-tumble electoral politics. Of the 51 would-be board members who filed petitions to run in November, 28 faced objections alleging issues with the signatures they collected or other problems. Most survived the bids to kick them off the ballot.

With the ballot now largely finalized, campaigning for the volunteer seats overseeing Chicago Public Schools can begin in earnest — and the races are shaping up to be costly and competitive. Candidates had already raised almost $2 million by the most recent quarterly deadline for reporting campaign fundraising to the state. Some likely heavy spenders, such as the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, have largely held off on spending until the ballot is set and the start of the school year draws more attention to school issues from parents and other voters.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago school board to weigh adding ballot questions about new revenue sources

2026-08-10T20:51:15+00:00

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The Chicago school board might try to place two questions on the November ballot asking the city’s voters if they would be in favor of new revenue for the cash-strapped district.

One would ask residents whether Illinois should impose a millionaires tax to boost K-12 education funding statewide, and the other would gauge their support for new financial penalties on owners of undeveloped city land to increase Chicago Public Schools funding. Both are nonbinding, which means neither would legally require the state or the city to enact the proposals.

In an email to school board members sent Monday and obtained by Chalkbeat, a school board staffer invoked a 2011 law she said gave the board the ability to place advisory questions on the ballot following a simple majority vote.

“The Board has a unique opportunity to utilize this authority now and make inroads for new revenue for the district,” wrote Fae Rabin, the board’s chief of staff.

The city’s Board of Elections would have to approve the referendums by next Monday to place them on the ballot, so the school board plans to discuss them at Wednesday’s agenda review meeting and vote at a special Thursday meeting.

Last month, a divided board approved a budget that reversed layoffs in the district administration’s own spending plan and addressed a funding gap by assuming an influx in additional revenue from the state. District leaders have vowed to press the state to come through on the extra dollars, arguing that despite significant funding increases in recent years, CPS remains well short of what Illinois considers “adequate” funding. But the prospects of lawmakers approving such an increase during a November veto session in the fall are murky, placing the district at risk of highly disruptive midyear budget cuts.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has argued in favor of a new tax on the state’s high earners. But efforts to pass legislation that would have placed a millionaires tax on the November ballot fizzled out in the state legislature this past spring. A majority of school board members were appointed by Johnson or elected with backing from his allies at the Chicago Teachers Union, so they might be eager to extend the push to the fall election, even though the referendums wouldn’t be legally binding.

Board President Sean Harden could not be reached for comment.

One independently elected school board member, Che “Rhymefest” Smith, said he is checking on the board’s legal authority to add the questions to the ballot and voiced concern about the rushed bid to vote on them this week, rather than during the board’s regular monthly meeting. He noted that the questions include no specifics about how the district would use the additional money to help students.

“If we’re asking the state to amend our funding formula, we have to show we can govern responsibly and connect funding to student improvement,” he said.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Despite state funding increase, gap to adequately fund schools widens in most Illinois districts

2026-08-08T00:07:47+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools is further away from having enough money to meet its students’ needs as defined by the state, according to new data released by the Illinois State Board of Education.

Under ISBE’s calculations released Friday, CPS is now considered a little over 70% adequately funded, compared with 73% last year. CPS isn’t alone in that shift. More than 700 school districts regressed from hitting the state’s target of 90% funding adequacy, a metric reached by assessing a district’s student population and ability to pay for a variety of common cost factors.

The backslide is due, in part, to the state changing how it counted low-income students. Officials said they decided to count students “who were eligible for federal social programs as of July 1,” including Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program, or SNAP.

The widening gap in funding adequacy for hundreds of districts, including Chicago, adds fuel to the Chicago Teachers Union’s argument that the city’s schools need lawmakers to commit more money. The Board of Education echoed this sentiment when they recently passed a budget assuming the state will increase funding during the fall veto session in November.

Illinois Federation of Teachers and Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates called the funding distribution a “wake-up call” to the state. However, amending the state’s budget now would be hard and require a three-fifths majority vote.

Illinois’ way of funding schools assumes students with higher-needs cost more to educate. Adequacy targets for each district fluctuate annually based on the students being served, which is why an increase in low-income students raises the cost the formula says is necessary to reach adequacy.

Identifying low-income students for the formula is likely to change further next year. Illinois lawmakers put $200,000 in this year’s budget for the state education department to come up with a new way to count low-income students in response to the Trump administration’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” which cut funding for many social programs.

There was a 43% rise in low-income students this year, according to ISBE. That coupled with lower property tax revenues and increases in teacher salaries and instructional material costs are what is driving districts away from being adequately funded, state Superintendent Tony Sanders told reporters in a webinar Friday.

Schools get at least the same amount of money they received the year prior. Districts furthest from achieving adequate funding are first in line to receive more money. Lawmakers added $350 million — the typical annual funding commitment — this year as part of the state budget.

Despite more districts faltering in their march toward adequate funding, total state spending on K-12 schools totals over $9 billion. That’s up by more than $2 billion since evidence-based funding was introduced in 2017.

Notably, that money is unrestricted. So districts do not have to use the money exactly in line with where the state identified heightened needs.

Zooming in on Chicago’s state funding this year

Chicago Public Schools remains one of the neediest districts in Illinois.

Overall, CPS will get about $1.9 billion from the state for the 2026-27 school year. That’s nearly $66 million – or about one-fifth — of the $350 million increase in state education funding. But it falls just short of the $2 billion the Chicago Board of Education hopes to get.

Last week, the school board passed an amended budget that increased the amount it expected to get from the state through the evidence-based formula, from $1.9 billion to $2 billion. Additionally, it assumes $50 million more from a separate pot of state funding that’s meant to reimburse CPS for other services, such as special education and student transportation costs.

The board also directed CPS CEO Macquline King to reverse hundreds of staff layoffs as part of its new budget.

If the funding doesn’t come through, schools may be forced to cut staff or programs in the middle of the school year. While King urged the board not to assume more funding than CPS was expecting, she and board members have said they will press the state to boost its support during the Illinois legislature’s November veto session, which would require three-fifths of lawmakers in the state House and Senate to approve.

“We will be working with our government partners at both the city and the state level to secure the additional funding that our schools need, and we really hope that you stay tuned so that we can inform you how you can help us with that advocacy for additional school funding,” King said Thursday evening during a webinar for the public.

If lawmakers agreed to give CPS more money, Sanders said ISBE would advocate that all districts get a funding increase.

Disbursements of funds to districts should start Monday, according to ISBE.

Makiya Seminera is a reporter covering how the state and federal government affect education in Chicago and across Illinois. Contact Makiya at mseminera@chalkbeat.org. Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

15 more Chicago campuses join Sustainable Community Schools program

2026-08-03T22:05:41+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools will open 15 more Sustainable Community Schools this upcoming school year, meaning roughly 10% of district schools will receive extra funding to partner with nonprofit organizations and provide wraparound support for students and families.

Mayor Brandon Johnson announced the expansion Monday morning at Malcolm X College, where he was joined by allied Chicago Board of Education members, Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates, and several educators whose schools are part of the program or are joining this year.

There are now 51 schools in the program, which CPS launched in 2018 with the CTU. A Chalkbeat analysis last year found the schools have mixed outcomes and have left millions of dollars unspent. The district’s contract with the union requires 70 schools to join the initiative by the end of its contract in 2028. Of the city’s roughly 630 public schools, which includes charters and others run by independent operators, 520 are run by the district.

Schools in the program receive $500,000 annually to work with a community-based organization and provide extra programming and support for students and parents, such as hiring more mental health professionals. Schools must apply to join.

Johnson said the expansion connects to his vision of creating more resources for communities, such as more affordable housing and “holistic solutions” to violence.

“This model provides more than an education,” he said. “It is the hub of wraparound, academic, and social support that’s extended to the entire community.”

The expansion is a sign that the “days of school closures, consolidation, and privatization has ended officially,” Johnson added — a potential nod to candidates for school board he doesn’t align with, who may be interested in closing schools in response to CPS’s dipping enrollment.

District officials, the union, and school leaders have described the program as a godsend for schools with lots of students from low-income families. The office that oversees the Sustainable Community Schools program is slated to spend about 57% more than it budgeted last year, from about $24.6 million to $38.6 million, according to the district’s latest budget book.

But since the program’s launch, schools and their partner organizations have left more than $6.6 million unspent, according to a Chalkbeat analysis last December. Chalkbeat also found that internal tensions and staff turnover sometimes strained partnerships between schools and nonprofit organizations.

Student outcomes are mixed. Schools that originally joined the program now have higher graduation rates than schools that didn’t get into the program. Suspensions dropped among all schools in the program, as they did at similar schools outside the program. But chronic absenteeism is higher, and enrollment is lower, at participating schools.

To combat some of these challenges, CPS changed how schools join the program, said Megan Hougard, chief of college and career success at CPS.

Previously, schools and organizations did not meet before schools applied, she said.

This year, CPS expanded the list of nonprofits that schools can partner with. Interested schools then met with the organizations, picked which one to work with, and applied together, Hougard said.

Now, she said, “there’s shared expectations, and then there’s just a checkpoint of, ‘Is this the right match?’”

One of the new schools in the program is Gage Park High School on the Southwest Side. Mike Norwood, a physical education teacher at Gage Parktold the crowd at Malcolm X that he “almost started crying” when his principal told him the 300-student school had been selected. He said the school has a strong environment but “needed a miracle” to help boost resources for its neediest students.

The opportunity will allow the school, which is partnering with the Southwest Organizing Project, to create more clubs and activities for kids, such as job training, he said.

“It takes a village to raise a child,” he said. “Now, it takes a school to raise a community.”

Becky Vevea contributed.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago’s school board rescinded many layoffs with uncertain money. What’s next?

2026-07-31T23:38:15+00:00

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A divided Chicago school board passed a nearly $10 billion budget late Thursday that preserves jobs but relies on an additional $150 million in state funding that may not materialize.

Chicago Public Schools CEO Macquline King, whose proposal included cuts that the board amended, swiftly sent an email to parents sounding an alarm and floating the possibility that school may not start on time Aug. 24.

“As it stands right now, though, we do not know if we will be able to secure the short-term financing needed to pay our employees in September, which would effectively shut down the district just as staff and students are set to return,” King said in her Thursday night email to families.

Multiple financial experts say that is unlikely because the district should be able to secure a short-term loan, albeit with high interest.

Last year’s budget avoided cuts to the classroom. This year’s budget drama is set against a larger political backdrop. CPS has long argued that the state underfunds the district under Illinois’ school funding formula. A majority of board members, most appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson, are betting the state will act. But state lawmakers and the governor have already approved a budget, and changes now would be difficult.

Coming months before a November election in which every seat on the school board will be on the ballot, competing views over the budget could prove to be a core campaign issue.

Here’s what parents should know about what’s happening, what it could mean for schools, and what might happen next.

Will school start on time?

CPS did not respond to questions about why schools might not open as scheduled. But a delayed opening is unlikely and unprecedented.

Previously, CPS said that passing a budget Thursday would allow the district to secure short-term borrowing by Sept. 2, just in time to make the Sept. 4 payroll.

CPS needs the loan to make up for late county property tax payments. That loan, designed for government bodies facing short-term cash flow needs, would help cover a missing $400 million of $700 million the district needs for operations in September, according to a memo CPS sent board members this week that Chalkbeat obtained.

Experts said the district will probably be able to secure loans in the time frame it needs.

But, it’s going to cost the district more in interest.

“It’s probable, if not almost a near certainty, that they’ll end up paying more for it because of the budget as well as the short time frame,” said Lisa Washburn, managing director at Municipal Market Analytics, Inc., a market and credit analysis research firm.

Lenders may want to scrutinize CPS’ finances more than usual because the approved budget relies on uncertain money, which could slow down the process, said Justin Marlowe, a municipal finance expert at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy.

“(Investors) haven’t done that so far, but a budget that assumes a bunch of state revenue that may or may not arrive is good reason to ask tough questions you’ve never asked before,” Marlowe said in an email.

What if CPS doesn’t have the cash it needs to pay staff?

There are legal consequences for missing payroll, including violations of multiple state labor laws and union contracts that could result in lawsuits and criminal charges, the district wrote in its memo.

It could also mean no school.

“Because employees cannot be compelled to work without compensation, missed payroll will likely result in immediate strikes, walkouts, or work refusals that will halt district operations,” the memo said.

The district could ask its unions for grace on paychecks. CTU and the principals union supported the modified budget plan, but SEIU Local 73, which represents thousands of support staffers who are among the district’s lowest paid, opposed it.

In 1980, Chicago Public Schools was locked out of the bond markets and failed to make payroll multiple times. Then-Gov. Jim Thompson convened city leaders, school officials, unions, and bankers to broker a deal to bail out the troubled school system. They created a separate body known as the School Finance Authority, which could access the markets and get the district the money it needed. This became the precursor to mayoral control in 1995.

Now, CPS is transitioning back to local control, with a hybrid school board made up of 11 mayoral appointees and 10 members elected in 2024. All 21 seats are also on the ballot this Nov. 3, adding a layer of electoral politics to the tensions.

What are the chances the state sends CPS more money?

Revising state revenue for Chicago schools upward by $150 million would require an amendment to the state budget, which passed in May. Any changes require a three-fifths majority of state lawmakers. That’s 36 votes in the Senate and 71 votes in the House, including legislators who don’t represent Chicago and would likely seek funding for their districts, too.

Gov. JB Pritzker said Friday that state funding for school districts is already a “known quantity,” and that if Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch has a plan for adding supplemental funding, as he implied Wednesday, the governor hasn’t seen it.

“He seems to have a plan or is planning to put something together, and so I look forward to seeing that,” Pritzker said.

It’s not clear whether there are enough votes for such a measure to pass during a veto session in November. Even if it did, that money would likely come through later in the school year.

Pritzker noted that the state has increased K-12 education funding by about $3 billion since he took office in 2018. CPS has seen state revenue increase by nearly $1 billion in that time. The district’s budget has grown from about $6 billion in 2018 to just under $10 billion this year.

CTU and aligned school board members argue that the state’s formula for distributing money to schools, which changed in 2017 before Pritzker took office, promised to get all schools to an adequate funding level by 2027. The state is not on track to hit that goal but the union is putting pressure on Pritzker, Welch, and other state lawmakers to do so.

Will teachers who were laid off from my school be rehired?

The modified budget plan calls for spending $100 million to rescind layoffs that happened earlier this month. Another $50 million would go toward easing a hiring and spending freeze later in the school year.

Nelsen Gerew, chief of internal and public affairs at the Chicago Fund for Public Education, said CPS could give money back to schools and let them handle rehiring, or the district could reverse its own cuts, which would be more complicated.

“Is the idea that we’ll try to get schools back to where they were (last school year)?” Gerew said.

Principals have been working with budgets approved in June and have likely rearranged class schedules for the upcoming year. Teachers who were laid off may have been rehired elsewhere. The CTU contract allows a tenured teacher who has been laid off to return to a school within 10 months if there’s a vacancy and they’re rated proficient or higher.

Will there be midyear cuts at my school?

If the money the school board is expecting from the state doesn’t come through, schools may be forced to cut staff and other resources in the middle of the year to make up the difference.

However, other sources of revenue could increase. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson could declare a larger surplus from special taxing districts known as TIF, or tax increment financing, meant to spur economic development. Last year, he did, and CPS got $576 million. This year, CPS initially projected $200 million in TIF surplus and revised it earlier this week to $285 million. This revision allowed them to remove furloughs from its initial budget plan.

Johnson faces reelection in February 2027, although he has yet to announce his intentions.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Seeking to reverse layoffs, Chicago school board approves budget, assuming more state money will come

2026-07-31T01:50:09+00:00

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Bucking warnings from Chicago Public Schools CEO Macquline King, the school board amended and narrowly passed a roughly $10 billion budget proposal Thursday that assumes the district will receive $150 million more in state funding than projected.

Eleven board members voted to reverse hundreds of school-based staff layoffs included in King’s proposal, heeding the demands of the Chicago Teachers Union and the principals union.

Appointed board members Anusha Thotakura, Debby Pope, Cydney Wallace, Angel Velez, Ed Bannon, Emma Lozano, Karen Zaccor, Michilla Blaise, and Norma Rios-Sierra, as well as elected board members Jitu Brown and Ebony DeBerry voted to increase the state funding projection of $2.78 billion by another $150 million.

Elected board members Angel Gutierrez, Carlos Rivas, Che “Rhymefest” Smith, Ellen Rosenfeld, Jennifer Custer, Jessica Biggs, and Therese Boyle voted no. Elected board member Yesenia Lopez abstained.

District officials pushed the school board to approve the budget this week so they could secure short-term borrowing by Sept. 2 — two days before paychecks go out — and avoid a “de-facto shutdown” of schools. In a statement after the vote, a spokesperson said the district “cannot guarantee that CPS will receive financing in time for the September 4 payroll” given the board’s changes.

“Failing to meet payroll is unacceptable,” the statement said. “This places the District at significant risk of being in violation of the law and collective bargaining agreements. It may also damage our credit rating and severely restrict our future borrowing capacity for capital projects and operational needs. Most critically, any disruption in pay directly threatens the stability of our schools, impacting our students, families, and dedicated staff.”

The vote came after hours of public testimony and an unusual two-hour recess. During that time, CPS lawyers provided legal advice about amending the budget, according to multiple sources.

Earlier this week, after a push from SEIU Local 73, CPS took furloughs out of its proposal by increasing the amount it expects to receive in special taxing district dollars, known as TIF surplus dollars, which are controlled by the mayor and City Council.

But board members and the Chicago Teachers Union want more pressure on state lawmakers, who have not yet fulfilled a goal to fund all schools to what it considers 90% adequacy. The state considers CPS funded at 73%.

“If we’re not including the state in this conversation, we are fooling ourselves and we are robbing our kids of opportunities,” said appointed board member Michilia Blaise, who introduced the plan to revise King’s budget. “Let’s make it clear to our students that cuts to school communities will not come lightly.”

With the state’s veto session scheduled for November, it’s not clear any new money would come in time for this school year.

Some key Democratic lawmakers have promised to help boost school funding, including House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch. At the board meeting, State Senator Robert Martwick, who represents parts of the Northwest Side and some suburbs, told board members he will fight for more funding.

King warns of consequences to revising her budget proposal

Before the vote, King defended her budget plan, noting that CPS has lost 45,000 students in the last seven years but has hired 10,000 more staffers. Despite school-level cuts, she noted most laid off staffers are rehired in other vacant positions and highlighted an increase in special education and bilingual staff.

She also warned of the risks of assuming more state funds will come through. King recalled her time as a principal in 2017, when CPS had adopted a budget expecting more state funding than previous years that didn’t come through after then-Governor Bruce Rauner vetoed related legislation. CPS imposed big cuts, and King had to lay off staff at her school.

“This was severely disruptive to my students,” King said. “Those are the faces that I see. Those are the conversations that I recall, and that is why I put forth the recommended budget that I did.”

School board has a heated debate

Board members were starkly divided.

Several elected board members not aligned with the teachers union and Mayor Brandon Johnson underscored the risks of assuming there will be more state money.

Elected member Jennifer Custer called the idea of expecting a $150 million increase in state money a “hallucination.” Elected board member Che “Rhymefest” Smith said he will help advocate for more funding from the state and the city.

Smith, a rapper and songwriter, recited a poem he crafted in response to one delivered during public comment by a CTU member: “They say the mayor owes a billy, give it again and again, and don’t make us look silly,” referencing the $1 billion in TIF dollars the mayor and City Council surplused last year, of which CPS got $577 million.

Board president Sean Harden warned TIF surplus is not a guarantee either.

At least a dozen school staffers, clad in bright red CTU shirts, urged the board to revise the budget and push the state to pay up. Several teachers said teacher layoffs mean bigger class sizes and breaking relationships with students.

CTU President Stacy Davis Gates acknowledged the difficult decisions King and her team faced and laid the blame on state lawmakers, including Gov. JB Pritzker. She said the union will help CPS pressure the state.

“Let’s assume that doing this together makes it impossible for people to keep telling us no,” said Davis Gates, who is also the president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers. Board member Jitu Brown also said he believes the “political will” to boost state education funding is there.

Dian Palmer, president of SEIU Local 73, which represents 16,000 support staffers, remained skeptical that a majority of state lawmakers will agree to increase CPS funding.

“Unsecured revenue cannot pay our (Special Education Classroom Assistants) rent in September,” Palmer said. “It cannot guarantee a bus aide on the bus when school opens. Our students do not get to wait for Springfield to make up its mind, and neither should this board.”

Kia Banks, head of the principals union, supported an amended budget. She said she was encouraged that Illinois House Speaker Welch is interested in boosting funding.

“If (funding) doesn’t come through, like in 2017, it’s devastating, and I don’t think they would want that on their record,” Banks said of state lawmakers.

But Justin Marlowe, director of the Center for Municipal Finance at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, said the state now has “far less” incentive to act. If the state can’t come up with the money, “CPS will have to own the consequences,” he said in an email.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema atramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools’ lunchroom staff move closer to strike

2026-07-30T23:21:56+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools’ lunchroom workers are taking steps toward a possible strike, their union announced Thursday.

Unite Here Local 1 delivered a letter to the school district Thursday asking to start a fact-finding process in its year-long contract negotiations. In that process, a fact-finder that’s a third party reviews each side’s argument and issues their findings. According to state law, school district workers can’t go on strike until at least 30 days after a fact-finding report has been publicly released.

The escalation comes as the school board is poised to vote on the district’s nearly $10 billion budget plan for the 2026-27 school year, which includes layoffs and other program cuts. Earlier this week, officials revised the plan to eliminate five furlough days for all staff.

A Chalkbeat analysis of the budget plan found lunchroom funds are poised to shrink slightly and some vacant lunchroom positions are set to be eliminated. Unite Here Local 1 represents roughly 1,800 lunch workers in CPS.

During remarks to the board on Thursday, Tawanda Murray, an executive board member of the union, highlighted a union survey of lunchroom workers last year that found 47% of respondents reported struggling to pay for housing, and 22% said their families rely on food pantries.

Last year, CPS reduced kitchen workers and told families that students would get more cold meals and simplified menus.

The union is pushing the district to raise pay for lunchroom workers to at least $40,000 annually and staff up school kitchens. In April, Chicago Police cited about two dozen lunchroom workers during a planned act of civil disobedience in order to raise awareness about its demands.

On Thursday, workers picketed outside of the Board of Education headquarters downtown in front of a giant inflatable rat, a longstanding feature of union rallies.

Jesse Hernandez, a cook at Columbia Explorers Academy, said he makes $24 an hour and has about $300 left in his paycheck after he pays his bills.

He said bartends on the weekends to make ends meet and wishes he had more time to spend with his grandchildren. He said he’s moving soon because he can’t afford his current apartment.

Hernandez said he’s prepared to go on strike in order to secure more pay for himself and his colleagues, adding that his coworkers who are lunchroom assistants are earning closer to $17 an hour.

“That’s why I’m here, fighting for them and for myself,” Hernandez said.

CPS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Becky Vevea contributed reporting.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago to cut funding earmarked for schools that replaced police with restorative justice policies

2026-07-30T22:15:11+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools is poised to cut in half the money and staff the district provided to some high schools after they removed police officers stationed at their campuses.

High schools were given money roughly equivalent to a school resource officer’s annual salary in order to implement alternative approaches to safety, known as Whole School Safety Plans.

A Chalkbeat analysis of the proposed 2026-27 budget found that funding for Whole School Safety Plans at 54 high schools would go from $8.7 million to $4 million and the number of positions would go from 80 to 42. Most schools would see a reduction from $160,000 or more to around $80,000 and the loss of roughly one position, under the proposed budget.

At the same time, CPS plans to roll out a new framework, designed to help all schools implement a wide-ranging policy related to safety and student well-being passed in 2024. That policy requires teaching social-emotional learning, having restorative practices, staffing a behavioral health team, maintaining at least one security guard, and annually updating an emergency management plan, among other things.

District officials and advocates who long fought to remove police and end harsh discipline practices said the framework is meant to expand those approaches beyond a subset of high schools.

In a statement, CPS officials characterized the money schools received after removing police as “temporary supplemental funding” and that it is now being “phased-out.”

“This is a planned adjustment to temporary transition funding, not a reduction in the District’s commitment to Whole School Safety,” the statement said. CPS also said they added 10 new climate team security officer positions and reclassified 28 other school climate positions.

Calls to remove police from Chicago high schools started years before 2020, when Local School Councils began voting on their removal. That year, 17 campuses cut school-based cops. In the years that followed, more schools voted to remove police, and in exchange, the district provided those campuses “trade-in” funding to support climate and culture coordinators, restorative justice coordinators, social workers, and security guards.

Researchers at the University of Chicago studied the impact of removing police and shifting to restorative practices at CPS high schools and found declines in school-based arrests and high-level discipline violations. Students said they felt a stronger sense of safety and belonging.

In 2024, the Chicago Board of Education, then made up of seven members appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson, voted to cut the district’s contract with the Chicago Police Department and remove all school resource officers ahead of the 2024-25 school year.

Before that, CPS had a contract with the police department to station officers at schools. The cost was $33 million dollars in 2020, but fell to $11 million in 2022 before the board’s 2024 vote. CPS staffs security guards at all schools and budget documents show their ranks remain stable at more than 1800 in the proposed budget.

Jitu Brown, an elected school board member and longtime advocate for restorative justice practices, said the district needs to continue the work of undoing “decades of zero-tolerance policies that targeted Black and Brown youth and looked at our young people through a lens of hate.”

“I will personally check in to make sure that the resources you need will be provided, that you’re getting the support that you need from the district level to make sure that we can implement this plan,” Brown said at a news conference Thursday morning.

Maria Degillo, Youth Director of Communities United and a longtime activist on the issue, downplayed the cuts, noting these funds have only been available to about two dozen high schools that had voted to remove police. She said it’s more important to train staff inside all schools to be part of building safe school environments.

“We can’t think about it as just one position,” Degillo said. “Rather, how are you actually creating again a space where everybody feels like this is a part of what they do and this is how they move in their school?”

Ronan Shableski, the chief of safety and security for Chicago Public Schools, said his office is focused on making sure the Whole School Safety framework is implemented citywide.

“The safest schools aren’t just the ones that respond well to emergencies; they’re the ones that help prevent them,” Shableski said.

Shableski and Degillo said the district and community organizations plan to start training principals and assistant principals on the new framework starting in August.

This story has been updated to include a statement from Chicago Public Schools.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools budget conflict revolves around revenue assumptions, timing

2026-07-29T23:46:59+00:00

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The Chicago Board of Education is expected to vote on a $9.96 billion budget plan Thursday that would cut hundreds of teachers but beef up special education staff and freeze some spending in 2027.

The board legally has until late August to approve a budget. But CPS officials are pushing for approval this week to avoid missing payroll in September.

Many board members don’t like the cuts in the current spending plan. Some say they’re a painful necessity to balance the budget. Others say the district should keep pushing for more state money, press the county over a tax-revenue issue, and pass a budget that assumes those dollars will come through.

Why does CPS have to pass a budget this week to make September payroll?

Two reasons: the late distribution of property taxes and the need to borrow money.

Local property taxes, which are collected by Cook County and distributed to government agencies such as CPS, make up roughly half of the district’s operating budget. Almost all property tax dollars that end up at CPS go toward running the district’s daily operations, including salaries.

CPS is expected to receive $4.5 billion in property taxes this fiscal year.

But when the money actually gets to CPS depends on when the county collects the tax. In recent years, technological glitches have delayed tax bills, resulting in CPS and other school districts not getting local revenue in time to cover their expenses.

The district used to have billions of extra federal COVID relief dollars to help cushion the delay, said Wally Stock, acting chief financial officer at CPS. It can no longer do that because the relief funding has ended.

Stock said CPS is missing roughly $250 million in spring tax money. The county treasurer’s office says the figure is closer to $70-80 million, and a “significant portion” of it will be distributed to CPS this week. CPS has said that money, which was owed last fiscal year, won’t impact the upcoming budget.

Why does CPS need to borrow money?

When the county is late giving property tax revenue to CPS, the district takes out Tax Anticipation Notes, or TANs, a form of short-term borrowing that’s paid off when tax dollars come in.

Stock said CPS needs a few weeks to secure a loan in order to cover payroll by September, which is why it needs a budget now. Lenders require an approved budget and tax levy, the district said.

But Justin Marlowe, the director of the Center for Municipal Finance at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, said lenders typically want some kind of guarantee that revenue will come through and they’ll get paid back with interest, so it’s possible CPS could find a willing lender without an approved budget. But the district “would get much more favorable terms,” such as better interest rates, with an approved budget, he said.

CPS has a junk bond rating and therefore pays higher interest rates. District officials estimate it’s spent $80 million in interest since 2020 on short-term loans to make up for late property tax payments.

The county is considering extending a bridge loan to CPS. The county has about $300 million to offer in bridge loans, which isn’t enough to cover payroll, and TANs would still be necessary, Stock said.

Can CPS change the revenue assumptions to avoid cuts?

Earlier this week, CPS leaders nixed a plan for five-day furloughs by increasing how much it expects to receive from special taxing districts, known as TIFs. This amount will not be clear until the city passes its own budget in November or December.

On Tuesday, the district revised its TIF surplus estimate from $200 million to $285 million, compared to $576 million last year.

The Chicago Teachers Union and some allied board members have said that CPS should also anticipate getting more money from the state. That money makes up about one-third of CPS’ operating budget. The union and board members argue that despite an increase in school funding every year, lawmakers have not fulfilled a funding promise made a decade ago. The state formula estimates CPS is 79% of the way to being adequately funded.

But the district’s state money projections are more concrete. They’re based on the budget state lawmakers approved in May.

In a public letter in the Chicago Tribune Wednesday, school board vice president Angel Velez argued that the board can pass a budget that keeps central office and other cuts but “budgets for the revenue our students are owed,” including from the state and a county bridge loan, and “can be amended later if our partners in government fall short.”

“If the state ultimately forces us to truly consider reducing our workforce, let it be after every other option has been exhausted and our constituents have seen us try to prevent it,” he wrote.

In an interview, Velez said passing the current budget plan does not “pressure the state to commit” to what it promised.

If Velez’s suggestion works, CPS could avoid some level of its proposed cuts. If it doesn’t, CPS would have to amend its budget and risk midyear cuts or layoffs, something CPS CEO Macquline King said she had to do as a principal in 2017 when anticipated state revenue didn’t come through.

“We will continue to advocate with our partners at all levels of government to get the funding we know our students need,” King said in a statement Wednesday. “But trying to balance the budget on unrealized state revenue at the 11th hour would be a mistake with devastating short-and-long-term consequences.”

Passing a budget based on uncertain revenue, such as state aid, can result in higher interest costs when CPS tries to borrow money, said Lisa Washburn, managing director at Municipal Market Analytics. CPS carries one of the highest debt burdens among the nation’s school districts.

Even if the state approved more funding — which House Speaker Chris Welch said this week he’s interested in — it’s unclear if it would come this fiscal year, she said.

“Anybody can build a budget on hope [but] hope is not a strategy, and it may be that the state eventually does come through with additional cash, but there isn’t evidence that is going to happen anytime soon,” Washburn said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools cuts staffing slightly but special education positions will rise at some campuses

2026-07-28T21:08:38+00:00

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Amid Chicago Public Schools’ budget challenges, the district’s campuses will start the upcoming school year with a less than 1% cut in overall staffing compared with last year, according to a Chalkbeat analysis of school budgets posted last week.

But the cuts vary across the district’s 500-plus schools. More than 200 schools will have more staff positions, mostly driven by hundreds of new special education positions that CPS says are necessary to meet student needs.

At some schools, there are staff increases of as much as 22% compared to this time last year, while others are losing nearly 20% of their positions. The positions affected by the cuts are wide ranging, from counseling positions to teachers meant to reduce class size ratios.

The school-based staffing figures come as the district tries to close a $732.5 million deficit. The Chicago Board of Education is expected to vote on the district’s nearly $10 billion budget plan, which includes hundreds more special education teaching positions but many other layoffs. CPS on Tuesday nixed a plan for five-day furloughs next school year.

At individual schools, the changes in staffing ranges from a single part-time position to 16 positions.

The schools with staffing increases serve an average 70% of students who are from low-income households, on par with the districtwide average. Roughly 270 schools will have fewer staff compared with this time last year. At those schools, three-quarters of students on average are from low-income households, slightly higher than the district as a whole.

Forty-one schools won’t have a change in positions compared with last fall. At those schools, 68% of kids on average come from low-income families.

These budget figures also don’t tell the full story of decisions that principals must make, according to one principal, who requested anonymity to speak candidly. Her school — where students are overwhelmingly from low-income families — is gaining a couple of positions to open a special education cluster program. But the school also had to cut some non-teaching positions in order to keep a teacher, she said.

While she said her school is faring better than many others, she and her staff are “feeling the impact.”

“We had to make tough decisions,” she said.

Chalkbeat’s analysis excludes staffing for charter and contract schools, including a group of former charter and contract schools that will become district schools in the fall, because district data does not provide enough information about their staffing levels.

The district is slated to spend about $18 million less, or about 2% less, on charter schools, according to CPS budget information. However, it has budgeted $27.6 million for the upcoming school year to absorb and reopen five former Acero charter schools and Chicago High School for the Arts — a former contract school — as district-run schools.

The data shows how many positions schools got before the start of the school year compared with the same point in time last year. But the figures don’t capture whether schools gained or lost staff during last school year.

In a fact sheet about school budgets, the district said its goal “is to ensure staff are placed where most needed across the District in an effort to best serve all schools and decrease vacancies in high-need positions and schools.”

Officials said schools’ staffing changes are due to changes to enrollment, student needs, changes to programs, and how individual schools decided to spend their discretionary dollars.

The district also tightened its needs-based formula for funding schools and incorporated enrollment in more.

The formula is largely based on a school’s needs rather than the number of students enrolled, to decide how many positions schools get. It assigns each school an Opportunity Index number based on many factors, including how many low-income students a school serves and the life expectancy in the area.

This year — as overall CPS enrollment dipped again after a couple of years of small gains — the district tweaked its formula by slightly increasing student-to-teacher ratios and the Opportunity Index score needed to warrant some additional positions.

CPS has emphasized that class size limits won’t change and are enshrined in its contract with the Chicago Teachers Union.

The district said it limited cuts to positions. It decided that elementary schools wouldn’t lose more than four “foundational” — or core — teacher positions, and high schools wouldn’t lose more than six, regardless of their enrollment or Opportunity Index scores.

Foreman High School will gain special education positions but lose other teaching positions, and it will lose one position overall.

The school’s Opportunity Index rose, which warded off additional cuts, said Jessica Keirns, a member of Foreman’s Local School Council. Almost 90% of Foreman students come from low-income families, and many are English learners, she said.

The index is protecting “some of the most vulnerable students in our city,” Keirns said.

For Lizette Garcia, the mother of a rising first grader at Nightingale Elementary School on the Southwest Side, hearing of additional cuts is frustrating because the school already feels tight on resources, she said. The school, where 83% of kids come from low-income households, will lose five more positions, or nearly a 5% staff reduction.

The school enrolled 862 students last year. At the time, her son’s kindergarten class had 30 students. Her son was struggling with reading, and she wondered if the class size made it harder for the teacher and her assistant to support students.

The school opened a new kindergarten classroom midway through the year, and his class got smaller, she said.

“But by that time, he was already behind,” Garcia said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools CEO King removes furloughs from the budget proposal ahead of vote

2026-07-28T19:03:58+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools removed its proposal for five furlough days next school year, the district announced Tuesday ahead of the Chicago Board of Education’s Thursday budget vote.

The furloughs would have started in January and applied to all staff districtwide on days when students are already scheduled to be off. The district revised its revenue assumptions to avoid having the unpaid days off.

CPS said the change is in response to feedback from the community but also comes after pushback from some board members, as well as the unions representing teachers and support staff. The latter, SEIU Local 73, demanded Monday that CPS revise its revenue projections for special city taxing dollars, known as TIF surplus, to prevent furloughs. CPS said it will do just that: The district will increase its TIF surplus dollars projection by $85 million — to $285 million.

In a statement Tuesday, Dian Palmer, president of SEIU Local 73, said the union applauds the decision.

The actual TIF amount won’t be clear until the City Council adopts its budget, which typically happens toward the end of the year. CPS’s new TIF surplus assumption is less than half of the record amount it received last year after months of conflict with the mayor’s office. In an interview last week, King said she has been discussing her budget plans with city leaders but hasn’t received concrete TIF figures.

The district’s nearly $10 billion budget proposal would cut hundreds of other staffers, increase special education staffing, and freeze some spending after January.

While the board can legally wait until late August to pass a budget, King is pushing them to vote Thursday so that CPS has enough time to issue short-term borrowing and make September payroll. Eleven board members, or a majority of the 21-member board, must vote yes for the budget to pass.

“It became clear that to alleviate any potential stressors or possible disruption to the start of the school year, we needed to update the proposed budget,” King said in a statement.

Last week, a dozen teachers and the Chicago Teachers Union blasted furloughs and layoffs during a budget hearing.

CTU has for months pressed state lawmakers for more funding but said in an online post last week that the district was “undercounting” how much TIF money the mayor would make available. The mayor has the power to declare a surplus on any money in TIF accounts that is not earmarked for a specific project. By doing so, all taxing bodies get a portion of the funds and by law, CPS is entitled to roughly half of any surplus.

Separately, the Illinois Federation of Teachers is suing Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas on behalf of the CTU and suburban union members to release tax revenue that hasn’t made it to the district.

In a statement, CTU and IFT president Stacy Davis Gates said that the revised proposal still doesn’t include enough staff and urged the board to keep revising or delay a vote “until the budget addresses our students’ needs,” she said.

“What is on the table is still a very rough draft that would cause permanent harm to Chicago’s students,” Davis Gates said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools could take another crack at overhauling its middle management

2026-07-22T22:11:33+00:00

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As Chicago Public Schools weighed budget cuts this summer, officials revisited a familiar target: middle management.

Staffing in the district’s 18 network offices that serve as bridges between schools and district headquarters nearly doubled over the past decade before dipping last school year as massive deficits loomed, according to a Chalkbeat analysis. The growth stemmed in part from the launch of networks for high schools under former CEO Janice Jackson. More recently, it tracked with the district’s overall staffing expansion fueled with COVID relief dollars.

Although a major overhaul of these networks is on hold, CPS leaders are continuing to discuss whether they could be leaner and more responsive to schools, sources told Chalkbeat.

The spotlight on networks highlights longstanding debates about their role and value, in a moment when CPS faces ballooning deficits, shrinking enrollment — and pressure to boost student outcomes. Some educators and advocates say they find their structure and roles opaque, and feel the district should steer some network funding directly to schools instead. But other principals say their networks have been a crucial source of stability and guidance amid leadership turnover in CPS.

CPS CEO Macquline King first pitched rethinking the network offices last fall to align with the city’s new elected school board districts. But following pushback, the district stuck with the existing structure of 13 elementary, four high school and one alternative high school networks.

The networks evaluate principals, provide guidance on improving instruction, and relay information about expectations, new initiatives, and legal compliance between schools and the CPS central office. Network chiefs’ jobs are similar to superintendents’ roles in smaller suburban districts, according to a statement from a district spokesperson.

Networks had a $40 million budget last school year. To put that in context, more than $4 billion goes directly to schools.

Over time, network office staffing has fluctuated from a low of 119 positions in 2017 to a recent high of 248 in 2024, before falling to 227 last year, according to the Chalkbeat analysis of positions publicly posted in June each year. Even as the district trimmed administrative and school positions to close a $732.5 million gap this summer, network staffing will remain relatively flat, with the budget for networks inching up to $42 million.

King told Chalkbeat CPS focused on ensuring “that the network chiefs are successful in supporting our principals” when budgeting for the networks.

Antonio Acevedo, the chief of Network 7 that last year oversaw 25 schools in Pilsen, Little Village, and parts of North Lawndale, says his team of about 10 people is lean and busy. His own lengthy list of responsibilities includes everything from coaching earlier-career school leaders to forging relationships with community groups to holding professional development sessions on topics such as the science of reading. He said he visits at least two schools a day and speaks to students often.

“We are always trying to strike this balance between trust and accountability,” Acevedo said.

Others say there’s room to streamline and strengthen the networks. Kia Banks, the head of the Chicago Principals & Administrators Association, the union that represents principals and has some network members, said how well the networks function varies widely depending on who is leading them. A district as large as Chicago needs “that middle layer of management,” she said, but she raised concerns about duplicative staff positions and conflicting directives from networks and the central office.

“We feel many of the resources that are directed to the central offices and the networks should be placed directly into the schools,” she said.

Nelson Gerew of the Chicago Public Education Fund said in his organization’s annual surveys, principals report high levels of satisfaction with their network chiefs. In the most recent one his group plans to publish later this summer, 84% of school leaders said they get key support from their chiefs, and 78% said they trust them.

Nevertheless, as CPS continues to struggle with budget problems, “The networks are going to be an evergreen target,” Gerew said.

King’s proposed network overhaul highlighted CPS politics

Back in September, King had floated the idea of overhauling the 13 elementary networks into 10 offices aligned with the school board electoral districts. The district had recently begun a shift to a fully elected school board, and lawmakers had drawn a map to represent voters.

The four high school networks would have remained. Network chiefs and deputy chiefs would reapply for their jobs.

Officials said at the time that the goal was primarily to make middle management more nimble and responsive to school needs — and to save money.

The idea caused an internal backlash. Some school leaders worried the change would sever key relationships with their supervisors and disrupt principal evaluations that had already begun.

Some school board members also voiced concern that aligning the networks to the board members’ districts might inadvertently invite board members to meddle in their schools. The Chicago Teachers Union, which represents many network staffers, also expressed concern about cuts to support positions.

Previous CPS administrations have put their own stamp on the network structure, including the addition of high school networks in 2018 under Jackson to give them more specialized support.

Currently, between 10 and 13 people work in each network office, with some additional citywide network staff. There are also 24 central office staffers tasked with network support, according to the Chalkbeat analysis of CPS staffing data.

The number of instructional support leader positions in network teams that conduct classroom observations and provide input on teaching and learning grew substantially during the pandemic, reaching a high of 112 before dipping more recently. In 2026, there were more than 80 such positions, with an average salary of $115,000. They are represented by the CTU.

The average salary for network chiefs — a position that has often served as a stepping stone to top district leadership — hit a high of almost $180,000 last year, then dipped to about $160,000 this year. In total, average network office salaries have changed little even as overall CPS employee pay has risen steadily over the years.

Principals: CPS networks with good leaders help schools

Principals who spoke with Chalkbeat about the networks said that they can work well, although instability and bureaucratic issues can hamper their effectiveness.

Augusta Smith, a former CPS principal and administrator who now works at the parent advocacy group Kids First Chicago, recalled that her former network chief, LaTanya McDade, spent a lot of time in classrooms, knew her campuses intimately, and was consistently responsive when principals needed help or advice.

“I could call on her at any time, and she’d be there,” Smith said of McDade, who went on to serve as Jackson’s chief academic officer.

But Smith said some network chiefs can be much more focused on ensuring compliance with central office directives.

When school board member Jessica Biggs worked as a CPS principal, she had five network chiefs in as many years. She spent much time and energy getting the new arrivals up to speed, making for a “deeply unsupportive structure.”

But that has changed in recent years, Biggs said: More seasoned leaders serve in these roles and act as a bulwark against the turmoil stemming from leadership changes atop CPS.

“I worry about upending the one stable structure as this new administration is getting its footing,” Biggs said.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Teachers and CTU tell Chicago Board of Education to reject proposed budget cuts, furloughs

2026-07-20T23:02:09+00:00

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More than a dozen teachers and their union pushed the Chicago Board of Education Monday to reject the district’s $9.88 billion budget proposal that includes all-staff furloughs and a spending freeze in the middle of this upcoming school year.

During one of two required budget hearings, teachers discussed how the district’s proposed budget — which also includes staff cuts to help close a $732.5 million deficit — would hurt them and their schools and would exacerbate problems that educators are already facing due to recent budget woes.

For example, a teacher in the Austin neighborhood said Monday that teachers across four grades at her school have already received layoff notices, meaning each of those grades would have just one teacher, and at least one class could have as many as 47 kids, based on current enrollment estimates, she said. That figure would violate the Chicago Teachers Union’s contract with the district.

Another teacher at Funston Elementary School in Logan Square said her school couldn’t get more custodial or pest control help as it dealt with a rodent infestation.

The comments during Monday’s hearing signal sharp tensions over a budget proposal that CPS revealed last week and wants its board to approve in ten days.

The Chicago Teachers Union estimates that the proposed furloughs, which would happen on staff professional development days, would mean a 2.3% pay cut for its members. The union has made two key demands: The state should hold a special legislative session and raise revenue for schools, and CPS should sue Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas for repeatedly late tax bills, which has meant late revenue that CPS and other school districts rely on.

In an interview with Chalkbeat Monday, CPS CEO Macquline King described her budget plan as “very painful.” Proposing furloughs was the hardest decision she and her team made, in part because they would happen on days meant for educators to improve their work with students, she said. King added that she hopes elected officials in a position to help CPS will consider the impact of furloughs when making decisions.

“What I do believe is really important is that there is a sense of urgency in order for Chicago Public Schools to make payroll in the fall,” King said to Chalkbeat. “We really need the budget to pass because ultimately we do not want to disrupt services to our students.”

Emila Zoko, acting CPS budget director, said furloughs and the mid-year spending freeze are “options of last resort” and avoidable if the district gets an additional $200 million in revenue, such as from special taxing district dollars from the city known as tax increment financing — or TIF — surplus. CPS is already assuming it will receive $200 million in TIF surplus in its budget proposal.

The district is already laying off more than 760 teachers and 800 paraprofessionals, most of whom the district expects to rehire at other schools with openings. Overall, the district, which employs about 37,000 people in schools, would cut a net total of 164 school-based employees. The district, where enrollment has declined, also laid off 162 central office and citywide employees earlier this month.

Still, the layoffs mean the neediest students may lose contact with an adult they have come to trust, staffers said during the hearing.

“Think about how this impacts our [unhoused] students — what happens when those people in their lives are not there to make sure they feel safe, secure, and thriving?” said Tiwanda Parker, a college and career coach who said she was laid off.

Board members legally have until the end of August to pass a budget, but district leaders want the board to adopt a plan by July 30. That’s because, in order to make up for late Cook County property tax revenue, CPS needs a few weeks to take out a short-term loan to pay for daily operations, including payroll, at the start of the school year, according to Wally Stock, acting chief financial officer. That process will require CPS to have an approved budget, Stock previously told the board.

CPS says it’s owed at least $250 million from the last round of late tax payments alone. Pappas’ office told the Chicago Tribune the figure is closer to $70 million or $80 million.

The district does not have cash to provide a cushion as it waits for the tax dollars, and in the last year, borrowing to fill the tax-revenue gap has cost CPS about $40 million in interest, Stock has said. On Monday, Stock said he is talking to the county on possibly getting access to an interest-free bridge loan that typically isn’t available to CPS, but even that wouldn’t be large enough to get the district through its bills from September to October.

Board of Education members focused on ways to raise more funding but diverged on how to get there.

For example, Che “Rhymefest” Smith, an elected board member, focused his questions during the hearing on how much more TIF dollars City Council and Mayor Brandon Johnson could send to CPS to avoid furloughs and a midyear spending freeze. Elected member Jitu Brown, however, said it’s not realistic to expect more TIF after receiving a record amount last year, and said the district should instead build in the possibility for more state funding.

Budget officials said their numbers are rooted in historical projections. CPS has received at least $200 million in TIF surplus dollars every year since 2023.

The budget proposal wouldn’t implement a spending freeze and furloughs until January, providing CPS leaders “a window of time” to attempt securing more revenue, Stock said.

CPS held a second budget hearing Monday evening. People can view it on the district’s YouTube channel.

Mila Koumpilova contributed.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools releases $9.88 billion 2026-27 budget amid deepening financial strain

2026-07-15T22:01:12+00:00

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Facing intense financial pressures, Chicago Public Schools officials unveiled a proposed $9.88 billion district budget that includes five furlough days and a spending freeze that could start in January. But they said they hope to avoid those measures by persuading state lawmakers or the city council to steer more dollars to the school district.

District leaders said hundreds of staff layoffs, a push for more revenue, and other cost-saving measures took a $450 million bite out of the $732.5 million deficit the district faced this summer. To help close the remaining gap, CPS is bumping up the amount it expects the city would contribute in special tax dollars for development, known as TIF, from $100 million to $200 million. Last year, CPS received more than $500 million in TIF dollars, a record amount, but district officials said they wanted to be more conservative in projecting this year’s influx.

Unless even more city or state revenue materializes, the district will furlough all staff for five days when students are scheduled to be out of school and teachers are expected to get professional development — a move that would save $85 million. The district also would freeze some hiring and other spending in the second half of the school year.

“This process is painful for everyone all the way around,” said schools chief Macquline King on a call with reporters. “Ultimately, the budget we have presented is one that does its absolute best to meet the diverse needs of students.”

The district’s teachers and principals unions and some school board members decried the cuts, saying they will affect students.

The district is laying off about 760 teachers and 800 school-based support staff this week, though officials said that the majority will likely get rehired to fill vacancies on other campuses.

