2024
Chicago Board of Education passes $9.9 billion budget for upcoming school year
The Chicago Board of Education passed a budget Thursday for the coming school year, following weeks of tension and opposition that reached as high up as the mayor’s office. Kids First Chicago, a parent advocacy group, has suggested different ways to raise revenue and save money, including by advocating for more state funding, raising property taxes, and gradually consolidating the Chicago teacher pension system, which is funded by CPS, with the state’s pension fund for teachers, which is funded through the state budget, not local districts.
July 25, 2024 Chalkbeat Chicago, cross-published in Crain’s and Block Club Chicago | READ
Board of Education approves $9.9 billion Chicago Public Schools budget
The Chicago Board of Education on Thursday approved a $9.9 billion spending plan for the Chicago Public Schools for the 2024-25 school year, over the protests of the Chicago Teachers Union, which warned of the impact of spending cuts imposed to eliminate a $500 million deficit.
"Those dollars are going away, and there's no way to sustain those positions moving forward," said Hal Woods, chief of policy at Kids First Chicago, a group that helps advocate for parents and their students, mainly on the South and West sides.
July 25, 2024 CBS News Chicago | WATCH
A lifeline for CPS and other school districts is ending. What's next?
With federal COVID recovery funds running out, Luz Maria Flores worries whether there will be adequate resources for the band, the debate team, tutoring and other extracurriculars at Back of the Yards College Prep High School. Administrators, teachers and parents in the Chicago Public Schools system and districts throughout the region are grappling with the end of federal pandemic aid, a looming fiscal cliff because of the steep decline in the one-time funding.
June 24, 2024 Crain’s Chicago Business | READ
Local School Council Members React to CPS Funding Changes
Chicago’s school funding model is changing. Instead of basing school funding on student enrollment as the district has done for the past decade, Chicago Public Schools is now taking a needs-based approach.
May 21, 2024 WTTW | WATCH
Lawmakers Challenge Chicago School Board’s Choice Policy, Plans to Remove Police
Illinois state lawmakers filed two bills last week aimed at reversing the Chicago Board of Education’s decisions to rethink school choice policies and remove school resource officers from campuses.
March 20, 2024 Chalkbeat & The 74 | READ
Illinois Senate Signs Off on Plan for a Hybrid Elected School Board in Chicago
The Illinois Senate on Tuesday approved legislation finalizing the transition to an elected school board. On Wednesday, the bill passed out of a state House committee. A vote is expected before the full Illinois House of Representatives. Joining “Chicago Tonight: Black Voices” is Jessica Cañas, senior community engagement manager at Kids First Chicago; Natasha Dunn, founder and executive director of Black Community Collaborative; and state Rep. Ann Williams, who represents parts of Chicago’s North Side.
March 6, 2024 WTTW | WATCH
CPS students, parents rally after bus transportation canceled just weeks before start of school year
An impassioned crowd of protesters took over Daley Plaza on Tuesday. The group was made up of Chicago Public Schools students whose bus transportation to and from school was canceled just weeks before the start of the school year.
February 6, 2024 ABC7 | WATCH
As Chicago gets its first elected school board, Local School Councils may become a proving ground for candidates
Chicago’s LSCs are unique and powerful. There’s nothing quite like them in other school districts across the U.S. The Chicago School Reform Act of 1988 established that every CPS-run school would have a Local School Council. Today LSCs are made up of six parents, two teachers, one non-teacher representative, two community members, one to three students, and the school’s principal.
February 5, 2024 Chalkbeat Chicago | READ
2023
Mayor Johnson promised to stand up for CPS families. Instead, he’s shutting them out｜Opinion by Daniel Anello and Hal Woods
The administration’s refusal to engage families in any public process has created distrust and is a far cry from the inclusive governance he talked about during his campaign, two nonprofit leaders write.
December 27, 2023 Chicago Sun-Times | READ
State Lawmakers Seeking Community Input on Chicago’s Elected School Board Map. Here’s What to Know
Chicagoans are set to see a new office on their ballot in November 2024. For the first time, voters will elect members to the Chicago Board of Education. It’s a massive transformation as board members were previously appointed by the mayor. For Jessica Cañas, senior community engagement manager at Kids First Chicago, the issue with the Senate’s proposed maps is the lack of Latino representation.
October 10, 2023 WTTW | READ
What Progress Has Been Made in Closing the K-12 Digital Divide?
Experts say communities across the U.S. have made significant progress in efforts to expand Internet access, largely through private-public partnerships and localized initiatives to make broadband affordable to families.
