Chicago Public Schools
Chicago Public Schools is a public school district in the city of Chicago, Illinois, United States.
It is the fourth-largest school district in the United States. CPS students attend a particular school based on their area of residence, except for charter, magnet, and selective enrollment schools.
As of 2023, CPS has 634 schools, including 477 elementary schools and 157 high schools; of which 514 were district-run, 111 were charter schools, 7 were contract schools, and 2 were SAFE schools.
CPS is led by a chief executive officer, an alternative title for the position of superintendent in most other public school systems.
Statistics
CPS reported a student–teacher ratio of 15.84 for the 2019–20 school year. For the 2020–21 school year, 46.7% of CPS students were Latino and 35.8% were African-American. 63.8% of the student body came from economically-disadvantaged households, and 18.6% of students were reported as English-language learners. Average salaries for the 2019–20 year were $74,225 for teachers and $114,199 for administrators. For the 2020–21 school year, CPS reported 39,323 staff positions, including 21,974 teachers and 516 principals. In 2021, CPS reported a budget of $6.92 billion with $3.75 billion from local sources, $1.85 billion from the state of Illinois, and $1.3 billion from the U.S. federal government. Per student spending was reported at $18,287 in 2023.The school system reported a graduation rate of 84% for the 2022–23 school year.
Chicago Public Schools led the nation in test score improvement, learned at a faster rate compared to 96% of all school districts in the country, and as of 2020, had an all-time high graduation rate. It has faced declining enrollments and school closings. More than 80 percent of CPS students are Hispanic or Black.
History
As Chicago was started as a trading outpost in the 1800s, it took several years for a citywide school system with adequate funding and instructional personnel to emerge. As early as 1848, during the first term of the 12th Mayor of Chicago, James Hutchinson Woodworth, the city's need for a public school system was recognized by the city council. A higher educational standard for the system was stated by the mayor, both to reflect his philosophy as a former teacher, and to add an attribute to Chicago that would continue to attract productive citizens. In 1922, the school board voted unanimously to change policy that allocated library access based on color, " the same privileges to Race children to enter all the libraries as the white children enjoy", but maintaining segregated schools and specifying that "in each branch library all employees should belong to the race which attended the particular school".In 1937, the city was hit by a polio outbreak which resulted in the Chicago Board of Health ordering schools to be closed during what was supposed to be the start of the school year. The school closure wound up lasting three weeks. Superintendent William Johnson and assistant superintendent Minnie Fallon managed to provide the instruction to the city's elementary school students by providing at-home distance education through radio broadcasts. This was the first large-scale implementation of radio broadcasting for distance education.
Funding
By the 1960s, schools across Chicago—and most of Illinois—were struggling to support themselves. Illinois school funding, according to scholar Tracy Steffes, was heavily reliant upon “funding by property taxes assessed in and bounded within districts of highly unequal wealth.” Wealthy districts paid less and got better schools, while poor districts got worse schools but paid even more. The problem was compounded by “soft” segregation measures such as redlining and “white flight,” which further delineated Chicago communities upon lines of both wealth and race. The introduction of the Illinois Resource Equalizer Formula in 1973 was intended to address this crisis by restructuring school financing to more evenly distribute property tax money, but many affluent white families protested the use of their taxes to pay for other communities’ education, rather than only their own district's schools. The formula was abolished in the late 1980s, and acute funding issues continue both in Chicago and across Illinois.Elizabeth Todd-Breland argues that Black education reformers in Chicago developed community-driven strategies from the 1960s onward to address systemic inequities, but these efforts collided with neoliberal reforms that prioritized privatization and corporate models, exposing enduring tensions between racial justice and market-based policies.
School closures
From 2001 to 2009, CPS, under Arne Duncan's leadership, closed dozens of elementary and high schools due to classrooms being at low capacity or underperforming. Despite claims that the closures would help underperforming students, University of Chicago researchers found that most of the students who transferred as a result of the closures did not improve their performance. This is what led to the Renaissance 2010 initiative, which focused on closing public schools and opening more charter schools that were focused on one of the government structures: charter, performance, or contract. During this program's time, it has closed over 80 schools and plans to open 100 charter schools. This also include five military schools, three of which have Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps programs. In response to CPS's announcements in 2013 that it was considering closing nearly 200 schools, many Chicago parents, students, teachers and community activists voiced their opposition through the media and at hearings around the city. In addition, several Illinois lawmakers, including chairman of the Senate education committee William Delgado, pushed for a moratorium on school closings in CPS, citing "the disproportion effect on minority communities, the possibility of overcrowding and safety concerns for students who will have to travel further to class." On May 22, 2013, the school board voted to close 50 public schools. However, the majority of the closed schools have been in poor neighborhoods with a black population, such as Bronzeville. These areas are not only sites of demolished public housing, but now to closed-down schools. For every four schools that have been closed, three have been in these neighborhoods. Over 88% of the students affected by these closings have been African American.Student and teacher protests
In 2013, Mayor Rahm Emanuel of Chicago initiated the closing of 54 public schools. Of the 54 public schools to be closed were 53 elementary schools and one high school. Mayor Rahm Emanuel claimed the school closings were a direct result from the nearly $1 billion deficit the city was facing due to under-enrollment at the schools. The schools to be closed were located on Chicago's South and West sides which provided education to mainly African-American Students. The Mayors decision to close the schools was met with rage and feelings of injustice by the communities affected and the Chicago Teachers Union. As a result, the CTU and other education activities responded by protesting.In May 2013, the Chicago Teachers Union were joined by students and other education activities to march against the closings of 54 public schools that year. The activists planned three days of nonviolent demonstrations across the city of Chicago. The CTU gathered an upwards of 900 protesters to participate in rally's, marches, and sit-ins against Mayor Rahm Emanuel's decision to close the schools. Over 150 protesters participated in a sit-in in the middle of LaSalle Street, blocking traffic, and forcing the response of the Chicago Police Department. Many protesters peacefully left the scene when asked to by the CPD, but many held their ground. Protesters that did not agree to leave the scene were issued tickets. Over 50 people were arrested throughout the entire protests, but no acts of violence were reported.