The district shared budgets with schools in May and finalized them in early June, but it has not disclosed campus budget allocations. More than 160 central office and citywide administrators were laid off on Friday — a move that CPS said will save $18 million. The blueprint presented Wednesday includes spending on pensions, debt service, and central and districtwide staff.

Last year, the district issued layoff notices to 1,450 teachers, support staff, security officers, and other employees. Officials said that in line with previous years, about 75% of them were rehired. District leaders said that while there will be fewer general education teachers after the district increased student-to-teacher ratios by one student, it is boosting the number of bilingual and special education teachers and classroom assistants. That will result in a net school-based position loss of about 160 in the district, which employs more than 37,000 people on its campuses. Factoring in contractual pay increases, CPS is sending $143 million more directly to schools compared with last year.

District officials again stressed the tough financial realities CPS faces: The costs of employee pay and pensions, the district’s massive debt, and upkeep for Chicago’s aging school buildings keep going up. The district added thousands of new positions using federal COVID aid during the pandemic even as enrollment shrank. District leaders have defended the staffing growth, saying it allowed schools to address longstanding staffing gaps and speed up its recovery. Despite significant state funding increases in recent years, CPS remains about $1.6 billion of what Illinois estimates would make for “adequate” funding.

CPS is asking the board to approve the budget by July 30, which officials say will give them enough time to borrow money against its future tax revenue to address cash flow issues amid a Cook County property tax delay.

Wednesday’s budget is the first fully shaped by King, who stepped in on an interim basis last summer when outgoing schools chief Pedro Martinez had already finalized school budgets. King crafted the final $10.2 billion budget, notably declining to take out a high-cost loan to pay into a city pension fund covering some CPS support staff despite pressure from the mayor’s office.

This week’s budget proposal also did not include a contribution toward the Municipal Employees’ Annuity and Benefit Fund. District officials touted the fact that the new budget does not add to the district’s $9 billion debt, with interest and other costs diverting hundreds of millions of dollars that could go toward instruction and support services.

King described the budget as “thoughtful, responsible, and entirely student-centered.” But the proposal left some board members concerned about how cuts would impact schools in their districts.

Anusha Thotakura, an appointed board member who represents the Near North Side and West Town, said many schools have experienced cuts “year after year,” and she wants to see more investments that parents want, such as in early childhood education and dual language programs. At the same time, CPS is in a difficult spot, she said.

“When you start with a pie that is too small and are forced to figure out how to cut it and a way to feed people, you’re never going to win,” said Thotakura, who has advocated for more state funding.

She said she hopes CPS and board members will work extra hard over the next year to secure additional funding, including from the state and city.

In a statement, Stacy Davis Gates, president of the Chicago Teachers Union and Illinois Federation of Teachers, called the proposal “dead on arrival.” Furloughs, she said, are another blow to educators who are already working in schools that are stretched for resources.

The union, along with allied board members, have called on state lawmakers to raise money for schools through progressive taxes and more recently pressed CPS to sue the county treasurer’s office over late tax payments.

“Does anyone in this state other than CPS educators have power to help school children instead of hurt them?” Davis Gates said in the statement. “It’s time for them to use it.”

Kia Banks, the head of the Chicago Principals & Administrators Association, said in a statement the union understands district leaders are in a tough spot. Still, she’s unsure the proposal, which eliminated assistant principals in small schools, represents “the strongest path forward.”

“We are extremely disappointed by the possibility that students could lose resources, programs, and support they need and deserve,” Banks said.

But Danny Vesecky, senior research and policy associate at Civic Federation, said that while layoffs are painful structural changes, they will permanently reduce the district’s expenses. It’s also the “right direction” for the district to move in after federal COVID relief money went away but investments fueled by those dollars, such as more staff, still exist.

“There is unfortunately no way to address that other than unwinding some of the increase in spending that we engaged in in previous years,” Vesecky said.

Vesecky also described furloughs as a reasonable yet temporary solution, since those savings won’t reduce the district’s expenses or deficit in future years.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

CTU endorses 15 school board candidates, throwing weight behind incumbents, mayoral picks

2026-07-14T01:16:22+00:00

This story was published in partnership with WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times.

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The Chicago Teachers Union announced Monday it will endorse only 15 candidates in the upcoming school board race in which all 21 seats are up for election — a decision that could make it difficult for the union to hold onto its majority.

The union will back 10 incumbents who they supported in the election two years ago or were appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson. Johnson, a former organizer for the CTU, is an ally of the union.

Notably absent from their list of endorsements is Yesenia Lopez, who won in 2024 with the union’s endorsement, but occasionally voted independently of other CTU-aligned school board members over the past year and half.

CTU last month endorsed their political director Hilario Dominguez in the citywide race for school board president. There are four other people running for that seat.

In the six districts where the CTU did not endorse anyone, it was because the race had only one candidate or there’s no candidate aligned with the CTU.

One of the five non-incumbents getting CTU’s nod is Tameka Walton, who the union said is mounting a write-in campaign. Walton’s petition signatures were challenged and the Chicago Board of Elections is expected to make decisions on petition challenges Tuesday.

Angel L. Velez, the incumbent vice president of the board who was appointed by Johnson and filed to run for his seat in district 9a, also announced on social media last week that he did not have enough valid signatures to stay on the ballot. That leaves Brittany Bailey Preston, the wife of state Sen. Willie Preston, as the only candidate in the race.

Juan Rangel, the CEO of the Urban Center, a political action committee paying for many of the petition challenges, said Cydney Wallace, a Johnson appointee running in 8b is also expected to be removed from the ballot. CTU did not include Velez or Wallace in their endorsements.

The CTU has been seen as a politically powerful force, especially after getting Johnson elected, but it remains to be seen how much their endorsement matters.

In the first school board election in 2024, the union endorsed in all 10 races and only four of their candidates were victorious. Still, the union had a friendly school board because Johnson appointed 11 people, giving them enough backers to have a majority on the 21-member board.

CTU-backed candidates would have to win 11 races to hold onto a majority. The CTU’s two political action committees had a balance of less than $200,000 as of March 31, the last time quarterly filings were due. New reports are due out on Wednesday.

The union also boasts more than 30,000 members that can knock on doors and get out the vote, which will be important in the Nov. 3 election where turnout could be low.

Kimberly Walls-Kirk, chair of the CTU’s political action committee, says the union’s endorsements carry weight with voters because they trust teachers.

“I’m the parent of a child who graduated from a Chicago Public School. I’m a teacher in Chicago Public Schools,” she said. “So if I have a vision of what learning conditions look like for my child, then I, as a teacher, am one of the best people to endorse a candidate.”

A handful of other political action committees have already raised more than a million each and have already started donating money to candidates.

Rangel said he was surprised that the CTU wasn’t more organized as they approached this election. The Urban Center PAC is supported by centrist billionaires and pro-charter groups.

“The CTU has a reputation of having first-class, first-grade political operations, but I think they’ve been kind of sloppy on this this time around, and I’m not sure the exact reason why,” he said.

Dominguez, the CTU’s endorsed presidential candidate, blamed the lack of challengers in some races on the fact that it is a volunteer position that is essentially a full-time job, he said.

Andrew Broy, the president of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools, said that based on 2024 election results, the power of a CTU endorsement is a “mixed bag” — more helpful in some well-to-do or gentrifying areas such as the North Side and Logan Square, and less so on the Southwest and Northwest Side. Overall, he said, recent opinion polls suggest the union’s popularity has dipped.

“That might blunt the positive impact of a CTU endorsement,” Broy said.

Sarah Karp covers education for WBEZ. Follow her on X @WBEZeducation and @sskedreporter. Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

CPS lays off 162 employees as it works to close budget deficit for 2026-27 school year

2026-07-13T20:26:41+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools notified 162 central and citywide employees Friday that they will be laid off, the district confirmed Monday.

Half of the employees work for central office departments that focus on districtwide policies and operations. The other half, known as “citywide” employees, help support individual schools.

The layoffs will save the district $18 million, CPS spokesperson Mary Fergus said in a statement.

The layoffs are part of the district’s attempt to close a more than $730 million deficit. Last June, while facing a similar deficit, the district laid off 161 employees who are staffed centrally, in addition to a slew of other cuts.

CPS is expected to publicly reveal a roughly $10 billion proposed budget later this week, which should provide a clearer picture of any additional cuts. Schools, which received their budgets in May, have also been grappling with budget-tightening decisions.

CPS did not specify the specific positions of the people losing their jobs. Many different offices were affected, including Career and College Success, Talent, Department of Principal Quality, Information and Technology Services, Students with Disabilities, Student Health and Wellness, Transportation, Facilities, and Safety and Security, School Counseling, Procurement, Real Estate, and the Office of Sports Administration, according to Fergus and a memo that chief talent officer Ben Felton sent Friday to school board members and district leaders.

Of the 162 people laid off, 38 people are represented by SEIU Local 73, the union that represents support staffers at CPS, such as custodians, and 25 were represented by the Chicago Teachers Union. The unions did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In deciding what positions to cut, the district’s top leaders were “directed to prioritize maintaining critical functions that directly serve students, and protect school-based staffing to the greatest extent possible,” the memo said.

The district tried cutting other expenses first, such as renegotiating vendor contracts and reducing some unspecified central “non-essential” office services. Neither CPS nor the memo said how much money these measures saved.

“These actions reduced a substantial portion of the deficit,” Fergus said in her statement to Chalkbeat. “Even after these measures, targeted central office and citywide staffing reductions remained necessary to protect resources for students and schools.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago’s Black Student Success Director Eugene Robinson Jr. talks about the initiative’s first year

2026-07-09T18:08:35+00:00

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Eugene Robinson Jr., Chicago Public Schools’ first director of Black student success, has faced a tricky balancing act over the past year.

Community advocates called for decisive, visible progress on the district’s Black Student Success Plan, the five-year initiative they had championed for years and helped enshrine in state law. Meanwhile, the Trump administration argued the plan discriminates against non-Black students and withheld federal funding over it — a standoff that’s now playing out in the courts.

Against that backdrop, Robinson set out to implement the plan he helped write in 2024. A University of Chicago graduate with a master’s degree in social work, he previously worked as the district’s director of student engagement and led the University of Chicago Charter School’s Woodlawn campus.

The rollout’s first year was decidedly low-key, with lots of public attention focused on delays in naming a new board committee that will help guide the work. The board named most, but not all, of the Black Student Achievement Committee’s members this week.

Chalkbeat spoke with Robinson about what he was able to accomplish this past year and what comes next for the plan, at a time when the district is contending with major budget pressures.

This conversation was edited for length and clarity.

You became the inaugural director of Black student success in June 2024, charged with rolling out a plan that involved a lot of input — and high expectations — from community members. What drew you to this role, and did you have some trepidation?

I’m a product of Chicago Public Schools. I went to Lindblom High School in Englewood. My family has a story that’s connected to why we’re doing this work and to the Great Migration. I am also an uncle of several nieces and nephews who are products of Chicago Public Schools. I’ve worked in higher education, and I’ve participated in a program called Great Expectation Mentoring. In my professional career, I’ve looked at other cities and states doing work focused on Black boys or Black girls. This opportunity allowed me to connect being a product of CPS, growing up in Englewood and Auburn Gresham, coming back to work in schools, working in nonprofits, and as a Black man in general.

Your first task was to write the plan, drawing on recommendations that came through community engagement. The plan sets some concrete goals, but it doesn’t go into detail about how the district will get there. How much work has the district done to figure out the “how,” and how much still remains?

The one thing I like to say is that the Black Student Success Plan is not the work. It is the vision and the aspiration. It is also the item to hold us as a district accountable, and it was written to align with the district’s five-year strategic plan, and with state statute that requires the school board to establish a Black Student Achievement Committee. The goals are very high-level and ambitious. There’s a lot of research and data that talks about certain powerful practices, and there was historical data that we looked at as a district.

But the plan is not the work. Some of this work started at the school level before the plan was actually taking shape. One example is Black student unions — one of the recommendations from the community working group. How do we create these culturally centered leadership and voice spaces for young people?

You led the plan’s first year of implementation in a national climate of intense scrutiny of race-based initiatives. How much were you able to accomplish this year?

The first year was about socializing the plan, letting everyone know that, “Hey, we have a Black Student Success Plan,” and activating that ecosystem for philanthropy with higher ed and community-based partners.

The Black Student Success Working Group didn’t go away. We reconstituted that to look different and to engage differently. We call it the Black Student Success Champion and Stakeholder Alliance Group so we are moving beyond recommendations to how this shows up in schools.

We also were able to establish what’s called the Black Student Success Convening and Collaboration, where we brought together various offices connected to certain goals. For example, we have a goal to increase Black male teachers and Black teacher retention. That’s our talent office.

We walked on a journey of establishing a Black student union framework, so we actually did some focus groups with schools that had Black student unions and schools that did not have them.

Using the two examples you mentioned, did the district’s talent office take some steps this year to make it easier to recruit and retain Black male teachers? Did schools foster new Black student unions?

I would say this is [work that will take place] in Year 3 of the plan. We have never had a Black student union resource and toolkit. We also looked at the history of Black student unions nationally and in CPS, and we actually went into the CPS archives and pulled out photos of Black student unions to understand and make those connections for young people.

We received a small grant opportunity that supports both the Black male educator strategy work and our very first Black student union conference. We are launching a Black male educator wellness cohort with some of this funding. We are working to establish other partnerships to offer professional learning for Black male educators. We’re supporting our grow-your-own work to ensure that Black males in non-teacher roles move up into teaching roles.

How did the Trump administration’s push to get the district to scrap the plan affect your work?

One of the things I would say related to is that we still have that open investigation [by the U.S. Department of Education]. But the district will continue to ground ourselves in the research and the data and our equity framework, which is all about targeted universalism. Targeted universalism is not about taking from one group to support and elevate another group. It is the system recognizing that groups may need differentiated support to achieve the same north star.

We are no different than any other school district having to navigate this climate, like my colleagues that I’m in close connection with in Denver and Los Angeles, who have similar Black student success plans.

Did the fact that the board’s Black Student Achievement Committee wasn’t named earlier this year affect your work on the plan, given the central role it is supposed to play in guiding the initiative?

Even though the committee has not been launched, there is collaboration and communication between the Office of Equity, the CEO’s office, Black Student Success Plan, and the two chairs of that committee. This is all new for us, but there is open communication. The way I will explain it is that the Black Student Success Plan is the work of the district in alignment with the state statute and our five-year strategic plan. The Black Student Achievement Committee will serve as the accountability structure for the district to be able to do this work.

You mentioned the philanthropic funding you lined up. Do you see this work being largely funded through philanthropic contributions going forward, or will the district attach some local or state dollars to the initiative?

There is an overall commitment that the CPS budget process is driven by equity. We are in a budget season now, so I wouldn’t answer that particular question. What I will share with you is that there is momentum to support this work in the philanthropic community, and we’re also looking at other ways of supporting this work.

But I think about the district’s commitment to having an Office of Equity, the positions that come along with that, including my position that never existed before, and also a project manager who works alongside me. Having different offices looking at their data and aligning to the Black Student Success Plan will take people, time, and money. Those offices will identify the resources that will potentially be attached to this work.

What’s high on your to-do list for next year?

I know I talked about Black student unions a lot, but I’m really excited because when we center ourselves on student voice and those who are most impacted and allow them to have a seat at the table, it can make for powerful practice and ignite opportunities for young people.

I am excited that we will be able to host the very first Black Student Union Conference at Malcolm X College on Oct. 21. We have some young people through the Mayor’s Office Youth Works program interning with us to help us plan the conference, and we have collaborated with different partners like Mikva Challenge over the year.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Johnson-aligned Chicago school board members continue push for more funding from Springfield

2026-07-08T22:17:58+00:00

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Chicago Board of Education members aligned with the mayor again pushed Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday to hold a special legislative session to allocate more funding to public schools.

Their calls come as Chicago Public Schools finalizes a roughly $10 billion budget proposal for the coming school year. Officials have been working to close a more than $700 million deficit projected earlier this spring.

Schools had to approve their proposed budgets in early June, but the district has yet to release full details around what might be cut. The Chicago Teachers Union joined Mayor Brandon Johnson-aligned board members at Wednesday’s press conference outside the Board of Education headquarters where they called for state lawmakers to again consider raising education funding through progressive tax policies that target wealthy individuals or corporations.

Khari Humphries, the city’s deputy mayor of education and youth, also joined elected board member Jitu Brown and appointed members Michilia Blaise, Karen Zaccor, Norma Rios-Sierra, Emma Lozano, Angel Velez, Cydney Wallace, and Debby Pope.

Illinois lawmakers attempted to begin the process to raise education funding through a millionaire’s tax, but that legislation ultimately stalled before they adjourned at the end of May.

“If the Hippocratic Oath in medicine says, first of all, do no harm, can the state of Illinois say they have not done harm to Illinois children?” Brown said to reporters.

CPS is expected to publicly reveal its budget plan by mid-July and wants the board to approve it by July 30, but some board members said that timeline feels rushed. A delay in Cook County property taxes has placed extra pressure on the budget, officials said.

The state budget increased education funding for school districts by $350 million this year for a total of $9.2 billion. But many districts, including CPS, are still short of what the state’s evidence-based formula considers as an adequate level of money. Even if lawmakers reconvene this summer, it’s not clear how quickly any extra money would make it to school districts like CPS.

“We are facing decisions that no city should ever have to make,” Humphries said during the press conference.

The district is expecting about $100 million from the city’s special taxing districts, known as TIF dollars, which the mayor and City Council control. That’s a fraction of the more than $500 million in TIF last year for CPS, a portion of which went back to the city for pension obligations.

Brown said board members are asking the city to release more TIF dollars. Humphries said he can’t say whether the city will do so. At a board meeting later Wednesday, acting chief financial officer Wally Stock also said CPS is “not trying to be aggressive” but is also having those discussions with the city.

During Wednesday’s meeting, however, CPS CEO Macquline King said the district is working through “different avenues” for help, including pressing the county for some relief.

“There is a sense of urgency,” King said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago school board names members of Black Student Achievement Committee

2026-07-08T21:06:18+00:00

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More than two years after Illinois lawmakers mandated a new committee to steer Chicago Public Schools’ efforts to improve the outcomes and experiences of Black students, the school board announced a partial list of its members Wednesday.

Jitu Brown and Michilla Blaise, the West Side board members who will lead the new group, helped select its members from a pool of 500 applicants. The committee will help oversee the rollout of the district’s Black Student Success Plan, a five-year initiative that has come under fire from the Trump administration.

Delays in forming the committee have frustrated some student advocates and supporters of the plan. Brown told Chalkbeat last summer that he would announce the members that September. The district later opened a more formal application process in late 2025 and then reopened it in January. At the board’s June meeting, Brown blamed the more recent delays on internal “struggle.”

On Wednesday, Blaise thanked community members for their patience and said the wait paid off in a careful, thorough screening process and strong applicant pool.

“We’re watching every step we make just because the whole world is watching us,” she said. “There are so many people and so many other places that are really hopeful for the work that we do here.”

The committee members are:

Darius Anderson, a community organizer and culinary arts professional
Alyssa Blanchard, a CPS special education case manager
Amber Brooks, an operations and organizational leadership executive
Karen Calloway, the principal at Kenwood Academy
Jemia Cunningham-Elder, the CEO of North Lawndale College Prep
Crystal Gardner, a West Side community organizer
Aquila Griffin-Ingram, a workforce analytics and compensation leader
Valerie Leonard, a community leader and founder of the nonprofit Utopia
Ayoka Noelle Mota Samuels, senior leader at City Colleges of Chicago
Chanise Stephens, a CPS educator, parent, and activist

“These individuals represent a diverse mix of stakeholders from across Chicago,” Brown said. “Each one brings a deep commitment to racial justice, public education, and the success of Black students.”

Four additional members will be announced soon as they complete required district onboarding, board members said.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago cut funding for assistant principals in small schools. Most chose to keep them anyway.

2026-07-07T21:49:24+00:00

Data analysis by Sophie Hayssen

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Alex Dakessian, the assistant principal at McCutcheon Elementary on Chicago’s North Side, had a hectic year.

She scheduled classes, helped evaluate 78 teachers and support staff, oversaw the school’s five specialized classrooms for students with significant disabilities, and translated for some of its more than 130 English learners. With two campuses several blocks apart, she sometimes became a “track star running between buildings” when emergencies arose.

But with McCutcheon’s kindergarten through eighth grade enrollment a few students shy of 250, Dakessian’s position landed on the chopping block this spring when the district cut school budgets.

More than 130 small schools were poised to lose funding for their assistant principals next school year. Most, including McCutcheon, used discretionary dollars to keep them or convinced CPS to make an exception, leaving about 40 campuses without that position, Chalkbeat has learned. The move comes as district officials are trying to close a $732.5 million deficit to balance a more than $10 billion budget.

In 2024, Chicago Public Schools vowed to staff an assistant principal on each of its campuses — no matter how small — as part of a new budget formula meant to steer more resources to high-needs schools, many hit hard by enrollment losses. But this spring, the district announced it would cut funding for assistant principals, or APs for short, in schools with fewer than 250 students, among other educator and support staff positions.

The move incensed leaders at the Chicago Principals & Administrators Association, which is bargaining with the district to finalize the first fully fleshed-out contract for school leaders. The union has argued that regardless of school size, APs such as Dakessian ensure campuses run smoothly and serve as sanity-saving partners and confidants for principals.

According to numbers provided by school board members, 72 of 138 campuses chose to use discretionary dollars to keep those positions. In the cases of another 23 schools, the district made an exception and funded an AP position, for example because of an upcoming program change.

Nelson Gerew of the Chicago Public Education notes the nonprofit has been a major proponent for staffing an assistant principal in each school. They help ease the intense pressure and loneliness of the principal role and represent a crucial school leader pipeline, with about a third eventually taking over the top job at their CPS school.

But this spring, Gerew says, school budget cuts were inevitable to balance the district’s budget. Because CPS guarantees a minimum level of staffing under its 2024 formula, many small schools were protected from other cuts the district made, Gerew notes. Cutting their APs meant they would share in the budget pain with larger schools, he said. There, principals have occasionally noted that both some schools serving hundreds of students and campuses serving fewer than 100 receive funding for one assistant principal.

“It’s encouraging that the vast majority of principals were able to keep their APs,” Gerew said.

As of its most recent staffing data at the end of June, CPS had a total of 644 assistant principal positions, up from about 600 before the 2023 budget formula changes and from a recent low of 540 in 2017, during another tough budget stretch. In 2026, APs made an average salary of $135,650, based on a Chalkbeat analysis of public CPS staffing data.

In a statement, CPS, which lost 45,000 students since the start of the pandemic, pointed to the intense fiscal pressures it faces. It said school budgets — including the number of eliminated assistant principal positions — remain preliminary until the school board approves an overall district budget this summer. But it said most appeals for additional staffing from schools were approved, and the district would make an effort to reassign employees whose positions were cut.

An ‘arbitrary’ enrollment cutoff with a catch

The principals union has pointed to Dakessian’s case to argue that the district’s 250-student cutoff is arbitrary and to contest a decision not to include pre-K enrollment.

Last year’s official enrollment at McCutcheon was 246 students. But that number does not include about 70 preschool students, who are part of a separate funding stream, but still demand the time and attention of school leaders.

School leaders and their advocates say assistant principals tend to have full plates, pitching in with a wide range of duties, from handing school discipline to communicating with families to filling in when other staff is absent or positions go vacant.

At last month’s school board meeting, Cy Hendrickson, the vice president of the principals union and an assistant principal at Hernández Middle School, said because they work throughout the summer, many assistant principals make less per hour than they would if they had continued teaching. Many regularly work on their own time on evenings and weekends, from completing teaching evaluations to answering parent emails, he said.

“The responsibility of leading and loving a CPS school is too immense and too profound for any one person to bear alone,” Hendrickson said.

The standoff over the AP cuts has cast a shadow over ongoing contract talks between the district and Chicago Principals & Administrators Association, which formally unionized school leaders for the first time after state lawmakers allowed it in 2023. Last fall, the two sides reached a preliminary agreement that included more protections against harassment and more due process rights for principals facing discipline, as well as 4% cost of living increases for 2025-26. But the union and district have been bargaining over a more fully fleshed-out contract.

Kia Banks, the union’s president, said it was “blindsided” by the district’s assistant principal decision — and has continued to push for a way to preserve these positions at the bargaining table. She said at the more than 40 schools losing their APs — campuses serving predominantly high-needs, Black and Latino students — only two principals told the union they feel they can make do without a second-in-command next year.

School board members express concern about AP cuts

Some school board members have voiced concern about the assistant principal cuts, even as they say they understand the district was forced to make difficult decisions to balance its budget.

Board member Karen Zaccor, a former CPS educator, said three schools in her North Side district lost their AP funding, including McCutcheon and Uplift High School, which has bucked district trends by growing its enrollment in recent years. All three chose to keep those positions with discretionary dollars. But she said she worries about what programs and other budget items might not be funded as a result.

“You can’t say, ‘We solved the problem. All of these schools are getting their APs back,’” Zaccor said. “We don’t know what else might be going away.”

School board member Jessica Biggs, a former CPS principal, said she felt the district had made the right call when it committed to staff an assistant principal in each school. She had spent most of her first year as a principal without a second-in-command, at Burke Elementary, which served fewer than 250 students at the time. She struggled.

In her second year, she hired assistant principal Tenesha Hatter, whom Biggs credits with the school’s enrollment and academic growth. Hatter led the school’s efforts to improve its climate and culture and fostered relationships with students to improve attendance, allowing Biggs to focus on boosting academics. Hatter went on to become a CPS principal herself.

“I don’t know if I would have stayed in the role if it wasn’t for her,” Biggs said. At the same time, she added, “There is nothing that’s good to cut right now.”

One small school principal, who spoke with Chalkbeat anonymously to discuss the issue without district authorization, recalls finding out the campus would lose its assistant principal funding this spring.

“I remember putting my head in my hands and just sitting there thinking, ‘Oh my god,’” that principal said. “It was devastating.”

The school got just enough discretionary dollars to keep the assistant principal. But it eliminated a teaching position to free up more discretionary dollars it still needs for learning materials, supplies, and more. For the first time, it will start charging student fees, and will lean on parent leaders to do “a hella lot of fundraising,” the principal said.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago’s school board is supposed to have a noncitizen advisory board. It still doesn’t exist.

2026-06-29T21:00:54+00:00

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When state legislators created Chicago’s elected school board, they also required the city’s mayor to name a noncitizen advisory board, meant to give people without citizenship a more formal voice in school board matters since they cannot vote or run in elections.

But about four months ahead of this year’s school board races — and 18 months after the city’s first elected members were seated — Mayor Brandon Johnson still hasn’t created that advisory panel.

“There is no clarity on this,” Socorro Diaz, a mother of three Chicago Public Schools graduates who is interested in serving on the panel, said in Spanish through a translator. “How is this going to be organized? Because education is too important.”

This year, Chicago will transition from a partially elected school board to a one that is fully elected. The election for all 21 school board seats is Nov. 3.

The panel is supposed to advise the Board of Education on various issues that impact noncitizen children, including on how to create an “inclusive learning environment” and more generally sharing perspectives from noncitizen families. State law maps out almost no instructions for the mayor: It doesn’t establish a deadline for the mayor to create the advisory board, the number of people to appoint, or even whether any of the picks must be immigrants or noncitizens.

For parents who had pushed for this board, its absence felt especially deep last fall during an intense federal deportation campaign in Chicago known as Operation Midway Blitz. At the time, the mayor’s office told Chalkbeat that it was finalizing applications for the advisory board, but it was figuring out how to protect people interested in participating without putting them in the crosshairs of the federal government.

That application still doesn’t exist. The mayor’s office did not answer a question about the status of the application, but in a statement last week, a spokesperson said they hope to create the board by the fall.

“Given the nature of recent immigration enforcement, the Mayor’s Office is working to develop a process that allows community members to participate safely and confidently,” said mayoral spokesperson Griffin Krueger.

Some parents have suggested the mayor’s office can appoint at least some people who may be citizens or legal residents but can still act as representatives for noncitizens.

Kids First Chicago, an education advocacy group that lobbied for the creation of the noncitizen advisory board, had pushed the mayor’s office last year to name the panel, especially as immigration enforcement kept families from sending their kids to school.

Claiborne Wade, a member of Kids First’s Fair Governance Task Force and parent of CPS students, said he can understand the mayor’s office’s concerns, especially with a federal government that is targeting immigrants and noncitizens.

Not having the panel in place, however, means that the board is potentially not hearing from certain immigrant communities whose kids are in CPS, who “do have a voice, too,” he said.

Diaz, who is currently on the Eric Solorio Academy High School Local School Council, first got involved in parent councils almost 25 years ago, when she learned that one of her daughters, at the time a 6-year-old newcomer from Mexico, was not receiving help in understanding English in school, she said. She recalled seeing her daughter set aside in a corner of her classroom, and Diaz repeatedly pushed the principal for help.

Since then she’s participated in LSCs and bilingual advisory councils, too, and believes it’s important for parents to get involved, she said.

When she learned about Chicago’s first school board elections, she felt a mixture of emotions: happiness that parents would get to choose who made policy decisions for the district but sadness that she and others who aren’t citizens wouldn’t be able to cast votes or run for office.

She feels the advisory panel is an advocacy vehicle for parents who can’t be at board meetings or are fearful of revealing their identities. To Diaz, it’s frustrating to not know what’s happening with the panel.

“They need to start being more transparent,” she said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Delays in ramping up work on Chicago’s Black Student Success Plan frustrate some advocates

2026-06-25T21:33:38+00:00

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Coretta Shane, the mom of a Chicago seventh-grader, applied earlier this year to serve on a new committee that would help steer the district’s Black Student Success Plan, a five-year initiative to address academic disparities Black students face.

She got an email thanking her and promising updates in the following weeks. That was back in March.

Shane knows the plan is in the crosshairs of the Trump administration, which has withheld federal dollars from the district over its refusal to scrap it. Still, the silence hasn’t sat well with her.

“I’ve just heard nothing, which is maddening to me,” she said. “I wish there would be some communication.”

Over the past year, district officials have worked to reassure parents and advocates that they are forging ahead with the initiative — while appearing to move slowly and cautiously to ward off further federal scrutiny and fallout. On Thursday, Jitu Brown, the board member slated to lead the Black Student Achievement Committee, announced yet another delay in naming its members. And when the district this past spring challenged in court the U.S. Department of Education’s move to withhold grant dollars over the plan, one of CPS’ arguments was that it hadn’t even started implementing the program.

Those who pushed to codify the committee in state law have voiced impatience with the slow pace — a sentiment Brown echoed at the board’s monthly meeting on Thursday.

Other advocates and experts say they understand the precarious position CPS is in — and recognize the first year of the plan’s rollout was likely to largely involve low-key planning.

“I just remind myself that this is something CPS has never done before,” said Dominique McKoy, the executive director of the University of Chicago’s To & Through Project, who has followed work on the plan. “This is an effort that’s trying to disrupt decades and generations of frustration for a population that historically hasn’t been served well by the city and the school district.”

In a Thursday statement, CPS said it is making headway on the initiative, and recently got a $250,000 grant from a Chicago-based foundation for its work on cultivating Black student unions and hiring more Black male educators. The district is planning a fall conference bringing together members of more than two dozen Black student unions on CPS campuses this fall. The statement also cited an increase in Black student enrollment in Advanced Placement courses and ongoing efforts to reduce discipline for Black students.

The district has pushed back on the feds’ call to kill the plan

CPS unveiled the plan in early 2025 after a yearslong process of gathering input from community members who had decried gaps Black students face on a long list of academic metrics and in access to some advanced courses and other opportunities.

The day after its release, a conservative advocacy group filed a complaint with the federal Department of Education, arguing the plan discriminates against non-Black students, particularly Latinos. The Trump administration began investigating, and last fall announced it would withhold millions in magnet school grants unless CPS scrapped the initiative altogether.

The plan sets a number of sweeping goals, which include hiring more Black male educators and reducing punitive discipline for Black students, who make up roughly a third of the district’s student body. But it doesn’t go into detail about how the district would tackle these goals or what progress toward them would look like in each year of the rollout. CPS also did not spell out a specific budget for implementation.

Brown, a longtime advocate for Black students in the district, said last summer that the first year of the initiative would be about listening to district employees, parents, and students, and figuring out how to replicate practices that have worked well for Black students.

He had initially said the committee to oversee the rollout would be announced last September. The board office said in May that Brown would be available for an interview only after the new committee is onboarded, but it did not give a timeline for when its members would be named. The district in recent weeks has also asked for more time before providing an interview with officials, and on Thursday, it referred questions about the committee delays to the board office.

At Thursday’s board meeting, Brown blamed the delays on an internal “struggle” after the board held two separate rounds of taking applications this past school year. He did not elaborate what exactly was getting in the way but said, “I am very frustrated, very concerned.”

In the meantime, the district held several community roundtables to gather more input on the plan this past spring. District budget materials from last summer also said CPS’ various central office departments would work on their own visions for implementing the plan during 2025-26. In response to a public records request from Chalkbeat, the district declined to provide these department-level plans, citing an exemption for internal documents that are in draft form.

CPS said a first-year focus would be supporting Black student unions at its high schools and expanding their number. McKoy said there’s some momentum on this issue as well as conversations about cultivating closer partnerships with historically Black colleges and universities. Some Black students in CPS have expressed interest in better understanding what these campuses might have to offer, McKoy said.

Sona Fokum, a research project manager at the Black Researchers Collective, said CPS officials had preliminary conversations last year with the group and other local experts about tracking and evaluating the initiative’s outcomes, including by involving students in the effort. But the collective hasn’t heard about next steps more recently.

When it comes to the federal pushback, the plan remains in limbo. In its lawsuit against the feds, the district has demanded that the government reinstate its magnet funding, noting the decision to withhold it happened before the investigation into the initiative was even formally completed. The district argued the plan is on solid legal footing because it sets out to rectify historical discrimination and missteps that have led to measurable disparities between the outcomes for Black students and those of their peers.

“The Plan does not take anything away from non-Black students,” the district said in court filings.

The Department of Education hasn’t filed a response to the district’s complaint in court, and a spokeswoman did not respond to an inquiry about the status of the investigation.

District Superintendent Macquline King was subpoenaed to testify before a congressional education committee earlier this month on CPS’s handling of hot-button issues, including the Black Student Success Plan and policies on transgender students, which are also under a federal investigation. But the plan itself sparked just a brief exchange with a friendly Democratic lawmaker, in which King stressed the community input that went into designing it and its goal of helping “students that have been historically and systematically void of opportunities.”

Committee’s creation lags

Shane, the mom who applied to serve on the Black Student Achievement Committee earlier this year, lives in South Shore, but she drives her daughter to school across the city to the North Side’s Walt Disney Magnet School, where she was recently elected to the local school council.

Shane has long been a critic of the more meager academic offerings — especially when it comes to science, technology, engineering, and math — that some schools in predominantly Black neighborhoods have. She saw the committee as a chance to advocate for more robust programs at the district level.

“The fact that my daughter can’t go to a school in our neighborhood because of a lack of resources really bothers me,” she said.

Koron Nash, the father of two CPS students, attended a virtual meeting about the plan with Brown, the school board member, organized by the parent advocacy group Kids First this spring. Nash, who also applied to serve on the committee, felt Brown’s commitment to advancing the plan was genuine. Nash strongly supports the plan’s goals.

But he wants to see specifics on how CPS will tackle them, with a budget and metrics to track progress: “At this point, we should be well beyond informing people. We should be taking action. We’re behind the eight ball.”

David Stovall, a professor of Black studies at the University of Illinois Chicago, said with any new multiyear initiative, planning and troubleshooting tend to take up the first year.

Still, he said, he is eager to see the district flesh out the plan — and address head-on the issue of its severely underenrolled schools, many of which serve predominantly Black students. He said he got involved with offering input when the district was first crafting the plan. But he left because officials did not seem open to discussing that issue or addressing it explicitly in the initiative.

“It’s nonsense to talk about a success plan when you’re not doing anything to address this glaring issue,” he said. “If you are going to address marginalization, you have to start with the most marginalized.”

McKoy says the district needs the help of other city agencies, academia, and others to address the needs of Black students and families. He believes the district is still genuinely committed to the initiative in the face of the Trump administration’s attack on it.

“There’s no way that’s not having an effect,” McKoy said. “But I am not seeing folks shy away and change the messaging.”

On Thursday, Brown, the school board member, said he will push to finally name the committee overseeing the initiative in July.

“I’m not really interested in any more conversations about it,” he said. “We need to announce this committee and get to work.”

Chalkbeat Chicago reporters Reema Amin and Makiya Seminera contributed to this report.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago school board adopts legislative agenda calling for more funding — after state lawmakers adjourn

2026-06-25T21:30:38+00:00

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The Chicago Board of Education unanimously passed a legislative agenda Thursday that calls for more state funding and a millionaire’s tax — even though Illinois state lawmakers passed a state budget last month and have adjourned for the summer.

While some board members were happy with the items in the new agenda, they were also frustrated that it would be adopted after lawmakers had left Springfield.

“This would have been fantastic for us to have in January or even February,” said Anusha Thotakura, an appointed board member who has previously pressed CPS for a legislative plan. “There is absolutely no opportunity for this legislative agenda to result in increased state funds for the upcoming school year — zero.”

Several board members called for the agenda to be a “living document” that CPS could add ideas to. And others wanted more demands of local officials. Elected board member Che “Rhymefest” Smith said he was disappointed the agenda didn’t include anything about pressing the city to send more special taxing district dollars to the district – an amount that can vary year to year.

The agenda is a list of issues that Chicago Public Schools wants to advocate for with lawmakers, typically on the state level. But in recent years the board has not always had an agenda: It last adopted one in early 2024 under former CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, who then didn’t present one in 2025.

The district CEO is charged with creating a legislative agenda and presenting it to the board for approval in January of each year, but the board waived that requirement in January 2024 and January 2026, though not in 2025, according to board records. Those waivers say that the CEO would still be expected to present something early in the year.

Neither CPS nor the school board office explained why this legislative agenda came later in the year and after the state legislative session ended. CPS CEO Macquline King and board members have visited Springfield over the past year to meet with lawmakers, which state Rep. Ann Williams, who represents North Side neighborhoods, described as “very visible and engaging” during public comment on Thursday.

This is King’s first legislative agenda, which asks for more state funding as the district faces a $732.5 million deficit in its budget for next fiscal year, which the district is aiming to finalize by July 30. It also makes several new asks that weren’t in the 2024 list, such as a millionaire’s tax to raise more revenue for education funding and more charter school regulations.

The Chicago Teachers Union is pushing lawmakers to hold a special session this summer to address funding issues.

During a union press conference Thursday morning, CTU vice president Jackson Potter said schools are slated, for now, to lose lots of staff and claimed district officials are considering cutting up to two weeks of instructional time next school year if it doesn’t get more funding to close its deficit. CTU President Stacy Davis Gates relayed a similar message to the union’s executive board in a letter earlier this week.

In a statement, CPS spokesperson Sylvia Barragan disputed that, saying “at no point has the district considered shortening the school year to alleviate financial challenges” and doing so “is not a viable option.” School districts are required to have 176 instructional days, which is the exact number of days for student attendance on CPS’s approved calendar for next school year. Cutting from that now could put the district out of compliance with the state.

The new legislative agenda includes a mix of old asks and new demands. Similar to the 2024 agenda, CPS is asking for more funding through the state’s main education funding formula in order to reach the state’s definition of “adequate funding.” It also wants heftier reimbursements for certain required services it provides, such as transportation for students with disabilities. And, it again calls for the state to help pay for Chicago teacher pensions in the way it does for other Illinois school districts, something one bill aimed, but failed, to do this year. (CPS has a special tax levy to help cover most teacher pension costs, and state money covers about a third of the costs.)

Some of the newer items include language about supporting more regulations around charter schools, in line with a resolution the board passed last year.

It also includes multiple proposals for raising progressive revenue. In its language supporting a millionaire’s tax, the district states that “by capturing a portion of ultra-high incomes, this dedicated revenue source would directly help address structural budget gaps, support classroom investments, and reduce reliance on volatile or one time revenue streams.”

Thotakura said the millionaire’s tax is a “notable” addition and could help the board avoid raising the property tax levy to the legally allowed limit, which it typically does annually.

Ed Bannon, an appointed board member, said it’s possible the agenda “just kind of didn’t get prioritized” early this year as King was still the interim CEO at the time and was navigating a host of issues. Despite the late timing, he said he’s happy a document now exists as the board gets ready to fill a long-vacant position on its intergovernmental team, which helps establish CPS’ advocacy presence in Springfield.

“The state needs to fulfill its obligation to fully fund education, and having an official legislative agenda is a step in the right direction,” Bannon said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Why more Chicago schools lean on dollars they raise independently amid budget crunch

2026-06-22T10:00:00+00:00

Data analysis by Thomas Wilburn

This story was created in collaboration with the Chicago Tribune. Editor’s note: Please do not republish.

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Karen Calloway is always hunting for more ways to bring in dollars for Kenwood Academy.

In recent years, the principal has rented out the South Side high school’s campus to churches, nonprofits, and sports leagues, and leaned on a new parent group to drum up donations. The effort to supplement what the school receives directly from Chicago Public Schools has paid off.

Kenwood spent $418,983 in outside money in fiscal year 2025, compared to a low of about $90,000 in 2021, according to an analysis by Chalkbeat and the Tribune.

At Kenwood, a predominantly Black high school where about half of the students are low-income, that funding has paid for athletic equipment and uniforms, student clubs and college tours.

“Regardless of the budget, as a principal, you should want to create other arms of revenue for your school,” Calloway said. “It’s being flexible and being nimble about how you use the funding that you have.”

Private fundraising has long been seen as a way to pad school budgets in wealthier communities, usually to pay for nice-to-haves, such as field trips and student clubs. But as the district grapples with growing financial woes, more Chicago schools have leaned on parent fundraising, rental income, cell tower revenue, and more to pay for essentials, including staffing.

In fiscal year 2025, district-run campuses spent a total of $48 million in independently raised revenue, the Chalkbeat and Chicago Tribune analysis found. That’s up 78% since 2021, when the district was newly flush with federal pandemic relief.

In an email, a district spokesperson said the total spent in fiscal year 2025 was $51.8 million, but could not explain the discrepancy.

North Side schools have remained dominant in bringing in this outside funding, but some higher-poverty South and West Side campuses such as Kenwood increasingly held their own. Across the city, principals say they appreciate the boost, even as they note playing landlord and overseeing fundraisers can siphon time away from efforts to improve instruction.

The district made some cuts to school budgets this spring to chip at a $732.5 million deficit, under pressure from billions in long-term debt and pension liabilities, aging infrastructure and state funding that remains short of what Illinois deems “adequate.”

“The district’s budget is getting close to the breaking point, so principals are hustling around for additional revenue, the district’s hustling around to buy additional savings and the long-term revenue sources are kind of tapped out,” said Nelson Gerew of the Chicago Public Education Fund.

Students walk outside Amundsen High School in 2017.

Larger schools say this funding is a lifeline

Until recently, Amundsen High School spent fundraised dollars on computer carts, classroom materials, and other nonessentials.

A decade ago, about 90% of Amundsen’s students were from low-income families and almost 60% were Latino. Then came an all-out effort to attract more families from the school’s well-to-do Lincoln Square neighborhood. The successful push has been a boon for Amundsen’s reputation and enrollment. It has also meant tighter budgets.

In 2024, the school — where roughly a third of students are now low-income and nearly half are white — lost federal dollars it used to receive for serving a high concentration of disadvantaged students. That year, CPS also adopted a new funding formula that, among other things, guaranteed minimum staffing for a growing number of campuses with smaller student bodies — the culmination of yearslong efforts to steer more resources to needier schools.

Facing a growing budget shortfall, Amundsen spent $894,000 in outside money in 2025, including fundraising, cell tower income, and grant revenue, for operational expenses such as partial staff salaries. That’s roughly 5% of its budget.

“We aren’t using [fundraising] because our kids need iPad 10s instead of iPad 9s,” said Bob Farster, a longtime Local School Council representative. “This isn’t frivolous. We’re not using it for things that aren’t 100% necessary.”

Historically in Chicago, parent fundraising has been a story of have versus have-not schools, a dynamic threatening to drive deeper inequity in a segregated district. Indeed, “Friends of” groups at the city’s premier selective enrollment schools, which tend to serve whiter and wealthier student bodies than the district as a whole, can pull in hefty amounts. Take Friends of Payton, which raised $786,000 for Walter Payton College Preparatory High School in 2023-24, according to the organization’s most recent tax filings, more than any other school in the district.

But the picture has become more nuanced.

Amid the funding shifts, school leaders, LSC members and parent groups at larger high schools like Amundsen — often in wealthier areas but drawing diverse student bodies — say outside revenue is helping to bridge budget gaps, paying for staff positions, pressing building repairs or other essentials.

Without independent revenue, one North Side principal who requested anonymity to speak candidly said, “I can’t make the numbers work.”

At about 1% of total campus budgets in 2024-25, this type of income that schools raise independently of what the district provides is still a small fraction of school spending overall. But it’s growing, and it accounts for a larger portion on some campuses, including 6% at Lincoln Park High School, the highest among CPS schools. This school year, 77 teacher and staff positions districtwide were funded through independent revenue, up from 67 in 2024-25.

Securing independent revenue can be time-consuming and uncertain, school leaders say. Renting out parking lots, auditoriums, and other school facilities often involves coming in on weekends and troubleshooting issues with vendors throughout the week, the North Side principal said.

Meanwhile, high-needs campuses on the South and West sides are stepping up their own fundraising.

Schools serving more low-income families hope to boost outside dollars

At Kenwood’s eighth grade graduation in the school’s courtyard earlier this month, graduates, parents and family members flocked to a booth piled high with “spiritwear”: $45 sweatshirts, $20 baseball hats, $10 tote bags, all with the school’s insignia rendered in ornate lettering. A winding line formed by the booth, manned by members of Friends of Kenwood.

RyAnn Nelson-Jaiyesimi, a 1998 graduate, held up a blue T-shirt with “alumni” scripted across the chest. She walked away with two for $20 each, adding that supporting the fundraiser was an easy decision: “We have kiddos from all different backgrounds, so I definitely think it’s important to give back.”

Volunteers bring out a rack of spiritwear to stock in the Friends of Kenwood Academy booth before the start of eighth grade graduation at Kenwood Academy on June 1, 2026, in Chicago.

Ramona Burress, a parent and former head of Kenwood’s Local School Council, helped revive the school’s parent fundraising group at the height of COVID, as many families struggled with access to food, housing, and technology needed for remote learning. Families kept it going after the pandemic’s fallout eased — and after Burress’ three children all graduated from Kenwood.

More recently, Burress joined an informal network of CPS “Friends of” group leaders, dominated by wealthier North Side schools where fundraising is “a well-oiled engine.” In a group chat and in-person meetings, she has gotten tips and ideas for how Kenwood could step up its fundraising efforts, such as a mini-grant competition to support student clubs and sports teams. Burress said the push has also spurred parent engagement at the school and sent a message to students that families and staff care about improving their experience.

At $55,000 last year, the group’s haul is still a fraction of what wealthier schools can raise. It’s also only about 13% of what Kenwood spent in outside revenue last year, income dominated by rental dollars. But the group wants to do more, tapping a network of loyal alumni and local businesses.

“The district is navigating real financial pressures,” Burress said. “Organizations like ours can help to close the gap. Ideally, we shouldn’t have to be here, but we recognize the need.”

The Chalkbeat/Chicago Tribune analysis showed Kenwood and other South and West Side schools serving higher-poverty student bodies have significantly increased the amounts of independently raised revenue in their budgets in recent years, often pulling a mix of rental, cell tower, student fee, and some fundraising income. Dyett High School for the Arts in Washington Park, Corliss High School in Pullman and Benito Juarez High School in Pilsen are among the 80 campuses on the South and West Sides that have tripled their outside spending dollars since 2021.

Overall, this type of spending went up by 40% at South and West Side schools since 2021 and accounted for almost a third of the total amount of independently raised revenue schools across the city spent.

In some cases, outside revenue has allowed such campuses to offer extras that have long been staples at wealthier schools. But increasingly, even as the district has shifted its funding model to prioritize higher-need campuses, some school leaders on the South and West Side say outside revenue has also helped shore up their budgets.

Gunsaulus, a Southwest Side magnet school serving largely low-income Latino families, spent a growing amount of cell tower revenue in recent years. Meanwhile, the school’s parent fundraising arm, Amigos de Gunsaulus, held an annual raffle to pay for field trips in the United States and South Korea all students take. But the group has also recently stepped up its efforts to raise more for campus needs, such as school supplies and arts programs.

Amigos has worked to adapt to its more limited fundraising prowess. Amigos used to host “dressdown” days, when parents could chip in $1 so their student wouldn’t have to wear the school uniform. But, says Vanessa Espinosa, the group’s president, Amigos did away with the practice because it felt unfair to low-income families.

The group has instead tried to emulate the annual fundraising galas and walkathons wealthier schools host, except its members target the school’s teachers and local businesses instead of their families — an approach that helped Amigos raise $166,000 in 2024-25, according to tax filings.

