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Quick Hit
by Ellyn Fortino
2:16pm
Fri Jun 14

CPS' Per-Student Budgets Will Exacerbate School Inequality, Education Experts Say

The Chicago Public Schools' (CPS) new per-student budgeting system spells big cuts for some schools, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) and local school officials are learning.

CPS released next year’s individual school budgets to principals last week and, according to the CTU, schools across the city are seeing 10 percent to 25 percent cuts in funding. The union and education experts predict these cuts will lead to eliminated positions and more split-level classes, among other negative outcomes.

So far, a handful of schools have reported to seeing their budgets slashed by more than one million dollars.

“What we’re going to see is a degradation of education in neighborhood public schools, which is likely to result in even a widening of the inequalities that we already have in CPS,” said Pauline Lipman, professor of educational policy studies and director of the Collaborative for Equity and Justice in Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

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Quick Hit
by Ellyn Fortino
12:02pm
Wed Jun 12
1 comment

DePaul Arena Project A 'Monstrosity,' TIF Panelists Say

Chicago's Tax Increment Financing (TIF) Program is intended to take property taxes today for investments that will produce more property taxes in the future, the Chicago Reader's Ben Joravsky said at a TIF forum Tuesday night.

"I have no problem with the TIF program in the essence, but we don’t live in the essence. We live in Chicago, Illinois," said Joravsky, a panelist at the packed TIF Illumination Project's town hall meeting for the 50th Ward.

Joravsky said the city's TIF program has become "deranged" and blasted Mayor Rahm Emanuel's recent plan to kick in $55 million in TIF funds for a new DePaul University basketball arena near McCormick Place.

The $55 million would be used to buy the current property now paying property taxes and essentially turn it into a tax-exempt property.

"It’s a complete reversal of what the whole TIF program is about,” Joravsky said at the forum, held at Devon Bank Tuesday night. Read more »

Quick Hit
by Ellyn Fortino
3:26pm
Tue Jun 11

Report Reveals 1 In 5 Schools Considered 'High-Poverty'

About one in five public schools was classified as high-poverty in 2011, according to a new report from the National Center for Education Statistics.

In comparison, about one in eight schools was considered high-poverty in 2000. Schools are labeled high-poverty when 75 percent or more of the enrolled students are eligible for free or reduced-price lunch.

Over the past two decades, the percentage of school-age children living in poverty has also increased, according to the report, “The Condition of Education 2013." 

“If poverty is increasing, there should be an increase in support for education, and instead our education policies nationally and locally are going the opposite direction,” said Pauline Lipman, professor of educational policy studies and director of the Collaborative for Equity and Justice in Education at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

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