September 12, 2023 Government Technology | READ
Three big questions, asked and answered, about Chicago’s move to an elected school board
Starting in January 2025, Chicago will move from a school board appointed by the mayor to an elected board. This shift is stirring great hopes and great fears – hopes this will create a more responsive education system and fears it will open the door to instability and a board mired in politics.
September 7, 2023 WBEZ | READ
Chicago Public Schools is becoming less low-income. Here’s why that matters.
Even though the number of students from low-income families has dropped, nearly three-quarters of the district’s student body is still considered “economically disadvantaged.” But if the downward trend continues, Chicago schools could continue to see fewer dollars than expected from the state, which funds districts in part by considering how many students from low-income families are enrolled.
September 6, 2023 Chalkbeat Chicago | READ
Commentary: CPS has a Chance to Create an Equitable School Accountability System
Measurement is imperfect, and the associated accountability has been misused in the past. Which is why CPS launched an extensive redrafting of its own school accountability policy, spending the past two years leading its most extensive stakeholder engagement process in district history. This effort has been purposeful in centering those most impacted by the policy as its lead designers.
April 24, 2023 Crain's Chicago Business | READ
How Lawmakers can Create Fair Voting Maps for Chicago’s Elected School Board
Lawmakers have until July 1 to draw maps for school board elections in 2024. The process must be transparent, and the maps should reflect the city’s racial makeup, two parent activists write.
April 2, 2023 Chicago Sun-Times | READ
From funding to testing, here’s how Chicago mayoral candidates differ on plans for CPS
Paul Vallas plans changes to CPS’ structure and to prioritize testing while Brandon Johnson wants to guarantee a baseline of resources for each school.
March 29, 2023 WBEZ | READ
Hal Woods: Chicago’s 21-Member School Board is too Large. Springfield Should Shrink it.
After the April 4 mayoral runoff, all eyes will turn toward Chicago’s foray into an elected school board, the most consequential transformation in governance of the city’s public school system in a generation.
March 23, 2023 Chicago Tribune | READ
Back of the Yards Residents Push Back Against Plan to Merge New Library with Public Housing Project
Some residents in Back of the Yards are pushing back over a proposal that would incorporate a new public library into a public housing project.
Feb. 15, 2023 WTTW | READ
Families are leaving public schools. How will that change education?
Changes in enrollment inevitably mean school districts are going to have to make hard choices,” says Ray Hart, executive director of the Council of the Great City Schools.
Feb. 15, 2023 Christian Science Monitor | READ
Declining enrollment, empty schools, union battles: Mayoral candidates grapple with big challenges in Chicago Public Schools
Whoever becomes mayor for the next four years will face enormous challenges and a daunting transition from a school board selected by City Hall to one elected by voters.
Jan. 29, 2023 Chicago Tribune | READ
2022
Student achievement has plummeted since COVID-19. Parents must be part of fixing that.
The latest scores from the National Assessment of Education Progress show steep learning loss during the pandemic. If the district is serious about addressing the problem, parent engagement is essential.
Oct. 27, 2022 Chicago Sun-times | READ
Chicago Offers a Blueprint for Expanding Urban Internet Access
Remote schooling during the pandemic spotlighted the urban digital divide — and spurred the largest school broadband program in the US.
May 31, 2022 Bloomberg | READ
New report details factors in CPS enrollment drop
The report, produced by Kids First Chicago, says the slowing growth of Latino families and a steady out-migration of Black families from Chicago are big reasons for the downward trend at Chicago Public Schools.
Jan. 31, 2022 Chicago Sun-Times | READ
2021
Millions of Students Got Free Home Internet for Remote Learning. How Long Will It Last?
After COVID-19 forced the nation’s schools online, thousands of districts scrambled to partner with internet service providers to cover the cost of broadband for low-income students.
March 10, 2021 Education Week | READ
Case Study: How Chicago is Providing Stable High-Speed Internet Access to Students who Need it the Most
With the possibility of remote learning returning this fall, the City of Chicago, Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the philanthropic community, and leading Internet Service Providers (ISPs) recognized a historic opportunity to eliminate broadband accessibility as a barrier to digital learning.
EducationSuperhighway | READ
2020
Anxiety about Chicago’s neighborhood schools persists amid the pandemic
Black students in Chicago are less likely to choose their neighborhood schools. They spend the longest time commuting to school. And yet they remain much less likely to attend the city’s top-rated campuses than their white peers.
July 16, 2020 Chalkbeat | READ
Chicago Hopes Broadband Plan Could Help Other Cities Address Digital Divide
Officials and donors involved in an ambitious plan to provide free broadband access to students in Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods hope that the public-private partnership can be a model for efforts to address digital equity issues elsewhere in the U.S.
July 9, 2020 Wall Street Journal | READ