“We are conscious that our community has many limitations,” Espinosa said.

Increasingly, district leaders are noticing these schools’ fundraising efforts.

District officials push schools to get creative in raising revenue

In a district presentation the week school budgets were released this spring, principals were urged to tap any available dollars in the special funds containing parent fundraising, rental, and other revenue before appealing their staffing allocations.

The district has also more recently encouraged schools to rent out their facilities when possible and started taking a cut. Officials say this new “facility fee” helps offset some of CPS’ growing building maintenance expenses. The district said it will raise the fee for some schools this summer “to more accurately reflect actual building operating costs.” Schools hosting cell towers keep a third of that revenue; CPS redistributes the rest to all campuses, the district said.

LaToya Gray stands in front of the Friends of Kenwood Academy booth and straightens the graduation cap of her son, Jachin McGee, 13, who is graduating from eighth grade at Kenwood Academy on June 1, 2026, in Chicago.

A CPS spokeswoman told Chalkbeat and the Tribune that it takes a hands-off approach to school efforts to generate revenue independently and has a “neutral stance” on parent fundraising.

“While fundraising can play a role in finances at the local school level, it will not compensate for the nearly $3 billion in COVID-related funding allocated to CPS,” the district said in a statement.

Still, district officials have shown some interest in helping higher-poverty schools step up their game when it comes to securing outside revenue.

At Kenwood, Burress says she has met twice with the head of the regional office overseeing Kenwood and other high schools about replicating the school’s fundraising efforts on other South Side campuses. School board members have voiced interest as well. Gunsaulus’ Espinosa has also gotten inquiries from a network administrator and principals at nearby schools to present on launching a fundraising nonprofit without a pricey attorney.

Lauren Sartain, one of the authors of a 2023 Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago study of CPS fundraising, cautions against relying too much on independently raised revenue.

“To think you can tap these dollars to support all students who have needs is simply not realistic,” Sartain said.

Still, school leaders and advocates said that they are grateful for these dollars — even more so amid this spring’s budget cuts. At Whitney Young, a coveted selective school on the Near West Side, Friends of Whitney Young money once supported building improvements and student groups. But this year, for the first time, the nonprofit will fund two teaching positions.

Friends of Whitney Young president Patricia Herrera put it simply: “We’re basically a lifeline now.”

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Kate Armanini is the education reporter at the Chicago Tribune.

Editing by Becky Vevea, Corilyn Shropshire, and Mónica Rhor; data analysis by Thomas Wilburn; visual presentation by Steve Rosenberg, Todd Panagopoulos and Susan Gonzales; engagement design by Ellen Przepasniak and Caroline Bauman; copy editing by Mónica Rhor and Robert Loerzel.

Editor’s note: This story was created in collaboration with the Chicago Tribune. Please do not republish.

In this fall’s Chicago school board elections, many voters may only have one candidate to choose from

2026-06-12T22:05:12+00:00

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For three decades, Chicago voters have not had a direct say in who represents them on the city’s Board of Education.

And many may not have much of a choice again this fall, despite an otherwise historic election in which all 21 school board seats are on the ballot in November’s general election.

That’s because 17 races could end up with just one candidate if challenges to their petition signatures are successful. That’s on top of the two seats up for election that have just one candidate.

This year, 28 candidates — more than half the current field of 51 candidates — are at risk of getting knocked off the ballot. The Urban Center, a pro-school choice, politically centrist organization, is behind at least 14 of those challenges.

Most of the candidates facing challenges — including four of the five people running for board president — could be wiped from the ballot due to a claim that the way they collected signatures violated election law. Most of The Urban Center’s challenges include this claim.

Known as a dual circulator argument, the challengers say that some people who helped candidates collect signatures were not allowed to do so because they had already circulated petitions for other candidates during the March primary election. Chicago’s school board races are nonpartisan and were not part of the primary.

If the electoral board agrees, they could make a single ruling that would result in thousands of voters across 14 districts having just one school board candidate on their ballot.

For candidates, fighting petition challenges can be time-consuming and expensive, which can cut into campaigning or cause them to withdraw from the race and leave voters with fewer choices. Election attorneys and challengers, however, say the process ensures candidates are following the law and are people who voters want on the ballot.

In 2024, 47 candidates filed to run, and 31 remained on the ballot.

In Chicago, petition challenges are often backed by powerful special interests as a tactic to narrow the race.

The Chicago Teachers Union was behind many of the challenges in 2024, when 10 of 21 board seats were up for election. This year, other special interests are employing the tactic.

Robert Sylvester, vice president of The Urban Center and chair of their political action group, told Chalkbeat and Board Rule his group is working with other political organizations and longtime elections attorney Mike Kasper on their challenges — more than half of which target candidates who are current mayoral appointees on the school board, have previously been backed by the union, or lean politically progressive.

“The democratic process is important to me and Urban Center,” Sylvester said in an interview. “We challenge to make sure people play by the rules.”

Asked if The Urban Center targeted candidates who don’t ideologically align with it, Sylvester said, “We challenged anybody we thought didn’t have the requisite signatures or that they didn’t follow the rules around the circulators.”

The basis for challenging candidate petitions

Candidates for school board running to represent the district they live in were required to collect between 500 to 1,500 signatures on a form known as a nominating petition. Those running for board president, which is a citywide office, were required to collect 2,500 signatures.

But there are very specific rules for what counts as a valid signature: Signers must be registered to vote at an address in the same district as the candidate, they cannot sign multiple petitions for the same race, and, though it may be obvious, the signature can’t be forged.

Victor Henderson, a newcomer candidate running for board president, is facing one of the more serious challenges: Two objectors have accused him or someone on his team of fraudulently altering his signers’ addresses in order to make the signatures valid.

A handful of objections are over more technical matters. For example, one objector claimed that current appointed board member Norma Rios-Sierra, who is running in district 3a, should be knocked off the ballot because she didn’t include a hyphen in her last name on her nomination paperwork. Candidate Marlo Bennet faces two challenges arguing they did not identify the subdistrict they’re running for and should therefore be disqualified.

Nearly two dozen challenges include the “dual circulator” argument and cite a part of election law that says “no person shall circulate or certify petitions for candidates of more than one political party, or for an independent candidate or candidates in addition to one political party, to be voted upon at the next primary or general election, or for such candidates and parties with respect to the same political subdivision at the next consolidated election.”

Another section of election law says that where applicable, the law also applies to nonpartisan candidates.

The point of the law is to prevent “political gamesmanship” or a “sore-loser” situation, such as someone switching to run as an independent in the same election season, said Ross Secler, an elections attorney and partner at Odelsen, Murphy, Frazier and McGrath, who cited previous Illinois Supreme Court rulings over the issue.

Secler, who is representing objectors in two challenges but is not making the dual circulator argument in either of them, said he doesn’t see how dual circulators violated the spirit of the law in this situation. The March primaries were unrelated to local school board races.

Normally, a challenge is resolved once a hearing officer reviews the case, issues a recommendation, and the electoral board takes a final vote on whether the candidate gathered enough valid signatures to be on the ballot.

Connie Anderson is running in district 10b and is one of the candidates facing the dual circulator argument. Anderson’s husband, Clifton, has also challenged the petitions of Anderson’s opponent, Rosita Chatonda.

Anderson is getting legal help from the CTU to defend her petitions — an offer CTU leaders made to all candidates shortly after challenges were made public.

“We are blessed that an organization came in and said, ‘We will help you even if we haven’t endorsed you because we believe in your vision,’” Anderson said. “We align in that way.”

During the 2024 school board races, the union was behind challenges against 19 candidates. A CTU spokesperson said the union did not back any challenges this cycle and could not immediately confirm which candidates the union has offered legal help to.

Julie Metea, a spokesperson for the Electoral Board, said that attorneys involved in cases with the “dual circulator” argument asked the Electoral Board to rule on the issue once instead of having several different hearing officers decide on individual cases.

Metea said that the board is tentatively planning to hold one hearing to decide on this issue, but that isn’t final.

Candidates who escaped challenges breathe sigh of relief

Several candidates facing these objections didn’t return calls or declined to comment on the record about their cases.

Some current and former candidates said they escaped challenges because they did a lot of research or didn’t rely on paid circulators, who candidates pay per signature.

Jennifer Custer, a current elected board member who is running for board president, escaped a challenge, meaning she’s guaranteed to be on the ballot.

“We made sure to just check everything before we even started petitions and make sure that we were following the law,” Custer said in an interview.

When Anthony Hargrove ran for school board in 2024, he largely relied on a paid circulator who was tasked with securing 500 signatures. Then, Hargrove faced a petition challenge and was knocked off the ballot after many of his signatures were deemed invalid. Last time, it cost the father of four expensive attorney fees and time to fight the challenge.

Chicago elections, he said, can feel “like a frat that’s really, really impossible to get into.”

Hargrove is running again this year for district 5a on the West Side, and he changed his strategy for getting on the ballot. He got advice from retired politicians. He read the law. He said he didn’t pay anyone to collect signatures, and instead, he, his wife and others spent evenings and weekends knocking on doors and attending community events to collect hundreds of more names than he needed. Then he went to the county building to make sure his signatures were valid.

Last week, after repeatedly refreshing the Board of Elections website, he saw that no one had challenged his petitions.

“It was like, ‘Oh my god, I made it. Oh my god, I’m a candidate,’” Hargrove said.

Isaiah Pinzino and Norah D’Cruze contributed to this report.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Maureen Kelleher is the founding editor for Board Rule. Contact Maureen at maureen.boardrule@gmail.com.

CPS CEO Macquline King testified before Congress. Here are 3 key takeaways.

2026-06-10T23:27:27+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools CEO Macquline King’s summer is already off to an unconventional start — testifying in front of Congress just a few months after officially landing the superintendent role.

The Republican-led U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce held a hearing Wednesday morning where King answered a litany of questions on the district’s policies on gender identity, sex education, abortion, and religious freedom. It’s the latest in an ongoing saga that has placed CPS under federal scrutiny for its efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.

CPS has had an especially strained relationship with the Trump administration over the past year and a half. Two months after Trump took office, conservative groups filed federal Title IX complaints with the U.S. Department of Education, alleging CPS’ LGBTQ protections violated the anti-discrimination clause. Then in September, federal officials pulled magnet school grant funding. The district is also under investigation by the Office for Civil Rights for its Black Student Success Plan — an initiative meant to improve conditions for Black students and teachers — for alleged race-based discrimination.

“Whether it’s building community partnerships, advocating for our schools or testifying before Congress as she’s done today, we applaud [Dr. King’s] unwavering commitment to keeping students and families at the center,” Chicago Board of Education President Sean Harden told reporters after the hearing Wednesday.

Alongside King, two other superintendents spoke before the committee — Maria Su from San Francisco Unified School District and Aaron Spence from Virginia’s Loudoun County Public Schools. All three school districts are located in largely Democratic-leaning areas and implement progressive policies.

But King’s appearance was under different circumstances from Su and Spence. The committee ordered King to answer its questions in person by subpoenaing her last month. King acknowledged the legal order in her opening statements, attributing it to “complicated scheduling issues and some underlying privacy concerns.”

Earlier this week, America First Legal filed federal complaints to the U.S. Department of Education and the Department of Justice calling for investigations into each of the school districts in question. The organization, co-founded by White House senior advisor Stephen Miller, largely focused its grievance on issues regarding gender and sexuality in schools.

Questioning lasted for about three hours. Here are the noteworthy takeaways from King’s testimony.

King’s testimony style? An even tone with brief responses

Heading into Wednesday’s hearing, it was no surprise that King was called to testify on the district’s policies. Chicago already found itself in the hot seat about a year ago when Mayor Brandon Johnson was called to testify in front of Congress about the city’s immigration laws.

King’s testimony approach wasn’t nearly as combative as previous exchanges between the district and the Trump administration. Instead, King kept a steady tone and took several opportunities to affirm that CPS values parental input.

She kept most of her answers concise, and at times, didn’t answer “yes” or “no” to questions she was asked to do so. King answered many questions by saying: “CPS is in compliance with Illinois state law.”

“Dr. King emphasized that CPS policies are rooted in law, the District’s mission and values. Above all else, Dr. King emphasized the District must always prioritize the best interests of students and their families,” CPS said in a written statement after the hearing.

Those blunt answers sometimes elicited frustration from Republicans, who cut King off a few times. It also led to several reprimands about CPS’ academic performance and massive budget deficit.

“CPS has shown it is far more interested in sidelining parents and advancing radical gender ideology than ensuring students can read, write, and perform math at grade level,” said Republican Rep. Mary Miller, Illinois’ sole member on the committee.

Most Republicans focused on gender identity and sexuality, while Democrats pointed to other issues

All three superintendents fielded questions on school rules related to gender identity and sexuality. For CPS, policies about transgender students’ sleeping situations for overnight field trips and their ability to use the locker room for the gender they identify with came under fire.

“If a student is transitioning and they have gone through the eligibility process and it has been approved according to Illinois policy, that would be considered on a case by case basis,” King said, when pressed by North Carolina Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx on transgender girls being allowed to sleep in the same room as cisgender girls.

Republicans also raised concerns about Chicago’s sex education curriculum teaching about puberty blockers, as well as school staff calling students by a different pronoun or name than they use at home. Several referenced recent actions by the U.S. Supreme Court that expanded a parent’s authority over their child’s education as evidence that the school districts in question Wednesday were not complying with federal laws.

The Democratic committee members used their time to bring up other issues in education they saw as more pressing: budget cuts, immigration enforcement, and school shootings. Several Democrats also apologized to the superintendents for some of the fiery statements made by Republican lawmakers.

“You know what you do, you’re good at what you do,” said Rep. Jahana Hayes, a Democrat from Connecticut. “Do not be intimidated by this committee.”

May Day protests scrutinized

One topic that got fewer mentions in committee — but more in-depth answers from King — was the district’s approach to May Day.

In an agreement last month between the Chicago Teachers Union and CPS, the city’s schools stayed open that day and provided a full day of instruction, which included lessons on civic engagement and labor.

As part of May Day, CPS approved and provided transportation for 40 field trips — with about 2,200 of the district’s 315,000 students involved. Some of those trips was to a downtown pro-labor, anti-Trump rally, which was called into question during Wednesday’s hearing.

King defended CPS’ handling of May Day, saying it was part of the district’s goal to “engage students civically.” When asked if field trips would be approved for protests aligned with conservative causes, King emphasized that the day of instruction was “not a politically slanted event.”

“The curriculum was expansive and there were options,” King said. “The curriculum was still decided at the school level, and so were the field trips.”

King also tentatively agreed to a lawmaker’s demand that the district investigate a May Day field trip permission slip that said students would “engage in political advocacy.”

Reema Amin contributed to this report.

Makiya Seminera is a reporter covering how the state and federal government affect education in Chicago and across Illinois. Contact Makiya at mseminera@chalkbeat.org.

CPS eighth graders will take a new, longer high school admissions test

2026-06-04T18:14:00+00:00

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Starting this fall, Chicago Public Schools’ eighth graders will take a longer and different standardized test to help determine where they get into high school.

In an email to principals and a letter to families of rising eighth graders, district officials said students will take the PreACT 9 Secure in October in place of the old High School Admissions Test — known as the HSAT. The new test is a precursor to the ACT exam that Illinois high school students are required to take and is used for college admissions.

All CPS eighth graders take the exam during the school day and private school students take it on a weekend. Their scores can determine whether they get into the high school of their choice outside of their neighborhood. The new test will still be administered on Oct. 7, and there are no changes to the timeline for the high school admissions process for next school year.

The exam will be two-and-a-half hours long versus the hour-long HSAT. In addition to English language arts and math, the PreACT 9 includes sections on reading and science. Additionally, unlike the current HSAT, the exam won’t be offered in languages other than English.

CPS says the new exam will allow families and teachers to receive “meaningful information” about student performance as they enter high school — something the HSAT didn’t do, according to the letter to families.

Districts can use the PreACT 9 “for program placement, high-stakes, or accountability purposes while giving students practice with taking the ACT,” according to the ACT.

The district also said the new test will allow more kids to prepare because it’s a widely used test that has “free or low-cost” prep materials, and it has “greater confidence” that this exam won’t be glitchy like the HSAT has been in recent years, requiring make-up tests. It’s not clear if the school board will discontinue its contract with the company that produces the old HSAT exam.

In its letter to families, CPS did not say that the exam won’t be offered in other languages but did explain that change in a letter to school leaders.

In the letter to principals, CPS said its data show that students who took the test in another language “performed LOWER than English Learners who took the test in English with accommodations.”

Gabriel Paez, a seventh and eighth grade bilingual teacher at Haugan Elementary School, told Chalkbeat he was upset to learn the exam will more than double in length and is “disheartened and distraught” by the lack of non-English options for the new exam.

In his experience, he said, English learners who are newer to the country and are still getting used to standardized testing tend to take the exam in their native language, while longtime English learners tend to take the exam in English with accommodations — which could explain some of the data CPS is citing in its letter to school leaders.

“In the past, it was common to say and to think that English-only was the only right way, and now it sounds like the district is going backwards in time and pushing forth the narrative that having this very important exam in multiple languages harmed our English language learners,” said Paez, who also chairs the bilingual teacher committee for the Chicago Teachers Union.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Dozens of Chicago school board candidates could get knocked off the ballot

2026-06-04T16:31:47+00:00

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More than half of the 51 people who filed to run for one of 21 seats on the Chicago Board of Education may not make it on the ballot.

That’s after 28 potential candidates had the validity of their petition signatures challenged.

Petition challenges allow registered voters in a candidate’s district to challenge the validity of signatures on their petitions. If the Chicago Board of Elections invalidates enough signatures, it can remove a candidate from the list. This year’s deadline to certify the ballot is Aug. 27.

Four of the five people hoping to be elected at-large to serve as school board president are at risk of being removed. Jennifer Custer is the only unchallenged candidate and will secure a spot in that race.

All nine of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s appointees currently serving on the school board running to keep their seats are facing challenges to the validity of their signatures. Two elected members aligned with Johnson — Aaron “Jitu” Brown and Yesenia Lopez — have also had their petitions called into question. Johnson’s appointed school board president Sean Harden is not running for election.

Elected incumbents Therese Boyle, Ebony DeBerry, Angel Gutierrez, Carlos A. Rivas Jr., Ellen Rosenfeld, and Che “Rhymefest” Smith escaped challenges and will all be on the ballot in November. Both Rosenfeld and Gutierrez are running unopposed in district 4b and 8a, respectively.

Only two of 21 races — in districts 2a and 4a — are currently guaranteed to have more than one candidate. Incumbent Ebony DeBerry and Bruce Leon, who ran in 2024, went unchallenged and are set to compete in 2a, while Ellen Sherratt and Angel Alvarez made it on the ballot in 4a. Hector Morales could survive a challenge to compete in 2a, as could 4a incumbent Karen Zaccor.

Surviving a petition challenge can require an attorney and take multiple weeks. The time-consuming and costly nature raises questions about ballot access for less resourced candidates. Removing political opponents through petition challenges has also been held up as an example of old-school, Chicago-style politics and were famously used by former President Barack Obama during his first campaign for state senate in 1996.

Chicago school board candidates were required to collect 500 to 1,500 valid signatures from voters in their districts and those running for board president had to collect 2,500 signatures from registered voters in Chicago.

In 2024, 47 people filed to run, but only 31 candidates remained by election day.

This November’s election marks the first time all 21 seats on the Chicago Board of Education will be up for election, ending 30 years of mayoral control. Since 2024, the board has been half-elected and half-appointed.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Dozens of Chicago seniors were forced to change schools this spring. Here’s how one got his diploma.

2026-06-03T20:37:38+00:00

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Jonathan Escobar sat among roughly 350 students in royal purple caps and gowns waiting to walk across the stage at Carl Schurz High School as hundreds of relatives and friends periodically erupted in cheers.

Just two months ago, Escobar and about 70 other kids seated around him hadn’t expected to graduate from the Irving Park high school — because until this spring they attended other schools.

Jonathan Escobar, who was forced to leave his old ASPIRA high school after it closed in the spring, holds up his diploma from Schurz High School

Those schools — run by the ASPIRA charter network — abruptly closed midyear, forcing more than 500 students like Escobar to transfer after ASPIRA said it had run out of money. The Chicago Board of Education officially shuttered ASPIRA Business and Finance and Early College high schools in April.

Schurz received the most ASPIRA transfers — roughly 250 – and 73 were in their senior year.

They had to get used to new teachers, new classrooms, and new classmates. Up until his last week, Escobar was unsure he’d pass every class.

The experience could become more common as Chicago’s charter schools experience financial turmoil and declining enrollment, which have resulted in multiple closures in recent years.

Leaving was a ‘big disaster’

Escobar enrolled at ASPIRA Business and Finance because his older sister had gone there, and the school was known to prepare kids for the real world, he said.

He liked his teachers at the school, including Juan Elias, who taught finance and entrepreneurship classes at ASPIRA.

Elias said the school’s final days were “eerie as hell.” Students like Escobar, who Elias taught as a sophomore, were no longer there to stop by his classroom and say hello.

“I saw the tears, uncertainty, especially with our students that needed the most support,” said Elias, who protested the closures. “I saw a lot of stress.”

The two ASPIRA campuses that closed enrolled a total of about 570 students at the start of the school year. By late-March, CPS said more than 500 had transferred out to about 20 district schools, and nearly half had picked Schurz. Another 70 went to Roosevelt and 50 went to Kelvyn Park, CPS said at the time. Ten of the kids went to other charters.

Escobar decided to transfer to Schurz, about a 15-minute drive from his home, because he knew of a classmate already there. The Chicago Teachers Union pushed the district to keep as many students and teachers together as possible.

Having to leave his old school like this was a “big disaster,” Escobar said later.

Schurz principal Heidy Moran had said it was “unprecedented” for her school, which enrolled roughly 1,000 students before the ASPIRA kids came, to welcome this many new students at once. The school created a team of staffers who organized events and initiatives to help ease the new kids in.

Former ASPIRA teacher Juan Elias greets his former students who graduated from Schurz High School.

A mixed transition process

On his first day at Schurz in March, Escobar was nervous about not knowing his new teachers or students and navigating a new building.

Then he saw some ASPIRA students he had known since elementary school and felt some relief. He wasn’t alone.

Some Schurz staffers said the transition went well for some students. Several had even joined sports or clubs.

There were signs, however, that others were struggling.

“Every day I receive emails from my former students asking for help and guidance when I should be receiving emails asking about recommendation letters and exciting updates,” said Stephanie Diaz, a former counselor at ASPIRA Business and Finance, during a Chicago Board of Education meeting in early April. “Others are writing to me about transfer options for next year because they feel like they don’t belong there yet.”

In his first few weeks at Schurz, Escobar wished he could go back to ASPIRA.

Escobar, who describes himself as a shy person, would have lunch with old classmates, and they would crack jokes or talk about their old teachers. But mostly, he kept to himself. He said he didn’t have time to join clubs.

After the closures, Elias began working as a substitute in CPS. During one stint substitute teaching at Schurz, a couple of former ASPIRA students spotted him in the hallway and “sprinted” toward him to say hello. It was a sign, he thought, of how much they missed their old school.

Schurz High School students celebrate graduating by throwing streamers into the air.

Ready to move on

By late April, Escobar was talking to his new Schurz teachers more. He thought his classes were easier than at his old school. He liked when students would work on assignments together in class.

“I’m almost done with high school,” he said in an interview with Chalkbeat about a month after transferring to Schurz. “Just trying to focus.”

By May, graduation was getting closer. But Escobar, who has a learning disability and is entitled to extra support in the classroom, was having a hard time in physics.

The class was difficult to understand. He worried he was at risk of failing and not graduating if he didn’t do well on the final exam.

Escobar said his counselor helped him get some extra attention in the class.

The help paid off: Escobar passed the physics final, bumping his grade to a 76. He got As and Bs in the rest of his classes.

On graduation day, Elias, Escobar’s former ASPIRA teacher, stood in the back of the Schurz auditorium to cheer on his former students. He clapped and yelled when their names were called, then rattled off some facts about each person: Steven was in National Honor Society. Dayana won second place during a Shark Tank competition for ASPIRA students. Oscar loves the Chicago Bears.

After the ceremony, former ASPIRA students spotted Elias and wrapped him in big, tight hugs. One student picked him up.

Later, Elias saw Escobar outside and gave him a high-five. Elias said he was proud of him, and Escobar thanked him.

Of the 156 former ASPIRA seniors who transferred into district-run schools, 154 were cleared to graduate as of this week, according to a CPS spokesperson, who noted that official graduation totals are typically finalized at the end of the summer.

Jonathan Escobar poses for a photo with his mother after graduating from Schurz High School.

After months of longing and adjustment, Escobar, holding his diploma in his left hand, said he was happy to be done. He is planning to enroll in community college.

But something unexpected had also happened: He said he’s going to miss Schurz, where the classes felt easier and his teachers cared about him.

“It was a good school with good people,” Escobar said of Schurz the day after graduation.

About 70 students are expected to attend a voluntary graduation ceremony Saturday for former ASPIRA kids at Lane Tech High School.

Escobar isn’t planning to attend, even though months ago he wished for such an event. He said he is ready to move on.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Amid charter sector turmoil, Chicago school board delays charter school renewals

2026-05-29T13:10:00+00:00

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After a lengthy and tense debate about oversight of charters, the Chicago school board postponed Thursday a decision on renewing six of seven charter schools or networks serving 8,300 students until after the end of the school year.

After two years of intense charter scrutiny and relatively brief renewal terms, district officials this year touted a new process for monitoring charters and also recommended longer renewals. They wanted most schools to get four-year contracts, with one, Academy for Global Citizenship, earning a seven-year renewal recommendation. The Acero network was cleared for a five-year renewal on the heels of its announcement last school year that it would close seven campuses and the school board’s unprecedented decision to absorb five of them.

District officials said the longer renewals will cut down on red tape, while a new process of sizing up all charters midcycle and flagging nascent financial issues before they escalate will make for stronger oversight. But school board members aligned with the Chicago Teachers Union — the charter sector’s fiercest critic — pointed to a stretch of intense fiscal turbulence and closure announcements in Chicago’s charter sector to argue they had more outstanding questions and wanted the new process to have more teeth.

Some held up Acero as an example, arguing that what they described as an abrupt announcement in fall of 2024 that campuses would close at the end of that school year should count against the network.

“An accurate sense of finances has been eluding us, resulting in harm to students and costs to the district,” said board member Karen Zaccor, who moved to table the renewal votes.

But other board members praised the new process and argued the board should trust the expertise of the district’s evaluation team.

“We can’t keep moving the goalpost because the data, the process, or the recommendations do not produce the political conclusion someone wanted from the beginning,” said board member Angel Gutierrez, who was elected with strong backing from charter advocates.

Superintendent Macquline King and board President Sean Harden, who both usually abstain from weighing in on board debates, took the unusual step of pleading with board members to approve the contracts and continue to work closely with district officials on fine-tuning the oversight process. King noted thousands of largely Black and Latino students would wrap up the school year without certainty about their schools’ future.

“We’ll cause instability and concern,” an unusually emotional King said. “For us, it may seem like, ‘It’s just two weeks.’ For a child, this can be a lifetime.”

But in tabling the decisions until a June 10 meeting in a 11-to-8 vote, board members signaled they had no intention of denying the renewals but rather just wanted leverage to push for more CPS oversight. The University of Chicago Charter School eventually got a four-year renewal on a technicality.

The board did amend the contract for Urban Prep Academy for Young Men to wind down its Bronzeville campus and consolidate its operations on its Englewood campus. That charter was among several that appealed to CPS for a mid-school year cash advance to make payroll, and the district said the merger will help stabilize the school’s finances. Another charter, Rowe Elementary, is also merging its two campuses into one building.

For Chicago charters and contract schools, recent years have brought a string of fiscal implosions. Following the unprecedented move to save the Acero campuses, the district also came to the rescue of the Chicago High School for the Arts, a contract school, when its board announced last fall its financial model was no longer sustainable.

CPS steered additional dollars to EPIC Academy, a South Side charter high school, so it could finish up the school year before closing permanently. And the district scrambled to accommodate displaced students when it closed two high schools in the ASPIRA charter network after months of financial turmoil.

Charter advocates have argued that underfunding by the district, along with citywide enrollment declines, precipitated these crises. But critics of the sector said financial missteps contributed and argued that CPS officials should have done more to see the closures coming.

Members appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson or elected with backing by his allies at the CTU hold a majority on the board and have embraced shorter renewals. Last year, a majority of the 16 schools up for renewal received two-year terms.

At the Thursday meeting, Jennifer Conant, the CTU’s charter division chair, argued for keeping renewals shorter, saying some of the schools on this year’s renewal list are budgeting in a way that fails to reflect their declining enrollments — “magical thinking” that she said contributed to EPIC’s and ASPIRA’s closures. But at the same time, she said Acero’s move to close campuses last school year — a decision the network said was necessary to adjust to enrollment drops — should disqualify it from a five-year renewal.

“If that has no effect on their renewal length, you are sending an invitation to more charter operators to do the same,” Conant said.

Meanwhile, several students at Chicago Collegiate Academy argued the school should get five more years. They said the school has worked to stabilize its finances and is moving to a new building that will allow for student growth in the fall.

“A four-year renewal does not reflect where our school is headed,” said honors student Laila Cruthurd. “It’s a limit.”

The advocacy group Illinois Network of Charter Schools criticized the trend of shorter terms, arguing it forces charters to expend too much energy and resources on frequent, time-consuming renewals. Andrew Broy, the network’s executive director, said this spring’s longer renewals are a step in the right direction. He also praised some aspects of a new framework for evaluating charters that the district used this spring, in which charters’ academic performance carried more weight.

But he decried the late date of the renewals that he said makes it harder for schools to plan for the coming year and said a behind-the-scenes push to shorten the contract terms reveals an anti-charter bias on the board.

Conrad Timbers-Ausar, the district’s acting chief portfolio officer, touted what he described as an extensive, data-driven process for evaluating charters and the district’s new financial early warning system, flagging issues such as spending that exceeds budgeted amounts. He compared it to checking in on students’ academic performance throughout the year rather than waiting to fail them on a final exam.

“This is not a rubber stamp process, and it’s not just a compliance exercise,” he said.

Chicago Collegiate Charter School, Chicago Mathematics and Science Academy, Christopher House Charter School, and Intrinsic Charter School would have received four-year renewals.

In other business, the board backed a resolution calling on state lawmakers to pursue progressive sources of additional revenue to raise more money to schools. That vote came after a lengthy and heated debate of an ultimately unsuccessful amendment member Che “Rhymefest” Smith proposed that would have also called on the city to steer more revenue from a special tax program to spur development to CPS.

In remarks to the board at the start of the meeting, superintendent Macquline King said cuts to school budgets her team proposed earlier this month reflect state and federal revenue haven’t kept up with the district’s rising expenses.

”It breaks my heart to deliver the budgets I had to deliver,” she said.

This story has been corrected to reflect the eventual approval of the University of Chicago Charter School’s renewal.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Here are the 51 people who filed to run for Chicago Board of Education

2026-05-27T16:39:54+00:00

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Fifty-one people are running for a seat on Chicago’s Board of Education this fall — the first time city voters will elect all 21 members.

Candidates had to file petitions with signatures from voters in their district by Tuesday night to appear on the Nov. 3 ballot.

This November’s election will complete Chicago’s transition to an elected school board, ending 30 years of mayoral control in the nation’s fourth-largest school district.

All 10 of the people elected in 2024 are running for re-election and two face no challengers. Ellen Rosenfeld and Angel Gutierrez are the only candidates in 4b on the North Side and 8a on the Southwest Side, respectively. All current mayoral appointees besides Board President Sean Harden are running to keep their seats. Several ran unsuccessfully in 2024.

Harden, who was appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson in 2024, has long said he wouldn’t run in this year’s election.

Five people are running for the citywide position of school board president: elected board members Jessica Biggs and Jennifer Custer, Chicago Teachers Union political director Hilario Dominguez, former appointed board member Sendhil Revuluri, and attorney Victor Henderson.

But there’s no guarantee that all 51 current candidates will make it onto the ballot. That’s because of petition challenges, which allow registered voters in a candidate’s district to challenge the validity of signatures on their petitions. If the Board of Elections invalidates enough signatures, it can remove a candidate from the list. Candidates for board president must collect 2,500 signatures of registered voters in Chicago; all other candidates must collect 500 to 1,500 signatures of voters in their districts.

The challenge process, which typically runs about six weeks, can also be time consuming and involves hiring costly attorneys, which can push newer or less resourced candidates out.

In 2024, more than 45 candidates initially filed to run for school board. By the fall, 31 candidates remained due to petition challenges or people withdrawing on their own.

The deadline to object to a candidate’s petitions is June 2. The Board of Elections will finalize the ballot in late August.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago school board elections kicks off with the first day of candidate filing. Who is trying to run?

2026-05-18T18:23:03+00:00

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The first step toward Chicago’s historic school board elections is officially underway, as candidates lined up early Monday to file paperwork to enter the races.

By 8:30 a.m., a line of more than 20 people buzzing with excitement to file paperwork had already formed in downtown Chicago. Some hopefuls were accompanied by family or campaign staff, while others clutched their documents alone.

But showing up to the Board of Elections site wasn’t just about submitting paperwork in a punctual fashion. Many of those early risers were after something they see as an added bonus: Those who arrive by 9 a.m. on the first day of candidate filing are entered in a lottery to be the first name listed on November’s ballot.

For the first time, all 21 members of Chicago’s Board of Education will be up for election. It’s the last step of a multi-year process — kickstarted by the state legislature — to transition away from having Chicago’s mayor appoint members to the board. Chicagoans got a taste of that shift in 2024 when they voted for half the board’s members. Mayor Brandon Johnson appointed the remaining 11 members, including the board’s president.

Candidates are vying for seats representing 20 districts across Chicago, in addition to another spot for president of the board. Term lengths vary by district, with some expiring every two years while others — including the board president — last four years.

People running for a school board need to collect between 500 and 1,500 valid signatures from voters who live in the hopeful candidate’s district. In the case of the Chicago Board of Education president, candidates need at least 2,500 valid signatures. Not all candidates who showed up Monday will end up on the Nov. 3 ballot, as they can be challenged on the validity of their signatures and possibly disqualified.

Candidates walk inside the Chicago Board of Elections Supersite in downtown Chicago to file paperwork on Monday, May 18, 2026.

From Monday’s showing, the races are already shaping up to showcase a mix of familiar faces and newcomers. The contest for school board president so far includes former board vice president Sendhil Revuluri, and current elected board members Jessica Biggs and Jennifer Custer.

Several current board members — some who are facing election for the first time — submitted their candidate paperwork in hopes of continuing to represent their district come November. Other current board members already had campaigning experience under their belt.

Collecting signatures for this year’s election was much easier for Anusha Thotakura, who represents District 6A, because her district is much smaller than when she first ran in 2024. Another big difference Thotakura has noticed is the engagement from Chicagoans in the race.

“Before, a lot of people in the city didn’t even know we had a school board or what the school board did,” she said. “And now, more people know about what’s going on. They have issues they want to get involved with, and a lot of that is sparking this increase in participation.”

Realtor LaPamela Williams, who filed to run in District 5A, poses for a portrait inside the Chicago Board of Elections Supersite on Monday, May 18, 2026.

For others waiting in line, winning election would mean the first time serving on the board. Personal experience in Chicago schools was the primary motivation for LaPamela Williams, a realtor looking to represent District 5A. Growing up, Williams said her mother sent her to a high school outside her neighborhood so she could get a better quality education. Williams doesn’t want other families to continue having to make that choice.

“I want to see a different run school system, especially in my district,” Williams said.

The filing period ends May 26. That’s when another long line of candidates will likely form to snag the last spot in the ballot order, which is also determined by a lottery.

Makiya Seminera is a reporter covering how the state and federal government affect education in Chicago and across Illinois. Contact Makiya at mseminera@chalkbeat.org.

CPS CEO King subpoenaed to appear at congressional hearing on parental rights, ‘legal abuses’

2026-05-13T23:16:14+00:00

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A U.S. House committee has subpoenaed Chicago Public Schools’ CEO Macquline King to appear at a hearing focused on “attacks on parental rights, inappropriate content, and legal abuses” in American schools.

Rep. Tim Walberg, a Michigan Republican and the chairman of the House Education and Workforce Committee, notified King about the subpoena in a Wednesday letter. It comes about three weeks after the committee first invited King to testify at a hearing titled, “Breaking Trust: Attacks on Parental Rights, Inappropriate Content, and Legal Abuses in America’s Schools,” according to the letter.

Citing scheduling conflicts and an ongoing Office for Civil Rights investigation, King originally declined the committee’s invitation. That hearing was originally scheduled for June 3, but King is now being subpoenaed to appear on June 10.

During the second Trump administration, the district has been under federal scrutiny for compliance with the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX, as well as student privacy laws.

Chicago Public Schools did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

King’s appearance before Congress would thrust Chicago Public Schools into a national spotlight at a time of intense scrutiny from the U.S. Department of Education. The department pulled funding last year from CPS, claiming the district had violated civil rights and sex-based discrimination laws with its plan to boost outcomes for Black students and its policies supporting bathroom and locker room access for transgender students.

Superintendents from San Francisco and Loudon County, Virginia are also expected to appear at the hearing. Both districts have been under scrutiny for progressive policies.

Similar hearings have provided a platform for Republican lawmakers to grill leaders from more liberal communities and institutions. Last year, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and other Democratic mayors forcefully defended their sanctuary policies before a congressional committee. University presidents were called by Congress to testify about antisemitism on campus in 2023.

U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon criticized Chicago about two weeks ago after the Chicago Teachers Union and the district agreed to let students take pre-approved field trips and learn about labor history or civics on May Day.

Walberg’s committee first reached out to King April 16, one week after news that the Chicago Teachers Union and CPS were at odds over closing schools on May 1 — something King opposed.

King responded April 20, declining the invite because of a scheduling conflict and that her testimony would be limited because of the federal government’s civil rights and Title IX investigations into CPS.

The committee then offered six other dates in June, according to Walberg’s Wednesday letter. But CPS General Counsel Elizabeth Barton again cited the ongoing investigations as a reason why King “would not be able to discuss CPS’s policies in detail or share any substantive insight into the process of creating or adopting those policies.”

“We do not believe it would be helpful or informative to the Committee for Dr. King to participate in this hearing given those constraints,” Barton wrote, per the committee’s correspondence Wednesday. “For that reason, she must respectfully decline the Committee’s invitation to testify.”

Neither reason “warrants (King) not participating in the hearing,” Walberg wrote in Wednesday’s letter.

In a separate statement, Walberg said this is the first subpoena during his one-and-a-half-year tenure as chair and does “not take this action lightly.”

“However, the constant refusal to provide testimony blocks the Committee from doing its job of conducting oversight and further deepens mistrust in our education system,” Walberg said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago school board members voice concern about school budget cuts and debate state funding resolution

2026-05-13T21:38:11+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools’ newly released, leaner campus budgets cast a shadow over a Wednesday meeting of the school board when members debated a resolution calling on state lawmakers to steer more money to schools.

Several board members invoked the proposed budgets in arguing for the resolution, which would push legislators to explore progressive sources of new revenue that could buttress school district budgets. But other members questioned whether passing a resolution would be an effective way to make the district’s case in Springfield, where lawmakers have signalled skepticism that the state can help more amid its own intense budget pressures.

Earlier in the day, a half dozen board members aligned with Mayor Brandon Johnson also held a press conference calling on state lawmakers to send more dollars to schools and taking aim at a “megaprojects” economic development bill Johnson has vocally opposed. They argued that the proposal, which would back a new Arlington Heights stadium for the Chicago Bears football team, would siphon resources away from schools. A statement from these members called the district’s planned cuts “severe.”

During the meeting’s public comments section, district officials got an earful from labor leaders on the proposed school budgets. Kia Banks, who leads the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association, said the union will fight assistant principal cuts and other reductions. She said many school leaders were taken aback by their budgets after delays in their release.

“What we saw was disappointing, frustrating, and sad, and it’s actually self-defeating,” she said, arguing leaner budgets could spur more families to leave the district.

District leaders sent school budgets to principals Tuesday that district officials said would increase special education funding but reduce some teacher, administrative, and support staff positions. Officials would not say by how much funding they are steering directly to school is shrinking compared with last year or how many positions overall might be cut.

But in a memo to school board members, district officials estimated that the school budget shifts would make a $96 million dent in a CPS deficit leaders have pegged at $732 million.

The district is eliminating assistant principals at schools with fewer than 250 students and slightly increasing the student-teacher ratios it uses to allocate teachers to school. Some schools will also likely see reductions in academic interventionists, instructional coaches, and other roles.

CPS leaders presented the changes as a responsible response to the moment: The district added almost 10,000 educators, support staff, and other positions since 2019 as enrollment plunged by 45,000 students. The budget swelled by some $2.6 billion, to more than $10 billion, in the same period. The federal COVID aid that in part powered that increase is now gone, and the $1 billion in additional state revenue CPS received in recent years still leaves the district well short of the state’s calculation for “adequate” funding.

Board members debate funding resolution

At the Wednesday meeting to review the agenda for the board’s regular meeting later this month, some board members argued that the state funding resolution introduced by member Anusha Thotakura was an answer to the district’s precarious fiscal moment. Thotakura said she had worked on bringing it in front of the board for months — and this month’s timing could not be more apt.

She said facing a gaping deficit and “drastic cuts” felt like a “recurring nightmare,” with no progress in securing additional state funding. She cited proposals to raise taxes on wealthy Illinoisans or large corporations as examples of progressive solutions to the state — and district’s — fiscal woes.

“The purpose of this resolution is to bring attention to the needs of our students and, while there are only a few weeks of the legislative session in Springfield, to show a united front and a force among us as leaders in Chicago that we want progressive revenue to support our students and their families,” Thotakura said. She added, “In this final stretch, we have to do more.”

Said board member Jitu Brown: “United, we can shake what we need from Springfield.”

But other board members said that although they might agree with the spirit of the resolution, it would do little to further the district’s Springfield agenda. One board member, Jenni Custer, voiced disappointment that the board had never voted on a clear, unified legislative agenda for this spring’s session. She decried governing by resolution instead.

Board member Ellen Rosenfeld agreed, calling board resolutions “performative governance.” She said everything has to be on the table to solve the district’s structural deficit, from lobbying the state to possible furloughs for CPS staff, which she said would save millions of dollars per day.

“Resolutions really have little to no long-term implications,” she said. She added, “Going down to Springfield and yelling at them and telling them what we’ve told them already doesn’t seem to be that effective.”

Labor leaders bash school budgets

At the same time, labor leaders who addressed the board signalled their members are keeping track of how board members navigate the fiscal challenges ahead of historic school board races this fall.

Banks of the principals union noted that all 21 seats on the school board will be up for grabs in November, and pointed to a recent survey, in which the union’s members said a key criteria to support board candidates would be their ability to line up additional revenue for the district.

Stacy Davis Gates, the head of the Chicago Teachers Union, also called on district leaders and board members to step up efforts to bring in more city and state revenue. She questioned the district’s decision to assume just $100 million in revenue from a special property tax program to spur development, just a fifth of what CPS received last year — and said CPS should be actively working to ensure more robust support.

“The budget as announced yesterday is unsatisfactory and dead on arrival,” she said.

She also questioned why all school board members did not join the Wednesday press conference to advocate for more progressive revenue from the state. And she said the district cancelled a group of teachers’ lobbying trip to Springfield previously scheduled for this week.

Under a May Day agreement CPS and the union struck last month, the district had committed to give the day off with pay to as many as 65 CTU members to lobby lawmakers. But the district said Wednesday that CTU provided a list of seven educators but did not meet the five-day advance notice spelled out in the agreement.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools tightens staffing in school budgets amid massive deficit

2026-05-12T22:00:00+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools will likely steer less money overall to its campuses for the 2026-27 school year, though it will cap educator layoffs at each school and significantly boost special education funding, district leaders said Tuesday.

At an embargoed press briefing, officials declined to spell out the amount by which school budgets might shrink overall or the number of teachers and staff positions on the chopping block. They said these numbers are in flux as principals who received their budgets today have roughly a month to appeal their allocations — and as CPS leaders press state lawmakers and the city for more funding. But in a memo to school board members, Emila Zoko, the acting chief budget officer, estimated school budget shifts would result in about $96 million in savings.

The district crafted school budgets during its most financially uncertain spring since before the pandemic, when it is facing a deficit officials now estimate at more than $730 million. For years, CPS poured federal COVID relief dollars and additional state funding into its schools, opening almost 10,000 new positions since 2019 even as enrollment dropped by 45,000 students. But with almost $3 billion in pandemic aid now expired and only a modest state funding boost for the coming school year, the district must grapple with intractable realities, leaders said.

All schools will still staff a minimum of 10 teachers, but the district is increasing by one student the student-teacher ratios it uses to allocate additional educators. For some campuses, that would mean fewer teachers, though no elementary school will lose more than four educators and no high school more than six. The district will also no longer staff assistant principals at schools with fewer than 250 students — a move the CPS principals union estimated will result in about 120 lost positions and vowed to fight in a letter to members.

The district had committed to staffing an assistant principal in every school when it shifted to a new school budgeting approach in 2023 meant to deemphasize enrollment and better support high-needs schools — goals district leaders stressed they continue to uphold. But that formula’s minimum staffing requirements are becoming more challenging in a cash-strapped district with both enormous schools and a growing number of tiny ones.

But district officials said the district will hire more special education teachers and support staff as the number of students with disabilities continues to increase. It will also add 60 new cluster classrooms — for students with more significant disabilities — across the city.

“Despite all the challenges, we’ve created a budget that successfully meets the moment we are in,” said CPS CEO Macquline King.

Illinois has increased the amount of funding it steers to CPS by roughly $1 billion in recent years. But according to the state’s own calculation of “adequate” funding, CPS remains about $1.6 billion short.

The district budgeted with a deficit estimate of $732 million, which assumes CPS will not chip in to a city pension fund covering its support staff as Mayor Brandon Johnson has insisted in recent years. It also assumes an influx of $100 million from a special tax fund for development, or just a fifth of a record amount CPS received last year — a decrease some local experts consider unlikely.

District leaders stressed CPS is also contending with a major rise in expenditures, driven by upkeep for aging school buildings, labor contract costs, and servicing CPS’s massive debt.

Last year, the district mostly held school funding steady in its $10.2 billion budget, even as it made $272 million in reductions to its central administration and departments. It also shrunk the number of custodians, crossing guards, and cafeteria workers in a bid to keep the impact of its cost-cutting away from the classroom.

Officials said Tuesday that they are planning to trim centralized expenses and support positions once again. But they clearly signaled there will also likely be cuts to teaching and student support staff, including possible reductions to the number of academic interventionists and instructional coaches — two types of positions CPS embraced to speed up post-pandemic recovery.

“Very much like last year, everything is on the table,” King said.

Some principals told Chalkbeat they braced for some staffing cuts because of enrollment dips at their schools and the large deficit, so they were not caught off guard. Others said the losses were much worse than they anticipated, though in some cases the teacher layoff caps helped preserve some educator positions that would have been cut otherwise. One principal said an enrollment bump of just a few students yielded an extra teacher for the school.

“These formulas are not nuanced,” the principal said. “They are large stepping stones without much fine-tuning.”

Principals have until June 9 to appeal their staffing allocations and finalize their budgets. Then later in the summer, the district will unveil its overall budget, which includes centralized expenses, pension, and debt service costs in addition to the campus budgets. The school board must vote on that districtwide budget by Aug. 29 at the latest. Officials said CPS will also hold community engagement sessions on the school budget in the coming weeks.

District and Chicago Teachers Union leaders are lobbying state lawmakers for more state funding. The demise earlier this spring of a millionaire’s tax proposal in Springfield that would have brought $400 million more for CPS dimmed some hopes for additional dollars.

But the union and others argue all is not lost. In fact, the school board is slated to vote on a resolution this month calling on the state Legislature and the governor to give the district more resources. Lawmakers and Gov. JB Pritzker have signaled that amid major pressures on the state’s own budget, they’re unlikely to send more help to CPS.

“We continue our conversations with lawmakers to make sure they understand what our students need and what’s at stake,” King said.

She said that the additional educators and support staff CPS hired since 2019 were a wise investment, noting the district has bounced back academically post-COVID faster than others: “The progress of our students is evidence that our additional staff did a tremendous job.”

In a statement, Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jackson Potter blamed the district’s budget predicament squarely on state legislators and Pritzker.

“There is wealth in Illinois,” Potter said in the statement, “and there are solutions on the table in Springfield to fully fund our schools, make the ultra-rich and large corporations pay their fair share.”

Chalkbeat Chicago reporter Reema Amin contributed to this report.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools cut hundreds of custodian jobs last year. Staff say their schools are dirtier.

2026-05-11T10:00:00+00:00

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Last summer, as the district faced a massive budget deficit, Chicago Public Schools cut nearly 500 custodian positions, or close to one-fifth of full-time staffers who cleaned schools, and ended all private custodial contracts.

Then, three months into this school year, complaints rolled in through a district survey of 168 principals and 423 custodians: Three-quarters of principals indicated they didn’t have enough custodians on staff to meet their cleaning needs, and at least 40% asked the district for more staff. Nearly two-thirds of custodians said their tasks were difficult to manage given the size of their buildings and the number of people on their team.

