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* WTTW last week…
An increased moratorium on closing Chicago Public Schools – including charters – for an additional two years easily passed the state House Thursday night over the objections of the Chicago Teachers Union, which described the measure as “racist,” and despite protestations from Mayor Brandon Johnson’s appointees to the city’s school board.
The Chicago Board of Education would also temporarily lose the ability to change admissions standards for selective enrollment schools and to reduce selective enrollment schools’ budgets out of proportion with cuts made to other CPS schools – restrictions intended to protect selective enrollment schools, but which critics say is a de-facto undercut of neighborhood schools. […]
“The district has no plans to close selective enrollment schools, as the board and district have continually repeated. Let me repeat, we are not closing selective enrollment schools,” Board President Jianan Shi told a House committee last week]. “The small number of selective enrollment schools in the district are well-enrolled, well-supported, well-resourced and we’re going to continue to support those schools.”
That bill passed 92-8.
* Well, Sarah Karp and Nader Issa crunched the numbers and found that CPS - which also appears to be playing a game of “Hide the ball” - is indeed cutting budgets for selective enrollment and magnet schools…
Parents at selective enrollment and magnet schools were already on edge before the budget season. Amid a bus driver shortage, transportation to these schools, which had been provided for decades, was eliminated last year so buses could take disabled and unhoused students as required by law. Then, the school board in December passed a resolution that called for a shift away from school choice and toward neighborhood schools. […]
A WBEZ analysis using the new funding formula appears to back up the contention that these budgets have been cut. Two-thirds of the city’s 32 magnet and selective enrollment elementary schools, such as LaSalle, did not receive enough staff positions to keep all current teachers. Schools will receive an additional pot of flexible funding that officials say should be used to make up the difference. But those funds need to cover all sorts of expenses, from recess monitoring to teacher assistants — and some LSC members say they’re inadequate.
Almost all selective enrollment and magnet high schools also lack positions to cover all current teachers, but they’re getting three times the flexible funding as selective and magnet elementary schools, making it more likely they can afford their current staffs. […]
While CPS officials dispute the concerns and trends identified by schools and the data, they refuse to release school-based budgets until they’re approved by LSCs in late May or early June. Until last spring, CPS regularly released budgets to the media in April.
posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 9:46 am
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Looks like things are going great at CPS. Situation normal, as they used to say
Comment by Friendly Bob Adams Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 9:51 am
Let’s collaborate and get to the root cause of this, it’s Johnson that’s doing CTUs bidding here. Goofballs never hide the ball very well. Good on the legislature for stopping the CTU takeover of Chicago Public Schools al la Brandon.
Comment by PublicServant Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 9:56 am
Suburban real estate agents rejoice over the news.
Comment by Red Ranger Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 10:00 am
Since Daley 1 , no mayor could handle the CTU Now that they actually have the office it should speed the destruction unless the state steps up
Comment by Hank Sauer Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 10:06 am
The Magnets and SEES schools are the last vestiges of parental control of their kid’s education. So of course the CTU leadership and their allies will try to either close them or starve their funding.
Comment by Donnie Elgin Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 10:28 am
Will the new configuration of the Board of Education help? The new board will have 21 members (which is more of conference than a board /s/). How does that compare to other cities?
NYC 13
Miami 9
Atlanta 9
LA 8
DC 9
Comment by Downstate Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 10:29 am
Selective enrollment and magnet schools are the only thing keeping CPS afloat. Mayor Johnson needs to have a hard conversation with candidate Johnson.
Comment by Jocko Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 10:37 am
Well, I’m not sure they’re right to be worried about fancy schools getting less funding or being shut down, but it does seem likely that that was what was going to happen in the budget crunch.
Comment by Perrid Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 10:41 am
Hard to cut funding for the top 5 high schools in Illinois:
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/illinois
But then again, how does one compare selective enrollment schools like Payton to schools that don’t select their students like Stevenson?
Comment by TinyDancer(FKASue) Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 10:41 am
Don’t listen to what they say, watch what they do. They have a plan and it’s to gut the best parts of CPS. Not immediately but over time. Don’t let them.
Oh, and this is the same Mayor who stood up today and advocated billions for the Bears. Because his mid-20s approval rating apparently isn’t low enough.
Comment by New Day Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 10:44 am
^^^
CPS has the top five schools in the state. It would bewilder any objective person to alter its schools that outperform Hinsdale, Naperville, Winnetka, and the rest.
Comment by Jurist Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 10:45 am
I will say Johnson/the city needs be transparent about the plan, if there is one.
Comment by Perrid Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 10:47 am
=CPS has the top five schools in the state.=
Selective enrollment vs. neighborhood schools……it’s apples to oranges.
Comment by TinyDancer(FKASue) Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 11:08 am
Tempest in a Teapot.
CPS has 650 schools.
20 elementary schools are getting less dedicated funding for line items under the new student-based formula, but more money to spend however they want, and CPS says they are still making changes to the budget.
As Rich said, all that’s needed is for the GA to pass a “hold harmless” assuring that no school recieves less than they have in the past, and ideally fund the hold harmless.
My bet is this will all be worked out at the school level as CPS finalizes its budgets.
I also bet that the $10M that CPS budgets for school resource officers each year would more than cover this budget gap.
Comment by Juvenal Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 11:13 am
=The Magnets and SEES schools are the last vestiges of parental control of their kid’s education. So of course the CTU leadership and their allies will try to either close them or starve their funding.=
What is clear by statements like the one above is a lack of understanding of school governance, learning, remediation, and understanding what is actually being stated.
