Number of half-empty Chicago public schools doubles, yet lawmakers want to extend school closing moratorium – Wirepoints
April 19, 2024
17 Comments
A set of state lawmakers want to extend CPS’ current school closing moratorium to February 1, 2027 – the same year CPS is set to transition to a fully-elected school board. That means schools like Manley High School, with capacity for more than 1,000 students but enrollment of just 78, can’t be closed for anther three years. The school spends $45,000 per student, but just 2.4% of students read at grade level.
Hopefully, all media will get the message, in Illinois, too.
Ted joined Tom Miller of WJPF to talk about Illinois’ highest-in-the-nation property taxes, why lawmakers don’t want to touch the tax’s cost drivers, just how much Illinoisans’ tax burden has grown over the decades, why Gov. Pritzker failed to meet his promise to reform property taxes, and more.
There is a simple answer to this that won’t cost CPS one extra dime.
Identify “high poverty schools” that cannot attract qualified candidates. Take the current salary schedule and create two separate schedules: one for high poverty schools and one for all others. Add $10,000 to every step for high poverty schools and subtract $10,000 for all others (or whatever amounts zero out the equation).
If teachers want to work in Lincoln Park, included in their lower compensation package is working in Lincoln Park.
Gage Park High School, an all low-income school serving kids of color on the Southwest Side. For most of the year, the class had no teacher…Asked why she thinks this happened, Cris had a simple answer: “We are a high-crime, low-priority school,” she said.
Gage Park HS enrollment has decreased from 1,500 in 2005 to 350 today. I’d be curious to know how scarce teaching resources are allocated at declining enrollment schools.
Exactly, that it. Yet NPR ‘frames’ the story as if it’s a racial issue. It’s because the job is undesirable and the students suck. Has nothing to do with race. God forbid the news just report what is instead of trying to insert racial narratives everywhere
I emailed articales author–s.karp asking why she didnt simply state the # of teacher cps is short– her answer (and i thank her for relying) was cps is 225 teachers short. And thats a crisis out of 20,000 teahers??? She was on wttw chicago tonight pedaling her story. Its ctu contract negotiation time, and stories like these can only make one suspicious that agendaed new writers and outlets think ctu is the greatest organization on earth & tax $ mean nothing. The far greater scam is the astronomical # of days cps teachers are contractually able to take days off,,,cant… Read more »