The survey responses from late November, obtained by Chalkbeat through a Freedom of Information Act request, are a window into how the custodial staffing changes have impacted school cleanliness — and the potential challenges ahead in maintaining hygienic environments for kids and staff. Many custodians signaled that they were not equipped to clean schools well. Principals said they were picking up trash and cleaning spills or vomit. A few schools had new pest issues.

“It is so disappointing to observe the current state of custodial service and resource availability at our school, as it directly impacts our students’ well-being and basic dignity,” wrote one principal.

“I have never experienced anything like this in my 14 years in CPS,” they said.

Studies have shown links between school cleanliness or air quality, student health, and attendance. One study found that higher levels of contaminants on student desks were associated with student absences for gastrointestinal problems.

Some people are pushing for change now: SEIU Local 73, the union that represents CPS custodial workers, said the issues highlighted in the fall survey remain today, and it wants the district to hire more custodians.

But that’s a tall ask for a district that’s planning a budget with a $700 million deficit and may be looking at cuts to schools this year without any additional revenue.

The district, which as of April employed about 2,200 custodians, said that it took the survey results seriously and, in response, implemented two rounds of custodial shift changes at schools. More than half of principal respondents said they were satisfied with responsiveness with the district’s facilities management office.

“The District continues to utilize feedback from students, staff and families as a guide to ensure school buildings are safe and welcoming environments,” Evan Moore, a spokesperson for CPS, said in a statement.

District defends cuts to custodial staff

Before the custodial changes last year, CPS directly employed 1,375 full-time custodians — who are represented by SEIU Local 73 — and also contracted out to seven private custodial companies, whose roughly 1,250 workers were represented by SEIU Local 1, according to a district memo last year. CPS’ contracts with those companies came after the district severed ties in 2024 with Aramark, which had for a decade helped manage janitors and cleaning supplies but had been sharply criticized for failing to keep schools clean.

The district’s layoff plans last year meant cutting the 1,250 privately contracted custodial jobs and then filling roughly 750 of those positions.

Both unions protested against the district’s plans, which were estimated to save the district $40 million. At the time, CPS’ chief operating officer Charles Mayfield said direct district oversight, coupled with better training and a mobile app for custodians to upload information about the rooms they’ve cleaned, would help the district ensure schools were clean. Bringing custodial services in house helped meet a district goal to move away from privatized services, CPS said.

Responses to the district’s fall survey, which came two months after the custodial changes went into effect, told a different story.

Custodians, principals describe difficulties with keeping buildings clean

Custodians reported finding it difficult to clean all types of school spaces with less staff and raised concerns with a later start time in the morning — providing a shorter runway to complete certain tasks before kids and staff get in. CPS noted that shifts ranged across schools and started as early as 4 a.m. before the custodial changes. Now, no shift starts sooner than 5 a.m. or ends later than 11:30 p.m.

Many custodians expressed concerns in the survey about being the only custodian on staff during the day, making it difficult to complete tasks or respond to multiple calls for help. One custodian said they’re now the only person on their shift cleaning the two-building campus.

At Walt Disney II Magnet in Irving Park, custodian Johnny Jones, who has worked for CPS for 35 years, said his start time changed from 5 a.m. to 7 a.m., about a half-hour before other staff and students get in. Unlike previous years, there’s no longer a second custodian who joins him.

The school eventually hired an additional custodian for the night shift, which helped get the building ready for the next morning, Jones said. But it can still be difficult to fly solo during the day, he said. He might be cleaning up a spill in the lunchroom and get a call for soap in the girls’ bathroom. Depending on the importance of the task he’s handling — for example, spills can be a safety hazard — a new task may need to wait until the second shift starts.

Keeping the building clean is personal for Jones, who thinks about wanting clean spaces for his own grandchildren, and he wishes the district would give schools more autonomy over shifts.

“Do I want my kid going to a dirty building? Do I want my baby using an unclean bathroom?” Jones asked. “Absolutely not.”

Principals noted various spaces in their schools that are now dirtier, such as classrooms, student bathrooms, and hallways, and many noted that the result is unclean and unhygienic spaces for students and staff.

Several principals reported having to pick up trash or clean up spills on their own. Some said cleaning tasks have fallen to other educators and, in at least one case, students. And a few noted new issues with rodents or cockroaches.

“I feel that the communication, quality of cleaning, and the lack of staffing has put a huge strain on the school resulting in unclean, unsafe conditions for students and teachers alike,” one principal wrote in the survey. “Teachers are having to clean their own rooms in addition to their already large workload.”

One principal said fewer staff custodians has resulted in a “consistently filthy” building, contradicting a CPS goal to provide “a joyous and equitable learning environment.”

“It cannot be a joyous place for scholars or staff when the school is dirty and unsanitary,” they wrote.

As CPS brought on hundreds of new hires, some initial onboarding problems may have impacted staffing, including technical issues that resulted in some custodians not being paid. The district said it has since resolved the problem and issued more than $916,000 in back pay to custodians. But the lack of pay initially led many custodians to not report to work or quit, said Trumaine Reeves, SEIU Local 73’s CPS division director.

At one Southwest Side high school, where the custodial staff was cut by one-third, a teacher has noticed that trash often is not picked up overnight and sneaker scuffs aren’t cleaned off the floor. Those details can make a difference for how comfortable both students and staff feel in the building, he said.

The teacher, who asked for anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak with the press, said veteran custodial staffers who have always been good at their jobs tell him that they now feel stretched.

There are a myriad of challenges that teachers face at his high school, such as supporting students with a lot of needs. Navigating those difficulties, then walking into a dirty classroom “just really hurts your soul,” he said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

A Chicago school board investigation failed to uncover source of media leaks

2026-05-08T16:04:03+00:00

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A controversial monthslong investigation failed to uncover whether any school board members leaked the identities of CEO finalists and other information to the media.

In November, school board President Sean Harden hired a law firm to find out who revealed the identities of two finalists for district CEO. He later expanded the scope of that inquiry to include a leak alerting a reporter to a December special meeting to adjust a property tax levy the day before it was announced. The investigation by Salvatore Prescott Porter & Porter has drawn criticism, particularly when it came to the special meeting, which was public and scheduled shortly before the winter holidays to discuss a tax increase.

Harden told Chalkbeat Friday he feels the investigation was worthwhile in setting up a shared understanding of how to conduct board business — even if it did not yield the identity of any leakers. He said the leaks damaged trust on the board and with the public, resulted in social media posts and coverage lacking sufficient context, and allowed board members gearing up for board elections in the fall to “curry favor” with reporters.

He said he doesn’t yet have the final law firm invoice, but believes the inquiry cost about $25,000.

“I feel this was the right thing to do,” he said. “Hopefully, this will be an investment the community can benefit from.”

But one school board member running for board president in November, Jessica Biggs, condemned the inquiry as “petty politics at the expense of taxpayers and the public trust” in a Friday post on X.

“This Board should be focused on student achievement and growth,” she wrote. “This ‘investigation’ is an example of everything that is misguided about our current leadership.”

The disclosure of the CEO finalists — one of whom immediately distanced himself from the search — was seen at the time as a move that scuttled the national search process and led to additional months of seeking a top leader. Board members had signed nondisclosure agreements in a bid to encourage applications by leaders in other large districts, who might be reluctant to advertise their interest in leaving their current posts. Ultimately, the school board hired the interim CEO, Macquline King, whom members had enlisted to fill in last summer.

Released by the board office Thursday evening, the law firm’s report says there was insufficient evidence to find the source of the leaks, noting the refusal by multiple board members, including Biggs, to turn over their personal cell phones for examination. Two of the 21 board members, Che “Rhymefest” Smith and Ellen Rosenfeld, declined to cooperate with the investigation entirely and did not speak with the attorneys. Two reporters the firm asked to interview — WBEZ’s Sarah Karp and Paris Schutz, at FOX at the time — also refused.

A search of more than 9,000 emails and other documents also did not uncover any clues.

The report does include a summary of discussions the lawyers had with board members about the motivation behind the leaks. Members offered differing takes on what might have spurred the disclosures.

But, the report said: “Whatever the motivation of the leaks, all witnesses agreed that the leaks made the Board look divided and untrustworthy. Relatedly, many witnesses commented on the tension and distrust within the Board between the appointed and elected members.”

The report also discusses the possibility that someone other than a board member leaked the CEO finalists’ identities.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools campus budget could bring cuts amid massive deficit

2026-05-06T16:59:30+00:00

Data analysis by Thomas Wilburn

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Edgardo Ramirez, the father of two students at Chicago’s Saucedo STEAM Magnet Academy, is bracing for the release of the school’s budget in the shadow of a massive districtwide budget gap.

The school, which has largely bucked the enrollment declines plaguing the district, serves about 920 mostly low-income Latino students in the Little Village neighborhood. After years of relative budget and staffing stability, Ramirez, the head of Saucedo’s Local School Council, worries the campus could take a painful hit.

He dwells on what the school might lose: One of the two bilingual coordinators who have guided his English learner children? Or one of the two counselors who helped his older daughter earn a seat at the competitive Jones College Prep High School?

Chicago Public Schools is gearing up to unveil school budgets as early as next week amid deep financial uncertainty. After roughly a decade of largely holding the line or even boosting school budgets with now-expired federal COVID aid, the district could be forced to send less directly to its roughly 500 campuses.

In recent weeks, CEO Macquline King has floated a worst case budget deficit of up to $1 billion. A source with knowledge of the situation told Chalkbeat the district is planning with a gap of about $700 million in mind. Unlike the worst case scenario, that number assumes an influx of some revenue from a special city taxing program meant to spur development — and no CPS contribution to a city pension fund that covers CPS support staff and city employees. Even so, school level cuts, that source said, are “inevitable.”

CPS and teachers union leaders are still lobbying state lawmakers for more funding, noting the district remains about $1.6 billion shy of what Illinois considers “adequate” funding and, unlike other Illinois districts, shoulders the bulk of its teacher pension costs. But extra help might not be on the way from Springfield. There, some lawmakers have questioned thousands of new hires CPS made as enrollment continued to dip in recent years — positions district leaders have argued helped propel academic recovery post-COVID and fill longstanding staffing gaps.

“It’s a really anxious time,” said Kia Banks, the head of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association. “We are bracing ourselves this time for impact that might hit closer to the classroom.”

The moment is putting to the test a school budgeting approach the district introduced a couple of years ago while it was still relatively flush with federal pandemic relief. It was meant to deemphasize student counts and help higher-need schools by guaranteeing minimum staffing numbers regardless of school size and allocating additional dollars based on an Opportunity Index that factors in student demographics and other metrics.

But in a district with both enormous schools and a growing number of tiny campuses, CPS is now forced to figure out how to make its need-based formula work in much leaner times. CPS high schools with 500 students or more — many of them in better-to-do communities though often serving diverse students from multiple ZIP codes — now get well less than half of the almost $35,000 per pupil that smaller high schools receive on average.

It’s a gap that has widened markedly since the new formula’s 2023 introduction, a Chalkbeat analysis showed. And with numerous small schools that already get the minimum staffing CPS set, some at larger schools such as Saucedo worry their campuses might absorb more of the pain.

CPS presents a districtwide budget after the school budget release, likely sometime in June, that its school board must approve. In a statement, the district said it has worked closely with city and state leaders to get a clearer picture of the CPS’ financial outlook.

“As we have in recent prior years, we will look to prioritize students and in-classroom learning experiences,” the district said.

School budget cuts loom in CPS

The district had aimed to get budget amounts to school leaders earlier this spring, and to some principals, the release in mid-May is cutting it too close to the end of the school year in early June.

“The anxiety doubles when you have to wait so long, especially when the school year ends so early,” said one elementary principal, who like other school leaders who spoke with Chalkbeat requested anonymity to discuss budgets candidly.

The delay stung in part because earlier this spring, CPS moved up the deadline for most end-of-year school spending by almost a month. That forced some school leaders to scramble to dedicate remaining dollars — or return them to the district. Principals at the time told Chalkbeat the district appeared bent on sweeping back more unspent school dollars to help with its budget woes. The district has since said that it’s on track to end this school year about $45 million in the red.

The district said the earlier deadline, which also applied to central office and departments, gave CPS more fiscal clarity and helped encourage school leaders to focus any remaining spending on “critical needs.” The message to schools and departments: “Every dollar counts.”

Banks said the earlier deadline was challenging, but at the same time, the district under King has collaborated with the union and sought more input on budgets than ever before.

Nelson Gerew of the Chicago Public Education Fund said additional cuts to central office and districtwide departments will be harder following the reductions of about $270 million that CPS made last summer. Even if the district cuts central costs aggressively, that still leaves more than $200 million in cuts that likely need to come from school budgets, he said.

He said some school-based positions the district created with COVID aid to power its post-pandemic academic recovery, such as interventionists and academic coaches, might be especially vulnerable.

Financial pressures test the district’s budget approach

At Saucedo, Ramirez, the LSC chair, says he is grateful that the school gets two counselors, two bilingual coordinators, and two security guards. But in a school with more than 900 students and high needs, these key staff members are already stretched thin. Still, he worries that as a larger school with more than one of each position, Saucedo could be a budget cut target.

“One of my big worries is that we could lose positions, which would affect the quality of education here,” he said.

He is also concerned the campus might have to cut its free after-school programs, including academic ones focused on reading and math recovery.

Over the years, school leaders have noted that large schools with opportunity indexes that suggest lower needs face special budget pressures: In a large school, low-income students might represent a smaller portion of all students but still be a sizable group. Under the formula, these schools tend to get relatively lean administrative and support staffing.

Now, some principals at larger schools, especially selective enrollment and magnet campuses, worry the cuts might affect them disproportionately.

“All of us are bracing for cuts,” said another elementary principal. “How could there not be? The money has to come from somewhere. Robbing Paul to pay Peter is what it feels like at this point.”

Gerew of the Chicago Public Education Fund noted that about a fifth of elementary schools are at the district’s minimal staffing floor, meaning there’s little or no room in their budgets for cuts.

“The district is almost certainly committed to retaining the foundational level of support for small schools,” he said. “Thus, if savings have to be made, they have to come from larger schools.”

Banks, of the district’s principals union, countered that small schools have their own struggles with lean staffing, and they usually can’t count on parent fundraising in the way larger schools in wealthier communities can.

The needs-based district budgeting approach was designed to buoy schools that have lost enrollment in part because they were underfunded in previous years.

At Manierre Elementary on Chicago’s North Side, Mykela Collins, a Local School Council member and mother of a third grader, said smaller schools don’t feel immune amid the budget uncertainty. The school serves about 260 mostly low-income Black students, a number that has remained stable in recent years. Collins worries about cuts to after-school programs and possible layoffs after years with no staff losses.

“It’s scary,” said Collins, who traveled to Springfield earlier this spring to lobby for more school funding with the advocacy group Kids First Chicago. “We really don’t know what to expect.”

Charter school officials are feeling the anxiety too, said Andrew Broy of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools. The state is poised to increase its calculation for the per-pupil funding charters receive, based on CPS per student spending in district-run schools two years ago. But the district withholds money from charters to help cover pension and debt costs — contributions charter advocates have decried but that the district says are a part of sharing districtwide expenses.

“If these contributions are increased, it could be a net loss for charters,” Broy said.

Hal Woods of Kids First said an added wrinkle to the budget complexity is that all seats on the school board are up for grabs in November, and many current board members will run. He wonders if that might make them more averse to signing off on school budget cuts and perhaps even push them to revisit high-interest borrowing — an idea a majority on the board rejected last summer because it would swell the district’s already massive debt burden and drive up costs in the longer run.

“I wonder whether with CPS classroom cuts on the table, people start having a different take on borrowing,” Woods said. “But you have to give people the full picture. If you take out a loan to stave off classroom cuts, what does that mean for future fiscal years?”

Chalkbeat Chicago reporter Reema Amin contributed to this report.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools marks May Day after tense debate over canceling school

2026-05-01T19:53:57+00:00

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For all the intense debate and controversy over May Day in Chicago Public Schools this year, the start of the school day Friday at Burbank Elementary was low on drama.

Eight teachers and five staff members called in sick overnight — a fairly typical number for the 95-employee Northwest Side school, which was able to quickly line up substitutes for all but two elective classes. Meanwhile, students in grades 6 through 8 spent part of the morning writing letters to elected officials on topics such as homelessness, gun laws, and immigration in a nod to a district push to encourage student civic engagement.

Districtwide, CPS officials said about 13% of its teachers were absent amid a national “day of no school, no work, no shopping” — about 3,320 absences in all, compared with 2,615 per day on average for this week, including Friday. Most requested the day in advance as the district had asked. CPS, which employs about 43,000 people, enlisted more than 2,600 substitute teachers and about 940 support staff subs to fill in for absent employees. Central office staff deployed to help out at 76 schools.

The district approved about 40 May Day field trips for 2,200 of the district’s 315,000 students, including some to a Union Park pro-labor, anti-Trump rally, where protestors also called for more school funding. The Chicago Teachers Union, one of the protest’s organizers, had demanded that the district close schools for May Day.

After some tense back-and-forth, the district and the union agreed to make Friday a day of civic engagement for students. Schools stayed open for a full day of instruction. But the district committed to back lessons on labor and civics and to provide transportation so students at up to 100 schools could participate in the downtown rally and other activities.

The district said high school attendance was slightly down on Friday while elementary and middle grade attendance remained stable. About 72% of high school students attended compared to 75% last Friday.

Some parents and advocates voiced dismay that the cash-strapped district chose to chip in for student participation in a political rally and questioned whether classroom May Day lessons would verge on partisan indoctrination.

On Friday, U.S. Education Secretary Linda McMahon criticized the district’s handling of May Day on X, calling it “a dereliction of duty.”

“There’s never an excuse for diverting taxpayer dollars away from students and into political agendas,” she posted.

But the district had stressed that principals would only allow students with signed parent permission forms to attend field trips and would only approve instructional materials that “provide diverse perspectives rather than advance any particular viewpoint.”

At Burbank Elementary, science teacher Caroline Hallendorff pitched reviving a project she had premiered with her students in 2017, when they wrote to electeds about the first Trump administration’s decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Accords. The students got responses from President Donald Trump and Democratic Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, making the experience a memorable lesson in civics.

Other educators at the school and Burbank Principal Edward Collins rallied around the idea. This time, middle grade students could pick any topic for their letters, which they handwrote in class to “make it very clear it’s not some AI thing,” as Hallendorff put it.

Science teachers Caroline Hallendorff speaks on Friday, May 1, 2026, with students in her science class at Chicago's Burbank Elementary who wrote letters to elected officials for a special May Day project.

Student Daniel Gutierrez, for example, wrote to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson urging him to open more homeless shelters after seeing more homeless people on drives across the neighborhood with his family. In research he did before putting pen to paper, Gutierrez found out life expectancy can be up to 30 years lower for people who experience homelessness.

“This lesson made me really focus on the problems of today that are important to me,” Gutierrez said.

The experience of navigating the day and the run-up to it varied across the district. Some principals told Chalkbeat

Burbank Elementary student Oscar Jaramillo, front, and Daniel Gutierrez. worked on letters to elected leaders as part of a schoolwide project to spur more civic engagement by students on May Day 2026. Oscar wrote to Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin urging him to push for more gun restrictions and Daniel wrote to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson with a request to open more homeless shelters.

Friday that they had few absences and a largely normal school day. One principal said roughly half of teachers on that school leader’s campus took the day off, including some calling out overnight on Friday.

The district had directed principals to reject day-off requests if they meant schools would be too short-staffed to function normally Friday.

At one West Side school, a student “Peacewalk” in the neighborhood was on, then off after an initial district rejection of the plan, then on again. Ultimately, the district did not reject any field trips after reviewing transportation, safety, and chaperone plans. CPS said officials reviewed field trip plans into the early morning hours Friday and ultimately provided yellow buses for 25 of them, with the city offering public transit cards to other students. The district said it would tally costs later this month.

At Burbank, Collins said no teachers or staff requested the day off in advance though some called out overnight. Thanks to a stable of regular substitutes — many of them retired Burbank teachers — the school was able to fill most last-minute absences. However, two “special” classes — art, music, and physical education — would have to be made up next week.

Student attendance was down to 85% Friday from about 92% on average, but Collins was not sure to what extent May Day affected that number. No one approached Collins with a request to plan a field trip, and he heard from relatively few parents about the day. All of them just wanted to verify that school would happen Friday.

Hallendorff said she would mail all the letters students wrote Friday.

“I love the fact that students had this opportunity to think about what’s important to them,” she said, “and to express those feelings.”

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools gears up for May Day protest

2026-04-30T18:03:11+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools officials say they feel confident schools will be fully staffed Friday amid Chicago Teachers Union push to embrace a national “no school, no work, no shopping” day of protest.

The district did not say how many teachers and staff members requested the day off to participate in May Day activities. But it said it is on track to enlist enough substitutes from a pool of almost 10,000 to cover any absences. The district previously said it might deploy some central office employees to help out at short-staffed schools.

CPS also said officials are reviewing about 45 May Day field trip requests, and so far none have been denied.

The union had pushed to cancel school Friday so students and educators could participate in an afternoon pro-labor, anti-Trump administration protest downtown. But district officials balked at the demand, insisting that May Day should remain a full day of instruction and end-of-school-year activities as designated in the CPS calendar.

The union and district struck an agreement to enable teachers and students to take part in the protest, to provide bagged lunches and transportation to the event for up to 100 schools, and to encourage lessons on civic engagement that morning. But more recently, the district has stressed repeatedly that employees must request the day off with enough notice — and must secure approval from their principals for any materials they use to teach about May Day.

These directives have generated tension with the CTU. The union has insisted that its members have academic freedom to select teaching materials that day without school leaders’ pre-approval. This week, district leaders said principals would only allow materials that “provide diverse perspectives rather than advancing any particular viewpoint.”

Recent meetings between district officials and principals have been dominated by discussion of navigating staff absences and materials for May Day, with school leaders bracing for a day with lean staffing. In a post Wednesday on its website, the union implored its members to join protests and rallies.

“We need you there — because we’re taking on the billionaires who are underfunding our schools, shortchanging our communities, and imperiling democracy,” the union’s leadership team wrote in the message.

But CPS said that schools are fully prepared for the day.

“We do feel confident we’ll be able to cover any absences,” a district spokeswoman said.

The district said previously it aims to have a solid estimate of staff absences at least 48 hours in advance of May Day, but it did not immediately provide that number in response to a Chalkbeat request.

Teachers are preparing for a day focused on civics

Nationally, most urban districts are remaining in session Friday. In North Carolina, multiple districts, including Charlotte-Mecklenburg, announced closures this week as they braced for widespread teacher absences. School in Madison, Wisconsin, was also cancelled for May 1.

CPS said schools that submitted May Day field trip requests had to provide safety plans with transportation arrangements, chaperone assignments, and other information. It said officials have agreed to review some requests that came after a Friday deadline, but that some principals have since cancelled field trip plans.

“School leaders have the autonomy and authority to determine if a proposed field trip meets educational and safety standards,” the district said.

In an email to members last week, CTU urged teachers to alert their union representatives if requests for field trips, curriculum, or days off are denied.

At one North Side school, staff and the principal worked together to decide on lessons related to labor and May Day, said music teacher Kat Zamorran, who is part of several union committees.

Zamorran asked students this week about various roles that made a recent school concert possible, such as security staff and teachers. She then broadened the conversation to talk about the jobs kids notice in their daily lives and telling them that May Day is a holiday to celebrate labor.

“It’s kind of nice to ask, ‘Well, do your parents have a job? What do your parents do when you go to school?’” Zamorran said. “That kind of opens it up for kids.”

In one of Zamorran’s classes, students made art that thanked people for their work. One student drew a picture for her mom, thanking her for caring for her. Another made a poster thanking the school’s custodians for cleaning the stage.

Zamorran said her school doesn’t have a field trip planned, but students may hold a small parade outside toward the end of the day.

Parents have varying takes on May Day protests

The district has stressed that only students with signed permission slips from their parents would be able to go on school-sponsored field trips to the Grant Park protest or other May Day events.

Though the district and the union said their agreement struck an admirable balance, some parents and advocacy groups have continued to voice discomfort with the district’s embrace of a politicized event. Others have welcomed the opportunity for students to engage in civic advocacy.

One group of parents, organized in part by the pro-school choice organization Urban Center, described the union’s push as a form of political indoctrination of students. Some of those parents, flanked by Bill Quinlan, the attorney representing former CPS CEO Pedro Martinez in his ongoing lawsuit against some Chicago Board of Education members, attended a school board meeting last week to express their concerns.

Other parents have more mixed feelings.

Princess Shaw, whose 7-year-old daughter attends DePriest Elementary School in the Austin neighborhood, said she didn’t support cancelling classes on May 1 because she and other working parents wouldn’t have child care options. Shaw helped write a letter that the West Side branch of the NAACP distributed to some board members, asking them to keep school open.

She is relieved that classes will be in session.

“May 1 is for my kid to go to school,” said Shaw, who was recently elected to sit on the DePriest Local School Council.

Still, she supports older students who have parental permission to attend a protest as a learning opportunity on Friday and likes the idea of teaching kids about labor history and civic engagement.

About one week before CPS reached its agreement, the Local School Council at Logan Square’s Brentano Math and Science Academy unanimously approved a resolution supporting the idea of a May 1 “Day of Civic Action” after a request from some teachers, said Andrew Yankech, one of the parent representatives on the LSC.

Yankech said he supports the idea of protesting on Friday due to his school community’s concerns over federal education and social service funding cuts, as well as more aggressive immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump. The latter has created “a climate of fear” for some Brentano families, especially for those whose relatives have been stopped or arrested by immigration agents, he said.

Those challenges were “front of mind for me,” Yankech said of his decision to support the resolution.

Yankech’s daughter will stay home Friday. Her parents have tasked her with writing an essay about the history and significance of May Day and the labor movement.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

An Illinois governor-backed bill to restrict school cell phone use gains momentum

2026-04-28T20:33:00+00:00

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Illinois is poised to join a majority of states that have mandated restrictions on cell phone use in schools — a priority of Gov. JB Pritzker that he and other supporters say will boost learning and student mental health.

A bill limiting cell phone use floundered last year despite winning unanimous approval in the state Senate. But an amended version this spring passed the House and appears headed for Senate backing.

The bill would ban cell phone use in elementary and middle schools throughout the school day but give districts the option of restricting high school use only during instruction time. It also aims to address concerns about overly punitive or uneven discipline for students and about the access some students — such as those with certain disabilities or medical conditions — need to their phones throughout the day.

The proposal has gotten a lukewarm reception by the Illinois Federation of Teachers. Though they are not actively opposing the bill, union leaders have raised concerns about the possible cost and logistics of implementing the restrictions.

But backers of the legislation, which would go into effect in 2027, have voiced unbridled enthusiasm.

“We think this bill is one of the most impactful things we could be doing in education now,” said Jessica Handy, the executive director of the nonprofit Stand for Children Illinois.

She added, “Kids lose a significant amount of instructional time because of time on their phones. It’s such a barrier to students being able to focus.”

A modest but growing body of research has suggested that limited cell phone use in school can indeed improve learning. A recent study by the research organization RAND Corp., for instance, found a cell phone ban in one large urban Florida district led to test score and attendance improvements, particularly in the middle and high school grades.

Chicago Public Schools, the state’s largest district, currently gives principals discretion to limit cell phone use and doesn’t track how many do so. In a statement, the district said it “supports initiatives aimed at improving educational focus that serve the best interests of students.”

The Illinois Senate will likely take up the bill later in May — and Michelle Mussman, its sponsor in the House, feels good about its odds of passage. So does the Senate sponsor, Cristina Castro, who notes that similar proposals have drawn bipartisan backing across the country.

“I feel we are in a good place to finally send this bill to the governor,” she said.

Last year, Stand for Children and the legislature’s Black Caucus had voiced concern that the cell phone ban could lead to a rise in punitive discipline for students who violate restrictions — and a widening in existing racial disparities in punishment. The new version says schools cannot suspend or expel students over cell phone use infractions.

The bill also includes exceptions for students who need their cell phones for medical reasons, English learners who use them for translation, and students who care for family members.

Handy of Stand for Children said these changes make the legislation “a model bill in terms of how we treat equity and discipline.” But the advocacy group was disappointed that high schools would have the discretion to allow phone use outside of class time. Handy said that would hamper the bill’s potential to help students “rebuild that muscle of having human interaction” and put more of an onus on teachers to make sure phones are put away for class.

“We feel strongly that a bell-to-bell ban is best,” she said. “We don’t love that high schools get to opt out if they choose to.”

The Illinois Federation of Teachers has said the cell phone bill imposes another “unfunded mandate,” noting that the Peoria school district spent almost $250,000 on pouches to store cell phones during the school day. The union says that only adds to other obligations the state places on districts without providing full funding for them, such as providing transportation for students with disabilities. Leaving cell phones at home is not an option for some students, including those from immigrant families terrified of stepped-up immigration enforcement near schools, a union spokesman said.

In an earlier statement, the union’s executive vice president, Cyndi Oberle-Dahm, criticized Pritzker, with whom the union has clashed, over the proposal.

“Schools already have the authority to set cell phone policies, but what they cannot do is fund themselves or the cellphone lockers or pockets that will be required to enforce this unfunded mandate,” she wrote.

Mussman, the House sponsor, said a key benefit of the bill would be making teachers’ lives easier by reducing cell phone-powered distraction and conflict. Districts could use existing student lockers to store phones or lean on apps that disable phone capabilities during the school day.

“There are low- or no-cost options out there,” she said. “Each school has to decide for themselves how to best manage this.”

Karen Foley, president and CEO of the Juvenile Protective Association, a nonprofit that provides mental health services in Chicago schools, said she understands the concerns about the bill’s implementation. Besides the phone storage question, she anticipates a need for more clerical support, as front offices field more calls and messages from parents who would have previously contacted students directly. Districts should also plan to prepare teachers for an initial uptick in behavioral issues and to check in regularly on the rollout and its academic and mental health outcomes, she said.

But the nonprofit is strongly supportive of the legislation based on numerous conversations with students, parents, and educators, who have all spoken frankly about the damage to learning and school climate that phones cause. The JPA has also vocally supported another Pritzker-backed bill that would impose more safeguards and restrictions on social media use by children.

Foley has also been encouraged by anecdotal reports and emerging research from other states that have implemented such restrictions.

“Kids start to talk to each other more face to face,” she said, “and that is such a good thing.”

As for navigating some of the implementation challenges, Foley recommended more input from students and their families: “Kids have incredible ideas if only you ask them.”

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Two dozen cited as Chicago Public Schools’ lunchroom workers rally for more pay

2026-04-24T01:06:27+00:00

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Two dozen Chicago Public Schools’ lunchroom workers and their supporters were cited for obstructing traffic Thursday during a rally to draw attention to protracted negotiations over pay and staffing levels.

UNITE HERE Local 1, the union representing roughly 1,700 CPS lunchroom workers, planned the rally and civil disobedience outside district headquarters as negotiations over a new union contract have surpassed 10 months. Now, both sides have agreed to get a federal mediator involved, CPS and the union confirmed.

The rally attracted more than 200 participants.

The group first gathered at Daley Plaza around 4 p.m. and chanted slogans such as, “Overworked and underpaid, that’s how your kids’ food gets made.”

By 5 p.m., the large group walked a couple of blocks to CPS headquarters at 42 W. Madison St., where people held up signs, played drums, and chanted while filling up a bus shelter and sidewalk outside of the building. Pedestrians looked on as roughly two dozen people set up metal chairs in the middle of Madison Street and sat down.

After a few minutes, Chicago Police ushered each person away with their hands behind their backs behind a nearby building, where police wrote tickets.

A Chicago police officer writes tickets to protesters for obstructing traffic during a rally for lunchroom workers.

One of the people cited was Stephanie Martin, a lunchroom manager who has worked in CPS schools for 27 years. She said she earns about $1,200 every two weeks. After she pays her bills, she typically has nothing left. As of Thursday, she had 10 cents in her bank account, she said.

“I’m not hopeful about what CPS is going to do,” she said.

Lunchroom workers and their supporters sit in the middle of the street during a rally outside of the Chicago Board of Education headquarters Thursday.

The contract negotiations are happening as CPS faces a possible $520 million deficit next school year. In a statement, the district said it values its lunchroom employees and is committed to reaching “a fair and sustainable deal.”

About 60% of lunchroom workers work fewer than eight hours a day and are not full-time, according to CPS.

UNITE HERE has said its workers are the lowest paid in CPS, and starting pay for their lunchroom attendants is just under $17 an hour, which is about $4 less than starting pay for custodians. The union is pushing for hourly pay that at least matches that of custodial workers.

The union is also trying to beef up staffing. A WBEZ analysis found the district has 20% fewer lunchroom workers compared with five years ago. About half of lunchroom workers surveyed by the union last fall said they have trouble paying for basic needs, and about one-fifth said they have visited food banks.

During her daily six-hour shift, Laura Najera, a lunchroom attendant at Ella Flagg Young Elementary School, prepares bags of breakfast and other snacks for the kids. Sometimes she helps take out trash or does the dishes if other employees are out, even though that’s not in her job duties, she said.

In order to make ends meet, Najera said she works at a dog shelter some days after she gets off work at school. Some weeks she only has about $20 left for groceries after paying her other bills and buys instant noodles for meals.

“I do (the job) because I like being with the kids,” said Najera, who attended Thursday’s rally. “But obviously it would be a lot more helpful if I could also live off of that paycheck.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Board of Education picks Karime Asaf as chief education officer

2026-04-23T20:25:36+00:00

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The Chicago Board of Education picked Karime Asaf, who oversees English learner programming at Chicago Public Schools, on Thursday to be the district’s next chief education officer.

As chief education officer, Asaf will be responsible for overseeing the district’s academic vision for schools.

The position has been without a permanent leader since last June, when then-chief Bogdana Chkoumbova resigned. Alfonso Carmona, former chief portfolio officer at CPS, was serving as the interim until earlier this month.

Asaf, who was once an English learner student at Senn High School after emigrating from Colombia, has worked in education for more than 30 years, including as a network chief and bilingual and special education teacher at CPS, according to her biography online. She became the chief of the Office of Multilingual and Multicultural Education in 2023.

“I have learned how important it is to treat people with dignity,” Asaf said shortly after she was hired. “Even during difficult conversations, it’s important to me to stay respectful. As a learning leader, my role is to invite people in, open space for collaboration and innovation, and inspire their creativity and imagination.”

One of her focuses has been to open more dual and world language programs. Under her tenure, the district updated its bilingual education policy with multiple clarifications, including that an English learner’s neighborhood school must provide them with language support even if the school hasn’t provided such support before.

Asaf’s tenure has intersected with major issues that impact English learners. She began in the position about a year after Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began busing thousands of migrant families from Central and South America to Chicago and other Democratic-led cities. She’s also been at the helm as the Trump administration has stepped up immigration enforcement and deportation campaigns. On Thursday, she said her office helped create safety protocols at schools in the face of immigration enforcement.

At Thursday’s board meeting, during a presentation on academic progress, Asaf highlighted the district’s creation of a migrant welcome center in 2023 at Clemente High School in Humboldt Park, which she said has become a hub for providing additional support to newcomer families. Board members Debby Pope and Carlos Rivas praised Asaf and the district’s work as the migrant crisis unfolded, including working to enroll newly arrived children.

But as many newcomers who were learning English as a new language enrolled in schools that historically haven’t enrolled English learners, the district struggled to educate these children adequately, Chalkbeat and Block Club Chicago found in 2024.

Last year, Chalkbeat and Block Club found that while the district’s share of bilingual teachers grew by more than 20% since the pandemic, schools were still struggling to provide legally required bilingual education to students who require it.

Asaf has said her office was concerned about areas in the city without English learner services but that creating robust bilingual programs takes time. On Thursday, she also pointed to a guidebook meant to help educators serve English learners.

Under Asaf, the share of English learners who have met their growth targets toward proficiency in English increased by about 1 percentage point — from 27.5% of English learners in the 2023-24 school year to 28.3% last school year, according to district data. The graduation rate among English learners has remained largely the same at just over 76% compared with 84% of students who aren’t English learners.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

New Chicago schools chief’s contract makes it easier for district and CEO to part ways

2026-04-22T19:22:29+00:00

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The new contract for Chicago Public Schools CEO Macquline King makes it easier for the district to part ways with her after the protracted and controversial departure of her predecessor, Pedro Martinez.

And unlike Martinez’s agreement, King’s contract includes a nod to the importance of the district’s relationship with the city’s mayor.

The changes would come as no surprise to those who followed the lengthy standoff between Martinez and Mayor Brandon Johnson, whose handpicked board fired the CEO without cause in December 2024. A provision inserted in Martinez’s contract by a previous board allowed him to stay on the job another six months and to continue pushing back against contract demands by the mayor’s allies at the Chicago Teachers Union.

A new, partly elected board granted King the three-year contract after she served in an interim capacity since last summer. The new contract reviewed by Chalkbeat Chicago requires only a 60-day notice if King is terminated without cause — or possibly even less if she is offered a payout in addition to the severance of 20 weeks pay stipulated in both her and Martinez’s contracts. On the flipside, King must give 90 days notice if she chooses to resign, compared to 30 days under Martinez’s contract.

As previously announced, King will make $380,000 a year — almost $20,000 more than her predecessor was making most recently — under her new contract, which goes into effect July 1.

Notably, a section about the relationship between the board and the CEO in King’s contract adds new language about “the expectation of maintaining productive and professional relationships with critical stakeholders, including the Mayor of Chicago” — a nod by a school board where a majority remains aligned with Johnson at a time of transition away from mayoral control. Martinez’s contract made no mention of the mayor, who appointed all members of the board and exerted significant control over the district back when that contract was signed.

Martinez negotiated the changes to his contract in late 2022 on the eve of the city’s most recent mayoral election. Those amendments appeared to be a bid to claim some additional job security for a role in which top leaders have long largely served at the mayor’s pleasure.

The uncertainty hasn’t gone away: In the runup to King’s appointment, some advocates voiced concern that a new, fully elected school board taking over in January could eventually opt to replace the top leader chosen by the current board, on which 10 members are elected and 11 are appointed by Johnson.

The lengthy notice to the CEO under Martinez’s contract was more of an outlier, said Robert Bruno, a professor at the School of Labor and Employment Relations at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

“These changes to King’s contract strike me as a return to something more standard,” he said.

Bruno noted that higher turnover and a higher-pressure, more politicized environment have been driving up superintendent salaries nationally. The most recent data from the Council of the Great City Schools shows average salary for superintendents in districts serving more than 100,000 students was $338,650 in 2023, an 8% increase over 2019.

But it’s possible that in Chicago, the CEO and board agreed on a higher salary as a tradeoff for less job security.

“A contract is this hydraulic system where everything is interrelated, where if you push down in one area, you have to give in another,” he said.

King’s benefits are in line with those in Martinez’s contract: The district will also provide a pension contribution equal to 7% of her salary and chip in an amount equal to 10% of her salary to a supplemental savings account. Like Martinez, the district is also providing a driver, a bank of 20 days of paid vacation, and four weeks of paid vacation per year.

King’s contract does away with a detailed timeline for evaluating the CEO in Martinez’s contract, instead simply requiring that she be evaluated by the board each year.

To Bruno, a notable aspect of both King’s and Martinez’s contracts is that they require the leaders to submit performance goals some months into their tenure — rather than including measurable goals as part of the contract itself. Particularly in the case of King, who has spent time leading the district as interim, she and the board could have presumably rallied around a set of goals, said Bruno, who has negotiated contracts with performance goals built in as the board president of a suburban Illinois school district.

Both King’s and Martinez’s agreements called for annual raises of up to 3% following a positive evaluation. But King’s deal does away with an amendment to Martinez’s contract that gave the board president more of a leading role in rallying the rest of the board around such raises. It goes back to previous language that just says that the board is authorized to offer the salary increases after evaluating the CEO.

King signed her new contract on March 27, the board voted nearly unanimously to hire her on March 30, and board President Sean Harden signed the document on behalf of the district on April 2.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

More than $550,000 has poured into historic Chicago school board races

2026-04-17T21:45:03+00:00

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Data analysis by Thomas Wilburn

More than six months ahead of Chicago’s historic school board races, candidates are starting to ramp up fundraising — and political action committees are gearing up to spend big.

About 40 active school board candidate committees have already raised roughly $555,000 as of March 31 since last October, according to data Chalkbeat analyzed after a deadline this week to file campaign cash disclosures for the first quarter of 2026 with the Illinois State Board of Elections.

More than a third of that total represented the haul of Sendhil Revuluri — a former school board vice president running for the at-large role of board president — giving him a commanding fundraising lead so far. Two incumbents also running for board president — Jessica Biggs and Jennifer Custer — raised about $60,000 and $50,000, respectively, in the same period.

For the first time in the city’s history, Chicagoans this November will elect all 21 members of the school board, which has long been handpicked by the mayor. In 2024, residents chose 10 members, and Mayor Brandon Johnson appointed the rest, including the president. These latest races come at a high-stakes time for Chicago Public Schools, which faces swelling budget deficits, declining enrollment, and other challenges.

The 2024 races drew more than $13 million in campaign cash, an analysis by Chalkbeat Chicago found at the time. With all seats up for grabs, spending on this year’s races is expected to handily outpace that amount, which dwarfed that spent on school board elections in cities such as Denver and Detroit.

The last time around, heavy spending clearly helped propel some candidates to their seats on board, whose members serve without pay. But the races also showed the limitation of campaign cash. Some of the candidates with the most modest war chests, such as Biggs, bested much better funded opponents. Of the nine candidates in contested races backed by the Chicago Teachers Union — the biggest spender on those board elections — three made it onto the board.

The teachers union is once again poised to clash with charter and other school choice proponents, though these groups are waiting until the candidate field is more complete. Candidates will formally file to run between May 18 and 26. The Illinois Network of Charter Schools had more than $3.2 million in cash on hand as of March 31, by far the largest amount among super PACs expected to get involved in the school board races. Super PACs can spend without limitation on races, but they are not allowed to coordinate directly with candidate campaigns.

“We’ll be a very substantial part of the outside spending for sure,” said Andrew Broy, the network’s executive director. “We’ll try to be involved in as many districts as possible.”

Now that the state’s primary elections are over, school board candidates are starting to kick off their fundraising in earnest.

A $68,000 loan to his own campaign makes Revuluri the biggest donor to school board political committees so far. Trailing him are billionaire Michael Sacks and Allstate Corporation CEO Thomas Wilson, who both late last year donated the legal limit of $7,300 to each in a group of elected school board members who have banded together to parry the influence of a Johnson-aligned majority.

Sacks also donated to the Common Ground Collective, a new political action committee led by cabinet members of former CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, who was pushed out by Johnson. The Sacks donations were previously reported by WBEZ.

Broy, the charter network’s head, said its focus for now is identifying candidates aligned with its pro-school choice mission and helping them get on the ballot. The network’s super PAC has drawn large checks from big-pocketed donors such as James Frank, the executive chairman of the board of Wheels Inc. As in 2024, the group will hold off on spending in earnest until closer to the election. But Broy said he expects spending to ramp up earlier this time around.

“Incumbents are going to want to get a jump on their opposition,” he said. “They’ll try to get an advantage by striking first.”

Broy expects the network will again back several members it funded heavily in 2024, such as Carlos Rivas and Angel Gutierrez.

Following heavy spending on primary races, the CTU’s cash on hand is now paltry in comparison, at about $126,000 at the end of March. But it’s poised to get replenished with member dues in the coming months.

A spokesperson for the union said the CTU will follow its customary process in which members review candidate questionnaires and other information to determine “who are champions for public schools and who are serving billionaire donors set to close schools.”

SEIU Illinois Council PAC, affiliated with the union representing support staff in CPS, made contributions to some elected incumbents late last year. The union has been a close ally of the CTU in previous years, but following disagreements last year might diverge in which candidates it backs.

The March primary races dominated political giving so far this year, making it hard to gain fundraising momentum for fall contests, said Custer, the school board member who is running for the districtwide board president role. She said her committee has been able to raise about $25,000 in the past couple of weeks, an amount that’s not reflected in her Board of Elections filing.

“It is definitely ramping up now,” she said. “I’ve been spending a lot of time on the phone.”

Custer said she is approaching “people prominent in the education spaces in and around Chicago” and circling back with donors to her 2024 campaign, including friends and family members. Custer was endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union in 2024 but has clashed repeatedly with the union during her time on the board. “I don’t think they’ll come to me,” she said.

Custer said her major campaign expenditure so far has been child care, a permissible expense for candidates for office. Lining up care for her children has allowed her to visit schools, meet with potential supporters, and attend board meetings, she said.

With about $236,000 raised so far according to his campaign, Revuluri, who served as school board vice president during the pandemic, has pulled ahead among candidates who have formed committees to run in November.

Besides the loan to his campaign, his haul comes almost exclusively from individual contributions from across the country. He said he has tapped his extensive professional network, but the bulk of donations are from Chicagoans who have responded to his message of “effective governance that really puts our students at the center.” He said the current board has been too mired in political struggles, which he believes gives him an edge over incumbent rivals.

Revuluri said he is focused on low-cost campaigning, including meeting a goal of speaking with more than 10,000 voters, so he will hold off on most spending until the months leading up to the election.

“We have to meet voters where they are — once they have really tuned in,” he said.

Chalkbeat Chicago reporter Reema Amin contributed to this report.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago will keep school in session May 1 but let students and staff participate in protest

2026-04-17T16:12:14+00:00

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School will be in session on May 1 in Chicago, but Chicago Public Schools and its teachers union reached an agreement Thursday that would allow some students and educators to attend a pro-labor, anti-Trump afternoon rally and provide buses to the event.

The Chicago Teachers Union had pushed to cancel classes that day so students and staff members could join a national “no school, no work, no shopping” day of protests. But despite strong backing from Mayor Brandon Johnson, newly appointed CEO Macquline King balked at that demand, saying in an earlier note to parents that “every minute in the classroom is vital for students.”

The standoff became national news and a political hot potato for Johnson, a former CTU employee and close ally. Critics of his stance argued that canceling school on a short notice would put working parents in a tough spot and pointed to the district’s post-pandemic problems with high student absenteeism, especially at the high school level.

In a Friday morning statement, the district stressed holding the line on keeping classes in session for the entire school day. It said that staff are expected to work the full day but can use personal days or other time off after giving proper notice. It also said principals can exercise discretion in allowing students to participate in civic engagement activities that day, but no students will be required to do so.

“This agreement preserves the classroom time students deserve and respects our staff and families who must be able to trust CPS to uphold the academic school year calendar,” said King in the statement. “At the same time, the agreement honors the proud history of civic action in Chicago and beyond.”

The agreement says that the district will work “in good faith” to provide at least 100 schools with bagged lunches and transportation to a 1 p.m. Union Park rally or other events, though the city would supply free transit cards if CPS cannot line up enough buses. The district will also give 65 CTU members paid leave to travel to Springfield the week of May 13 and lobby state lawmakers for more funding for schools. CPS will also designate May 1, 2028, as a teacher-directed professional development day of non-attendance for students.

In an email to members, the teachers union hailed the agreement with the district as “monumental news” and a victory for encouraging civic engagement among students and employees.

“We’re proud to be part of a school district that recognizes the responsibility of educators to stand up for our students, support them in finding their voice, and to not sit on the sidelines of history when the people of this country finally say ‘enough’ to the abuses from the White House,” the message said.

In a statement, Johnson praised the agreement as well, saying his office looks forward to “a day of meaningful solidarity and community resistance to the forces trying to tear us apart.”

The announcement of the agreement caps days of tension and confusion for families. King had argued that the school board could call a special meeting and vote to cancel school on May 1. A majority of board members aligned with Johnson had supported the teachers union request in an informal closed session vote, but a formal, binding vote never took place.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Cesar Chavez Elementary in Back of the Yards to be renamed — and neighbors can weigh in

2026-04-16T21:21:05+00:00

Efforts are underway to rename Cesar E. Chavez Multicultural Academic Center, a Back of the Yards elementary school.

School officials and the local school council are gathering feedback and suggestions for a new name for Chavez Academic Center, 4747 S. Marshfield Ave., a Chicago Public Schools spokesperson said in an emailed statement. Neighbors have until Friday to submit suggestions for a new name using this online form.

Last month, a New York Times investigation revealed multiple women have credibly accused Chavez of grooming, raping, and sexually abusing them.

At the time, parents and current and former students of the elementary school said they were shocked, confused, and felt like they’d been lied to about Chavez, previously seen as a hero for his work in the farmworkers’ rights movement.

The school should not be named after someone who abused girls as young as some of the students who walk the school’s hallways, and keeping Chavez’s name sends the wrong message to young people, parents, and neighbors previously said.

On March 25, the local school council voted to start the name change process. Four public meetings were held March 30-April 2 to gather feedback on potential new names for the school, the CPS spokesperson said.

The school can be renamed after a place, thing, or person, according to CPS policy. If suggesting the name of a person, the person must have been deceased for at least six months and cannot be a religious figure nor a relative of a school employee or the local school council.