If CPS stated they will not be reducing funds and then the reduce funds for a school, that IS an integrity issue. But the needs of students that attend competitive or selective enrollment schools is not the same as those at struggling neighborhood schools. And nowhere do I see anything about “starving” the magnet schools for funding. They just might be over funded. In particular, if the very best teachers are at the magnet schools, there is a very sound argument to move them to the schools where kids struggle the most. Those students need the most talented staff. But those teachers usually want to work in a school with the most gifted and motivated learners. But those most talented learners are still able to thrive with fewer resources but a strong learning culture.
There is a lot more nuance to this issue, but the CTU cries of fowl play are not necessarily true and CPS parents have no less control with neighborhood schools than they do a magnet school. They may have less “choice” but choice is not a right and they can always move to a different district.
Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 11:33 am
They may have less “choice” but choice is not a right and they can always move to a different district.
Yea! Just move! Stupid people want a say. Nah. Move!
Comment by Nope. Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 12:19 pm
=It would bewilder any objective person to alter its schools that outperform Hinsdale, Naperville, Winnetka, and the rest.=
I am shocked that any school, let alone a CPS magnet school, is outperforming New Trier and Co.
Comment by NonAFSCMEStateEmployeefromChatham Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 12:21 pm
Maybe if those people really want their selective enrollment schools, they can just put up the money themselves. Or something.
Right?
Comment by JB13 Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 12:52 pm
Yes, drive them all to private schools and out of CPS. Brilliant.
Comment by New Day Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 1:26 pm
=Stupid people want a say.=
May I suggest a nap?
They have a say. The same “say” anyone else has. That does not mean that they get to dictate. Sheesh.
Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 1:26 pm
=I am shocked that any school, let alone a CPS magnet school, is outperforming New Trier and Co.=
Magnet schools are not the same as selective enrollment.
You need test into a selective enrollment school.
Payton is selective enrollment.
Lane is selective enrollment.
Northside College Prep is selective enrollment.
Young is a magnet school.
New Trier is a neighborhood school. They accept everyone in the neighborhood.
Comment by TinyDancer(FKASue) Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 1:39 pm
==But those teachers usually want to work in a school with the most gifted and motivated learners.==
Usually those teachers have expertise in teaching the gifted and motivated learners. That’s why they are in those programs. If there is a need for teachers with other expertise (i.e. poor and underresourced students), they should hire those teachers.
You wouldn’t take a python developer and just “move” them to a java developer role, you would hire a java developer.
Comment by supplied_demand Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 2:03 pm
==New Trier is a neighborhood school. They accept everyone in the neighborhood. ==
So does Lincoln Park HS and they rank ahead of Naperville Central HS and Highland Park HS.
https://www.usnews.com/education/best-high-schools/illinois/rankings
Comment by supplied_demand Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 2:05 pm
=== Usually those teachers have expertise in teaching the gifted and motivated learners. ===
I think there’s some inherently biased, and racially coded language embedded in that statement. Also, growing research seems to be proving those assumptions false.
First, research shows that the best predictor of a child’s learning sucess is not their income or their parents’ education attainment, but how many books they have in their home.
In other words, learning ability is not as much an inate characteristic as we think, but heavily influenced by environmental factors like how important we tell kids learning is.
So when we say a kid is “gifted” that automatically suggests gifted by God or genetics. That says some kids are destined to achieve and others destined to fail.
And what’s a “motivated learner”? Some kids just have motivation and others don’t? It’s not a school or a teacher’s job to provide instruction that creates an enthusiasm for learning, make it interesting, relevant, perhaps even fun?
Charter schools have proved every kid has the potential to succeed eventually. Maybe not at the same pace. But we need to stop triaging kids the way we have for the last 80 years in American schools.
Comment by Juvenal Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 2:55 pm
The issue is not with what CTU and the Mayor are trying to do, it is how they are trying to do it. Using the same playbook as the people before them that they lambasted and ridiculed now that they have the power. Trying to sidestep voters and the democratic process because they know better than everyone else.
Comment by Wobblies United Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 3:26 pm
==I think there’s some inherently biased, and racially coded language embedded in that statement. ==
What is that accusation based on? My opinion comes from having a child in an incredibly diverse, selective enrollment CPS school. I know for a fact that his teacher is specialized to work with students who learn at an accelerated rate. My younger child isn’t nearly on the same level, regardless of “how important we tell him learning is.” Some kid’s brains work differently and his teacher is specialized to work with that.
Nobody is saying other kids can’t learn, I am saying that lots of these teachers have specialized in teaching a certain type of student and simply throwing them into a different classroom with a different type of student isn’t necessarily going to maximize outcomes.
Comment by supplied_demand Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 3:34 pm
==racially coded language==
Of course. Because everything is about race right?
Comment by Demoralized Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 4:15 pm
“New Trier is a neighborhood school. They accept everyone in the neighborhood.”
The Census Reporter lists the median income for New Trier Township High School District 203 to be $201.313 in 2022 dollars. The same for the City of Chicago’s is $71,673.
Might be part of the difference. Could also be the ‘Save Ferris’ effect.
Some of us gifted kids did graduate from Lane Tech and have made a decent living, despite never being able to ‘borrow’ our neighbor’s Ferrari.
Comment by Proud Sucker Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 4:36 pm
=So does Lincoln Park HS and they rank ahead of Naperville Central HS and Highland Park HS.=
Interesting. Hadn’t noticed that.
Demographics played a role for sure - but they must also be doing a great job.
Comment by TinyDancer (FKASue) Wednesday, Apr 24, 24 @ 6:24 pm