CPS Finally Releases School Budgets | 7.18.16

School budgets are finally out and LSCs will have until 7/22 to approve budgets. While CPS made the announcement that there will be no cuts to classrooms, many schools will, in fact, have to make cuts, due to a roughly 7% cut to student-based budgeting from fall 2016 and lower enrollment projections for many schools, as well as what appears to be a 4% across the board cut to special education funds. Special education positions will no longer be allocated from central office but funds will be rolled into school budgets. And while there was partial relief from Springfield, much of this funding is not sustainable and does not cover a still $300M budget hole that CPS has not yet addressed.

If you are curious about what your school budget looks like, you should attend an upcoming LSC meeting at your school. Many principals and LSC members have told us that their numbers don’t match up with the budget numbers reported by some of the press, and this seems to be due to the way data was released this year.

We're still unpacking a lot of this and look forward to a lively discussion at our Budget forum Monday, July 18, at Amundsen HS, 5110 N. Damen at 6:30pm.. We have a great panel and hope to see you there! On the panel: Rep Greg Harris, Sarah Karp- WBEZ, Ralph Martire- CTBA, Ald Ameya Pawar, Ald Carlos Rosa, Rep Ann Williams.

Sun Times: http://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/late-cps-budget-forces-schools-to-play-beat-the-clock/

Troy LaRaviere's Blog: https://troylaraviere.net/2016/07/15/chicago-principals-speak-out-on-cps-budget-cuts/

In related budget news...
Parents from RYH Action and West Humboldt Park Parent Network take action to oppose a new selective high school

RYH has a new sister organization, RYH Action, and they partnered with parents from West Humboldt Park Parents Network yesterday to present petitions to Alderman Burnett to cancel plans for a new selective high school for the near-north side.

Sun-Times: http://chicago.suntimes.com/news/protesters-to-ald-burnett-stop-new-selective-school/

DNAinfo: https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20160715/old-town/invest-neighborhood-schools-not-obama-college-prep-residents-say