Once the period to submit suggestions closes on Friday, students and staff will vote on their favorite options before presenting the local school council with three name suggestions, the CPS spokesperson said.

The local school council will then vote on the proposed names at one of its monthly meetings. Once the council votes on the name change, it needs to be approved by CPS officials, including the school’s network chief and the Chicago Board of Education.

Pilsen’s post office, named after Chavez, is also in the midst of getting a new name, and Chavez’s likeness was removed from a Pilsen park mural last month.

This story was originally published in Block Club Chicago.

After debate, Chicago school board denounces Trump-backed push for school choice

2026-04-08T21:32:17+00:00

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As Gov. JB Pritzker weighs opting Illinois into a Trump-backed tax credit scholarship program, the Chicago Board of Education decided after an impassioned debate to push him to avoid it.

The board voted 15-0, with three abstentions, to adopt a resolution Wednesday that denounces the Trump administration’s efforts “to expand and incentivize voucher or publicly funded scholarships for private schools” and criticized private schools as nontransparent institutions.

The resolution comes as more than half of U.S. states — largely led by Republican governors — have opted into the new program. Two Democratic governors have also decided to opt into it. It will provide dollar-for-dollar tax credits to donors who give up to $1,700 to scholarship-granting nonprofits. The funds can go toward certain expenses for students enrolled in private or public schools or home-schooled children whose families make up to 300% of the local median income. For a Chicago family, that means earning less than roughly $233,000 a year.

It’s unclear if districts can directly benefit from the money.

Elected board members Che “Rhymefest” Smith, Ellen Rosenfeld, and Therese Boyle abstained from voting. Smith and Rosenfeld said they felt the matter should be directly discussed with Pritzker and his team, while Boyle is unsure how she feels about the program.

Before the vote, board members debated over whether they should take up the resolution or shelve it and discuss the matter directly with lawmakers. Board president Sean Harden, who is appointed by the mayor, said board members could both vote on a resolution and approach the governor’s office for a discussion.

“[The governor] looks for leaders to make statements around what their values are,” Harden said.

Some left-leaning politicians, including Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, have embraced the program. Pritzker has privately shared with Mendoza his reservations about opting into the program, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Rosenfeld motioned to postpone the vote because she felt the resolution’s public nature was “politically motivated.” She said she’d rather go to Springfield to ask Pritzker to oppose the program.

Springfield lawmakers have been in session since the start of the year, but the school board has not yet voted on a legislative agenda.

“Politics don’t belong in the boardroom,” Rosenfeld said.

Elected board member Jitu Brown said he couldn’t “disagree more” with Rosenfeld, that the nature of the board is political, and part of that is debate.

“Until we’re able to have honest grown-up conversations about why we have the positions we have, then we’ll play this game (of) ‘I don’t want to do politics,’” Brown said. “If you don’t want to do politics, then you shouldn’t be on the school board.”

Appointed board member Debby Pope said indefinitely pushing the resolution back “totally diminishes” its power.

Boyle said she’s still unsure how she feels about the tax credit program.

“Before being asked to make a decision on this I wish I could hear from the governor and his team – like why is it taking him so long to make a decision?” Boyle said.

Several groups, including the Chicago Teachers Union and Illinois Families for Public Schools, have strongly denounced the new program as a tactic to siphon students and funding from public schools and asked Pritzker not to opt in.

Opponents have pointed to school choice programs in other states to argue why a program to expand private school access in Illinois won’t necessarily benefit low-income students. In states with universal education savings accounts or voucher programs, a large share of participating students are from affluent families. Many attended private school before the voucher program was launched.

There have been some local efforts to push Pritzker to opt in. The libertarian-leaning think tank Illinois Policy Institute pushed for a ballot advisory question on the issue during last month’s elections in more than two dozen counties, most of which are suburban or rural and voted for Trump in 2024. Most voters in those places signaled support for the program.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago school board names Angel Vélez as new vice president

2026-04-08T17:28:52+00:00

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In a split decision, the Chicago school board on Wednesday chose a diversity, equity and inclusion consultant appointed to the board last year by Mayor Brandon Johnson as its new vice president.

The board voted 9-7 for Angel Vélez to replace former board vice president Olga Bautista, an appointee who stepped down last month. The vice president performs the duties of the board president, such as presiding over meetings, if the president is absent.

Johnson appointed Vélez — who has also studied education policy — last August to fill a vacancy ahead of a pivotal budget vote. Vélez represents subdistrict 9a, which covers South Side neighborhoods that span from Canaryville to Auburn Gresham.

Vélez earned support for his vice presidency from other board members who have been more aligned with Johnson, including appointees Cydney Wallace, Debby Pope, Norma Rios-Sierra, Ed Bannon, Michilia Blaise and Karen Zaccor, as well as elected members Jitu Brown and Ebony DeBerry.

Elected board member Yesenia Lopez was also nominated for vice president and earned votes from elected board members who have been more critical of the mayor’s office: Che “Rhymefest” Smith, Therese Boyle, Ellen Rosenfeld, Carlos Rivas, Jennifer Custer, and Jessica Biggs.

Vélez and Lopez each voted for themselves.

The board did not discuss the vote further.

In a recent interview, Vélez spoke about his desire for more unity on the board. Vélez, who is Black and Latino, said he didn’t sign on to a letter last week pushing soon-to-be permanent CEO Macquline King to hire more Latinos in her cabinet because he felt it was more divisive than helpful. He said it would have been better for board members and organizations to first speak with King about the demands.

“If we unite, we can ask for more funding,” Velez said. “If we stay divided, not a lot is going to get done.”

The mayor currently appoints 11 of the board’s 21 members, including the president. He has not yet named a replacement for Bautista, and his office did not respond to a request for comment.

All 21 seats on the board will be up for election this November, and the board will be a fully elected governing body starting next January.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago school board to vote on resolution urging Pritzker to reject public funds for private school

2026-04-06T21:19:32+00:00

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The Chicago Board of Education plans to vote Wednesday on a resolution urging Gov. JB Pritzker to reject efforts by the Trump administration to support private schools with public funds.

Pritzker, a vocal critic of President Donald Trump who is running for reelection as governor, has not yet made a decision about whether to opt Illinois into a federal tax-credit program.

The resolution doesn’t explicitly name the new federal tax-credit program, but it denounces Trump administration efforts “to expand and incentivize voucher or publicly funded scholarships for private schools.” It also criticizes private schools as bodies without enough guardrails or public transparency.

The federal program would provide dollar-for-dollar tax credits to donors who give up to $1,700 to scholarship-granting nonprofits. In states where the governor opts into the program, those funds can go toward certain expenses for students enrolled in private or public schools (or home-schooled children) whose families make up to 300% of the local median income — or for a Chicago family making roughly $233,000 a year or less.

Federal officials have said public schools can also benefit from the program but haven’t solidified rules for how. For example, it’s unclear whether the money could be used for tutoring provided by public schools or be restricted to outside tutoring groups.

More than half of U.S. states, mostly run by Republican governors, have opted in. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is the only Democratic governor to officially do so, while North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein said he plans to in the future. A handful of other Democrats who previously opposed the program said they’re now reconsidering.

The board’s resolution argues that “the diversion of public funds for private education weakens not only public schools but other vital public goods and services such as transportation, healthcare and efforts to preserve the environment.”

Such a resolution isn’t surprising from Chicago’s school board. Many board members have taken a stance against the Trump administration in other areas, including its deportation campaign in Chicago in the fall and its cancellation of millions of dollars in federal grant funding for CPS. A majority of the board is also aligned with the Chicago Teachers Union, a major ally of Mayor Brandon Johnson, which is staunchly opposed to the program.

But there have been some splits among Illinois politicians. Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, who is considering a run for Chicago mayor this year, called for the state to opt in via an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune. While Pritzker hasn’t announced a decision, he has expressed reservations: He texted Mendoza that governors who haven’t yet opted in “are waiting to understand how much of the money can be used for publics and exactly how states can keep the money from supporting schools that teach values that are racist or antisemitic or anti-American,” according to texts obtained by the Chicago Tribune.

For her part, Mendoza wrote in a Tribune op-ed that “rather than funding Trump’s agenda in D.C. or sending more of our dollars to Republican-controlled states already taking advantage of Illinois taxpayers, I would much prefer that an Illinoisan be able to redirect $1,700 to support their own school community.”

Some education advocacy groups have asked Pritzker not to opt in. Additionally, the advocacy arm of Illinois Policy Institute, a libertarian-leaning think tank, persuaded more than two dozen Illinois counties and townships to include a non-binding advisory question on their recent primary election ballots about the program. Most of the questions didn’t mention that the program relies on tax credits, and at least one of those counties incorrectly described the program.

Still, a majority of voters in places with the ballot question approved of Pritzker opting in, according to a tally of results from Illinois Policy. Most of those counties are suburban or rural areas that voted for Trump in 2024. (Cook County, the state’s largest, and Chicago ballots did not have the advisory question.)

The federal program comes three years after Illinois lawmakers allowed a different private school scholarship program to sunset. That program, known as the Invest in Kids scholarship, allowed individuals or corporations to donate to scholarship-granting organizations, which then provided tuition aid to low-income, private school students.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

This program teaches Chicago teens about the risks of gun ownership. It’s changing some minds.

2026-04-03T20:16:39+00:00

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Fifteen-year-old Josiah Owens is considering owning a gun one day because he wants protection. He doesn’t want to suffer the same fate as his best friend, whom he says survived a shooting a couple of years ago.

Owens, a sophomore at Disney II Magnet High School on the Northwest Side, was one of 23 Chicago teens ages 13 to 17 who took part in a recent weeklong program to learn about the risks of gun ownership and how to share those statistics with peers through a flashy social media campaign. He joined after a nudge from his mother, who wanted him to “build connections” with other Chicago kids.

The program, which took place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. each week day of spring break, was led by nonprofit Project Unloaded in partnership with nonprofit After School Matters, which paid the teen participants $150.

Since 2023, the organization has run a six-week summer program where teens get more time to research gun violence statistics and create catchy social media videos. But the spring break program was a first for Project Unloaded, according to Nina Vinik, founder and president of Project Unloaded.

Project Unloaded focuses on social media creation because that’s where “young people today are going to find information,” Vinik said.

“All of our programs combine firearm risk education for young people with social media skill building, so we’re effectively teaching young people how to use social media as a way to make positive change in their communities,” she said.

Last year, 18.6% of the victims of fatal and non-fatal shootings in Chicago were 19 years old or younger, almost one percentage point higher than the year before but a drop from about 20% in 2023, according to city data.

A 2022 survey of 989 Chicago parents found that more than one-third of their children were exposed to gun violence, ranging from hearing gunshots to being shot. One-fifth of those children experienced mental health symptoms as a result.

Last week during Chicago Public Schools’ spring break, Owens and his peers showed up to the After School Matters offices in the Kilbourn Park neighborhood and learned some gun ownership statistics: People with a gun at home are twice as likely to be killed, according to a California study conducted in the 1990s. According to another study published in 2011, people who owned a gun were four times more likely to be shot during an assault compared with those who didn’t have a gun on them.

The teens then learned how to create effective social media campaigns that direct people to a website with more information on studies related to gun ownership. They spent a day with staff from iO improv theater to “come out of their shells,” said Olivia Brown, associate director of youth engagement at Project Unloaded who led the spring break program. They also watched videos from other content creators to learn that a good video has a hook, a main message, and then a call to action, Brown said.

Olivia Brown, associate director of youth engagement for Project Unloaded, speaks to a group of teenagers who participated in the organization's weeklong program aimed at teaching them about the risks of gun ownership and effective social media campaigns.

“They were like, ‘Oh, it’s kind of like writing a persuasive essay,’” Brown said, who agreed with them. “It’s like, you got to get your reader, aka your viewer, on your side.”

The teens practiced shooting videos with their phones. Then, Project Unloaded’s digital strategist helped them create their final videos with his equipment.

On the Friday of spring break, the last day of their program, the teens presented their videos in groups of three or four. They walked up to the front of the room, some appearing shy, facing their peers and invited guests who included content creators.

Their videos, which lasted less than 30 seconds, will be added to an ongoing advertising campaign created by last summer’s cohort of teens, called “Goofies Got Guns.”

One group presented a video showcasing a fictional “Totally Safe News” network, where one of the participants played a correspondent who initially says owning a gun offers safety. Then, the screen bleeps out, and the correspondent fixes the newscast to say owning a gun doubles the risk of homicide.

“Facts don’t care about opinions,” the correspondent says.

Owens’ group made a video where the camera toggles between the teens playing a video game while they discuss the statistics associated with owning a gun.

In another group’s video, one of the teens says he owns a gun, and his peer walks up and puts a clown wig on him. The audience in the room laughed.

Vinik emphasized that they don’t “tell any young person what to do or what to think or what not to do,” rather, they want to arm them with information “to make the best decision that they can for themselves.”

The program did appear to change some of the teens’ minds: Project Unloaded representatives said they saw a 30% drop among the participants who are interested in owning a gun. One of them is Makayla Mason, 16, who’s a junior at Lane Tech High School, who said she considered buying a gun when she gets older.

“I wouldn’t even want to get one anymore,” she said.

Owens, who wants to be a boxer when he gets older, said the social media skills he learned could be useful in helping to promote himself one day.

As for gun ownership? The program didn’t change his mind: He’s still considering buying a gun one day.

“Now I just know the risks of it, which is good,” he said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools new CEO King faces big challenges. How do Chicagoans want her to tackle them?

2026-04-02T22:39:32+00:00

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Interim Chicago Public Schools CEO Macquline King, who will become the district’s permanent leader in July, has major challenges ahead of her.

The district is facing a projected budget deficit of at least $520 million next school year. At the same time, enrollment is declining, and the chronic absenteeism rate — when kids miss at least 10% of school days — has remained around 40% for the past few years.

Another challenge will be meeting the demands of a diverse community with different ideas and needs. One Local School Council member is vehemently opposed to the closure of her severely underenrolled school, but a parent at a nearby high school wouldn’t mind if their schools combined. Many parents don’t want to see cuts at their schools, but one parent leader said she’s interested in seeing where her child’s school can pare back on staffing in order to save money.

King has said she plans to engage communities around Chicago to shape her leadership on tough issues. While the Chicago Board of Education ultimately votes on major policies and budgets, King is in charge of proposing and implementing changes, as well as a budget plan.

As she settles into the permanent role, parents and members of school leadership teams shared what they would like to see from King.

CPS again faces a budget deficit

Budget woes and how King will tackle them are a primary concern for parents and educators. The deficit could grow as large as $1 billion, King has said, meaning the district will either have to find more revenue or make cuts before approving a budget this summer for the 2026-27 school year.

Overall state funding for CPS has increased nearly $390 million over the past five years. Still, the district is $1.6 billion short of what the state considers adequate funding.

Most Chicago adults want the state to provide more money, according to a survey conducted by Kids First, an education advocacy organization. Of the 1,361 respondents, two-thirds want state lawmakers to provide more money. Three-quarters want the corporate income tax raised, and roughly that same percentage want income taxes raised on people earning more than $250,000.

But Gov. JB Prtizker’s proposed budget doesn’t do those things and would instead provide a slightly smaller increase in funding than usual for K-12 schools.

King has said she will keep fighting for more state money. Earlier this week, she told reporters “everything has to be on the table so that we don’t compromise the progress that CPS students have made.”

On the school level, parent leaders told Chalkbeat they don’t want to see cuts to meals, tutoring, extracurricular activities, and arts programming. One of those parents — Princess Shaw, who was recently elected to the LSC and has a daughter at Oscar DePriest Elementary School in the Austin neighborhood — said she wants to take a closer look at whether the school needs all the staffing it has.

Jessica Keirns, who is on the LSC at Foreman High School in Portage Park, said King should consider more cuts at the central office level and invest in efforts to prevent long-term expenses for remedial help. For example, she wants schools to be able to hire more librarians, noting some research that links librarians to growth in student literacy.

Schools that are well-resourced “should pull [their] weight in the sacrifice,” Keirns said.

The district’s relatively new funding formula has moved away from basing funding on enrollment and provides staff positions based on a school’s needs. Many selective enrollment and magnet programs with higher enrollment had aired concerns about cuts under the new formula.

“When I hear people complain that they can’t keep their four different foreign languages … they’re forgetting about schools that are only offering Spanish in a place where the majority of the students already speak Spanish fluently,” Keirns said.

The district’s growing number of small schools

Chicago Public Schools enrollment has largely dipped over the last dozen or so years, with a nearly 3% drop again last fall. That drop has resulted in dozens of severely underenrolled schools, often in aging buildings that are costly to maintain: 43 schools are at one-third capacity, and roughly half of district-run schools are considered underutilized by district measures.

A Chalkbeat investigation last year found small schools tend to have less access to a variety of courses and extracurricular activities and are more likely to see higher dropout rates and truancy.

But school closures are highly fraught in Chicago, where mass closures in 2013 under then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel left many low-income, Black and Hispanic communities feeling scarred and unheard by the district — and many left the city. Political leaders have since largely avoided addressing the issue.

After the board voted to hire King permanently, appointed board member Michilia Blaise said she wants to craft a vision for underenrolled schools “without just closing doors.” For her piece, King recently told reporters that a solution will require figuring out “the challenges” and how “to ensure that all students have a high-quality student experience regardless of where their school is situated.”

At Douglass High School in the Austin neighborhood, where only 27 students were enrolled at the start of the year, longtime LSC member Catherine Jones said she is “flatly” against a closure or combining with another school, and she wants more resources for the tight-knit campus she loves, such as a performing arts program.

“I would like [King] to sit down and talk to us as LSC members and see what the community would like the school to be,” Jones said.

On the South Side, Cecile De Mello, executive director of Teamwork Englewood, a group that advocates for more investment in the Englewood neighborhood, said King should revamp the CPS facilities master plan, which in part maps out building needs, and consider with school communities how to use vacant school spaces instead of closing buildings.

Jaciel Cathey, a newly elected LSC member for a school on the South Side, said King should focus on retaining teachers within the same school. She believes having familiar, consistent faces can help build trust with families and keep them in the community, she said.

CPS has made various efforts to recruit and retain more teachers within the district, for which rates have slightly improved in the last decade, according to state data.

Still, Cathey, who transferred her son from a private school, said families often “don’t know who’s teaching third grade” or “who’s teaching fourth grade” year after year.

Chronic absenteeism remains stagnant

Before the pandemic, about a quarter of CPS students missed at least 10% of school days — known as chronic absenteeism. Today, roughly 40% of CPS students are chronically absent, a rate that’s remained stagnant in recent years. It’s a critical issue: Lower attendance among middle and high school students is linked to lower grades and test scores, according to a recent study from the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research.

John Boggs, a veteran teacher and now International Baccalaureate program coordinator at Bogan Computer Technical High School on Chicago’s Southwest Side, rattled off a few of the reasons for why kids aren’t showing up: They’re caring for siblings; they’re navigating bad relationships with parents; or they’re just uninterested by their classes.

“When you’re looking at the low attendance rate for a kid, there’s a story there, and you just got to find out what it is,” Boggs, who also serves on the districtwide LSC advisory board, said.

King told WBEZ in January that CPS doesn’t have a strategy to improve attendance but she is talking to a foundation to help fund a plan.

Boggs said under King, the district should work harder to ensure parents know how to access their child’s attendance and grades online so they know when there’s a problem. The district has a web page instructing parents how to use the student information portal, but many families may not know it exists. Several other parents told Chalkbeat that schools should work to build relationships with parents — something the research study links to better attendance.

On the West Side, sophomore Stanley Scales transferred to Austin College and Career Academy from a private school at the start of this school year. Scales said he likes his new school, but he’s noticed some kids regularly don’t show up to school, where last year the chronic absenteeism rate was 87%.

Austin College and Career Academy is pictured on the first day of the 2025-26 school year.

Scales suggested the district should fix up the building, which he’s heard people describe as “depressing.” The nearly 100-year-old building needs almost $90 million in more immediate and long-term repairs, among the costliest bills for West Side schools, according to the district’s most recent facilities master plan from 2023.

A 2016 study in New York linked poor building conditions to lower student attendance.

“Maybe if they fixed the school up and like, make it more likable for students, maybe they would want to attend school more,” Scales said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Dozens of officials call for more Latino representation in Chicago Public Schools’ leadership

2026-04-02T00:43:32+00:00

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Fifty Chicago leaders and organizations, including many Latino elected officials, want Chicago Public Schools’ soon-to-be permanent CEO to fill her cabinet and other senior leadership roles with more Latinos.

The signees issued the public statement Wednesday, two days after the Chicago Board of Education voted to name interim CPS CEO Macquline King the permanent leader starting July 1.

“This is not a question of talent but a reflection of a system that has consistently overlooked highly qualified Latino educators and leaders,” the statement said. “The result is a clear and persistent lack of Latino leadership at every level.”

Several district positions are in flux and currently being filled on an interim basis, including its budget director, the chief financial officer, and the chief portfolio officer who oversees charter schools. Alfonso Carmona, acting chief education officer, is Latino but is leaving CPS.

The makeup of teachers and principals doesn’t match the makeup of the district’s students. Hispanic students make up 46% of students at Chicago Public Schools — the biggest share of any major racial group. But 19% of CPS principals are Latino, the statement noted. Meanwhile, the plurality of principals, 45%, are Black, while 34% of district students are Black. Among teachers, the plurality, or 44%, are white, while just a quarter are Latino and just over a fifth are Black.

The statement also called for King to keep partnering with community leaders to “protect every student’s right to a public education, regardless of immigration status” in the wake of aggressive immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump. Several Chicago Board of Education members have praised her response to the federal government’s deportation campaign in the fall.

Last month, Latino leaders and organizations raised concerns about why none of the finalists for the CEO job were Latino. It’s unclear whether there were Latino candidates who didn’t want to continue through the process to the finalists stage.

The signees included eight of 10 elected Chicago Board of Education members; elected members Jitu Brown and Ebony DeBerry were not on the list. Board members who were appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson also were not on the list.

The list also included Rudy Lozano, a former board member who’d been appointed by the Johnson in 2023, as well as nine alderpeople, and six state lawmakers. Other signees include people who represent community organizations that work with Latino communities, including Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, which provides wraparound services to some district schools under the district’s Sustainable Community Schools model.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Macquline King, interim CEO of Chicago Public Schools, hired as permanent leader

2026-03-30T18:55:05+00:00

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The Board of Education voted Monday to name Macquline King as Chicago Public Schools CEO, ending a rocky yearlong search for the district’s permanent leader.

The board voted 18-1 to hire King, who has been the district’s interim leader since last June, when former CEO Pedro Martinez left after being fired without cause. Elected board member Jennifer Custer voted no.

The board officially picked King last week over Sito Narcisse, the former superintendent of East Baton Rouge Parish schools in Louisiana who was named another finalist earlier this month.

King is poised to face a $520 million projected budget deficit. She’ll also be in place through school board elections this year and when a new, fully elected board is seated.

As interim chief, King has been forced to navigate some major issues during her nine months on the job, including closing a $734 million budget deficit that sparked a fight with the mayor’s office, the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement campaign, and upheaval in the district’s charter sector.

In remarks following the vote, King emphasized that she would build relationships in government and communities and would center students in her decisions. She highlighted bright spots in the district, including more recent student achievement in math, but also acknowledged problems ahead and said she’ll be “the most vocal advocate” in pushing for more state funding for CPS.

“We cannot and we will not allow financial headwinds to jeopardize those hard won victories and our students’ confidence,” King said.

Later, during a press conference, King said that in order to close a budget deficit that could rise as high as $1 billion, “everything has to be on the table so that we don’t compromise the progress that CPS students have made.”

King hasn’t rolled out major policy changes in her time so far, though last fall she was interested in reorganizing the district’s network offices, which help manage principals.

Several board members spoke in support of King ahead of the vote, saying that she’s a homegrown candidate who has earned the full-time role by displaying calm leadership over the past nine months. Board members raised a number of issues they want to work with King on, including budgetary pressures, supporting Black students, and addressing the district’s underenrolled schools.

“What mattered most to me — the fact that there are so many pressures on you, but you’ve always centered students,” said elected board member Che “Rhymefest” Smith.

Appointed board member Ed Bannon nodded to the rocky search for a new CEO that lasted about a year — but said that “the trip was worth it.”

“The path might have seemed a little rough at times, but as the saying goes, this is what democracy looks like,” Bannon said.

In an interview following the vote, Custer told reporters that she voted no because school leaders in her community said they did not feel like King has been communicative enough with them. She said she informed King of her vote ahead of time and wants to “figure out how to move forward.”

King started in CPS as a teacher in 1994, ultimately becoming a principal in 2007 until 2022. During that time, her work was both highlighted in the news and scrutinized by district officials in two incidents, once for failing to immediately report allegations of abuse and another time for failing to do a background check for a volunteer. She has said those critiques, which did not result in formal discipline, are the result of her not having enough staffing and support at the time.

She began working for Mayor Lori Lightfoot as an education policy advisor in 2022 and stayed in that role under Mayor Brandon Johnson until taking the job as interim schools chief last summer.

Union leaders and organizations share support for King

Unions, community organizations and elected officials welcomed King to the permanent CEO role as someone who navigated major challenges in the past year, has been willing to engage with them and, unlike other previous CEOs, rose up through the district’s ranks.

During public comment ahead of the board’s vote, Jackson Potter, vice president of the Chicago Teachers Union, lauded King for overseeing the unprecedented, midyear transfer of students out of two shuttering ASPIRA charter network high schools. He noted other challenges ahead of CPS, including the projected budget deficit and a federal government that has pulled funding from the district.

“We can’t stave off the harm that is on the horizon without being in lockstep in our advocacy and vision,” Potter said. “I look forward to doing more of that transformation together in a moment that requires all of us to do more.”

The city’s principals union has previously shown public support for King. That union’s president, Kia Banks, said Monday that she knows King and the union will not always agree but that King has so far “demonstrated a willingness to engage directly with school leaders,” creating a solid foundation for their relationship going forward.

In an interview last week, Dian Palmer, president of SEIU 73, the union that represents thousands of school support staff workers, said she’s most excited about stability for the district with a leader who worked her way up through the system and understands Chicago’s complexities. Palmer said King has been “patient and kind” about her union’s concerns, even when they didn’t agree.

For example, last summer the district’s budget cuts included laying off hundreds of unionized custodians. At the same time, the union supported King’s plans not to include a short-term loan in the budget in fear that future high-interest repayments would result in staff layoffs.

“I am really looking forward to her working with the union — at least that’s what she says,” Palmer said. “She wants to work with us and really have a positive atmosphere for education, for the students, not just the service workers, who we represent, the custodians, the [special education classroom assistants], but also for the teachers.”

Daniel Anello, CEO of education advocacy group Kids First Chicago, welcomed King’s appointment, noting in a statement that she “has already navigated a number of complex challenges related to the district’s finances, attendance, and more” and has shown “a clear commitment to putting students’ interests first, without yielding to political pressure.”

Anello also supported a three-year contract, which he said will mean stability for CPS as the board transitions to a fully elected body next year.

The national search process started last year with community meetings and a detailed wishlist for what the board would look for in a candidate, including “significant” experience in public education that involves working with students, a record of focusing on equity and improving student outcomes, experience working with labor unions, and financial management experience — an area King doesn’t have formal experience in but oversaw the district’s budget proposal last year.

But after finalist names leaked and one of the candidates dropped out in the fall, the board decided to conduct more interviews. By February, as the board narrowed down candidates, the board’s search firm, Alma Advisory Group, departed and six elected board members said they’d lost confidence in the search, accusing the mayor of meddling, which he’s denied. Those board members called for retaining King as the interim chief until the new board is seated.

King had applied for the job of CEO in 2021, but the board at the time, appointed by Lightfoot, picked Martinez. Then several months into her time as the interim chief, she again applied last fall for the permanent job amid the board’s search to replace Martinez but was not advanced as a finalist.

By then, at least seven board members who are also mayoral allies disagreed with her budget proposal that was ultimately approved. And separately, other board members appeared caught off guard after she pitched a plan to reorganize network offices.

In recent months, some organizations called on the board to keep King in place until at least a new elected board is seated in January. King was then added back into the mix in recent weeks.

Remel Terry, president of the West Side branch of the NAACP, said her organization is “excited” that King will stay. The organization has felt left in the dark about the search process, Terry said, and asked the board twice to pause the search and retain King permanently through next school year. It was disappointing that King was taken out of consideration in the fall even though “she has already demonstrated her ability to lead this district under pressure,” Terry said.

The group will keep a close watch on how the district’s Black Student Success Plan — which has been under federal scrutiny — will be implemented, Terry said. She also expects King to stay as communicative as she has been with organizations like hers, as well as parents, as she takes on the permanent role.

“Having access and being able to speak directly to concerns and issues is a very important piece,” Terry said.

This story has been updated to include comments from Macquline King and members of the Chicago Board of Education.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago students took more than 13,000 dual credit classes last year. Is it helping them get ahead?

2026-03-29T11:00:00+00:00

Data analysis by Cherry Salazar and Thomas Wilburn

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At the start of her junior year, Arianna Brandt’s high school counselor urged her to go all out on dual credit — courses taught on her West Side Chicago campus that would earn her free college credit.

If Brandt pushed herself, she could even graduate high school with a two-year associate degree and shorten her path to a four-year college diploma.

Brandt felt daunted at first. But she quickly became one of the school’s dual credit “superstars,” in the words of a teacher, giving her new confidence that she belonged on a university campus.

Brandt’s school, Michele Clark High, has bet big on dual credit. At one point, it took the unusual step of enrolling each sophomore in these classes generally geared toward juniors and seniors. That has put the campus at the forefront of a broader push quietly unfolding districtwide: Chicago Public School students took more than 13,000 dual credit classes last year, more than double the number pre-pandemic.

That massive growth in dual credit participation has won praise for sending students to college better prepared and helping them avoid crippling debt — a boon especially for low-income students of color like the ones Clark serves —with early data showing progress.

But the expansion hasn’t always gone smoothly. Schools like Clark have had to course-correct on signing up younger students en masse. And on some campuses, sharp increases in dual credit participation have not yet translated into gains in college enrollment and persistence, a Chalkbeat analysis showed.

Michele Clark High Schools is an "early college" campus on Chicago's West Side that serves predominantly Black students from low-income families.

At the community colleges supervising the classes, the program’s rapid growth has led some faculty to worry about watered-down curriculums and pressure to enroll less-prepared students, offering them credits that selective colleges might not accept.

“My biggest fear is that you expand this in the name of equity, and students get college credit, but they are not prepared when they get to college,” said Troy Swanson, the policy chair at the Cook County College Teachers Union.

A lot is riding on getting dual credit right: Over the past decade, CPS has sharply increased the portion of students who graduate and enroll in college. But college completion rates haven’t improved significantly, leaving more students with debt and no credential.

District leaders and some experts believe that giving students a head start on college while they are still in high school could finally shift this dynamic.

“The district’s dual credit work is promising and clearly popular with students and families,” said Dominique McKoy, the executive director of the To&Through Project at the University of Chicago, whose Consortium on School Research is working on a study of dual credit in CPS, “but we are still learning about the best ways that dual credit can fuel stronger postsecondary outcomes.”

Chicago schools pushed to enroll more students in dual credit

On a recent morning, Brandt sat in a dual credit computer science class at Clark. Another student, a sophomore, mentioned she had dropped a dual credit Spanish class because of a scheduling conflict.

Robert Lee, the instructor, homed in: She’d missed a chance to earn high school and college credit in one go — and possibly hurt her odds of eventually getting an associate degree from Malcolm X College, which oversees Clark’s dual credit courses. It’s part of the City Colleges of Chicago community college network, which accounts for the bulk of the district’s dual credit courses.

Senior Arianna Brandt attends a dual credit computer science class with teacher Robert Lee at Michele Clark High School in Chicago on Jan. 21, 2026. The class earns her both high school and college credits from Malcolm X College.

“You have to play the numbers game those next two years,” he said. “Two for one — always keep that in mind! More bang for your buck!”

Then he pointed to Brandt, who has more than a year’s worth of credits and a courseload of seven college-credit courses this year.

Brandt recalls taking the dual credit plunge and finding the classes as accessible as her regular high school classes, with one key difference: Teachers were stricter about turning in work on time, stressing that would be the expectation at college.

She’d once planned to take a gap year after high school — to work and save up for community college. But now, she’s eyeing four-year universities right after graduation.

“In college,” she said, “I’ll be able to focus on my major, and I’ll be a step ahead.”

Charles Anderson, the principal at Michele Clark High School on Chicago's West Side, has worked to increase student participation in dual credit classes. They are taught by the school's instructors on its campus but also result in credit from Malcolm X College.

When principal Charles Anderson arrived at Clark a decade ago, he found the “early college” school wasn’t doing enough to give students a head start on college. He set out to rectify that.

The school, which serves predominantly Black students from low-income families, started sending some students to take courses at Malcolm X — what CPS calls dual enrollment. But transportation and scheduling issues limited participation. Then, Anderson realized Clark’s own teachers — if they had master’s degrees — could qualify to teach City Colleges classes right at the school as dual credit.

It was a game-changer: A growing number of students started earning 15 or more college credits, a semester’s worth. As the goal of sending students off with associate degrees became an all-consuming focus, the school pushed students to consider college-level classes sooner, starting the summer after their freshman year.

Meanwhile, a number of factors were driving dual credit growth districtwide. Under a sweeping 2020 agreement called the Chicago Roadmap, the district and City Colleges worked closely to expand dual credit and dual enrollment.

For City Colleges, where 10% of students are now dual credit students, that has been an important piece of bouncing back from a COVID-era drop in overall enrollment. In recent years, the partners have taken steps to make it easier to take dual credit, such as allowing seniors with a 3.0 GPA to bypass a required placement test.

CPS also has a three-year, $4.4 million contract with a Washington-based company called Equal Opportunity Schools to help identify students who would be good candidates for college-level coursework but were overlooked.

The district set an ambitious goal of graduating 70% of its students with some kind of postsecondary credential by 2029. Schools such as Brooks College Preparatory Academy started administering the dual credit placement exam to all sophomores.

Dual credit has risen sharply nationwide, with high school students now making up a fifth of community college students overall. Research has shown these classes improve the odds of going and staying in college — especially for students of color and low-income students, who remain underrepresented in dual credit nationally.

But these programs are also drawing growing scrutiny, including from some teachers who remain partial to the national Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate college-credit programs, which they consider more rigorous.

To CPS and City Colleges, the rise of dual credit in the district is an unadulterated success story. Thanks to the program, a record 211 CPS seniors earned associate degrees last year, and more than 1,000 completed 15 or more college credits, saving their families an estimated $10 million.

The lack of racial disparities in dual credit in CPS is notable compared with national data, says Amy Williams, the executive director of the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships, which supports dual enrollment programs. Meanwhile, in the district’s AP and IB courses, white students are still significantly overrepresented and Black students underrepresented.

A Chalkbeat analysis of school-level dual credit participation data shows a mixed picture. Participation of students with disabilities is growing, but still about 3% of them take these courses. Participation has also remained relatively stagnant at district charter schools, which have not promoted dual credit as aggressively.

There are also pockets of limited access in district-run high schools, particularly in the city’s small South and West Side campuses; in more than a dozen, no students participate and in others, fewer than 5% do. Megan Hougard, the chief of college and career success, said CPS is trying to expand access in small schools by using its Virtual Academy to offer online classes.

Still, it’s undeniable that dual credit is gaining momentum. At Clark last year, 12 students graduated with associate degrees from City Colleges. They were a tight-knit group — some fellow members of the school’s football and track teams — who burned through the school’s dual credit courses largely in lockstep. When they ran out of classes at the high school, Anderson lined up a minibus to take them to the Malcolm X campus during their senior year.

Anthony Spivey, last year’s valedictorian, started at St. Ambrose University as a junior this past fall after the private college in Iowa accepted all of his credits. After taking three classes with Lee, the computer science teacher at Clark, and earning 23 industry certifications, he also knew exactly what he wanted to study: cybersecurity. He could start taking classes in his major right away.

“I felt I was more than prepared to take on a big college workload,” he said.

But fast growth of dual credit has also brought hurdles and skepticism.

A wall displays student photos at Michele Clark High School in Chicago on Jan. 21, 2026.

Some faculty and teachers question pass rates and rigor

Last school year, Anderson, the Clark principal, set out on a bold experiment: The school would make sure that every sophomore was enrolled in at least one dual credit course. The school’s dual credit participation rate skyrocketed to 90%.

It turned out to be too much, too soon.

In recent years, the school’s dual credit course pass rates had remained high even as participation grew. About 42% of students took at least one class and all passed in 2023-24 — a rate Anderson credits to an “everyone’s your study buddy” culture of supporting dual credit students. But by the end of last year, after many sophomores struggled, the pass rate plummeted to 60%.

“What we learned was that there still need to be some prerequisites — some preparation to help students get there,” Anderson said. “We doused them too quickly.”

Brandt ran into challenges too. Last spring, she signed up for a different kind of City Colleges class: a self-paced online statistics course, with no live virtual classes. She struggled with the material and missed interacting with other students. She passed the class after a high school math teacher stepped in to help. But this past winter, Brandt, a straight A student, failed a self-paced online English course.

Anderson says self-paced courses help students better understand how they learn and keep them on track to earn associate degrees. Some experts and even CPS officials say these classes tend to be a poor fit for most high school students, who often need more structure and engagement with faculty and peers. Yet almost 2,000 CPS students enrolled in them last year.

Experts caution that failed college credit classes can be a red flag to college admissions officials and can send the wrong message to students questioning if college is for them.

The fast growth of dual credit and dual enrollment worries some leaders in the union representing City Colleges faculty and some rank-and-file professors, who nationally tend to be the most skeptical voices on the issue.

Swanson, of the Cook County College Teachers Union, said he appreciates the benefits of dual credit. But he worries the system and CPS are too bent on boosting participation, putting students who are too young and unprepared into classes that might not be rigorous enough.

He says the growth of dual credit is threatening some introductory courses at community colleges with extinction because students already took them in high school.

College faculty are tasked with overseeing dual credit courses, but they can only monitor them so much while carrying their own campus course loads, Swanson said.

“To get AP credit, you have to take a test,” he said. “In dual credit, if the teacher says that you get the credit, you get the credit. There’s no standard mark of success.”

Todd Lakin, a Spanish instructor at Malcolm X, said he’s had a positive experience overseeing dual credit courses at Whitney Young Magnet High School and the charter Instituto Health Sciences Career Academy. But he said he pulled out of supervising a class at another high school, which he declined to name because he did not want to single out the campus for what he believes is a systemic issue. He said the curriculum was not at a college-level pace, and some students were not receiving the support they needed to get the most out of the class.

“Dual credit expanded too quickly, and the academic integrity of the courses can be called into question,” he said. “We are doing students a disservice.”

Some faculty have questioned CPS’s high dual credit pass rates, particularly perfect rates in some years at schools such as Clark. Data obtained by Chalkbeat shows 94% of CPS students passed dual credit English 101 last year, compared with 64% of students who took the course on City Colleges campuses. About 87% passed Math 140 in CPS compared with 66% at City Colleges. The district’s overall dual credit pass rate has hovered above 90% in recent years, though it dipped to 87% last year amid a big jump in participation.

The stairs leading to the second floor of Michele Clark High School, an "early college" campus on Chicago's West Side, display the names of universities.

Experts such as Williams say key differences between high school and college classrooms may help explain higher pass rates: High school classes tend to meet more frequently, class sizes can be smaller, and most teachers receive training in how to support a wide range of learners.

Daphne Whitington, an English teacher at Julian High School on the city’s Far South Side, which offers both dual credit and AP, said some colleagues believe the school should be preparing students for selective colleges more likely to accept AP courses. One of Whittington’s students, who had taken numerous dual credit and AP courses, last year got a full ride at the University of Southern California. The university gave her credit for all of her AP courses — and none of her 18 dual credit and dual enrollment credits.

But Whitington said both types of classes made the student a stronger applicant and prepared her for college. Dual credit has also helped round out the small school’s relatively limited selection of AP.

“College is daunting for our kids,” Whitington said. “But being exposed to that coursework in high school is a great bridge for them.”

It’s challenging to size up the impact the growth of dual credit is having so far. A Chalkbeat analysis did not find that campuses that boosted dual credit participation also consistently saw higher college enrollment and persistence. At Clark, for instance, as participation grew in the past three years, college enrollment remained relatively flat at about half of graduates, and persistence dipped.

But City Colleges leaders note CPS students who take dual credit and then enroll on their campuses do better than peers who did not take these courses. About 65% stayed past the first year, compared with 54% of other CPS students. Among the class of 2021, 55% of dual credit takers earned an associate degree in four years, compared with fewer than a third of other CPS grads.

It can be hard to say whether dual credit is sending more students to college or attracting already college-bound students. Still, CPS data shows 83% of students who took dual credit went to college compared with about 65% who did not take these classes. Roughly 82% of dual credit takers in the class of 2022 stayed in college past the first year, about 10 percentage points more than their peers.

Arianna Brandt, a Michele Clark High senior and one of the school's dual credit "superstars," has gotten numerous acceptance letters from four-year universities.

Officials stress because of the time lag in college outcomes, they don’t yet capture the real payoff of the recent rise in dual credit participation.

They say efforts to strengthen the program are ongoing: The system is looking into how to provide more access to tutoring and other help to students taking self-paced online courses, particularly in math, where City Colleges acknowledges students have traditionally not done well. Recently, faculty and teachers met with CPS and City Colleges officials to talk about how to strengthen English course rigor.

Hougard, the CPS postsecondary chief, dismisses concerns about rigor, saying some of the same worries came up amid a push to offer algebra to more middle schoolers — an effort that has successfully increased participation without hurting pass rates.

At Clark, school leaders pulled back from enrolling all sophomores in dual credit. They are focusing on offering students more support, including by encouraging them to band together and help each other as the 12 associate degree graduates from last year did.

Aware of college faculty skepticism, Anderson, Clark’s principal, sent Brandt and other students to meet with professors, in hopes of showing they were not that different from the college’s own freshmen.

Brandt, who wants to study business and athletic training, has already gotten 11 college acceptance letters, and is deciding between Chicago State and Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.

Meanwhile, determined to earn an associate degree before she graduates high school in May, she is taking four more self-paced online classes and retaking English 101.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Board of Education to vote on hiring interim CEO Macquline King as permanent leader of CPS

2026-03-26T17:59:06+00:00

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After a yearlong national search for Chicago Public Schools’ next leader, the Board of Education will vote Monday on whether to permanently hire interim CEO Macquline King, a Chicagoan who rose up through the district’s ranks.

The board’s meeting will start at 10:30 a.m. Monday at its downtown headquarters, where it will consider approving a contract with King with a salary of $380,000, according to an agenda posted on the board’s website Thursday.

If approved by the board, the term of King’s contract would begin July 1 and last through June 2029, according to the board’s agenda. The resolution to approve a contract for King says the board has offered King the job, and she has accepted. .

The vote would also cap a rocky search process that’s been a test for how Chicago’s partially elected board could choose a schools chief differently from the past, when mayors would essentially make a pick without much public input. The board’s search process laid out last year acknowledged that it would seek the mayor’s input on its finalist candidates.

Last month, however, a group of six elected board members — including the search committee’s chair, Jessica Biggs — accused the mayor’s office of sabotaging the search, which Mayor Brandon Johnson has denied.

King has been serving as the district’s interim leader of the more than 316,000-student district since last June, when former CEO Pedro Martinez left after being fired without cause.

Martinez had received a five-year contract with a starting salary of $340,000 when hired in 2021 by a board that was fully appointed by then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Martinez made about $360,000 when he left CPS.

The other finalist was Sito Narcisse, the former superintendent of East Baton Rouge Parish schools in Louisiana, who has been trailed by a mixture of controversy and loyal supporters during his nearly 20 years in education.

Meisha Porter, former leader of New York City schools, was also a finalist, but she withdrew her name after the board announced the candidates’ names on March13.

Johnson interviewed King and Narcisse and called the conversations “fruitful” in a press conference earlier this week. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Norma Rios-Sierra, a mayoral appointee to the school board who sat on the board’s CEO search working group, said the mayor has given “his blessing” to hire King.

Rios-Sierra said the search process has had its “ups and downs,” but she’s excited to have King on permanently.

“I think she has shown her ability to just kind of take on the work that it is to be the Chicago Public Schools superintendent,” Rios-Sierra said. “We needed someone who understood the city, who understood the complexity of what we’re doing.”

King initially taken out of consideration for the job

King’s inclusion on the finalist list was initially a surprise.

She had applied last fall for the job, but the board did not advance her as a finalist at the time. After finalist names were leaked in November and one of those candidates dropped out, the board conducted more interviews and revealed a new list of finalists two weeks ago, which included King.

Two school board members previously told Chalkbeat they received a call from Board President Sean Harden the day before finalist names were announced publicly, saying King would be added to the list, and that Harden had garnered a majority of support from board members to add her.

If appointed, King will face mounting challenges at CPS, including a projected budget deficit to close this summer for the next school year. She’ll also be in place when a new, fully elected board is seated in January, raising questions about how she’ll build relationships with any new board members, who will have the power to keep or replace her.

But King isn’t new to some of these issues. The former principal and City Hall aide led the district through a bruising battle over how to close CPS’ $734 million budget deficit last summer, in which she opposed the mayor’s plan to take out a loan in order to balance the budget and cover a much-debated pension cost. That budget, however, also saw a slew of cuts, including hundreds of custodians and hot meals for kids.

King has also overseen the city’s schools through the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement campaign, creating a “command center” for schools to call for extra support, the federal government’s decision to withhold millions of dollars in grant funding, and upheaval in the district’s charter sector.

In September, King had considered a massive reorganization of the district’s network offices, which operate as a sort of middle management between the district’s top leaders and schools. But she appeared to pause the plan after pushback from board members and some principals.

She has earned some public support for her leadership so far, including from the principals union and the West Side branch of NAACP.

Rios-Sierra, who voted no on King’s budget proposal in the fall, said she’s been impressed by how King has been communicative with other government agencies, including City Council and the state legislature. She also noted King’s work in overseeing the transfer of hundreds of students out of ASPIRA charter network’s shuttering high schools and her response to increased immigration enforcement.

“When we asked CPS to move with a sense of urgency when ICE was coming, I think she absolutely listened and did everything she could to communicate with parents and principals,” Rios-Sierra said.

King became a CPS teacher in 1994 at Robert Nathaniel Dett Elementary School following a brief stint at a private school. In 2007, King became principal at Alexandre Dumas School, and by 2013 she was principal at Courtenay Language Arts Center in Uptown, where she was highlighted for her participation in a leadership program for new school leaders.

Her first year as principal at Courtenay was when the school merged with former Stockton Elementary, meaning King was tasked with creating harmony between both school communities. While some acknowledged the difficult task ahead of her, others described part of the school as a “war zone” that was marred with student fights, and they accused school leaders, including King, of not doing enough, according to a DNAinfo story at the time.

King then was hired to work on education policy at City Hall under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot and stayed under the Johnson administration until being hired for the role of interim CPS CEO. She had previously applied for the CEO job in 2021, but the board at the time hired Martinez.

King’s personnel records drew some scrutiny before she was hired as the interim CEO. The records did not show any formal discipline but included two memos from district officials about how she should improve her performance. The memos centered on findings that she had not immediately reported allegations of abuse and failed to conduct a background check for a volunteer. The day she was hired as interim CEO, she told Chalkbeat the criticism was fair but that those directives were the result of understaffing at her school.

Board has undergone a rocky search process

The board’s search process to find a replacement for Martinez has been fraught.

Last spring, the board created a working group to lead the process and hired the search firm, Alma Advisory Group. The district held public meetings to collect feedback on what the community wanted to see in a new schools chief.

A survey conducted last summer as part of the search process found that 42% of the more than 2,700 respondents wanted someone with “strong and clear communication.” Thirty-nine percent wanted someone with “innovation, strategic thinking, and problem solving,” and 37% want someone who seeks and responds to feedback from students, parents, and staff.

After conducting a nationwide search, the board received more than 100 applications.

But after finalist names were leaked in November, several board members soured on the process, and by February, Alma parted ways with the district. Biggs and five other elected officials decried the loss of Alma.

Those six elected members that raised questions about the process also called for the board to pause the search process until after school board elections this year and keep King until January 2027, when the new fully elected board will be seated. The West Side branch of the NAACP has also called to keep King in place through the 2026-27 school year, saying they had a “serious concern” about the legitimacy of the board’s search.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Sito Narcisse, Chicago Public Schools CEO finalist, drew praise and controversy in previous jobs

2026-03-25T00:06:40+00:00

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In the three years that Sito Narcisse, a finalist to be Chicago Public Schools’ next CEO, led East Baton Rouge Parish schools, he experienced a rollercoaster of support and backlash in the community.

The board there narrowly voted not to renew his contract in late 2023. His supporters praised his initiatives, including linking high schoolers to college-level coursework, while those who voted no raised concerns over spending fueled by federal COVID relief dollars and low employee morale.

Narcisse has also faced some controversy in other jobs, including criticism of his leadership of a public high school in Boston.

How Narcisse navigated his time in East Baton Rouge and other places provides clues on how he could lead the nation’s fourth largest district.

