Last May, many of Chicago’s public schools closed. And as the school year starts, some students are forced to cross dangerous gang territory to attend their new schools. We hear from two of them.
Photo courtesy Brian Lowry.
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Contrary to this report’s assertion that CPS faces $68M in cuts to this year’s budget (a number most likely taken from CPS), I have to point out that two separate groups; Illinois Raise Your Hand and The Center for Tax and Budget Accountability, in their analysis of the CPS budget, have reported these cuts to be at minimum double what CPS claims. Raise Your Hand has estimated the cuts to be around $148M while CTBA figures them to be around $185M. These cuts have been devastating to many schools which have forced them in many cases to cut essential programs. My own daughter’s school faced cuts this year of $638,000. Both the CTBA and the Civic Federation are very critical of CPS in their reviews of the budget, commenting that the lack of a long term (10+ year) plan and transparency around this plan, as well as lack of advocacy for financial stability with the City of Chicago and the State of Illinois, are extremely detrimental to the district, especially when projections for next year’s budget are far more dire.