Unlike the other finalist, interim CPS CEO Macquline King, who grew up in Chicago and rose through the ranks of CPS, Narcisse has worked as an educator and administrator in at least a half-dozen cities and states, including Pittsburgh, Boston, and Washington, D.C., over nearly 20 years.

But like King, he’s had only one superintendent job.

Narcisse did not respond to a request for an interview for this story.

East Baton Rouge is far smaller and less diverse than CPS: It has 12% of the students, and nearly 70% of students are Black. But it has some similar needs: More than three-quarters of East Baton Rouge Parish students were considered “economically disadvantaged” in 2025, compared with roughly 70% in Chicago, according to district records.

Student academic results were mixed during Narcisse’s tenure, which included the pandemic and its aftermath. The share of kids in grades K-3 who scored “at benchmark” on end-of-the-year literacy screeners grew by almost 5 percentage points during his time as superintendent.

But for students in grades 3-8 in in each of those same years, the percentage of students who scored at the “basic” level on their state reading and math tests toggled between 23-24% — with a dip to 22% in math during Narcisse’s last school year, according to district data. In that same time period, CPS students in grades 3-8 who had met or exceeded proficiency in their state reading tests grew from about 21% to 30% and fluctuated from about 16% to 18% in math.

Average ACT scores were 17 during his time, with one increase to 18 — the state average — in the year before he left, comparable to CPS. Graduation rates fluctuated, landing at the same place they were when he started: about 73%. CPS graduation rate went from 79% to 80% during that same time period.

Supporters laud Narcisse’s ideas, but he faced controversy

Michael Gaudet, who was president of the East Baton Rouge Parish school board when it hired Narcisse, described the former superintendent as a “deliberate and decisive” leader who centered the needs of students. He praised Narcisse’s work to add literacy coaches for teachers in struggling elementary schools and help draft a blueprint for literacy.

”The biggest thing that he always emphasized was that to be effective, it has to be done at scale, and it has to be sustainable, and so, you know, that was kind of always one of his guiding principles,” Gaudet said.

His supporters also highlighted his “Pathways to Bright Futures” program, which allowed students to earn college credit and even an associate degree with a local community college.

Not everyone embraced the idea. Some parents and teachers didn’t want ninth graders to be limited to dual enrollment courses, arguing some colleges prefer Advanced Placement, the local newspaper The Advocate reported. District officials later said high schoolers would only be required to take one advanced class, which could include AP.

“That has been one of our landmark programs that our kids are still benefiting from through this very day,” said Dadrius Lanus, an East Baton Rouge Parish school board member and an ally of Narcisse’s who served as board president during Narcisse’s tenure.

Narcisse’s critics point to issues over school transportation and a leadership style that sometimes kept the public in the dark.

In Boston, Narcisse served as the headmaster of the district’s historic English High School from 2009-2012. Under Narcisse’s leadership, the Boston Globe reported, three-quarters of staff left and he instituted controversial changes, including same sex classrooms. The newspaper also reported that state education officials were withholding funding due to a lack of improvement at the school, which had faced academic challenges long before Narcisse.

Storm Matthews, a longtime middle school teacher and education advocate in East Baton Rouge who was previously a delegate for the Louisiana Association of Educators and is highly critical of Narcisse, pointed to an incident when board members were in the dark about Narcisse’s idea to close an alternative middle school — which Matthews discovered while looking through his proposed budget and alerted local reporters, the Advocate reported. After the revelation, Narcisse presented a plan to the school board for the closure about a month before teachers would return from summer break, and the board ultimately rejected it.

Problems with student bus transportation also dogged Narcisse during his time as superintendent. Similar to other districts, including Chicago, East Baton Rouge faced a driver shortage after the pandemic, and the district’s school bus fleet had been in disrepair before Narcisse came to town, according to Gaudet and Lanus. But those issues were compounded by bus driver concerns over pay and working conditions, such as overheated buses, leading to a “sickout” in August 2023.

In response, hundreds of people attended a special board meeting, and some called for Narcisse to resign, the Advocate reported. That day the school board rejected Narcisse’s plan to stagger school start times as a possible solution to create more reliable bus service.

District saved more money under Narcisse, but some criticized his spending

Narcisse was also charged with how to spend more than $200 million in COVID relief dollars from the federal government. Local financial audits found that East Baton Rouge, like other districts, significantly increased spending with the influx of the federal funds, and district officials said in 2023 that they would use about a quarter of the money on expenses that they typically cover with local revenue, the Advocate reported.

Despite that, those audits found that the district had set aside a record amount of money in its reserve, or rainy day, funds, though such spending couldn’t be kept up as the money ran out.

Narcisse also caught heat after some students said that an event called “Day of Hope,” billed as a college and career fair the district put on in partnership with a local organization, had religious overtones and included discussion of suicide and forgiving rapists, while transgender students said they were bullied. At the time, Narcisse said his office had made “exhaustive” efforts to verify the claims but found no evidence. Gaudet said a subsequent investigation did not find evidence, either. Two parents later filed a lawsuit against Narcisse and the board.

School board elections in 2022 brought on new officials who pushed back on Narcisse.

In May 2023, just over a year before his contract with East Baton Rouge was set to expire, Narcisse interviewed unsuccessfully to oversee Broward County, Florida schools. He told board members about the interview but said he was still interested in staying.

But in December 2023, the school board decided not to renew Narcisse’s contract by a close vote of 5-4, and Narcisse resigned the following month.

Two of the members who voted no declined to comment for this story, and the others did not respond to a request for an interview.

The Advocate reported that at least one of the board members who was previously supportive of Narcisse voted no, in part because he was concerned about how much money the district had spent using COVID dollars. Another board member, who was a longtime teacher, said she’d seen employee morale dip during Narcisse’s tenure.

Since leaving East Baton Rouge, Narcisse has launched an education consulting company called SJ Apple, which appears to be based in Florida. Narcisse also hosts an education podcast called Unlearned and Unlimited, through which he’s interviewed former superintendents and experts.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Meisha Ross Porter, former NYC schools chief, drops out of the running for Chicago Public Schools CEO

2026-03-21T17:18:18+00:00

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Meisha Ross Porter, the former New York City schools chancellor, has dropped out of the running to become Chicago Public Schools’ next CEO, according to two school board members.

That leaves two finalists: interim CEO Macquline King and Sito Narcisse, former superintendent of East Baton Rouge Parish schools. The Chicago Tribune first reported that Porter had withdrawn.

Porter had not yet met with Mayor Brandon Johnson or a community panel, meetings expected to happen this week with all the finalists.

During the board’s closed session after its meeting Thursday, one school board member said Board President Sean Harden told fellow board members that Porter “wanted to be able to hit the ground running in Chicago, and she didn’t feel as if having a virtual interview and not meeting stakeholders would allow her to be able to be fully prepared” to take over CPS.

Porter said in an email Friday that it was “humbling and meaningful” to be a finalist but that she decided to withdraw “after careful consideration.” She did not cite reasons.

The school board is expected to hold a special meeting March 30 to discuss finalists and could choose a CEO that day, one school board member said.

The board’s CEO search, which began about a year ago, has been full of twists and turns. Porter was a finalist in the fall, but the search process took a pivot after Porter and another finalist’s names were leaked. The other finalist, Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero, dropped out, leaving only Porter. That prompted the board to do another round of interviews to find more candidates, board members said.

Since then, the board’s search firm, Alma Advisory Group, has parted ways with the board. A faction of elected board members have called for a pause in the search and claimed the mayor has meddled in the search, which the mayor has denied. These board members, who had previously voted not to hire King as interim, now want King to stay on as interim until a fully elected board is seated in January 2027.

The board announced the names of all three finalists last Friday. King, who was previously taken out of consideration for the permanent job, was a surprise addition. She was added in response to demands from the community, a school board member told Chalkbeat last week.

Two other school board members said they received a call from Harden last week, the day before finalist names were announced publicly, saying that King would be added to the list, and that he had garnered a majority of support from board members to add her.

Harden did not return a call for comment.

Earlier this week, the West Side branch of the NAACP issued a public letter calling for the board to pause the search and name King as CEO through the 2026-27 school year. They lauded King for several accomplishments, including seeing the district through a difficult budget process last summer. Remel Terry, the group’s president, sent that letter to Harden, elected board member Jitu Brown, and appointed member Michilia Blaise, who represent Chicago’s West Side.

“This is not a casual disagreement over preference or personality,” Terry wrote. “This is a serious concern about governance, legitimacy, and the public’s ability to trust the people charged with leading one of the most important public institutions in our city.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago school board formally closes ASPIRA charter network

2026-03-19T22:21:32+00:00

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The Chicago school board formally voted Thursday to shutter two high schools in the troubled ASPIRA charter network, as hundreds of students have moved to new campuses months before the end of the school year.

In a unanimous vote without any discussion, the board revoked ASPIRA’s charter after months of district cash advances to the network and escalating demands for financial information Chicago Public Schools said the charter’s leadership never provided.

About 500 ASPIRA students have migrated to some 20 district and charter high schools. The largest group transferred to Carl Schurz High School in Irving Park, which this week held an in-person event to introduce some of the 235 new students and their families to clubs and other activities.

In addition to Schurz, about 70 students transferred to Roosevelt and 50 went to Kelvyn Park, a CPS spokesperson said. Charters have accepted about 10 ASPIRA students.

At the board’s Thursday meeting, interim CEO Macquline King praised Schurz efforts to welcome students — and decried what she described as an ongoing lack of cooperation from ASPIRA leaders in transferring student records and other issues, a charge an ASPIRA official strongly disputed.

In an unprecedented move earlier this month, the district started moving students out of the network’s Early College and Business and Finance campuses after concluding that the school could not furnish the money needed to complete the year. ASPIRA’s leaders at first struck a defiant posture, arguing the district was undermining the schools midyear, but they eventually moved to lay off all their employees at the two campuses, though the layoff notices indicated the closures could be temporary.

The vote at Thursday’s board meeting made the closure permanent.

Edgar Lopez, the head of ASPIRA, said in an interview that he is exploring legal actions against the board’s vote.

The district’s charter sector has faced a turbulent stretch, with a string of schools closing or turning to CPS for help with making payroll. Citywide enrollment declines hit charters especially hard last fall, putting a strain on campuses whose funding is largely based on the number of pupils they serve. Charter advocates have also blamed a district practice of withholding thousands of dollars per pupil for CPS’ massive debt and pension obligations.

But critics of the industry have held up the case of ASPIRA to argue that financial missteps and insufficient transparency have at least contributed to the crisis.

District officials have said ASPIRA leaders wildly overestimated projected enrollments in budgeting and failed to come up with a feasible plan to finish out the school year, despite $2.5 million in advances from CPS.

On Thursday, King said the district is backing proposals at the state legislature that would empower CPS to monitor charters more closely and intervene more quickly if it has concerns about their finances. She spoke of the “traumatic” disruption to students, families, and staff when charters flounder without much notice.

“We cannot allow this to be the status quo,” she said.

ASPIRA students scattered to other campuses in recent weeks

King said 75% of ASPIRA students have transferred to district schools, and officials are working to ensure the rest have found a new campus. The district has waived all student fees for them and is providing Ventra cards, mentoring, and mental health services, she said. Making sure seniors can transfer all credits and stay on track for graduation is “top priority,” King said.

She said Alfonso Carmona, the district’s acting chief education officer, met with ASPIRA’s board this week, “imploring them to do the right thing” and help students transition smoothly to new schools.

Jennifer Conant, the charter division chair of the Chicago Teachers Union, which represents educators at ASPIRA, said about 50 students remain enrolled in the two network campuses, though few are coming to school.

Lopez called the district’s claims that ASPIRA hasn’t been cooperative a “fat lie.” Lopez said the network held a fair with about a dozen other schools in the area to help kids decide where to transfer. He also claimed district officials have only visited the school once in recent weeks.

In response to Lopez’s claims, a CPS spokesperson said the district and ASPIRA had partnered to host two fairs for students, and CPS staff had made multiple visits to ASPIRA schools over the last two weeks.

Lopez said he was disappointed but not surprised by Thursday’s outcome. He doubled down on his claims that the district has worked against charters, including not providing enough funding to the network, and that a longtime deficit was made worse by ASPIRA’s overprojections of enrollment. He added that high salaries for teachers unionized by the CTU put pressure on finances. Lopez said he approved of pay raises in the last teacher’s contract, in part to avoid talk of a strike, but he ultimately could not afford them.

Asked what his message is for students and families who left ASPIRA, he said, “I’m sorry, even though it’s not my fault, but I’m sorry.”

There is no immediate impact to ASPIRA’s alternative school, which is officially managed by Youth Connection Charter School. A CPS spokesperson said Youth Connection “expressed its commitment” to keeping the school open for the rest of this academic year. But the Youth Connection board would have to decide if it wants to continue its partnership with ASPIRA, and CPS is discussing the matter with the school, according to the spokesperson.

Schurz principal Heidy Moran said ASPIRA students began enrolling on March 6, just a couple of days after she found out through staff that they may receive an influx of kids. That same week, the 1,120-student school received more than 100 calls from parents with questions about the school, prompting her to hold a virtual welcoming event for families.

Schurz High School has stepped up to welcome students

At Wednesday’s event to introduce new students to activities, the school’s staff and students manned booths in a small gymnasium, where families could sign up and ask questions about activities such as sports, craft club, and Gender and Sexuality Alliance, known as GSA. A panel of current Schurz parents and students shared tips with an audience of roughly 50 people in the school’s auditorium about getting acclimated at the school.

Jonathan Escobar, 18, a senior who attended Wednesday’s event with his mother, said his experience so far at Schurz has been “strange.” He didn’t want to leave ASPIRA Business and Finance, but he and his family agreed he had to transfer after hearing repeatedly that ASPIRA did not have money.

He said many of his friends joined him at Schurz, but he still misses his teachers and his old classes. He’s also waiting for confirmation from Schurz officials that he’s on track to graduate. If it was up to him, Escobar would graduate in a small ceremony with just his fellow ASPIRA classmates.

“It’s still sad for me, but we have to move on,” he said.

Jonathan Escobar, a senior who formerly attended ASPIRA Business and Finance High School, poses for a photo during an welcoming event at Schurz High School for new students like him.

Schurz has enrolled 150 transfer students since September who come from other local schools, other states, or even other countries, so to receive 235 more students in a short period of time is “unprecedented,” Moran said. She’s also sensed a feeling of grief among students who miss their old teachers and building and described the transition process for them as “very challenging.”

The school created a “welcoming team” made up of staffers charged with organizing events and initiatives to make the new kids feel more comfortable, Moran said. One of their initiatives was to pair each new student with a more veteran Schurz student, who helps them find classes.

“It’s nice — you see them greeting each other in the hallway afterward,” Moran said.

Moran said that for the most part, credit requirements at Schurz have been “a perfect match” for most ASPIRA seniors, meaning they should be on track to graduate. There are some remaining wrinkles, including ensuring ASPIRA kids who were taking dual enrollment classes can still do so virtually at Schurz. Some students may also need to take credit recovery classes in order to graduate, but Moran did not know an exact number of students.

The Thursday vote left uncertainty for employees at the two ASPIRA schools. Conant, the CTU charter chair, urged the district to hire educators and staff at campuses welcoming ASPIRA students, which she argued would ease their transition.

Cindy Camacho, who has worked at ASPIRA Business and Finance High School for eight years, said she was aware that ASPIRA was grappling with declining enrollment but the impending closure came as a “big shock.”

Camacho, who is still at the high school, said she’s unsure how she’ll manage her finances once she’s laid off, especially since she’s currently enrolled in a master’s program. She said she’s worried about the students — especially seniors — and how they’ll navigate a new environment this late in the school year.

“I think that all of the actions that [CPS] started taking a few weeks ago should have been taking place last semester,” she said in a recent interview.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Teachers Union asks school board to back a May 1 day of ‘no school’

2026-03-19T21:12:47+00:00

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The Chicago Teachers Union asked the school board to allow students to miss school on May 1, when the CTU and other local labor groups are joining a national pro-labor protest that will decry the Trump administration’s policies.

The national day of “no school, no work, no shopping” will advocate for raising taxes on the rich, reining in immigration enforcement, and steering more funding toward schools, the union said. The union said students as well as educators should be able to participate in the action. CTU leaders point to a state law that allows middle and high school students an excused absence each year to participate in a civic event.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former CTU employee and close ally, has voiced support for letting students miss school that day, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

At the school board’s monthly meeting Thursday, Jackson Potter, the CTU’s vice president, appealed to the board to back the union’s request. He noted that the union’s contract allows for swapping one existing professional day for teachers for another day of no attendance.

School board members, where allies of Johnson hold a majority, did not address the union’s request. They could take it up at either of two meetings in April. A May 1 day off for middle and high school students would come after the weeklong spring break in March and three days of non-attendance for all students in March and April, including a parent-teacher conference day this week.

Potter said more than 500 district students participated in the May 1 march last year.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Lack of Latino finalists for Chicago schools chief draws concern

2026-03-18T20:39:09+00:00

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When the Chicago school board announced three finalists for the role of district CEO last week, there was a notable absence: Latino frontrunners.

Some Latino advocacy groups and community leaders have since voiced disappointment, pointing out that almost half of the district’s students are Latino. Making the matter more politically delicate is that Chicago Public Schools is seeking a replacement for its first Latino schools chief, Pedro Martinez, who was fired without cause over the objections of some prominent community advocates.

Some say the lack of Latino finalists is fresh evidence that the district must work to build a pipeline to top leadership posts for strong Latino contenders, within and outside the district.

“What we see is a disconnect between whom we serve as a district and who is making the highest-level decisions,” said Yesenia Lopez, an elected school board member representing a district on the city’s Southwest Side.

On Friday, the board said interim CEO Macquline King, former New York City schools chancellor Meisha Porter, and former East Baton Rouge superintendent Sito Narcisse — who are all Black — would vie for the district’s top role. They will meet with Mayor Brandon Johnson and a community panel next.

The board did have a Latino frontrunner, Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero, back in November, when the district appeared to be near the finish line with the search. But when his name was leaked to the media along with Porter’s, Marrero distanced himself from the process, insisting he was committed to his current district.

It’s not clear if other Latino contenders were in the running for finalist slots more recently. School board members signed nondisclosure agreements barring them from discussing the CEO search. It is possible that candidates currently in leadership roles elsewhere might have been discouraged from continuing on when the board decided to make finalist names public last week.

In response to a request for comment from school board President Sean Harden, the board office released a statement saying that search has focused on finding candidates with “the core competencies” needed to lead CPS in partnership with the board.

“The robust recruitment and nationwide interest in the role resulted in an applicant pool, from screening to finalists, that is diverse across several metrics, including but not limited to race, ethnicity, and gender,” the statement said.

The search, which involved extensive community engagement through surveys, focus groups, student panels, and other events, yielded more than 100 applications.

Some Latino leaders decried Martinez departure

Miguel del Valle, Illinois’ first Latino state senator, who served as school board president during former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s term, said he is reluctant to criticize the current board without knowing more about the level of interest from strong Latino candidates and any efforts to encourage such candidates to apply.

Still, he said, “Having been very much involved in selecting the first Latino CEO of CPS, I have to say I was disappointed.”

Martinez’s dismissal by a Johnson-appointed board in late 2024 drew condemnation from some community leaders. Illinois Latino Agenda, a coalition of leaders advocating for representation in positions of power, called the move “an affront” to the Latino community, arguing he had brought academic gains and stability to a school system long plagued by frequent leadership turnover.

Lopez, the school board member, said that after last Friday’s finalist announcement, she’s heard from some community leaders and elected officials on the Southwest Side, where Martinez — the son of Mexican immigrants who attended CPS — enjoyed a lot of support.

“He was seen as a person with a lived experience, bringing that cultural lens and speaking the language,” she said.

She said she worries that Martinez’ ouster and its aftermath might have discouraged some Latino candidates from pursuing the CPS top job. And she stressed the district faces a larger issue. Latinos make up fewer than a fifth of school leaders in CPS.

Lopez said a lack of community roots in top leadership can translate into policies that fail to fully consider the experience of many families. As an example, Lopez said she supports offering access to online learning for some immigrant families fearful of stepped-up immigration enforcement. But she also said extended online learning during the pandemic strained Southwest Side families, where many parents are frontline workers, and some lacked access to technology.

Latino advocates push for a leadership pipeline

Linda Xóchitl Tortolero, the president and CEO of the advocacy group Latino Policy Forum, who has since joined Illinois Latino Agenda as a member, noted in a statement that the CPS search is playing out at a time when the local Latino community feels under duress amid the Trump administration’s enforcement push, which has affected attendance for the district’s growing number of English learners and for some of its other students. She urged the district to choose a new leader with extensive experience serving Latino, immigrant, and English learner students and a record of improving their outcomes and school experience.

“Children and families deserve to see themselves in their leaders,” she said. “They also deserve leaders who see them, know them, and fight for them.”

A 2025 study by the Council of the Great City Schools, which advocates for urban school districts, showed that among 77 member districts, about 20% of superintendents were Latino in 2023. About 45% were Black, and roughly 30% were white. Only 4% were Latina women.

The report found a major increase in Latino representation in top district jobs since the start of the pandemic and a dip in the number of Black leaders. These trends coincided with a steady increase in the portion of Latino students in large urban districts and a marked decrease in the number of Black and white students.

Lopez said the board is unlikely to go hunting for a Latino finalist after a year-long search process and given a goal of selecting a new permanent CEO in April. But she said the district must do more to cultivate the next generation of Latino leaders — and saying they aren’t out there or won’t apply for key CPS posts isn’t good enough.

“That’s just an easy scapegoat answer,” she said.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Three finalists announced for Chicago Public Schools’ top job

2026-03-13T21:54:22+00:00

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Three finalists — including interim CEO Macquline King — are vying to serve as the next chief executive of Chicago Public Schools, the school board announced Friday.

In addition to King, the finalists are Sito Narcisse, former superintendent of East Baton Rouge Parish School System in Louisiana, and Meisha Porter, former chancellor of New York City schools.

Each of the candidates will interview with Mayor Brandon Johnson and participate in a “candidate community engagement” panel, according to a press release from the board office. After that, the board will hold a special meeting to discuss the finalists and vote.

In a statement, Johnson said he will meet with candidates next week and wants to hear feedback from the community panel.

“This is a critical time for our school district and for our nation, and I take this responsibility seriously as we work to ensure the next leader reflects the values of our city and is prepared to meet the needs of our students, families, and educators,” Johnson said.

The board office did not say if board members will do additional interviews with the candidates.

The school board set out last spring to find a new top leader after a previous board appointed by Johnson fired then CEO Pedro Martinez without cause following a clash over district finances. The search has been bumpy at times: As it neared a planned December completion, one contender, Denver Superintendent Alex Marrero, pulled out after his and Porter’s names were leaked to the press. The district search firm, Alma Consulting Group, parted ways with CPS last month, and a group of school board members released a statement charging Johnson with meddling in the process.

King’s inclusion on the list of candidates is a surprise: The board declined to advance King to a previous pool of finalists last fall.

Chalkbeat reported last week that the board had again decided on multiple finalists. Adding King as a finalist was a more recent decision that shows the board is “listening to the community,” said Norma Rios-Sierra, an appointed board member who is on the CEO search committee.

“She has a lot of support from a lot of community leaders, and she had some time to demonstrate how she works,” Rios-Sierra said.

King, a former principal and City Hall education policy advisor under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Johnson, has led the district since last June, including through a budget fight that put her at odds with the mayor’s office. The principals union has praised her leadership so far.

Some organizations, including the West Side branch of the NAACP, and a group of elected board members who originally voted against hiring her last year, have called for her to remain in her post until a fully elected school board can pick the next Chicago schools chief when it takes office in January 2027.

King began her CPS teaching career in 1994 and eventually became a principal at two schools, most recently at Courtenay Language Arts Center in Uptown, which involved a difficult merger with another school.

King’s personnel records drew some scrutiny before she was hired as the interim CEO. The records, which did not include any formal discipline, had two memos from district officials about how she should improve her performance. At the time she told Chalkbeat the criticism was fair but that those directives — centered on findings that she had not immediately reported allegations of abuse and failed to conduct a background check for a volunteer — were the result of understaffing at her school. King couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Porter, who was raised in Queens and attended New York City public schools, became the first Black woman to oversee the nation’s largest school system for 10 months in 2021 after her predecessor abruptly resigned. She spent more than two decades rising through the ranks as a teacher, principal, and a high-level administrator who eventually oversaw all schools in the Bronx. She is well-respected in New York City education circles, including by teachers, parents, and administrators.

She served as schools chancellor during the pandemic and as the district was beginning to reopen schools. During her short tenure, she oversaw policy pushes under former Mayor Bill de Blasio to eliminate separate gifted and talented classes and a $200 million universal curriculum for schools. Both initiatives were scrapped by de Blasio’s successor, Mayor Eric Adams. Porter was replaced as de Blasio left office.

After leaving the district, Porter became the president and CEO of the Bronx Community Foundation. The foundation, which was set up to help finance other local nonprofits, failed to distribute most of the money it raised from 2019 to 2023 and spent more on consultants and overhead than charitable giving, according to an investigation by the news organization New York Focus. In 2024, the organization’s board of directors fired Porter.

She most recently was a visiting senior fellow at the Center for Educational Innovation, an organization that works with school leaders and families, according to her LinkedIn. Porter did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

Narcisse led the East Baton Rouge Parish School System, Louisiana’s second largest, for three years, until January 2024, according to his LinkedIn profile. The school board voted not to renew his contract at that point, according to local news coverage, though he expressed interest in getting his job back later that year. He has since worked as managing partner of SJ Apple Consulting Group, a firm he founded that offers consulting services to school districts.

Narcisse focused on expanding preschool, college credit opportunities, and career pathways in East Baton Rouge. During his time there, the district drew headlines and a rebuke from the American Civil Liberties Union after high school students were bused to a “Day of Hope” event billed as a college and career fair. Students reported the event, held at a local church, carried strong religious overtones throughout, and transgender students said they were bullied.

He previously served in top school district administrative posts in Washington, D.C., and Nashville. Narcisse did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

Kia Banks, the president of the district’s principals union, had previously said many members wanted a new, fully elected board to pick a permanent CEO early next year, with King remaining at the helm as the district navigates the upcoming budget season. Banks said Friday she is still wary of disruption at a turbulent time for the district, which faces a massive budget deficit and pressure from the Trump administration.

“Stability is always important,” Banks said. “We’ve made a lot of progress under Dr. King. Making a shift with there being so many challenges right now can undo a lot of progress made.”

She said there is no representative from the principals union leadership on the community panel that will interview finalists, and she is unsure of the next steps in the search process.

In a statement, Chicago Teachers Union vice president Jackson Potter didn’t address the specific candidates but sought to remind the board of union priorities when choosing a CEO, including someone who would expand Sustainable Community Schools, push back against cuts from the Trump administration, and push Gov. JB Pritzker to increase taxes on the wealthy in order to boost education funding.

Hal Woods, policy director at education advocacy organization Kids First Chicago, said over the yearlong process, parents involved in his organization haven’t wavered in wanting the board to “prioritize someone who is most likely to lead with integrity, who is going to be partnering with families authentically, and who is going to work to improve outcomes from students across the city.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

A new Chicago program aims to keep teens facing serious charges out of detention — and out of trouble

2026-03-12T18:23:22+00:00

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Some West Side teens charged with serious crimes can now stay in school and out of detention while awaiting trial as part of a new pilot program by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and Chicago Public Schools.

To participate, teens have to go to school five days a week and take part in cognitive behavioral therapy, mentoring, and other services provided by two community nonprofits.

The pilot program is a nod to the key role that school can play in reengaging youth facing criminal charges — and, on the flip side, the havoc that stints in detention can wreak on their odds of graduating.

In recent years, there’s been a push to cultivate alternatives to detaining young people across the country, but also pushback to such reform efforts. Against that backdrop, the Cook County initiative aims to strike a balance between giving teens more support and holding them accountable: Their charges won’t be dismissed as they are in so-called diversion programs. Officials say it’s the first Cook County program that conditions pretrial release on regularly attending school and therapy.

“We’re hoping that these young people will continue being engaged in their community through school and the community-based organizations so they’re able to hopefully decide that they want to take a different path,” said Umi Grigsby, deputy chief of policy at the Cook County State Attorney’s Office.

Three teens have joined the program since it started last month with a goal of engaging up to 60 youth in the Little Village and North Lawndale neighborhoods this year. Its backers point to an oft-cited statistic from the University of Chicago’s Crime Lab research: About 90% of school-age youth who got shot in Chicago were not going to school at the time.

“By addressing the needs of this population, which often faces the risk of isolation, CPS helps to foster a sense of belonging and community to provide students with the opportunity to continue their education,” a district spokeswoman said in a statement.

Research shows school is key to preventing recidivism

The grant-funded effort drew some inspiration from CPS’ Choose to Change program, which provides intensive cognitive behavioral therapy and mentoring to students facing challenges, including involvement with the criminal justice system. It also shares these elements with Back to Our Future, a more recent program to reengage dropouts that the district put on hold amid recruitment and other issues and then restarted last fall.

Teens charged with murder, attempted murder, aggravated battery with a firearm, or sex crimes and those who are placed on electronic monitoring cannot participate in the new program. Officials said they could not disclose what charges the three participants in the program face so far to protect their privacy.

A growing body of research has backed the crucial role of keeping teens engaged in their education, said Antwan Turpeau, a research fellow at Chapin Hall, a Chicago-based research center, which will evaluate the new program. School gives young people a structured day, positive activities, and informal mentors in teachers and staff.

“School is one of the top protective factors for this age population,” Turpeau said. “Detention often disrupts schooling and credit accumulation.”

He said he was glad to see a central role for mentoring and therapy in the new initiative, as well.

“A majority of these young people come from underinvested communities with a lot of community trauma,” he said. “They’ve seen a lot at a young age and haven’t had the place and the space to process what they’ve been through.”

Grigsby said the program is the brainchild of Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke, with input from Jadine Chou, the school district’s former safety and security chief.

Teens are usually detained for 30 days pretrial, but sometimes spend longer in jail, becoming disconnected from school and neighborhood support. Burke’s office zeroed in on the 10th police district on the West Side, with a high incidence of juvenile arrests. There, Judge Beatriz Frausto-Sandoval will oversee participation in the program, called Juvenile Pre-Trial Detention Alternative Pilot Program.

As a control group, officials looked at 39 teens charged with serious offenses in the 10th district between September 2023 and August 2025. Fourteen were held in pre-trial detention, getting locked up more than 50 times among them in that period. The outcomes often weren’t great: Some went on to rapidly reoffend after their stints in detention, sometimes facing more serious charges, such as going from possession of a stolen vehicle to attempted murder. Some of the later offenses were committed during electronic monitoring or curfew supervision.

Officials hope the new program can keep teens out of detention — and out of trouble. Two nonprofits — New Life Center in Little Village and The Firehouse Community Arts Center in North Lawndale — will provide 20 hours of therapy and other services each week. Unlike in diversion programs, where the attorney’s office drops charges in exchange for participation in community service and other conditions, teens will continue facing charges. But successful participation in the program will factor in their sentencing.

Other CPS programs have also embraced behavioral therapy

The CPS spokeswoman said the attorney’s office will determine where and how the teens attend school. The district will monitor how they are doing. The teens participating in the program so far were all enrolled in school when they were charged.

The program’s backers looked at the outcomes of Choose to Change, which has been shown to reduce criminal justice involvement, among other positive outcomes that persisted for years after teens left the program. A strong emphasis on cognitive-behavioral therapy and mentoring are also a cornerstone of an overhauled Back to Our Future, which serves 58 students, most of them from Little Village and North Lawndale. Some of them have involvement with the criminal justice system, but that’s not a requirement of that program.

As part of the new program, Chapin Hall will track data on school attendance, participation in therapy, recidivism, and more; researchers will also speak with teens about their experience in the program.

“We’re really looking at lowering recidivism,” Grigsby said, “making sure that young people feel connected to their community.”

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Board of Education picks finalists for next CPS CEO: sources

2026-03-06T22:07:29+00:00

The Chicago Board of Education has identified multiple finalists for the next CEO of Chicago Public Schools, according to three sources familiar with the situation.

The board picked finalists during its Wednesday meeting in its closed session, the sources said. One of the sources said the board is advancing three people; the other sources declined to specify a number. A second source said there’s a small chance that the board may decide to add applicants to the finalist list.

In a previous interview with Chalkbeat, appointed board member Norma Rios-Sierra said the board had a goal of identifying at least three finalists.

All sources, who requested anonymity to share private discussions, declined to reveal finalist names. One source described the finalists as “very strong,” and another said they have experience leading large urban districts.

The board passed a resolution last year saying the next CEO must have a superintendent’s license.

“What seems to be moving forward is keeping with the timeline and by this spring, being able to name someone and give them an offer,” said one of the sources, adding that an eventual pick likely wouldn’t start until the summer.

The next round of interviews and an eventual pick for CEO could happen as soon as within the next month, but an exact timeline isn’t yet clear, two of the sources said.

The district has been without a permanent leader since former CPS CEO Pedro Martinez left last June. Macquline King has been serving as interim since and applied for the CEO job but didn’t advance to a finalist round.

The process has so far been bumpy. The search appeared to be coming to a close last winter before multiple news outlets revealed finalist names kept under wraps — New York City schools chancellor Meisha Porter and current Denver superintendent Alex Marrero. After Marrero appeared to drop out, the board began interviewing more candidates. But last month, the board’s search firm Alma Advisory Group parted ways with the district.

In late February, a small group of elected members — including elected board member Jessica Biggs, who chairs the search committee — accused the mayor’s office and its allies of derailing the search, which the mayor’s office has denied. Those board members have advocated for keeping King in place until a new fully elected school board is sworn in next January.

Some of the candidates earned a majority of support to be advanced as finalists but did not get unanimous backing, which some board members also raised concerns about, one source said.

In a statement, the Chicago Board of Education office said “there are no updates to provide at this time.”

Sources said Harden and board office staff did not outline or present specific next steps on the search during the Wednesday meeting, but their understanding is that finalists will interview with board members and the mayor.

Originally, the board had created a community panel that would also interview finalists, but it wasn’t clear among the sources if such a panel will still conduct interviews.

The mayor’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

ASPIRA to close Business Finance and Early College high schools by next month

2026-03-05T22:36:43+00:00

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ASPIRA charter network will officially close two of its high school campuses and lay off all of its staff at those campuses next month, according to a layoff notice provided to staff Wednesday.

The announcement comes one week after Chicago Public Schools decided to begin transferring students out of ASPIRA Early College and Business and Finance high schools if they wanted to because it does not believe ASPIRA has enough money to keep the schools running for the rest of the academic year.

As a charter network, ASPIRA’s schools are privately managed but publicly funded and operate based on a contract with CPS.

In layoff notices to staff obtained by Chalkbeat, ASPIRA CEO Edgar Lopez said high schools will close by April 3, when all staff at the two campuses “are anticipated” to be laid off.

“At this time, we hope the closure will be temporary,” Lopez wrote.

Lopez did not respond to a request for comment. In a statement, CPS said it will soon share with ASPIRA staff a process to apply for open positions at district-run schools.

Students and staff have worried about a massive disruption to their education and jobs mid-year. Earlier this week, some students and network leaders pressed CPS to help keep the schools open. During a Chicago Board of Education meeting last week, other students and staff, as well as their representatives from the Chicago Teachers Union, sharply criticized the charter network for misleading them and worried about their futures.

Last week, district officials said they were planning a transition for students to other nearby high schools and would provide those students with certain individual supports, including providing letters to college admissions offices explaining the mid-year transfers. CPS will also ensure seniors who are on track to graduate from ASPIRA will still graduate on time, acting Chief Education Officer Alfonso Carmona said during a Chicago Board of Education meeting Wednesday.

But during the Wednesday meeting, interim CPS CEO Maquiline King said CPS could not make further moves, including fully carrying out a transition plan, until ASPIRA decides to self-close. CPS had planned to present a transition plan Thursday to ASPIRA families, officials said.

“We are walking a fine line, and just know that we are responding to the call to the greatest extent possible,” King said.

Until the layoff notices, ASPIRA officials had not said the campuses would close, but said they only had enough funding to make it to five weeks before the end of the school year, or late April. Lopez said last week he was working on securing more money, including through a GoFundMe campaign advertised on the network’s website and other fundraising efforts.

ASPIRA, which the district had placed on a financial remediation plan, had also requested more funding from CPS, which has provided millions of dollars in advances to the network this school year. CPS has said it cannot provide ASPIRA with more money because it has hit the state-imposed legal limit of funding the district can provide to charters.

District and charter leaders have linked growing financial problems in the charter sector to declining enrollment, tighter funding, and rising costs, such as for salaries at unionized schools. While charter leaders have decried a district move to withhold thousands of dollars per pupil for CPS’ pension and debt costs, charter critics say schools like ASPIRA have not responsibly managed their finances. Those critics also argue the district should have caught problems sooner. In November, CPS blasted ASPIRA for its financial management, months after the board had renewed ASPIRA’s contract with conditions to monitor its finances. Lopez has previously denied mismanaging money or misleading anyone.

In a press release earlier this week, ASPIRA officials said a closure would risk “students with English language learner/special education needs, graduation timelines, millions of dollars in scholarship eligibility, and student placement continuity.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

After possible building sale, Chicago Public Schools agrees to lease space for Acero Santiago

2026-03-05T17:52:04+00:00

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The Chicago Board of Education has agreed to rent the building housing Acero Santiago charter school in the West Town neighborhood, avoiding a potential sale and loss of the school site.

The property at 2510 W. Cortez St. is owned by the Archdiocese of Chicago, which had put the building up for sale last July.

Last week, the board approved adding the building to its master lease agreement with the archdiocese, a move that also added the buildings of other Acero charter schools the school board took over last year to prevent Acero from shuttering those schools.

In total, Chicago Public Schools will transition five Acero schools — De las Casas, Cisneros, Fuentes, Tamayo, and Santiago — into district-run schools by the 2026-27 school year.

“I’m not gonna lie, this past year, especially the last six months, have been so scary because we knew that the CPS board members wanted to save us, but then we didn’t know if we’re going to have a building,” Reyna Rodriguez, a Santiago parent who pushed for CPS to keep the building, told reporters during a press conference Monday. “It feels like a dream.”

During that press conference, elected board member Carlos Rivas, who represents the area that includes Santiago, said the board’s vote means CPS will lease the building for at least the next decade.

The lease agreement represents the latest development in CPS’ gradual and unprecedented takeover of these charters, as other schools in Chicago’s charter sector face financial challenges, closures, and some accusations of mismanagement.

CPS did not respond to a request for comment. Archdiocese spokesperson Yasmin Quiroz said the sale was planned after the school faced closure last year but it changed course once CPS “expressed its desire to retain the school.”

“In recognition of the important service the school provides to the local neighborhood, the parish decided to retain the building and lease it to CPS rather than sell it,” Quiroz said in an email to Chalkbeat.

The cost of the master lease agreement with the archdiocese will increase by about $2 million with the addition of the Acero buildings, to a total of roughly $7 million for the next fiscal year.

Rivas said he began pushing to keep the building after being “caught off guard” by the archdiocese’s listing of the building, which at the time was reported to be $6.75 million.

On the first day of school at Santiago, parents and teachers held a press conference decrying the possible sale and pressing CPS to intervene.

Rivas and Ald. Gilbert Villegas, who also represents the area, told reporters that the “X-factor” in negotiations with archdiocese was twofold: The continued pressure from Acero parents to keep the school and an agreement with the archdiocese that it could still sell off a church building on the Santiago site that’s separate from the school.

Correction: A previous version of this story mistakenly said CPS had taken over Acero Octavio Paz; it did not, and that campus was closed.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago school board Vice President Olga Bautista steps down

2026-03-04T20:03:42+00:00

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Olga Bautista, the vice president of the Chicago school board and a staunch ally of Mayor Brandon Johnson, is stepping down from the board.

Bautista, the co-executive director of the Southeast Environmental Task Force, said she will also step away from professional commitments after winning a new sabbatical award from the Chicago Frontlines Fund, an organization that makes grants to environmental justice nonprofits.

Bautista was appointed by Johnson in 2024 after an entire largely Johnson-appointed board resigned amid a clash between the district’s administration and the mayor’s office over district funding. The board she joined went on to fire then-district CEO Pedro Martinez in late 2024, and she continued serving after a partly elected board was seated in January 2025.

Bautista has remained a close Johnson ally on the board: She was one of seven members on the 21-person board who voted no on the district’s budget last fall when a majority of the board backed it, flouting the mayor’s push to include a controversial pension reimbursement to the city and take out a high-cost loan to afford it.

Bautista, who has two children attending the district, steps down as campaigns for all seats on the board, which will be up for grabs in November, are getting underway.

In a statement Bautista read at the start of a Wednesday board meeting, her last, she nodded to the key moment of transition for CPS as she departs the board: The district is still looking for a new permanent schools chief as the city prepares to select a fully elected board for the first time.

“I’ve left jobs before, but none that mattered as much as this position,” a visibly emotional Bautista said.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office said Johnson plans to fill the vacancy left by Bautista’s departure before fall’s school board elections, and he thanks her for her service on the volunteer board.

“She has been a dedicated voice for safe, well-funded schools and meaningful community engagement in shaping the future of public education,” the statement said.

Allies of the mayor will continue to hold a majority on the board after Bautista steps down.

In a statement, the Chicago Frontlines Fund said it established the new sabbatical for environmental leaders so they can take six months off for “intentional rest and reflection” to prevent burnout.

Fellow board members — largely those also aligned with Johnson — praised Bautista’s service on the board and her advocacy for environmental causes in the city. They described her as a supportive, welcoming presence on the board, willing to offer guidance during late night phone calls or over fresh-made guacamole at her home. Board President Sean Harden thanked Bautista for helping him ease into his role when he was “a deer in the headlights” during his first board meeting.

“I am a little upset you’re not taking me with you,” joked Harden, who has said he is not running in the fall school board elections.

Michilla Blaise, who along with Debby Pope was a fellow appointee to the 2024 board, commended Bautista for her steady leadership.

“We were thrust into a storm of epic proportions,” Blaise said. “I didn’t know Olga at the time, but we were immediate sisters.”

This story has been updated to include a statement from the mayor.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago school board adopts calendars for next two school years

2026-02-26T22:14:26+00:00

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The Chicago Board of Education unanimously adopted calendars Thursday for the next two school years after initial pushback on having the first semester end after winter break.

The calendars for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 school years will include 176 days for student attendance, four Teacher Institute Days, four school improvement days, four professional development days, and two days for parent-teacher conferences.

The first day of next school year will be Aug. 24 for K-12 students and Aug. 25 for pre-K students, about a week later than this year. For the 2027-28 school year, the first day will be Aug. 23 and 24, respectively, for K-12 and pre-K students. Students would again get a week off for Thanksgiving break and a two-week winter break under both calendars.

But unlike this school year, the first semester would end after winter break, meaning final exams would occur after break — prompting concern from some board members when the calendars were first presented in January.

“The No. 1 concern I hear from students is about mental health, and having a break as an opportunity for resetting, recovering, and spending time with their families is really important,” appointed board member Anusha Thotakura said during a January meeting to review that month’s board meeting agenda. “If you have testing for second quarter after winter break, students won’t have that opportunity to reset, relax, and come into the new year energized.”

In order to have the first semester end before winter break, CPS would have to make certain shifts on the calendar, Nicole Milberg, chief of teaching and learning at CPS, has said. CPS considered getting rid of the full week of Thanksgiving break and moving more professional development days to the second semester, but that scenario would require starting school long before Labor Day in order to meet state requirements for school days.

Board members asked CPS to reconsider the calendars and survey families again on what they wanted. At a meeting earlier this month to review Thursday’s agenda, officials said 55% of the 22,000 people surveyed preferred ending the first semester after winter break. Another 37% of people wanted the option of ending the first semester before break, and 8% wanted to start school a few days earlier and also have a shorter Thanksgiving break. It was not clear how many of the respondents were high school students, parents, or staff.

Board members did not discuss the calendars further before their vote.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools to start moving students out of troubled charter ASPIRA

2026-02-26T21:32:23+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools will begin transitioning students from two ASPIRA charter high schools to other schools after months of financial turbulence at the network and deep uncertainty for its families and staff.

In a letter to the district this week, ASPIRA leaders insisted they will keep the campuses — ASPIRA Business and Finance and ASPIRA Early College high schools — open through the end of this school year. But district officials say the charter has not spelled out a clear plan to pull that off, even after the district steered millions of dollars in cash advances to it this winter.

CPS told the charter network in a letter dated Thursday that it will start the transition process this week and expected ASPIRA to assist with providing student records. During a Chicago Board of Education meeting Thursday, officials said students who wish to leave the ASPIRA campuses will have a guaranteed seat at a group of nearby district-run high schools and will have access to a “transition coordinator” for regular check-ins and other services.

CPS will host a town hall for families about the transition process sometime next week, officials said.

ASPIRA’s two high school campuses together serve about 700 students, who are predominantly low-income and Latino. The district said a third ASPIRA campus, an alternative high school on the Northwest Side operated in tandem with the charter network Youth Connections Charter School, is not facing closure.

In an interview with Chalkbeat after this story published, ASPIRA CEO and President Edgar Lopez attributed the network’s financial challenges to rising salaries and what he described as underfunding from the district.

Lopez said he’s upset CPS won’t give ASPIRA more runway to secure more funding. The network currently has enough money to operate the campuses in question up until about April, and he said they have “some leads” on ways to close the funding gap.

“If this is for the kids, what’s the rush?” Lopez said. “What’s another month?”

The Chicago Teachers Union, which represents staff at ASPIRA, held a rally with ASPIRA teachers, students, and parents outside the Chicago Board of Education headquarters Thursday ahead of the board meeting. They called for CPS to help families find new schools now that would “keep students and staff together.”

Lavelle Turner, a senior from ASPIRA Business and Finance High School, told reporters he’s “very concerned about my future” and that closing the school will impact many of his fellow seniors.

“Will my credits be transferred if I change schools? Will this affect my college applications? I would like CPS to answer these questions,” Turner said, adding that he’d like to attend a school with his peers so he can be around familiar faces.

The district is “reviewing and assessing” graduation requirements for juniors and seniors, Conrad Timbers-Ausar, the district’s acting chief portfolio officer, who oversees charters, told the board. He added that CPS plans to provide a letter that graduating seniors can provide to college admissions offices so they can “understand the recent events.”

Griselda Hermosillo, parent of a freshman at ASPIRA Early College High School, told reporters in Spanish that she is worried about what happens to student credits and their individualized education programs, or IEPs, which spell out legally required services for students with disabilities, if the school closes midyear. She said Lopez, the ASPIRA president, has left her in constant doubt about the school’s future.

“If this has been a false hope, we would hope CPS will give us the actual plan,” Hermosillo said.

CPS accuses ASPIRA of mismanaging finances

The move comes months after the district said ASPIRA had failed to responsibly manage its finances and was struggling to make payroll. CPS said it has already provided $2.5 million in advance payments to ASPIRA, which faces a $2.9 million deficit, and has reached a state-imposed legal limit for how much it can steer to a charter school.

CPS had asked ASPIRA to provide multiple documents by Wednesday, including proof that it could obtain funding from a third party and a plan showing how it would make it through the rest of the school year. ASPIRA provided neither, according to the district.

Instead, in its letter to the district, ASPIRA asked CPS to provide the network with the legal maximum amount of funding for the last four school years to reduce or eliminate its deficit. By state law, the district must provide charter schools with per pupil funding that’s equivalent to 97% to 103% of funding at district schools; ASPIRA is requesting 103%.

The network also said it was working on other funding fixes, including obtaining a bridge loan, raising money from alumni, and crowdfunding. But in its response, the district said it cannot provide funding for previous fiscal years retroactively, and it will start transitioning students out in light of “the emergency situation created by ASPIRA’s failure to demonstrate financial sustainability, which places the education of ASPIRA’s students at risk.”

Lopez denied that the financial issues are due to mismanagement. He said his network isn’t the only one facing financial problems, and he believes the district’s response is part of a broader plan to shutter charter schools. Asked how confident he feels that third party money will come in, Lopez said, “We’re working on it.”

ASPIRA is latest in string of charter troubles

The ASPIRA turmoil is playing out against the backdrop of larger turbulence and uncertainty in the city’s charter and contract sector — schools that are publicly funded and overseen by the district, but operated by private entities.

Last year, the Chicago Board of Education voted to absorb five campuses of the charter network Acero into the district to prevent their closure. It also moved to chip in so the South Sides’ EPIC Academy High School could finish out the year before closing and take over the Chicago High School for the Arts, or ChiArts, a West Side contract school. This week, the district held a meeting with ChiArts families concerned that the school would lose its conservatory model, in which professional artists work with students during an extended school day.

District officials and charter leaders have said the larger upheaval is due to declining enrollment across the city and tight finances, including a district move to withhold thousands of dollars per pupil from charters to chip in for its massive pension and debt costs.

But charter critics say schools such as ASPIRA have also made major fiscal missteps and should have been monitored more closely by CPS. The district has taken ASPIRA to task for budgeting based on wildly unrealistic enrollment projections and for withholding key financial information from CPS.

At the board meeting, appointed board member Debby Pope blasted ASPIRA for the possible closures. She said the situation should be a message to other charter operators to be financially responsible and turn in required documents on time to CPS.

“We cannot do this to our children,” Pope said. “It is just not OK.”

Appointed board member Karen Zaccor called for the district to find a way for ASPIRA students to spend planned activities together, such as already planned field trips and graduation.

In addition to the documents CPS requested, ASPIRA has not yet submitted a required financial audit or the monthly cash flow reports the district requires of charters such as ASPIRA that it has placed under financial remediation.

In a Wednesday interview with Chalkbeat, Timbers-Ausar said CPS will strive to work closely with families to find high-performing schools where students can transfer this spring.

“It has to be a process that is first and foremost student-centered and family-centered to provide as many options as possible,” he said. “We have to stay very engaged every step of the way with those families.”

The district expects it will have conversations with the Chicago Teachers Union about the possibility of finding other roles for them, Timbers-Ausar said.

This story has been updated with additional comment from school board members, ASPIRA CEO Edgar Lopez and Conrad Timbers-Ausar, the district’s acting chief portfolio officer.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago’s school board close to identifying finalists — again — for superintendent search

2026-02-25T20:02:56+00:00

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The Chicago Board of Education is getting closer to choosing finalists — again — for Chicago Public Schools’ next CEO.

Multiple board members said the next step in the search process is to identify finalists from the group of candidates they’ve been considering. Norma Rios-Sierra, an appointed board member who is on a working group for the almost yearlong CEO search, told Chalkbeat the board will have a group of finalists “very soon” and “definitely before the end of the school year.”

But even as the search continues, six of the 21 board members and groups such as the district’s principals union are escalating calls to keep interim CEO Macquline King in her role into 2027, when a fully elected school board takes over. They argue that with a tough budget season already underway and the looming campaigns for all 21 school board seats, the district needs stability instead of a push to conclude the rocky search.

Last week, that group of elected board members revealed that the board was parting ways with its search firm, Alma Advisory Group, and accused Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office and its allies of intervening in the search process.

The mayor’s office has denied those claims and said the mayor has not meddled or interviewed candidates. The mayor wants to interview finalists identified by the board, Rios-Sierra said.

Other board members say the search remains on track and denied the accusations of sabotage. They said they plan to have a CEO in place before the start of next school year. Several board members who spoke with Chalkbeat declined to share names of front-runners or the number of people they are currently considering.

Appointed board member Anusha Thotakura said the board is continuing to interview “high quality candidates,” and as of at least earlier this month, one of the candidates is someone “whose name was leaked to the press several months ago.” But she declined to specify whether that candidate was Meisha Porter, former head of New York City public schools, or current Denver superintendent Alex Marrero, whose names were revealed by the Chicago Sun-times/WBEZ and Chalkbeat in November.

A spokesperson for Denver Public Schools said Tuesday Marrero is not a candidate; Porter did not respond to a request for comment.

In November, the search appeared to be in its final stretch when the leaks seemed to derail it. Marrero said he was committed to Denver the day his name appeared in the press.

“We’re taking this process very seriously and are trying to move with a sense of urgency that this level of a decision deserves,” Thotakura said.

As planned before, finalists will still be interviewed by a panel of community members, Rios-Sierra said. The board has not said who is on the panel but it was originally envisioned to include students, teachers, and other residents.

The district has now been without a permanent leader since former CPS CEO Pedro Martinez left last June; King has been serving since and applied for the CEO job but didn’t advance to a finalist round, the Sun-Times and WBEZ reported.

In November, after news broke that the board had two finalists, the Chicago Teachers Union blasted the board for keeping their names secret. Board members, who disclosed months earlier that they would not reveal finalist names, had signed nondisclosure agreements prohibiting them from discussing aspects of the search publicly. The union declined to say whether it will again call for finalist names to be revealed.

After Chalkbeat and the Chicago Sun-Times/WBEZ revealed the two finalist names, the board appeared to be left with just Porter.

Then the process appeared to come to a halt, but some board members later said they were rescheduling interviews and interviewing more applicants. Rios-Sierra said, at the time, many of her colleagues wanted to consider more than one finalist and that there were conversations about expanding the finalist pool.

Che “Rhymefest” Smith, one of the elected board members who released a statement last week decrying Alma’s departure and accusing the mayor’s office of interference, said he and other search committee members who signed it have been left in the dark about the status of the search. He said he believes a finalist or finalists have been selected and might meet with Johnson next.

The district can’t keep King “hanging on forever” and should work out an agreement for her to stay on, lest she leave for another job, Smith said.

Smith had opposed King’s appointment as interim last summer, but now says King, who came from a role in the mayor’s office, has led the district capably since. Smith and the chair of the board’s search team, elected board member Jessica Biggs, penned an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune last week that, in part, said they’re hearing calls to keep King in place until the new board is elected.

“This is the part where I have to listen to the community,” he said.

Unlike Martinez, King was not offered a contract when she was hired as interim CEO. Her offer letter — obtained by Chalkbeat through an open records request — does not indicate a specific end date for her job.

Kia Banks, the head of the Chicago Principals & Administrators Association, which represents school leaders, said her members have increasingly said they believe King should continue in her role. She said she worries that next year’s fully elected school board could second-guess or reverse any decision on a permanent top leader made this year.

Banks said King, a former district teacher and principal, has steered CPS through myriad challenges and is in the best position to craft budgets for schools and the district. The union, which reached its first preliminary contract with the district last August, is negotiating a more complete collective bargaining agreement.

“The search as it has been going on this year has become less about the needs of the students and more about which board members will prevail given their differences,” Banks said.

The West Side chapter of the NAACP has also called for keeping King in the top job until a new school board is elected and seated next January.

In a statement, Chicago Teachers Union vice president Jackson Potter said many national candidates may not be a good fit and the CEO search “requires being thoughtful and thorough to find a leader to repair, reconcile and rebuild CPS,” including with the current funding challenges facing the district. CPS is projecting a $520 million budget deficit next fiscal year.

The union did not say whether it supports keeping King in place until next year.

SEIU, which represents school support staff, did not respond to a request for comment.

Melanie Asmar contributed to this report.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

A new bill would force Chicago Public Schools to pay into municipal retirement fund

2026-02-24T18:27:55+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools officials are voicing concern about a pair of bills targeting pension costs for employees, particularly one that would force the district to take on a controversial payment into a municipal retirement fund.

But the Chicago state lawmaker who introduced the proposals says the bills are simply “placeholders” meant to spur conversations between district, city, and state officials.

One of the bills authored by Sen. Robert Martwick, a Democrat, would compel the district to start paying into a city pension fund that covers Chicago Public Schools support staff as well as city employees. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson has pressed CPS to foot these costs — an issue that contributed to the firing of the district’s former CEO and bitterly divided its partly elected school board.

Martwick’s other bill would shift all costs of paying into the district’s separate teacher pension fund from CPS to the state — a move he acknowledged is a long shot this year. District leaders have long decried that Illinois largely covers teacher pensions in all school districts except Chicago, where it pays for roughly a third of these costs.

In a statement, the district said the proposals could put CPS in a bind. Given its own deficit and significant federal funding cuts, it’s unlikely the state would take on CPS’s teacher pension costs during this election year. Meanwhile, the municipal fund proposal would saddle the district with “an unfunded mandate that CPS simply cannot afford” as it faces a deficit of more than half a billion dollars. Taking out a loan and adding to the district’s huge debt burden to make the recurring payment is not a solution, the statement said, as officials have insisted in the past.

“Without a corresponding increase in state or local funding, this shift would force a choice between pension payments and student education,” the district’s statement said.

In an interview, Martwick, a Chicago Teachers Union ally and an architect of the city’s transition from mayoral control to an elected school board, said the city and the district must disentangle their finances before that board is seated in January. His bill is meant to spur them to figure out how to do that, he said.

Bills are meant to start pension conversations, author says

Meanwhile, a larger role for the state in footing Chicago’s teacher pension costs is “the right thing to do,” he said, and his bill will keep that request in the foreground as some lawmakers press for an influx of new revenue for education.

“There are no easy answers here; there’s no way to make the pension debt magically go away,” he said. “These decisions are challenging, but for the good of the students and taxpayers, they must be made.”

Joe Ferguson of the Civic Federation, a Chicago-based nonpartisan fiscal watchdog group, said he agrees that the city and district must have a conversation about handling the municipal pension fund costs going forward. But he said Martwick’s proposal gives the city an edge at a time the district is especially “fiscally fragile.”

“The larger problem is that there aren’t meaningful, collaborative discussions between the city and CPS,” he said. “Instead, we have a piece of legislation that says nothing about where the money would come from, which is how the city has been approaching this issue.”

If both bills were to become law, the district could come out ahead — but only if the state allows it to use dollars from a dedicated teacher pension property tax levy for other expenses. It’s somewhat unclear what the cost of the district’s annual payment into the city’s Municipal Employees’ Annuity and Benefit Fund would be. In its statement, the district suggested the payment would be $175 million to $200 million, but a recent budget presentation by the mayor’s office to local school council members estimated it at $346 million.

CPS’ costs for its teacher pension fund came to about $660 million in this year’s budget, most of it covered from a pension property tax levy but some coming from its operating revenues.

Chicago school board members in October unanimously backed a $175 million reimbursement to the city’s pension fund — but only after Johnson steered a record amount of special tax dollars to CPS to cover the payment and other costs. Earlier in the fall, a majority on the board had defied the mayor and voted for a district budget that didn’t include that payment, only committing to make it if an influx of new revenue materialized.

The mayor and board members aligned with him and with the teachers union, his former employer, have said taking on the pension payment permanently would help the district separate its finances from those of the city as CPS transitions to a fully elected school board. They have said the district must chip in for its own employees’ pension costs in a move that will ensure a collaborative relationship with the city.

But school board members who pushed back against including the payment in the budget last fall noted that under state law, the city is on the hook for those costs — and passing them on to the district would mean painful cuts that would affect the classroom. They balked at the idea of taking out a high-cost loan to make the reimbursement, noting the district already wrestles with staggering debt service costs.

The district said shifting the municipal pension fund costs onto CPS without new revenue would queue up an “immediate fiscal crisis” for the new fully elected school board in early 2027. It said the district needs a comprehensive solution to its pension issues in collaboration with the city and the state.

One idea from CPS? The state could take on more of the district’s teacher pension costs, and CPS could use some of the pension property tax dollars freed up as a result to pay into the municipal retirement fund.

The proposals have murky prospects in Springfield

Martwick said his bills are works in progress that “involved no input from anyone,” and he said the exact cost of the municipal pension payment CPS would have to take on under one of them is still being clarified. He had no intention of giving the city an advantage in such a conversation, Martwick said. As a resident and father of CPS students, he said it’s important the district tackle the task of separating their finances from those of the city with a sense of urgency.

“It almost sounds like they’re saying, ‘No, no, no, let’s stay entangled,’” he said. “CPS needs to grasp that this disentanglement is real.”

He said he introduced the bills against the backdrop of a larger push by Illinois progressives to pursue new revenue for the state, such as raising taxes on wealthy residents. If that push works, he said, he wants CPS teacher pensions to be on the list of things the state could start funding.

A couple of Chicagoland state lawmakers recently introduced a CTU-backed bill to fully fund the state’s “evidence-based” school funding formula and cover some mandated services, such as transportation for students with disabilities.

CPS officials have voiced an interest in consolidating the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund with that of the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System, which covers educators outside of Chicago — a move that they say could save CPS big. But the teachers union has opposed the idea.

Hal Woods of the advocacy group Kids First Chicago said he sees both Martwick bills as “conversation starters” with murky prospects of passage this spring. The two proposals amount to “a grand bargain,” he said, in which the district can use money freed up by passing on teacher pension costs to the state to make the city payments covering support staff pensions. The catch? There’s nothing in it for the state.

Woods said he didn’t think Martwick would push for the city fund bill in isolation, noting it would swell the district’s deficit to almost $1 billion and almost certainly lead to disruptive classroom cuts without an unexpected influx in revenue.

“I don’t think he would stick CPS with a $346 million bill and no way to pay for it,” Woods said.

This story has been updated to clarify that the district would need state approval to redirect revenue from its pension property levy to other expenses.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Some board members claim ‘sabotage’ as Chicago school board and search firm tasked with finding new CEO part ways

2026-02-13T00:39:35+00:00

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The Chicago Board of Education is parting ways with Alma Advisory Group, the search firm tasked with helping the school board find a new CEO, according to a statement from six of the board’s 10 elected members.

The statement, obtained by Chalkbeat, does not specify when or why Alma wrapped up its work on the search. The board members who signed it — Carlos Rivas Jr., Ellen Rosenfeld, Jessica Biggs, Angel Gutierrez, Therese Boyle, and Che “Rhymefest” Smith — say they now want interim CPS CEO Macquline King to stay in the job until a new, fully elected school board is seated next January.

The end of Alma’s contract is another twist in the CEO search process, which began last spring and appeared to be coming to a close in the late fall, only to seemingly come to a halt. Former CPS CEO Pedro Martinez left the district in late June after he was fired without cause, and the district has not had a permanent CEO since.

Search firms generally remain involved until a pick for the role is announced and in some cases might help with negotiating a contract.

The statement, which praised Alma’s work with the board, claims mayoral appointees “sabotaged” the search process and the mayor and “his allies” have “started running political interference.”

After this story published, the Chicago Board of Education office said in a statement that Alma will work with the school board for the next 30 days to “ensure a seamless transition into finalist interviews,” then remain on retainer with the district for future executive-level searches. The statement described Alma offering “extensive support,” including screening more than 100 candidates, and said the board is “deeply grateful” for its work.

The statement, which said the application window for CEO candidates closed Feb. 6, did not provide an explanation for Alma’s exit.

But another elected school board who has repeatedly voted in agreement with that group of elected members said Thursday she still feels optimistic about the search. Jenni Custer said the board is on the cusp of selecting several finalists for the CEO role, though members haven’t decided how many and whether all of them will be named publicly.

“We have a lot of great candidates left in our pool,” she said. “We need to see this through before we say the process has been unsuccessful.”

Custer said that in her understanding, the board and Alma parted ways because of a mutual sense that the search firm’s work was done at this point: “Alma has taken us as far as they can, and now the ball is in our court.”

But Smith, one of the statement’s signatories, said he witnessed mayoral appointees “sideline” Alma when it recommended “best practices” for the search. Smith declined to offer more details about what exactly prompted Alma’s exit.

“Now that Alma has left, how can you trust this process? Who’s leading it?” Smith said.

The school board is currently 11 members appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson and the 10 elected members.

Chicago Public Schools referred Chalkbeat to the Chicago Board of Education office, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Board President Sean Harden and Monica Santana Rosen, the head of Alma did not respond to requests for comment.

After this story published, the mayor’s press office said in a statement that the allegation by these board members is “baseless and inaccurate.” The mayor’s office has not intervened in the CEO search or interviewed any candidates, the statement said.

The mayor’s office, in turn, accused board members of leaking names of candidates to the press — a matter that Harden hired a firm to investigate. It’s unclear where that investigation stands.

Each of the board members who signed Thursday’s statement had voted against hiring King as the interim CEO last year. And last fall, board members chose not to advance King as a finalist for the permanent CEO job before the process was halted when other finalist names were reported by Chalkbeat and the Chicago Sun-Times/WBEZ.

Later in November, school board members said they were “recalibrating” the search process. It’s unclear exactly where in the search the board is at or how close it is to choosing a candidate.

But during a board meeting Tuesday, Biggs and Smith publicly praised King’s leadership.

“I just wanted to take this time to just say thank you: Thank you for balancing the budget, thank you for visiting schools, thank you for inspiring confidence in our partners and thank you for being here and being a competent leader,” Smith said.

The board members’ calls to keep King are now in line with a broader call from the West Side NAACP and a coalition of Black-led groups, which want King to stay until at least a newly elected board is seated next year.

The question of the mayor’s role in selecting the district’s next leader has hung over the search, with some board members concerned that Johnson would exert control through his appointees. Smith said the board had at one point invited the mayor’s office to share what it wanted to see in the search process, but Johnson’s team said no.

The city’s mayors have traditionally hand-picked the district’s top leader, but there was an expectation that Johnson would play a more hands-off role amid the transition to a fully elected board.

Tensions on the board rose after the names of two finalists, New York City’s former top education official Meisha Ross Porter and current Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero, were leaked to the media late last year, disrupting the search.

The Thursday statement from board members noted “names of finalists have been leaked, progress has stalled, and major decisions have been put on hold” — and it blamed interference from the mayor’s office for these disruptions.

“By making it impossible for a professional firm to see this through, Mayor Johnson and his appointed board members have shown that they are either unwilling, unable, or uninterested in finding a qualified CEO/Superintendent to lead CPS into the future,” the statement said.

Custer said she hasn’t yet seen clear evidence that Johnson’s office is meddling in the process.

This story has been updated with comment from board member Che Smith, the mayor’s office and the Chicago Board of Education office.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

After debate, CPS pitches keeping end of first semester after winter break for next two school years

2026-02-11T21:00:27+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools is recommending school calendars for the next two years that keep the end of second quarter after winter break, despite some recent concerns from school board members.

If approved by the school board at its Feb. 26 meeting, the calendars for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 school years would include 176 school days for students, four teacher institute days, four school improvement days, four professional development days, and two days for parent-teacher conferences.

For next school year, the first day would be Aug. 24 for K-12 students and Aug. 25 for pre-K; those days would be Aug. 23 and Aug. 24, respectively, for the 2027-28 school year, according to the draft calendars.

Winter break would start Dec. 21 next school year and Dec. 20 the year after that.

CPS proposed these calendars for approval at last month’s board meeting but pulled them from the agenda after some board members raised concerns they heard from parents of high schoolers. The parents argued that worrying about tests during break wasn’t good for students’ grades or their mental health.

CPS officials conducted a new survey and created three options for calendars, Nicole Milberg, chief of teaching and learning, told board members Wednesday. The district received more than 22,000 responses to the new survey, which was open from Jan. 21 through Jan. 27. Responses were divided about equally among students, staff, and parents, but she noted that they were not able to separate out how many of the responses were from high school families and staff.

A majority – 55% – of people surveyed preferred the option the district is recommending, in which the first semester would end after winter break; 37% of people preferred option 2, which would end the first semester before winter break; 8% wanted the option of starting school a few days earlier and have a shorter Thanksgiving break.

Milberg previously told board members CPS considered getting rid of the full week of Thanksgiving break and moving more professional development to the second semester in order to accommodate a pre-winter break end to the first semester. But it wouldn’t be possible to meet state requirements for school days in that scenario without starting school long before Labor Day.

“All three have merits and drawbacks,” Milberg said. “I’ll leave it to you to make the difficult decision.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Underfunding or mismanagement? Financial troubles at multiple Chicago charters spur a push for answers and solutions.

2026-02-11T17:21:23+00:00

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Jema Fabara knows what can happen when a charter school hits financial turbulence. She lost her teaching job when the Acero network’s Cruz campus closed last year.

Now Fabara, who is teaching at the ASPIRA charter network’s alternative high school, worries the same thing could happen again as that network struggles to make payroll and considers merging schools. This time, the turmoil could also affect her son, who is a senior at her school, and a nephew attending ASPIRA’s nearby Early College campus.

ASPIRA is one of a string of charters in the city that have floundered financially and in some cases moved to merge or close schools over the past year and a half. Two other charters asked Chicago Public Schools to front them money this winter just months after the district chipped in to help the South Side’s EPIC Academy High School finish out the school year before it closes this summer — and less than a year after the school board’s unprecedented decision to absorb five of seven Acero schools the network had slated for closure.

The district, which oversees most city charters, has flagged some of the struggling charters for financial issues for years and still renewed their contracts. CPS officials say they have taken numerous steps to tighten fiscal oversight in recent months, even as some charter critics say CPS should be doing more.

But in a confidential memo sent in October to interim CEO Macquline King and the school board and obtained by Chalkbeat, Alfonso Carmona, the district’s interim chief education officer, says charters face a widespread and systemic “crisis.”

Citywide enrollment losses have hit charter budgets hard, even as CPS has stepped in to heavily subsidize its own shrinking schools. Meanwhile, the district is withholding thousands of dollars per pupil from charters to chip in for CPS’ massive pension and debt service costs, forcing them to rely on increasingly uncertain funding sources, such as federal grants and fundraising, the October memo said. At the time, the district projected that six charter operators would end this fiscal year in the red.

In the memo, Carmona, who was overseeing the district’s charter schools, also voiced alarm about the school board’s decision to absorb the Acero campuses rather than letting them close — a precedent that created a “moral hazard,” he wrote.

“We are confronting a structural financial problem with the potential collapse of a significant portion of the charter sector, which now looks to the district as its financial backstop,” Carmona wrote.

About 50,000 students, or about a fifth of CPS’ enrollment, attend charters, which are publicly funded and privately managed — a student body that’s overwhelmingly Black or Latino and low-income. For Farbara’s family and others at charters, the financial issues have brought protracted uncertainty and even the specter of having to switch schools midyear.

Now, a new working group made up of school board members and charter and district leaders has started meeting to seek solutions, hard as they might be to come by for the budget deficit-plagued, shrinking district.

Does CPS fund charters equitably?

In recent months, charter leaders have blamed the sector’s budget struggles on chronic underfunding by CPS. The district is required by law to give charters at least 97% of the “per capita tuition charge,” a calculation the state sets that’s meant to ensure per student funding for charters is comparable to that for district-run schools. For the current school year, that 97% portion is about $19,740.

The district then charges a 3% fee to cover expenses related to overseeing the charters and withholds thousands of dollars for its long-term pension liabilities, short-term borrowing costs and — for charters in district-owned buildings — long-term debt related to facility spending. That brings the per-pupil amount down to $14,800 for charters in CPS-owned buildings and $17,600 for other schools, according to the district’s memo, which means the district is providing just 83% of the per capita tuition charge on average.

CPS officials say state and federal grants round out these funding amounts, and all schools — district-run and charter — should share in pension and debt costs the entire district is facing. The district is allowed to deduct these costs from charters under state law, notes Justin Marlowe, director of the Center for Municipal Finance at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy.

But charter leaders such as Serdar Kartal, the Illinois regional superintendent of Concept Schools, note that not all schools receive added grants at the same level; those tend to be increasingly uncertain and come with many strings attached.

Charter officials say it’s unfair to pass on massive pension and debt costs to charters, arguing that these costs exist because CPS leaders historically underfunded the district’s teacher pension fund and made bad borrowing calls without any input from charters.

“These are longstanding decisions that have created a structural deficit for CPS, and the gap should not be closed on the backs of charter students,” said Mike Madden, president of the Noble charter network.

For charters, other financial pressures also have ramped up recently. Even as the district shifted to a school funding model that guarantees core positions to all district-run schools regardless of size and takes into account their students’ needs, charters — where 87% of students live in poverty, compared with 69% in district-run schools — still get dollars largely based on enrollment.

For years, charter enrollment remained more stable than that at other district schools, but this fall, it dipped about 4.5% compared to 1.7% in CPS-run schools. Some charters felt budget pain — with none of the financial cushion CPS gives its own small schools.

The advocacy group Illinois Network of Charter Schools holds up the example of Noble’s Baker College Prep campus and the district-run Bowen, two high schools with fewer than 300 students that share a building on Chicago’s Far South Side. Baker got $15,800 per student this year; Bowen got $25,150, according to CPS data Chalkbeat reviewed.

Charter leaders say recent changes to the district’s GoCPS school choice site have made it harder to find charter options, and the district has held the line on enrollment caps in charter contracts even for thriving schools.

Carmona, who oversaw the district’s charter schools from 2022 to 2025, told Chalkbeat the end of COVID relief funds, a drop in philanthropic support for charters, the cost of maintaining aging buildings, and rising labor costs, particularly for charters that have unionized, have added to the pressures.

“What we’re seeing today is not even close to what we have seen in the past,” he said.

Should CPS watch charter finances more closely?

Some school board members and the Chicago Teachers Union have blamed at least some of the charter issues on poor financial management — and called on CPS to hold charter operators on a tighter fiscal leash.

The union points to EPIC, the South Side charter high school serving about 240 students, whose board of directors announced in September the school would close by the end of this school year. The union has said EPIC’s demise had a lot to do with an ill-conceived purchase and planned $22 million renovation of an old church building to house the school even as enrollment dropped for years.

EPIC has argued it needed the space to replace its crumbling building, and leaders hoped an attractive new campus would help arrest steep enrollment declines.

EPIC had gotten a clean bill of fiscal health on a financial scorecard CPS keeps and uses in deciding whether to renew charter contracts. But other charters that have reported money problems recently had shown signs of “living beyond their means” on that scorecard. In a letter to ASPIRA leadership late last year, CPS officials criticized the school for financial missteps and lack of transparency, including for budgeting based on unrealistic enrollment projections.

In recent years, CPS repeatedly determined that both Passages, a Far North Side elementary school serving about 380 students, and Urban Prep, which operates two small all-boys high schools, did not meet all standards for good financial health. The two schools were the latest to turn to CPS for help with cash flow issues this winter. The district, which itself resorts to short-term borrowing to make payroll and pay vendors, said that as of last month it has advanced $3.9 million to Urban Prep and ASPIRA. Carmona says he expects Passages and Urban Prep to “end the school year without any financial issues.”

Dennis Lacewell, Urban Prep’s chief academic officer, said the school has cut administrative positions, among other recent steps to strengthen its fiscal health. After a protracted legal battle, the school averted a CPS plan to shutter it and take over based on allegations of financial mismanagement and sexual misconduct the network vehemently denied. But Lacewell said its recent issues stemmed primarily from the federal government freezing a payment from a COVID-era Paycheck Protection Program the school was counting on.

ASPIRA board members and Passages did not respond to requests for comment.

Despite flagging their financial shortcomings, the district last May proposed renewing contracts for ASPIRA, Passages, and Urban Prep for two more school years, and the school board approved.

That was by design: Two-year renewals are a way to signal there are issues that must be fixed, and not doing that in time could mean closure, Carmona said.

As a condition of their latest contract renewals, CPS placed ASPIRA, Passages, and Urban Prep on financial remediation plans, which include submitting monthly cash flow statements to CPS.

Matthew Luskin, chief of staff at Chicago Teachers Union, said the district should consider asking for oversight of charter budgets in order to prevent midyear closures by catching “risky spending,” such as spending down their reserves.

CPS “can actually make the effort here to police this a little bit and get out ahead of these crises,” Luskin said.

At Chalkbeat’s request, Marlowe, the municipal finance expert, reviewed the district’s financial scorecards and characterized them as “the absolute bare minimum” and a “very retrospective” way of looking at a school’s finances.

While audits show how money was actually spent, they’re usually not available until nine to 18 months after the end of a fiscal year for public sector agencies, such as school districts or charters, Marlowe said. In order to get a more current picture, CPS could consider requiring monthly cash flow reports for all charter networks, not just those in financial remediation, or examining who they’re contracting with for certain services, Marlowe said.

Carmona said the district has tightened up financial oversight in several ways. That includes using actual enrollment figures from the previous school year rather than projections for the first quarter of payments for charters so they can budget better, requiring more reporting on charter debt obligations, and asking for more years of budget projections.

Meanwhile, some school board members and charter operators say they have been encouraged by the first two meetings of the new charter working group that school board President Sean Harden formed late last year.

Board member Ellen Rosenfeld said the group is focused on better cooperation between CPS and charters and on solutions, such as a request that the Illinois Network of Charter Schools start providing a “watch list” of schools that are struggling so the board isn’t caught off guard if some need help from CPS.

Fabara, the ASPIRA parent and teacher, says after months of fingerpointing, families are hungry for a proactive push for solutions that takes in their input and ideas.

Otherwise, she said, “You’ve already fallen off the boat, and you’re crying for help as you’re going down.”

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Several Illinois counties will vote on Trump tax-credit scholarship program in bid to sway Pritzker

2026-02-10T20:35:53+00:00

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A libertarian-leaning advocacy group has persuaded more than two dozen Illinois counties and townships to place a nonbinding question on next month’s primary ballot supporting a new federal tax-credit scholarship program championed by the Trump administration.

One of the campaign’s architects said in a public meeting that the overriding goal is to “send a signal” to Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker, who must opt the state into the program.

The draft ballot question circulated by the Illinois Policy Institute’s advocacy arm asks voters to support using privately-donated funds for tutoring, test preparation, and other academic needs – omitting that donors receive federal tax credits for donating to the program.

The ballot measures are an unusual tactic for swaying public opinion and decisionmakers in a strongly Democratic state, but it comes as advocates on the left and right lobby Pritzker on the scholarship program created as part of President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill.

The program would provide dollar-for-dollar tax credits to donors who give up to $1,700 scholarship-granting nonprofits, and those funds can go toward certain expenses for private, public or homeschooled kids whose families make up to 300% of the local median income.

In Chicago — where the advisory measure is not on the March 17 ballot — that would mean a family making roughly $233,000 or less.

As of Tuesday, the measure or a version of it will be on ballots in at least 24 counties and five townships across the state, according to the Illinois State Board of Elections website.

But voters — and the public at large — likely won’t have a full picture of how the program will actually work by the primary election because federal officials haven’t clarified many aspects of the program. It’s unclear, for example, whether the money could be used for tutoring provided by public schools or be restricted to outside tutoring groups.

Dick Simpson, professor emeritus of political science at University of Illinois Chicago and a former Chicago alderman, said the question “seems valid” to gauge whether the public supports the program. But he said it would more accurately capture public opinion if it included wording about the tax credit.

Still, whether lawmakers will pay attention to the results depends on where the question is being asked, he said. Most counties with the advisory question are suburban or rural areas that Trump won in last year’s presidential election.

“If they’re all suburban, rural Republican or MAGA-leaning counties, then Pritzker is not going to pay much attention,” Simpson said.

While the program would not directly cost the state of Illinois money, it would mean a decrease in federal tax revenue at a time when the Trump administration has already cut social service programs or withheld other funding for local governments.

Nearly half of U.S. states, most run by Republican governors, have opted in. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is the only Democratic governor to officially do so, while North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein has indicated he plans to.

In remarks to the Grundy County board in November, Illinois Policy assistant editor Dylan Sharkey said that “asking voters to weigh in would send a signal to other counties, to state lawmakers, and, most importantly, Gov. Pritzker that Illinois families deserve these funds.”

In an emailed statement, Pritzker spokesperson Jillian Kaehler did not address whether the governor would be swayed by the results of the local ballot measures.

She said Pritzker will “evaluate the issue through a lens focused on affordability for working families and what best supports Illinois students, families, and public schools.” She did not provide a timeframe for when he would make the decision.

Libertarian-leaning group wants voters to weigh in

The measure was created by Illinois Policy, which describes itself as a nonpartisan advocacy arm for Illinois Policy Institute. The group frequently criticizes left-leaning policies, as well as Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union, which opposes the program.

In a statement, the group told Chalkbeat that it asked more than 100 counties and townships — the state has 102 counties — to include the advisory question. The group estimated that about 30 jurisdictions will have a question about the scholarship program on the ballot.

Most ballots will include the following question: “Should Illinois opt into a federal program that would provide public K-12, private school, and homeschool students with privately-donated funds for academic needs, such as tutoring and test preparation, educational therapies for students with disabilities, tuition, books, exam fees or for other specified academic needs?”

In its statement, the group said its suggested ballot language did not mention that donors will be incentivized by tax credits because those are federal and the question about opting into the program is up to states.

Ballots in at least two Illinois counties will have differently worded questions, including an inaccurate one in Grundy County. There, the question reads, “That the County of Grundy adopts the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit to allow the privately donated funds be given to Illinois students.” In fact, counties can’t choose to opt into the program; Pritzker must opt the state in.

Drew Muffler, chairman of the Grundy County board, referred Chalkbeat to the Grundy County State’s Attorney’s office on the wording of the question, saying that office drafted the question. The state’s attorney’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Muffler said the board invited Illinois Policy to speak at a board meeting in November after the group called him about possibly adding the ballot question.

Sharkey, from Illinois Policy, told board members at the November meeting that the funds can be used for things like AP exam fees or ACT prep. The Treasury Department is still drafting rules for the program, however, so that’s unclear.

The law says that donated funds can be used on expenses allowed under Coverdell education savings accounts. That’s a type of trust that can be used to pay for things like tutoring, uniforms, transportation, tuition and services for someone with special needs.

“It makes sense if people are looking for alternative school programs,” Muffler, who is a nonvoting member of the board, said in an interview with Chalkbeat.

Muffler said his son attends a local public school, where his wife also works.

“I have no issues whatsoever with the public school system around here,” but not everyone feels that way about their districts, he said.

Cassie Creswell, president and executive director of Illinois For Public School Families, argues public schools could suffer because of this program at a time many districts are facing tight budgets. Chicago Public Schools, for example, is projecting a more than half-billion-dollar deficit next fiscal year.

The state’s main education funding formula provides more dollars to districts with more needs and is based, in part, on the number of students. Losing students doesn’t necessarily mean schools can easily adjust their budgets, she said, noting that districts have certain fixed costs they must pay for even if they lose students.

Creswell, whose organization has asked Pritzker not to opt in, is also skeptical of arguments that the program will benefit needy families. In states with universal education savings accounts or vouchers programs, a large share of participating students are from affluent families. Many already attended private school before the voucher program was launched.

Groups supporting school choice say this program would give families more agency over their kids’ education. Last week, during a visit to religious private school Chicago Hope Academy, U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said she’s “not quite sure why every governor wouldn’t jump in and opt in for this particular program because it will really benefit children.”

Illinois had a tax credit program from 2017 to 2023. The Invest in Kids scholarship program allowed individuals or corporations to donate to scholarship granting organizations, which would grant aid for tuition to low-income, private school students.

Donors would get a tax credit worth 75 cents for every dollar donated, up to $1 million. The state had capped donations at $100 million, but those limits were never reached, Chalkbeat previously found. State lawmakers allowed the program to sunset in 2023.

Ike Muzikowski, principal of the school McMahon visited, said nearly half of his students lost scholarships after Invest In Kids ended, and his school raised additional funds to help close that gap, he said.

He wants Pritzker to sign onto the new federal program

“Tax credit scholarships are what can sustain a school like Hope in perpetuity,” he said. “God is the only reason our school is still open.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

State lawmakers introduce Chicago Teachers Union-backed bills to increase state education funding

2026-02-09T21:38:32+00:00

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A pair of Illinois state lawmakers introduced legislation Monday that would significantly increase state education funding — an opening salvo in a push by the Chicago Teachers Union and other labor groups to boost money for schools during this spring’s legislative session amid intense financial pressures on the state.

The proposals, sponsored by state Sen. Graciela Guzmán and Rep. Will Davis, both Democrats, would require the state to fully fund its so-called evidence-based formula for schools by a 2027 deadline lawmakers set in 2017 — a goal the state is not on track to meet. It would also provide more funding for some school district services that the state mandates, such as transportation for students with disabilities and counseling.

The state has been increasing funding for K-12 schools by about $350 million a year, though it only chipped in $307 million more last year, for a total of $11.2 billion. To fully fund schools, advocates estimate the state would have to increase that amount to at least $550 million, but likely more than $1 billion, said Davis, who represents the south suburbs of Chicago.

At a Monday press conference, the lawmakers did not specify a source of the added funding, but they pointed to ongoing discussions about ways to raise progressive revenue. The teachers union has pressed for higher taxes for wealthy residents of the state. Supporters framed their proposal as a response to what they described as a Trump administration assault on public schools, including the dismantling of the federal Department of Education.

“At a moment when Donald Trump and his allies are attacking public education, this bill is a line in the sand,” said Guzmán, a former organizer for the CTU who represents a portion of Chicago’s Northwest Side.

To do everything the legislation introduced Monday requires in 2027, the state would have to spend an additional $3.9 billion a year, Ralph Martire, the executive director of the think tank Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, said in an interview. The center is proposing a package of tax measures that would raise revenue, including expanding the sales tax base to include consumer services and increasing the income tax rate while providing tax relief to low- and middle-income households. Those two measures alone would raise enough revenue to provide the additional education funding in the Lewis and Guzmán bills and to address the state’s massive structural deficit, Martire said.

However, the state also faces $4.4 billion of added costs down the road if it chooses to fully offset safety net cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that Congress passed last year, the center has estimated.

The state has increased funding for Chicago Public Schools by about $1 billion in recent years, even as enrollment shrank dramatically. But the district remains about $1.6 billion short of what the state considers adequate funding. It received $1.9 billion from the state last year.

A 2024 report from the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability found that because of inflation and flat K-12 funding in 2020 during the height of the COVID pandemic, districts would not meet the state’s definition of adequate funding until 2034 if it continues to add $350 million each year — a forecast Martire now says is out of date.

Joining the CTU in backing the bill was the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association, the union representing the district’s school leaders. Kia Banks, the principals union’s president, said tight funding in some schools has forced school leaders to delay hiring, freeze staff positions, and make other difficult decisions.

At Monday’s press conference, Samuel Thomas, a sign language interpreter for the Waukegan school district, stressed the proposal wouldn’t just help Chicago. He said his district scaled back its after-school programs and couldn’t renew some education apps this school year.

“We are asking Gov. Pritzker and lawmakers to fully fund our schools because our students can’t wait,” he said.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools 2026-27 and 2027-28 calendars are on hold

2026-01-28T16:06:15+00:00

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The Chicago school board has sent district officials back to the drawing board on the 2026-27 and 2027-28 school calendars members were poised to approve this week.

Some board members questioned earlier this month whether the district could wrap up the first semester before winter break, so high school students would not have to do end-of-semester testing after the holidays. They argued that worrying about tests during the break and taking them after two weeks away from the classroom isn’t great for students’ mental well-being or academic achievement.

“The No. 1 concern I hear from students is about mental health, and having a break as an opportunity for resetting, recovering, and spending time with their families is really important,” said board member Anusha Thotakura at a recent meeting to review the board’s January agenda. “If you have testing for second quarter after winter break, students won’t have that opportunity to reset, relax, and come into the new year energized.”

District officials said at the time that ending the school year’s second quarter before winter break would be impossible without an unusually early start to the year. But they agreed to conduct a follow-up survey of students, parents, and staff to gather feedback about potentially revising the calendar. The deadline to complete that survey was Tuesday at noon, roughly two days before this week’s meeting.

“Given how close the survey deadline was to the Thursday Board meeting, it is not on the agenda for January 29th to account for the District to have a reasonable period to process results, and then for the Board to consider those results before casting a vote,” the school board office said in a statement Tuesday.

Under the calendar unveiled earlier this month, the 2026-27 school year would start on Aug. 24 and end June 11. CPS parents have perennially called on the district to firm up the calendar well in advance, and officials at the agenda review meeting two weeks ago had celebrated bringing it to a vote earlier than in previous years.

The district had surveyed students, parents, and employees during the fall, garnering more than 14,000 responses. Significant majorities told the district that they wanted calendars for the next two years this winter as well as fairly consistent summer breaks. Only 10% said they wanted the school year to start more than two weeks before Labor Day.

Nicole Milberg, the district’s chief of teaching and learning, told members that the district was able to wrap up the first semester before winter break this school year because Labor Day fell relatively early on the calendar and because CPS leaders opted for a second semester significantly longer than the first one. But this coming school year, because of a later Sept. 7 Labor Day, starting two weeks before the holiday means students will have three additional weeks after winter break to wrap up the semester.

The district looked into eliminating the full week off for Thanksgiving and moving more professional development days for educators to the second semester, said Milberg, who is herself a CPS high school parent. But a pre-winter break end to a semester that meets state seat time requirements still wasn’t possible without starting school well before Labor Day.

“We do absolutely know and understand the challenges we are presenting,” Milberg said. “There is no perfect calendar.”

But a number of school members nevertheless pressed the district on the timing. Some said a semester end before winter break could help get seniors’ grades to colleges where they apply sooner — and would align with the City Colleges of Chicago semester for those who take dual enrollment classes there.

And when it came to end-of-semester testing, board member Ellen Rosenfeld said, “Quite frankly, the retention they might have after two weeks of break is not the same.”

Thotakura asked the district to conduct a follow-up survey, clearly asking respondents if they would be OK with starting school more than two weeks before Labor Day if it means ending the semester before winter break.

“I don’t think that 10% reflects how many people would be happy to cut their summer a little short if that means the second quarter can end before break,” she said.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools closed Friday amid ‘dangerous cold’

2026-01-22T18:35:37+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools will be closed Friday as dangerously cold temperatures blanket the city.

All school buildings will be closed and all extracurricular activities, including athletic practices, games, and events, are canceled, CPS said in a statement. Canceled games will be rescheduled.

“With dangerously frigid temperatures expected tomorrow and a Warning from the National Weather Service that wind chills could reach -35 degrees, it will be unsafe for students and staff to travel to school,” CPS said in a news release.

Chicago joined many other Illinois and Northwest Indiana school districts that will also be closed Friday, though many will transition to remote learning. Chicago Public Schools will not offer remote learning, officials said.

A large winter storm is expected to sweep across the central and eastern parts of the U.S. this weekend.

The National Weather Service warned of “dangerous cold” starting late Thursday through the weekend in the Chicago area and surrounding suburbs. On Friday, the high temperature is forecast between minus 5 and 2 degrees, and lows are expected to range between minus 2 and minus 11 degrees. Wind chills are expected to drop between minus 20 and minus 40 degrees Friday morning, increasing the danger of frostbite, hypothermia, and frozen pipes, the weather service said.

The weather service advised people to stay indoors if possible. CPS expects classes to resume Monday.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

New enrollment analysis flags shrinking portion of Chicago children who go to Chicago Public Schools

2026-01-20T19:28:20+00:00

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Through years of steady pre-COVID enrollment losses in Chicago Public Schools, one thing stayed consistent: Roughly 75% of school-aged children in the city attended the district.

In recent years, though, that “market share” has slipped — a key takeaway of a new report on CPS enrollment by the advocacy group Kids First Chicago released Tuesday. The analysis using U.S. Census data says the loss is small but significant — a dip of more than 4 percentage points since 2018 that accounts for 18,000 fewer students.

Until recently, the portion of school-aged children served by CPS’ district-run and charter schools remained consistent through the mass school closures of 2013, financial troubles, and teacher strikes. Now, it’s slipped closer to 71%.

“There are actually fewer families choosing to send their kids to CPS,” said Hal Woods, the chief of policy at Kids First. He added, pointing to the growing number of students with disabilities the district serves, “Even as CPS is losing students, the needs of the existing students are going up.”

After two years in which migrant student arrivals stabilized the district’s enrollment, CPS resumed losing students this past fall. It enrolled about 9,000 fewer students compared with last year. Overall, the district has lost more than 70,000 students during the past decade, and a growing number of severely underenrolled schools are a major challenge facing it. The district, which slipped to fourth-largest nationally during the pandemic, now serves about 316,200 students.

As the Kids First report noted, these losses have been driven largely by demographic trends outside the district’s control: In fewer than 20 years, the number of babies born in Chicago has been nearly halved. Sharply declining birth rates mean that the deficit-plagued district is poised to continue wrestling with shrinking enrollment.

Meanwhile, most students who left CPS in recent years have done so because their families moved out of Chicago, district data suggests.

The erosion of CPS’ market share preceded the pandemic, but picked up during COVID, with some families opting for private schools and homeschooling during an extended remote learning stretch. Not all of them came back. Private schools now serve a greater share of school-aged children, maintaining a relatively steady enrollment as the number of children shrank.

The portion of school-aged children who are not enrolled in school — including homeschooled students, dropouts, and others — also grew, based on the Kids First analysis of Census data.

The report also noted enrollment declines have been largest on the city’s South and West sides, while student numbers held steady in more affluent North Side and central areas. Parts of the city hardest hit by enrollment loss are home to a growing number of small schools — including high schools serving fewer than 200 students — where students tend to have more limited course and extracurricular offerings.

The per-student costs at some of these tiny schools are eye-popping. But their budgets are barely a rounding error in the district’s overall $10.2 billion budget, Woods noted, though the costs of maintaining their often massive, aging buildings are mounting.

Still, Woods said, “The notion that school consolidations or rightsizing is a panacea for the district’s financial problems is erroneous.” He added, “We see this data as an impetus to talk about what the student experience is like in these low-enrollment schools.”

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

5 things to watch in 2026 in Chicago Public Schools and across Illinois

2026-01-16T12:00:01+00:00

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2026 is a big year for Chicago Public Schools.

The school board is looking for a new CEO as it stares down a possible half-billion-dollar budget deficit. And later this year, the city will hold school board elections — this time for every seat.

On the state level, there are questions about what education funding and child care will look like as the Trump administration threatens to withhold federal funding for Illinois child care services.

Here are five things we’re watching this year.

Who will be the next leader of Chicago Public Schools?

When Chalkbeat previewed 2025, we wondered who the next CEO would be. That question remains more than a year later.

The school board began searching last spring for CPS’ new CEO, who is charged with carrying out the board’s vision for the district’s schools and recommending policy changes for board approval.

The board was expected to choose one of two finalists by the end of 2025. But the process appeared to come to a halt in November after the Chicago Sun-Times, WBEZ, and Chalkbeat revealed finalist names. Later that month, one board member said they were “reconsidering the process,” while another said they were rescheduling finalist interviews. A November statement from the board said the process is “ongoing.”

Whoever is hired will face thorny issues like chronic absenteeism, budget problems, and declining enrollment. Notably, that person will be less than a year into the job before a new, fully elected school board takes over in January 2027.

Who will Chicago elect to be on the school board?

Chicago voters will elect a new school board on Nov. 3. But unlike the last election in 2024, voters will choose all 21 board members, including an at-large president.

Currently, the mayor appoints people to 11 of the seats, including board president.

Many board members have said they plan to run, but board President Sean Harden has said he won’t. Candidates who win seats currently held by mayoral appointees will have two-year terms; those who win seats held by elected members will have four-year terms.

It will also be key to watch who is donating to candidates’ campaigns. Last election, some of the biggest spenders were political action committees tied to the Chicago Teachers Union, Illinois Network of Charter Schools, and Urban Center.

Prospective candidates can begin Feb. 24 to collect petition signatures from registered Chicago voters – a requirement of getting on the ballot. The lists of signatures must be submitted to the Chicago Board of Elections between May 18-26.

By Aug. 27, the Board of Elections will have a final list of who will appear on the November ballot.

Are we in for another budget fight at CPS?

The short answer is, probably.

Chicago Public Schools and its school board navigated a bruising budget process last summer as it grappled with a $734 million deficit, or about 8% of the operating budget. Board members argued over whether to take out a short-term loan to cover expenses and whether to forgo a pension payment to the city. They ultimately avoided a loan and direct cuts to classrooms but slashed elsewhere, including vacant positions at central office, custodians, and hot meals.

For the next fiscal year, which begins July 1, CPS officials have so far projected a $520 million deficit, and it’s unclear if more federal cuts are coming. Board members may need to consider cuts right as many run for election. Some may try to find more revenue, such as lobbying the state for more money or changes to help alleviate the district’s structural deficit.

But the state is also facing a challenging financial picture.

What can we expect from the state budget?

The Illinois State Board of Education wants a $350 million increase to the main funding stream for school districts. The 4% increase, if ultimately approved by state lawmakers, is in line with past years, but some organizations say that increase is not enough, especially in the face of possible federal cuts. Roughly one-third of Illinois school districts are considered 90% or more adequately funded, according to state figures.

The state is facing a $2.2 billion deficit. Still, the legislature is unlikely to provide much less than the amount ISBE requested.

Illinois House Speaker Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch, one of the state’s most powerful Democrats, wants a new tax on millionaires. And some groups, including the Chicago Teachers Union, have been pushing since last year for state leaders to impose new taxes on Illinois’ wealthiest residents and corporations. If such proposals go through, it’s possible some of the additional revenue will flow to schools.

But the state has many other areas of government to focus on, including a possible loss of federal dollars for child care and social services assistance.

What will child care look like?

There are fresh concerns about child care after the Trump administration announced a plan to freeze about $1 billion in federal assistance for Illinois child care for low-income, working families and other social services programs.

Tens of thousands of Illinois children are in programs supported by those federal funds, including 152,000 kids who attend programs partially funded by the federal Child Care and Development Block Grant, according to Pritzker’s office. Thousands of other children go to licensed child care providers who receive federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, dollars, the governor’s office said.

A federal judge has temporarily blocked the administration from withholding that money. But if the Trump administration is successful, the loss of these funds could mean a drastic drop in the state’s child care providers and could leave many families without help, advocates and policy experts have said.

Some unions and state lawmakers are calling for Illinois to expand funding to keep those programs afloat through new taxes on corporations and billionaires. It’s unclear if there is broad appetite on the state level to do so.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools to borrow more as it faces property tax revenue delays

2026-01-15T19:53:49+00:00

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The Chicago school board is poised to increase the amount the district is borrowing to make payroll amid delays in receiving property tax revenue.

The board is expected to boost that amount by $400 million, to $1.65 billion — a change that district officials estimate will set the deficit-plagued Chicago Public Schools back about $6.6 million in added short-term borrowing costs.

District officials told the board this week they estimate that delays in receiving property tax revenue from Cook County have cost the district more than $70 million over the past eight years. This school year, they are costing CPS about $220,000 in interest costs a month — “a lot of money and definitely more than the cost of one teacher,” as school board member Carlos Rivas put it at a Wednesday meeting to review the board’s monthly agenda.

“All of these delays cumulatively have really been a pain point for us,” said Wally Stock, the district’s acting chief financial officer.

In recent years, the delays have been caused by massive issues with the county’s efforts to update its computer system. The board will vote on the midyear increase in its short-term borrowing, which allows the district to keep paying its staff and vendors, at its regular meeting in late January.

After the latest round of property tax delays, county tax bills went out in November, with a due date in mid-December. The district is in the process of receiving its revenue, almost eight months into the fiscal year, Stock told the board.

“I am optimistic and hopeful that with the new computer system, they will get back on the rails and get the bills out on time,” he said. But he added, “It’s hard to say.”

Cook County is helping some smaller suburban taxing districts weather the delays with a bridge loan program, but CPS does not qualify. Still, Rivas and other members suggested CPS officials should speak with county officials about the possibility of chipping in for the district’s swelling borrowing costs. Rivas said he worries the district will find itself once again navigating property tax revenue delays later this year.

“We need to keep putting pressure on our county folks to help us out,” he said.

Some fiscal experts have said that CPS should build up the kind of cash reserve that school districts with healthy finances set aside to weather unforeseen expenses or revenue delays without having to borrow in the short term. The district also has hefty long-term debt related to maintaining its portfolio of aging buildings, and the costs of servicing it are a significant drain on its budget.

At a special meeting during the district’s winter recess, the board approved a modest property tax levy increase by a 15-to-5 vote, with board members arguing that CPS should tap any possible influx of dollars at a time of increasingly tight finances and looming deficits. That increase, which will cost the owner of a $250,000 home an additional $8 a year, will bring in an extra $40 million for CPS this fiscal year. It bumped up the levy amount to the maximum the district can set, which officials had slightly underestimated when they determined it back in the summer.

A Cook County spokeswoman said she couldn’t comment on the board members’ interest in redress for the added borrowing costs because that has not been communicated to the county. But she noted that as of earlier this week, nearly all taxing districts in the county have received 80% of their property tax distributions, and the remainder are being processed.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago study: High school attendance makes a big difference

2026-01-13T08:00:00+00:00

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Middle and high school attendance still matters enormously post-COVID, and schools can do a lot to improve it, according to a new report from the University of Chicago’s Consortium on School Research.

In Chicago and across the country, student absenteeism surged during the pandemic. In Chicago Public Schools, the increase has been especially significant and unabated in the high school grades, where a 2025 Chalkbeat and WBEZ investigation showed a quarter of students missed 35 or more days the previous year. Nevertheless, the graduation rate has continued to inch up in the district, where leaders say CPS has rightfully moved away from penalizing students for missing school and instead gives them more opportunities to make up work or submit assignments virtually.

But the Consortium on School Research study released Tuesday found absenteeism has a clear impact on learning: The more school days students missed, the lower their test scores and grades. And, even as the authors acknowledge that many factors outside schools’ control affect attendance, they stress that schools can make a big difference. Campuses with similar student demographics and in similar neighborhoods have had markedly different post-pandemic attendance, the report notes.

At schools that maintained strong attendance, students reported feeling safer, more connected to their teachers and peers, and more challenged and engaged in their classes, the study found.

“Post-pandemic, we were hearing all these questions: Does attendance matter as much any more? And can schools really do anything about it?” said Elaine Allensworth, one of the report’s authors. “All the studies we do suggest that attendance is still vitally important at all grade levels.”

Next, Allensworth and her fellow researchers plan to dig deeper into the practices that help schools improve attendance despite serving high-needs student bodies.

The report compared attendance and other metrics during three pre-pandemic and three post-COVID schools years through 2023-24. It found chronic absenteeism rose dramatically across all grades, by 20 percentage points overall. Students are considered chronically absent when they miss 10% or more days in a school year.

Last school year, 40% of the district’s students were chronically absent, CPS data shows.

More widespread absences took a toll. In fact, the study suggests that attendance had an even stronger impact on test scores and grades than it did before the pandemic.

At the same time, the researchers noted that grades post-COVID were higher both for students with high attendance and for those who miss a lot of school — a development they said calls for further study. For instance, sixth graders who were absent 10% of the time had an average GPA of 2.9 before COVID and 3.2 in the more recent years. Possible explanations the study offers are changes in grading practices and standards, or technology use that enables students to complete assignments even when missing class.

These findings echo those of Chalkbeat and WBEZ’s recent series, which found a districtwide push to give students more grace that intensified during the pandemic and more lenient grading scales at some high schools. In response to that reporting, former CEO Pedro Martinez told Chalkbeat that while he was greatly concerned about absenteeism in the early grades, he was less worried about high school absence, where he said students are eager to use technology to give them more flexibility.

But Allensworth said being in school still matters, noting previous research linking high school attendance to college going and performance.

“The more students are in class, the stronger their learning gains and their later outcomes,” she said.

In a statement in response to the study, the district said attendance at all grade levels is a key focus. It pointed to school-level work to closely monitor student data so teachers and staff can intervene promptly if attendance or other metrics start lagging. It also noted stepped-up outreach to families and efforts to increase participation in after-school and other enrichment programs, which has been shown to improve attendance.

The University of Chicago research affirms the district’s “commitment to creating schools where every student feels seen, safe, and connected,” the statement said.

The study notes schools alone are “neither the cause nor the solution to increases in chronic absenteeism rates,” noting that neighborhood safety, transportation options, and economic instability affect attendance. But schools have considerable power to boost attendance, and in fact the study found a school’s neighborhood did not appear to be a major factor in the COVID-era absenteeism increases. As previous research has suggested, school climate was key — even more so post-pandemic.

The researchers looked at the connection between attendance and schools’ scores on 5Essentials, a student and staff survey designed by the University of Chicago. One influential factor that stood out to Allensworth was the strength of the relationships between teachers and parents. Studies have suggested that those relationships are really important for attendance at the elementary level, but Allensworth was surprised to see the key role they appeared to play in high schools as well.

“It’s much harder for some students to get to school every day than for others — we have to acknowledge that,” she said. “But you can’t just say there’s nothing we can do about it. If you don’t do anything, the students who have the most barriers will be the ones who will miss the most school.”

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools unveils calendars for the coming two school years

2026-01-12T19:20:43+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools is looking to start the 2026-27 school year on Aug. 24 and wrap it up on June 11, based on a proposed calendar the district unveiled Monday.

A tentative calendar for the following school year is also out, with an Aug. 23 start date and June 9 end date.

As in the current school year, both calendars include 176 student attendance days, four professional development days, four Teacher Institute days, four school improvement days, and two parent-teacher conference days. Also in line with this year’s calendar, students and staff will be off for the entire week of Thanksgiving. They will get a two-week winter recess and a week off for spring break in late March.

The school board will review the calendars at a meeting this week and is expected to approve them at its regular meeting Jan. 29.

The Chicago Teachers Union’s most recent contract approved last week increased the number of teacher-led professional development days from three to six and decreased those directed by principals from nine to six.

Under the proposed calendar, the pre-K school year will once again start a day after the year for older students and will end a day earlier.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Report: Sexual misconduct, abuse widespread on campus where former dean sentenced to 22 years worked

2026-01-07T15:34:14+00:00

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A culture of rampant sexual misconduct and assault at a Little Village high school complex went far beyond the case of a former dean sentenced to 22 years in prison last year, according to the annual report by Chicago Public Schools’ watchdog.

In December, the school board approved a record $17.5 million settlement to a former student abused by Brian Crowder, the former dean at Greater Lawndale High School for Social Justice, who was convicted of aggravated criminal sexual assault and other charges. But the report by the CPS Office of the Inspector General released Wednesday said seven other former teachers, administrators, and staff at that school and at one of three campuses sharing a building with it also engaged in inappropriate behavior toward students and recent graduates during the 2010s.

These issues were first reported by NBC5 Chicago last year, which identified the second school as Infinity Math, Science, and Technology High School and named two educators involved.

The watchdog report, which was pending at the time, has since found employees groomed students for sexual relationships in person and via social media, and sometimes pursued them as soon as they graduated. One teacher, who also ran a legal aid clinic on the shared campus, presented himself as a protector of girls and women — only to make overtures to numerous former students months after they graduated and have sex with at least four of them, the watchdog found.

According to the report, these issues were so widespread that staff at the inspector general’s office spoke with one former student who had faced advances from three teachers: one during her junior year, one in her senior year, and one soon after she graduated.

“Our investigations revealed a culture at the time where professional boundaries between staff members and students were blurred,” said Philip Wagenknecht, the inspector general. “It was not unusual for staff to message students on social media, gossip with them, and treat them like friends rather than students. This could have been seen as normal and may have made it easier for bad actors to go unnoticed.”

In response to the investigation’s findings, the district extended its existing prohibition on social media and other nonacademic interactions with students to include former students during the year after they graduate or leave a school. The district also provided additional training to all staff at Little Village Lawndale High School campus.

All of the investigated employees had either already left the district or resigned amid the inquiries. The district placed a ban on rehiring them in their personnel files and — for those licensed by the state of Illinois — reported them to the state.

In a statement, the district said it is “committed to preventing, identifying, and responding to any form of abuse, misconduct, or exploitation within the community” and provides ongoing training to all employees and vendors on preventing and reporting misconduct.

The cases at these two schools were among 335 the inspector general’s Sexual Allegations Unit closed in fiscal year 2025, issuing 55 reports substantiating misconduct. The unit also opened 246 new cases during that year.

The bulk of the abuse and misconduct at Little Village Lawndale described in the report took place before 2018, when CPS tightened its rules and oversight following a 2018 Chicago Tribune series on unchecked sexual abuse in the district; those changes included the ban on social media contact with students and the launch of the sexual allegations unit. In some cases, former students interviewed by the office spoke up about troubling experiences with teachers and staff that classmates had shared with them years ago.

“The victims and witnesses who made the initial reports or who agreed to participate in the resulting investigations exhibited enormous bravery and potentially prevented more students from being victimized,” the report said.

According to the report, Crowder started grooming the student when she was a sophomore at the school and and started sexually assaulting her when she was 15 or 16. He posed as her stepfather to help her obtain two abortions, the report noted. It also said Crowder and the student continued having sex after she graduated. She went to the police when the former dean sent her threatening messages about a new relationship she had started.

The watchdog also found that a former teacher and coach at Greater Lawndale High School for Social Justice school groomed a 17-year-old student, exchanged more than 18,000 text messages with her, and kissed her, though the former student declined to say whether they had other physical contact. The Illinois grooming law only applies to children aged 16 or younger, and the watchdog could not find evidence of a criminal offense.

At Infinity High School, a teacher styled himself as a champion of female students, spoke about rescuing girls from abusive relationships, and launched a legal clinic at the school, leading some students to confide in him about past sexual trauma and other issues, according to the report. But shortly after more than a dozen students graduated, he reached out to them on social media, the watchdog found. His messages quickly turned sexual, including describing his sexual preferences and sending nude photos, the report said.

The watchdog’s report said the teacher had sex with at least four recent graduates. Watchdog staff found evidence of inappropriate behavior with at least one of the recent graduates while she was still a student. He told watchdog staff that he believed the encounters were “entirely appropriate” because the district had never told him not to pursue them. He was suspended and eventually resigned during the investigation and shut down his legal clinic.

Some of the former students filed police reports against the teacher, but the Chicago Police Department ultimately found that his behavior was not criminal because the recent graduates were at least 18. In Illinois, the age of consent is 17, or 18 when people in a position of authority are involved.

Watchdog staff also found an administrator at that school pursued and had sex with a former student shortly after graduation, even though her parent had confided in him that she was vulnerable. Several former students also complained to the watchdog about other inappropriate behavior while they were still at the school. Watchdog staff found multiple employees at the school had learned of concerns about the administrator but failed to report them.

That former administrator also resigned from CPS during the investigation and got a job at another Illinois district, falsely certifying that he had never been the focus of a sexual misconduct inquiry, according to the report.

The inspector general’s reports do not customarily identify employees who engage in misconduct or the schools where they work.

The report says misconduct at the two schools peaked in 2015 and 2016, saying “a general lack of boundaries” on campus enabled the abuse. One of the former employees who was investigated told watchdog staff that this permissive culture meant he “found himself engaging with students like a peer or a friend rather than an authority figure.”

This story has been updated to clarify some language.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools inspector general’s report outlines fraud by district employees

2026-01-07T12:45:44+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools has to repay more than $1 million in federal dollars after its in-house watchdog uncovered fraud involving a staffer who had inflated student enrollment numbers in a federally funded program for years.

That’s one of the fraud cases outlined in the annual report from the Chicago Public Schools Office of the Inspector General for fiscal year 2025, including some involving federal COVID assistance programs. The report, out Wednesday, also noted that the district last year stopped using a family income form after the watchdog previously found numerous teachers and administrators who are also district parents misreported their income on it, making their children eligible for fee waivers and other benefits.

Philip Wagenknecht, the district’s inspector general, said the case of the program manager who overstated enrollment numbers stands out because his office had previously flagged her and recommended discipline and stricter oversight. Fox News previously reported that the district agreed to repay federal funds from the Indian Education Formula Grant, meant for Native American students.

“With respect to fraud and financial mismanagement, this was arguably the most egregious conduct covered in the annual report,” Wagenknecht said. “It wasn’t a clerical mistake or an accident.”

In November, the inspector general also released a special report on district travel expenses, which ballooned following the influx of federal pandemic relief dollars. Some, such as a series of overseas staff development trips that included a hot air balloon ride and wildlife safaris, were costly and of questionable value, that report said.

The program manager who the watchdog says repeatedly falsified federal grant applications had been the focus of an earlier investigation in which the inspector general’s office uncovered similar issues. In 2021, the office had recommended discipline for the program manager and her supervisor, and urged the district to increase oversight of that program. Back then, the inspector general’s office found a longstanding practice of overstating the number of students enrolled in the program, which the report does not identify.

The district did not discipline the employees at the time, but added an extra layer of oversight. Nevertheless, last fiscal year the watchdog found the program manager had continued to submit inflated program enrollment numbers. For example, the district’s 2024-25 program application listed 275 enrolled students, but the watchdog found records for fewer than 100, many of them incomplete.

The district has fired that employee and placed a ban on rehiring her in her personnel file, according to the report. It also agreed to repay almost $1.2 million to the U.S. Department of Education by the fall of 2026.

In another case outlined in Wednesday’s report, a Chicago principal got two loans worth more than $41,000 through the COVID-era Paycheck Protection Program, which were later forgiven. According to the report, she claimed to be a struggling self-employed property manager, even as she made more than $140,000 in her school leader post. That principal was also the focus of a separate inspector general investigation that found she was absent from her school job for long stretches without explanation and generally neglected her duties as principal.

She told watchdog staff that she had no outside employment and that the information she submitted to obtain the loans and have them forgiven was false. The school board moved to dismiss that principal and place a ban on rehiring her.

The district watchdog does not customarily identify staffers or the schools that employed them.

The latest inspector general’s report also outlines the case of Brian Metcalf, a former CPS principal and network chief who in late 2023 was indicted on several counts of wire fraud related to a scheme to defraud an Indiana charter school network he oversaw. The CPS watchdog found that before he left the district in 2018, he also engaged in a phony billing scheme with a vendor named Kimberly Maddox that defrauded CPS of at least $88,500.

Maddox and another Metcalf co-conspirator were also indicted. Metcalf reached a plea agreement that involved paying restitution to CPS and the charter. He also admitted that he and his co-conspirators defrauded two post-CPS employers of more than $1 million.

CPS said in a statement that it’s taking the findings of the latest watchdog report seriously.

“As a district of more than 40,000 employees serving over 315,000 students, CPS remains dedicated to providing proactive, comprehensive training for employees and vendors, enforcing all policies, rules, and laws, and taking appropriate action, including implementing appropriate discipline when required, in accordance with the highest ethical standards,” the district’s statement said.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago schools will get about $200 million more from City Council TIF surplus

2025-12-23T20:56:54+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools will get $193 million more in tax revenue than was included in this year’s $10.2 billion budget after the City Council passed its own budget Saturday, declaring a $1 billion surplus Saturday from city tax increment financing districts.

But the additional dollars will not result in a windfall for classrooms as the school system continues to adjust spending, eliminate vacant positions, and account for increased interest payments on debt.

The TIF surplus amount is unchanged from what Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson proposed in October. By law, CPS gets a little over half of any TIF surplus declared by the city. City budget documents released in October said the school district would get $552.4 million, which is $193 million more than the $379 million the school board budgeted to get from those special taxing districts, known as TIF.

Johnson said Tuesday he would not sign the budget plan, but he would not veto it either. That means it will automatically go into effect at the start of 2026.

This is the second year in a row Johnson faced a significant budget battle with the City Council. This year, dozens of aldermen presented an alternative budget after voting down Johnson’s in late November. Facing an end-of- the- year deadline, the alternative budget plan passed Saturday by a vote of 30-18.

During a press conference at City Hall on Tuesday, Johnson expressed strong opposition to some elements of the alternative budget’s plan, particularly a move to sell off debt owed to the city. While he considers some elements of the budget “morally bankrupt,” he applauded other elements, including the TIF surplus.

“We added the largest TIF surplus in the history of the city to go to our schools, our parks, our libraries,” he said. “These investments create spaces for our young people to grow and thrive and keep our city safe.”

A coalition of school board members aligned with Johnson put out a statement after the City Council vote that thanked aldermen for not changing the TIF surplus but criticized them for not supporting the mayor’s proposed corporate head tax.

A significant chunk of the additional money — $175 million — is expected to go back to the city as a reimbursement payment to cover a portion of municipal pension costs for CPS non-teaching staff retirements.

That leaves roughly $18 million for the school district to use.

However, the district’s budget approved in August required officials to identify an additional $50 million in cuts. A CPS spokesperson said in recent weeks the district eliminated 69 vacant positions from 19 central and citywide departments, extended an ongoing hiring freeze at the central office , cut some professional development for teachers, and made additional cuts to central office expenses, saving about $34.4 million.

The district also said it found savings elsewhere, including through its Summer Bridge program which was offered at fewer schools this year, according to the spokesperson. The district estimated it saved $15.6 million through these and other measures.

No employee was laid off, and there are no planned cuts to “student-facing” programs for the second semester, another spokesperson said.

Other unexpected expenses have come up since the district passed its budget in August.

In September, the federal government cut millions in magnet school grants citing CPS’s diversity initiatives, which left an $8 million unexpected hole in this year’s budget.

And last week, WBEZ reported Chicago Public Schools is spending $23 million more than usual to cover interest payments on loans it routinely takes out to cover payroll and other expenses while waiting for Cook County to send tax revenue to government bodies.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago’s Sustainable Community Schools are growing. But few outperform neighboring schools.

2025-12-19T23:25:00+00:00

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Principal Anna Vilchez takes pride in how much Steinmetz College Prep has to offer:

More than a dozen student-led after-school programs, from photography to DJing. A 3D printer-equipped engineering lab. Some 30 classes each month through its Parent University.

These offerings are paid for through Chicago Public Schools’ Sustainable Community Schools initiative, a joint effort by the district and its teachers union that has given high-poverty schools about $500,000 annually to team up with community nonprofits to provide wraparound support.

Vilchez is grateful for the boost. But she also wants to see more gains in the school’s attendance, graduation rate, and test scores — growth similar community school programs have powered in other cities.

Unspent money, turnover, and tension: Chicago’s Sustainable Community Schools provide lessons for future

A Chalkbeat analysis of student outcomes at the 20 schools in the program since 2018 suggests the investments have not yet led to widespread improvement in how likely students are to attend school regularly, graduate from high school, or pass key reading and math tests. This is partly due to the pandemic’s disruption to the rollout, but also a lack of clear goals and guidelines, tensions between schools and their nonprofit partners, and money left unspent, Chalkbeat found.

Nevertheless, Chicago Public Schools is more than tripling the number of Sustainable Community Schools to 70 by 2027. The expansion will cost $35 million annually — a major investment at a time when the district is wrestling with budget deficits.

Supporters, including Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, say the initiative transforms some of the city’s most disinvested campuses into service-rich neighborhood hubs, bringing needed programs and support staff often seen as givens at higher-income schools.

“Schools are successful when every single child has everything that they need,” Johnson said last summer when he announced 16 additional campuses joining the program. “The success of a school is not just based on student outcomes.”

But critics say the district should have ensured the model is delivering measurable results before enshrining the expansion into its latest teachers contract.

District officials say they are spelling out clearer expectations and giving more guidance to schools, especially the 16 schools joining the initiative this school year.

“We’ve learned that giving schools money and partnering them [with nonprofits] does not give them the foundation of how to actually transform their school,” said Autumn Berg, the district’s community schools initiative director. “It took us a long time to get there.”

On traditional metrics, Sustainable Community Schools do not outperform

Before Steinmetz became a Sustainable Community School in 2018, the campus — which serves predominantly low-income Latino students — had few enrichment programs. And it never consistently gave students and parents a say in what it offered.

That changed with the program, which now funds a range of after-school activities, including an after-school K-pop dance club founded by junior Miguel Hernandez.

Hernandez, who came to the school as a freshman English learner, is now taking college-level arts classes at Columbia College.

He credits much of his growth to the club.

“I created a great bond with a lot of people,” he said.

Miguel Hernandez, a junior at Steinmetz College Prep High School, practices a dance routine on the school’s auditorium stage on Dec. 9, 2025, in Chicago. Hernandez founded the school’s K-pop dance club and is now taking dual-enrollment dance classes at Columbia College Chicago.

Hernandez’ experience reflects a community school promise: Engaging programs created with input from families give students a reason to go to school and do better in their classes. But the model hasn’t yet given most Sustainable Community Schools an edge in attendance and achievement.

Chalkbeat compared student metrics over time at the 20 pilot schools to those at 29 campuses that applied to the program but didn’t get in, which have an almost identical average poverty rate to the pilot group and also serve almost exclusively Black and Latino students. The analysis also looked at about 300 campuses with poverty rates of at least 80%, the minimum required to apply to the program.

Student outcomes shifted similarly in all three groups since 2018, with the SCS schools seemingly getting little academic boost from the program’s investments. Absenteeism shot up comparably during the pandemic and has remained well above pre-COVID levels, with Sustainable Community Schools struggling slightly more than other high-needs schools.

A district analysis last school year obtained by Chalkbeat did find that among students who regularly attend after-school programs at the 20 Sustainable Community Schools, chronic absenteeism was 13 percentage points lower than for their peers in the same school.

The pilot schools have also had consistently higher graduation rates than the campuses that didn’t get into the program. But over time, those campuses improved slightly more and narrowed the gap.

When it comes to test scores, all three groups saw the same trends on the SAT and the Illinois elementary proficiency test.

The Sustainable Community Schools have seen marked reduction in suspensions and, after a COVID-era uptick, in behavioral incidents. But so did other high-poverty schools.

On a University of Chicago-designed student and staff survey called 5Essentials, measures of school connectedness and climate have declined districtwide post-COVID. But the 20 pilot schools experienced a steeper drop than other high-needs schools, with almost half getting a rating of weak or very weak in the most recent year for which data was available.

And even as program supporters have held it up as a possible antidote to declining enrollment, the 20 Sustainable Community Schools have lost more than a fifth of their enrollment since 2018, while districtwide enrollment dipped about 11%.

Students move between classes at Steinmetz College Prep High School in Chicago on Dec. 9, 2025. The school is expanding its STEAM curriculum as part of the district’s Sustainable Community Schools program.

At Steinmetz, absenteeism, academic outcomes, and enrollment largely followed these pilot groups trends, with a sharper drop in suspensions than other high-poverty campuses.

In recent years, the community schools model has gained traction nationally, though the Trump administration recently cut some community schools grants.

Research has shown well-implemented programs can yield measurable student gains. Isaac Opper, a University of California, Los Angeles and RAND School of Public Policy expert who helped evaluate New York City’s community schools program implemented before the pandemic, said that several years in, that initiative had produced attendance gains, graduation rate increases, and modest but notable test score improvements.

“If you are seeing no difference, one story is that Sustainable Community Schools isn’t working,” Opper said. “Another is that it is working, but so are other things the district is doing.”

But there are outliers. Several schools in Chicago’s initiative have seen student outcomes markedly improve and enrollment stabilize. What they appear to have in common: consistent leadership through the seven years of the program, teacher and staff buy-in, and a clear vision for how to make the most of the added dollars.

At Richards High School on the Southwest Side, enrollment is up, graduation rate increases are outpacing the district’s, and absenteeism, though still high, has dipped below pre-pandemic levels. Metcalfe Elementary on the Far South Side saw improvements in test scores and attendance. Its 5Essentials rating rose to the highest possible.

Metcalfe Principal Stephen Fabiyi says the program has helped support smaller class sizes in the early grades and a robust, well-attended after-school program that blends enrichment and academic help from the school’s teachers. Getting family input on programs and curricula boosted engagement.

“My kids would have a snowball’s chance in hell of being successful in school without Sustainable Community Schools,” Fabiyi said.

With Sustainable Community Schools expansion, a promise of more accountability

Monique Redeaux-Smith, a former CPS teacher who now works at the Illinois Federation of Teachers and co-chairs the district’s Sustainable Community Schools task force, says that at these high-needs schools with histories of disinvestment, the program is “trying to rebuild after a series of hurricanes.”

“I’m not worried about not seeing outcomes,” she said. “I know from having conversations and from seeing and talking to these schools and school stakeholders often that it is making a difference in the experience that young people are having every day.”

The model just needs more time, Redeaux-Smith said.

Mayor Johnson echoes that sentiment. When pressed about the program’s outcomes, he has brushed aside critics, arguing metrics like test scores have been historically abused to justify disinvestment in neighborhood schools and even their closures.

The STEAM Makerspace at Steinmetz College Prep High School is shown on Dec. 9, 2025, in Chicago. The space is used by students for hands-on projects in science, technology, engineering, arts, and math as part of the school’s STEAM program.

Dwayne Truss, a former school board member who says he’s a fan of community schools generally, says the Sustainable Community Schools program shouldn’t be growing so much given the lack of measurable results and budget crisis, he said.

“It would seem that you would wait until you have the data before you that says this is the greatest thing since sliced bread and go forward with this massive expansion,” Truss said.

District leaders say they are working to harness the lessons of the program’s rollout as Chicago grows it in the coming years. CPS and the union have agreed to bring in outside experts to evaluate the program and its outcomes this school year.

Officials say there are clearer expectations for the schools and partners, and a longer, more supportive transition into the program.

And the district is pushing for a new process whereby schools that don’t meet a set of performance goals — still under discussion — could lose half and eventually all of their SCS funding.

Vilchez and other principals say they hope the new push to better track results won’t take away flexibility and the ability to let families and local communities shape the model’s priorities. At the same time, they want the program to power student gains.

“I am committed to owning our data,” Vilchez said, ”and working to improve it.”

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Unspent money, turnover, and tension: Chicago’s Sustainable Community Schools provide lessons for future

2025-12-19T23:25:00+00:00

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When Anna Vilchez became principal at Steinmetz College Prep four years ago, she had to quickly turn to an unexpected crisis.

Since 2018, the high school on Chicago’s Northwest Side had teamed up with the nonprofit Northwest Center as part of Sustainable Community Schools, a partnership between the school district and its teachers union. High-needs campuses and partner nonprofits receive about $500,000 a year to expand family outreach, wraparound student services, and after-school programs.

But as Vilchez took over, Steinmetz and Northwest Center were poised to part ways. Their visions for the program were at odds. Meanwhile, the nonprofit struggled to spend the money it received through the initiative. Vilchez set out to salvage the partnership.

As Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union gear up to expand the program from 20 to 70 schools in the next two years, their leaders say the initiative has been a boon to high-poverty campuses. It has allowed them to enlist key support staff, offer more programs, and give their communities more of a voice in school decisions.

Chicago is expanding its Sustainable Community Schools. They haven’t yet boosted student outcomes.

But a Chalkbeat analysis of program spending showed schools and especially their community partners have left more than $6.6 million on the table since 2018. The initiative has also faced leadership and staff turnover, and tensions between schools and their nonprofit partner, which — along with the pandemic’s disruption to its rollout — could help explain why the model hasn’t yet given the 20 pilot schools an edge in improving student outcomes, as a Chalkbeat analysis of academic and school climate metrics found.

Clear goals and firm leadership are key to realizing the promise of the community school model, said William Corrin, an expert at the think tank MDRC.

“For Chicago, this juncture seems really critical,” he said. “We’re about to create more community schools. So what could we do to set ourselves up to do it better?”

‘There was no blueprint’ for Chicago’s community schools

Steinmetz, in a grand building in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood, was exactly the kind of school the district and union were looking for when they negotiated a 20-campus Sustainable Community Schools pilot that started in 2018. A neighborhood campus that serves predominantly low-income Latino students, including many English learners, the school was also already a community hub, with a health clinic and a Parent University.

Deja Kirk, a senior at Steinmetz College Prep High School, sings in the school’s recording studio on Dec. 9, 2025, in Chicago. The space is used by students in the music program to create and record original work as part of the school’s STEAM initiatives.

Steinmetz teamed up with local nonprofit Northwest Center for its successful bid to join the program. Then COVID hit, disrupting the rollout.

Here, as on other campuses, turnover and some resistance from educators and staff have been key hurdles. Jesse Livingston, the resource coordinator with Northwest Center (formerly the Northwest Side Housing Center), said teachers have seen programs and reform efforts come and go over the years, leaving them skeptical that this latest initiative would last. Some have also balked at the idea of engaging students, parents, and the nonprofit in more school decisions.

“Our biggest challenge has been adult buy-in,” he said. “Every school community wants to function as a village, but there’s conflict and a clique mentality and old gunky energy.”

Earlier on, the school and the nonprofit also didn’t see eye to eye on what the program should accomplish and struggled to understand how the other did business.

Angel Gonzalez, at the time the school’s program coordinator who also had experience working at a nonprofit, tried to mediate. Lack of guidance and training were big issues, he said.

“There was no blueprint,” Gonzalez said. “You just had to figure it out as you went along.”

Money for community schools initiative left on the table

Northwest Center, like other community partners in the program, receives about half of the $500,000 allocated to Steinmetz. But records obtained by Chalkbeat show the nonprofit, and others in the program, are not spending all the money.

Livingston said unfilled positions and midyear turnover as well as the district’s cumbersome reimbursement process for vendors have been key challenges.

“We’ve gotten better every year,” he said. Data show the nonprofit left more than $142,000 unspent in the first year working at Steinmetz, while last year, they used all but $45,000.

Chalkbeat found money went unspent at many of the other 20 schools, though last year they came closer to using all of it. At Beidler Elementary, the school and its partner, Blocks Together, have failed to spend more than 45% of their overall SCS funding so far, which the district attributed to “operational challenges rather than a lack of need.”

The union in its last round of contract negotiations won a provision allowing schools to carry over up to $300,000 in unspent SCS dollars to the next year.

Spending and staffing data Chalkbeat obtained shows in more recent years, campuses in the program used the money to pay for relatively few staffers. Some principals said rising salary and benefit costs have meant the dollars don’t stretch nearly as much as they did in 2018. The district did not provide data on school staff hired by partner nonprofits.

Across the city from Steinmetz, Farragut High School on the Southwest Side used Sustainable Community Schools money to pay for valuable positions, including a college and career coordinator and a youth intervention specialist, principal Virag Nanavati said.

But even as the school dipped into non-SCS funds to pay for these staffers, its partner, Enlace Chicago, left more than $75,000 unspent the year before Nanavati started alone. At the time, that meant the money stayed with the district instead of flowing to the school.

Nanavati says the nonprofit struggled to staff after-school programs and ran some that were poorly attended. The nonprofit also hired a resource coordinator, an assistant to the resource coordinator, and two counselors, even as the school had to cut staff because of budget woes. Enlace did not respond to a request for comment.

The school and Enlace worked to rethink the spending, Nanavati said, pitching in for holiday celebrations that have brought in prospective families and other residents. Farragut also expanded its after-school offerings, offered attendance incentives, and launched a credit recovery program during the school day — initiatives he credits with a dramatic increase in the school’s graduation rate this year.

“Your lead partner needs to understand that it’s not their money,” he said he told a principal at one of the 16 schools joining the program this fall. “It’s money to serve students that they help manage.”

Overcoming tensions to honor the community schools model

In the weeks after she started at Steinmetz, Vilchez spent an entire day with staff at Northwest Center, talking about how to work better together and avert the looming breakup.

Vilchez says the partnership with Northwest Center is strong now. The nonprofit oversees the school’s Parent University classes, from yoga to financial literacy to suicide prevention, as well as student after-school programs. It also connects families with key resources, including foreclosure prevention, workshops for first-time home buyers, and help enrolling in public benefits.

District officials say they are trying to better prepare schools and partners to work together as 16 new campuses transition into it this school year. The district has spelled out clearer staffing and spending expectations, and provided more training to both schools and nonprofit staff, said Autumn Berg, the district’s community schools initiative director.

“There’s always going to be struggle in partnerships,” she said. “It’s a lot like being married. You have to figure out how to work together. You have to figure out how to communicate.”

Galadryel Arroyo, a senior at Steinmetz College Prep High School, is pictured on Dec. 9, 2025, in Chicago. She is a member of the school’s mural club, which is part of its STEAM programming.

Vilchez says the program is paying off at Steinmetz. The school’s restorative justice work powered by Sustainable Community Schools led to a reduction in more serious student misconduct and suspensions. The say in decisions the model gave students and parents boosted a sense of connectedness to school. This fall, a districtwide student survey captured that greater sense of belonging, she said.

But there is still a lot to do, particularly in improving student outcomes. Vilchez said she welcomes the greater focus from the district on how the program is affecting academic and other metrics.

“I just hope that they honor what the SCS model is about — giving schools autonomy and flexibility to meet the needs of that specific community,” she said.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Illinois investigating Instituto Health Sciences Career Academy for special education violations

2025-12-18T21:19:32+00:00

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The Illinois State Board of Education has escalated a yearslong investigation into violations of special education law at Instituto Health Sciences Career Academy, a charter school in the Little Village neighborhood, Chicago Public Schools officials announced Thursday.

Instituto, which has been open since 2010, has “repeated and unresolved failure to correct documented special education violations over multiple school years,” according to a letter from Josh Long, the district’s chief of the Office of Students With Disabilities, to the Chicago Board of Education describing the state’s investigation. Long read his letter aloud, as required by the state, to the board at its meeting.

Despite the ongoing state investigation, CPS renewed Instituto’s contract in May for another three years.

State officials estimate Instituto failed to provide more than 100 students with disabilities with services they were legally entitled to last school year, amounting to a loss of between 12,000 to 80,000 minutes of instruction.

The state is now requiring CPS to provide additional oversight to Instituto, including biweekly check-ins, monitoring how the school is providing paraprofessional services, and monthly visits from CPS to Instituto to ensure the school is completing its requirements to compensate kids with services they missed over the previous two school years, the letter said.

As a charter school, Instituto is a privately run, publicly funded school and operates under a contract with CPS. CPS considers various factors when deciding to renew a charter school’s contract, including how well a school serves its students with disabilities.

The charter school enrolled 479 students at the start of this school year, and about 16% of those students have disabilities, on par with schools citywide, according to district demographic data. Schools create plans — either Individualized Education Programs, or IEPs, or 504 plans — for many students with disabilities that outline which services students are entitled to and how often they should receive them.

As part of its recommendation to renew Instituto’s contract, CPS said the school must “demonstrate progress” toward implementing unspecified recommendations from the Office for Students with Disabilities.

CPS did not immediately respond to a question about why it recommended renewing Instituto’s contract despite the investigation. But in a separate statement, a spokesperson said it “takes seriously its responsibility to uphold students’ rights and to ensure compliance with all applicable special education requirements.”

The state says Instituto has not yet provided documentation to show that it has fixed five of the 10 violations alleged by the state, including failure to provide speech and language services to students who require them and maintain required class size limits for special education classes. There are still students who are owed services from the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years, according to the state letter.

“This delay resulted in students graduating, transferring from the school and district, no longer being eligible or revoking consent for special education services, further impeding their access to required compensatory education minutes,” according to the letter.

Board members did not discuss the matter or ask questions after Long finished reading the letter.

Several educators from the school spoke to board members during the public comment portion of Thursday’s meeting, saying their issues worsened with the mass departure of special education staff shortly before the 2023-24 school year. They said the school has now hired more staff and improved its services for students under the school’s principal, Alberto Mendez, who took over during the 2024-25 school year, after the state investigation began in July 2023.

In a brief interview with reporters, Mendez said more staff has allowed the school to be able to offer compensatory services for students during and after school.

“When I first stepped in, it was almost like I inherited the systemic issues that pertain to the past and it’s been a priority to rebuild the special education department and program,” Mendez said. “We’re progressing in the right direction; unfortunately it takes time.”

Since the state first opened its investigation into Instituto, ISBE found Instituto had failed to follow special education laws. For example, in August 2023, the state said Instituto had not made up services to three students who required special education services, and for three other students, had provided only a fraction of what was required.

Instituto had at one point offered summer school to students, according to the letter. But the state said such an offer “did not dismiss Instituto’s obligation” to provide services to students who have not received them since the 2023-24 school year.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Poll: two-thirds of respondents unaware of Chicago’s elected school board

2025-12-12T20:25:56+00:00

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Roughly two-thirds of Chicagoans surveyed don’t know that the city now elects school board members, according to a new poll commissioned by the parent advocacy group Kids First Chicago and conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago.

Of 1,361 Chicago adults surveyed, just 10% could name their school board representative, the poll results showed. Awareness of the shift to an elected school board was higher among Chicago Public Schools parents and lower among young people and those who identify as Black and Latino. It was also lower in certain parts of the city, particularly on the west and south west sides.

The findings come two months before potential candidates can start circulating petitions to get on the ballot for Chicago Board of Education in 2026. All 21 seats will be up for election on Nov. 3, 2026; 20 are elected from specific districts and one school board president will be elected citywide.

A former school board appointee and CPS parent has already declared his candidacy for the board president seat and a handful of current board members have told Chalkbeat they plan to run.

Chicago held its first school board elections in 2024 with voters choosing 10 members to join 11 mayoral appointees on a new 21-member Board of Education. More than half of registered voters cast ballots for a school board representative, which some observers considered “pretty impressive” in the context of school board elections, which often suffer from very low turnout.

Micaelan Valesky, manager of data science for Kids First Chicago, said the results indicate “a major information gap around one of the most significant changes in CPS governance in decades.”

“This highlights a need for both targeted and widespread outreach, providing bilingual resources that explain when the election is, how the transition works, what power the Board of Education has, and who the prospective board members are,” Valesky said.

According to the Chicago Board of Elections, people interested in running for school board in 2026 can begin collecting signatures from voters in their district on Feb. 24. They must file at least 500 valid signatures between May 18 and 26 in order for their name to be printed on the ballot. Candidates for school board president must collect at least 2,500 valid signatures from across the city.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Immigration raids disrupt a program designed to protect Chicago schoolchildren

2025-12-08T11:00:00+00:00

This story was originally published by The Trace, a nonprofit newsroom covering gun violence in America. Sign up for its newsletters here.

Since “Operation Midway Blitz” began in September, federal agents have been surveilling Chicago’s Little Village, a majority Latino neighborhood. Now, when Natalia hears helicopters whirring overhead, she knows U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is patrolling nearby. The near-constant detainment and deportation of her neighbors is putting her on edge. Natalia, who asked to be referred to by a pseudonym because she fears for her safety, is nervous that as a woman living undocumented in the United States, she may also be taken away from her family, her job, her community.

“On those days, I would go [to work] trembling,” Natalia said in Spanish. “There were some days where I wouldn’t go to work.” For Natalia, work means staffing Chicago Public Schools’ Safe Passage program, which seeks to keep students safe from threats like gun violence while walking to and from school.

In early 2025, the Trump administration revoked the protections schools had from immigration enforcement. Chicagoans like Natalia have witnessed that change in real time on the news: A pre-K teacher dragged out of a day care center; two women detained right outside a school; a man taken into custody while dropping his children off.

This revocation, paired with the increased presence of ICE and Customs and Border Protection officers, has caused multiple Safe Passage workers to call off work — and led more students to miss school. The raids came at an already vulnerable time for the program: CPS recently cut Safe Passage’s budget by nearly $6 million, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. To maintain the safety of students and program workers, the organizations that manage Safe Passage with CPS have trained additional staff to sub in; other community groups have created alternative transportation routes for families who fear encountering ICE.

“Our community has felt very unsafe, whether you’re here legally or not,” said Areli Medina, a human resource generalist at Enlace, the community organization that dispatches Natalia on her Safe Passage route. “I started to make sure that I am supporting our program and our community overall by showing up, and part of that is subbing in for some of our Safe Passage positions.”

Natalia feels that support. When she shared her fears, her managers told her she could use her paid sick days to stay home when there’s a heavy ICE presence, and that someone would fill her spot.

Keeping a vital program alive

In the U.S., an average of 57 shootings occur near a school every day, according to a Trace analysis in 2024. In the past decade, data showed that Chicago had 97 schools with at least 100 shootings in their vicinity.

The Safe Passage program dates back to 2009, when CPS sought to respond to the violence taking place around city schools. That year, a 16-year-old student was beaten to death while leaving his South Side high school. The program launched with just 35 schools, growing to 191 this year. CPS and 18 partner organizations have jointly hired and trained over 1,200 Safe Passage workers in relationship-building skills, deescalation strategies, and safety protocols.

Most of the areas the program covers face high rates of gun violence. In 2024, 115 people were shot in South Lawndale, home to Little Village, 23 of them fatally. And even though shootings there dropped by 57% over this time last year, there have still been 48 shootings in South Lawndale since last November.

“It’s really all about safety,” Medina said. “When it comes to areas where there’s heavy gun violence, it’s just making sure that we are able to see and notice if there is any suspicious activity.”

This method of keeping students safe echoes research by Jens Ludwig, a University of Chicago behavioral economist who has studied crime on Chicago’s South Side. Ludwig found that adding “eyes on the street” creates safer environments by placing people in areas where they can step in and interrupt arguments before they escalate into gunfire.

Throughout the years, organizers have said the Safe Passage program has helped prevent incidents near schools from turning deadly.

Many parents, Natalia said, have to go to work early and can’t walk their children to school. Her role, parents have told her, puts them at ease. “It’s a huge satisfaction to see how people become accustomed to the support Safe Passage provides them, and even more so during this difficult time,” Natalia said.

A new plan

The school district, a CPS spokesperson said, has not heard of any incidents in which federal agents detained a Safe Passage worker on the job. Still, after hearing workers’ concern, CPS and its partners developed a strategy to train additional staff to serve as substitutes. Enlace, one of those partners, has trained about 15 staffers to cover vacant routes.

Parents are on high alert at pickup and dropoff, Medina said. When she subs in for Safe Passage, she also acts as a lookout for ICE activity. Like all Enlace staff, she has been trained on ICE response protocols, like Know Your Rights and how to document any actions taken by federal agents.

Natalia has a plan in place if she sees ICE near school grounds. When that happens, she and other Safe Passage workers stay closer together and near the school, ready to quickly take cover inside and alert school staff to lock the doors. The option to stay home on days where there is a stronger ICE presence in the area, she said, makes her feel that her schools, community, and peers are protecting her.

“It is a privilege that I have to know that if something were to happen, I would be OK and it’s not the same feeling for everybody,” Medina said. “I want to make sure that, in that privilege that I have, I am able to help others that might be feeling insecure.”

A community looking out for one another

Throughout his patrols of Little Village, Baltazar Enriquez, the Little Village Community Council president, has seen how ICE has spread fear. In response, Enriquez created a volunteer patrol that drives around spotting federal agents and blowing a whistle to alert community members of their presence.

“They’re not coming for criminals,” Enriquez said. “They’re coming for the lady selling tamales, the gentleman taking his kids to school, the person waiting for a bus.” In one incident, Enriquez said, a father dropped off his child at an elementary school. ICE followed him, and he was detained a few blocks away.

“We gotta take care of each other right now,” he said. “Because no one’s taking care of us.”

Before ICE descended on Chicago, Enriquez said he and other community members warned CPS that it would affect student attendance because many would stay home to avoid federal agents. “They’re so afraid to leave their parents because they’re scared when they get back home, they might not be there,” he said. “They go to school all worried; they can’t even think or study.”

During a Chicago School Board meeting in October, many called for the schools to offer virtual learning, but leadership said they couldn’t do so without an emergency declaration from Gov. JB Pritzker. So, Enriquez said his group created its own “magic school bus.” About a dozen volunteers signed up to informally pick up and drop off kids at school. At the start of the raids, he said, they were picking up around 68 kids.

Now, even as ICE raids become less frequent, students — and their protectors — are still scared of the chaos a confrontation with a single agent might unleash. Despite her fears, Natalia tries to go to work as often as she can. Parents often text her and ask if she has seen any federal agents; she’ll tell them if the coast is clear. They thank her for taking the risk and being their trusted eyes on the ground. Many kids, she said, also ask her if everything will be OK that day; even as she worries, she often reassures them that it will be.

Chicago Public Schools finds buyers for three vacant schools

2025-12-03T22:50:42+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools has identified buyers for three former school properties on the South and West Sides, two of whom are planning to build new housing and a third who wants to open a community center.

The district is seeking the Chicago Board of Education’s approval at its next meeting on Dec. 18 to sell the old Bontemps Elementary in Englewood on the South Side for $75,000, the old Henson Elementary in North Lawndale on the West Side for $25,000, and the former Shedd Elementary, which last served as a satellite building for Bennett Elementary, in Roseland on the Far South Side for $25,000. All three buildings closed in 2013.

The proposed sales come after CPS put 20 properties on the market in May. Stephen Stults, the district’s director of real estate, said they got bids for 12 properties.

Chicago’s struggle to repurpose dozens of vacant school properties has taken more than a decade. The district has made multiple past attempts to sell them and many either had no buyers or pending deals fall through. CPS spends roughly $75,000 to $150,000 annually to maintain each vacant property, Stults said.

“We really want to put these buildings back to productive use,” Stults said. “The longer they sit there, the more they deteriorate, the harder it is to redevelop them, and the less value that we can get for them.”

School board member Michilla Blaise urged CPS officials to lean on the 21 board members elected and appointed to represent their communities to help get the old schools repurposed.

“We all have community contacts. We all have organizations that might be helpful to you. And we can also reach out to elected officials in the area,” Blaise said. “CPS is in the business of educating students, not necessarily being a landlord to derelict properties. So I understand the impetus to want to unload these properties … but we have to move thoughtfully.”

The potential buyer for the old Shedd Elementary building at 99th and Indiana Ave. is the Peace for Preston Foundation, led by Dionne Mhoon, the mother of slain Chicago Police Officer Aréanah Preston. Two years ago, Mhoon launched a GoFundMe to support the foundation and raise money for a community center in honor of her daughter. Mhoon’s bid for the old Shedd school is $25,000.

Elected school board member Carlos Rivas said Wednesday he was Preston’s college counselor in the 2015-16 school year when he worked at Noble’s UIC College Prep.

“She was such a determined young lady and graduated from Illinois State in three and a half years because of her determination,” Rivas said. “She had such a bright life ahead of her, and she did so much for her community.”

“I am so incredibly proud that we’re going to be honoring her and using this building in this way for the Peace for Preston Foundation,” Rivas added.

There was some interest in the old Shedd school in 2017 from a private Christian school and another buyer, but neither bid had the backing of the local alderperson, according to South Side Weekly.

The board resolution says Peace for Preston wants to offer youth recreational programming, educational programming, youth mentoring and counseling, mental health support, job readiness and vocational training, wellness programs, and access to health care support, as well as GED and financial literacy courses.

Both buyers for Henson and Bontemps want to demolish the old schools and construct new housing.

In the case of Henson, buyer Melvin Bailey of MKB Business Strategies told Chalkbeat that he plans to build about 27 single family or two-flat homes on the property.

At least one other shuttered CPS school property is now home to dozens of single family homes. A developer bought the old King Elementary in 2017 in Tri-Taylor and built 30 homes that came on the market in 2020.

MKB’s $25,000 bid was not the lowest received. There was another for $30,000 from Calling Water LLC. Stults said the community meeting was contentious and both proposals had supporters, but Bailey’s plan for redevelopment had the support of the local alderperson, Monique Scott.

In May 2018, the Board of Education approved a bid for Henson’s property from the Single Room Housing Assistance Corporation, which offered $55,000. The group put forward a plan to convert the school into 80 mini-studio apartments for low-income people, including veterans, single mothers, and people with disabilities. The sale never closed.

Devereaux Peters, a former WNBA player turned affordable housing developer, is offering $75,000 to purchase the Bontemps school in Englewood. According to the board resolution, the plan is to demolish the school and build two affordable housing buildings. One would have 72 units with various amenities, including a fitness center and coworking space. The second building would have 60 units for seniors “who wish to downsize while remaining in the community.”

Stults said the current Bontemps structure has no working plumbing, electric, or mechanical systems. He said there was a community meeting in October and the local alderman, Stephanie Coleman, supports the project.

In 2017, the school board approved a $50,000 bid for Bontemps from IFF, a nonprofit lender and developer based in Chicago. But like Henson, that sale never went through.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.