An analysis of the
trends, patterns, and challenges facing Chicago Public Schools in 2018-2019.
It’s
back to school soon for Chicago Public Schools, just after the Labor Day
holiday, it will, once again, be time for the bells, the smell of chalk, and
the hum of fluorescent lights as the schools return to life after the annual
summer break. But, the nation’s third largest school districts faces a myriad
of problems, or more accurately challenges, that threaten its mission of
education.
Number
one is leadership - after the imprisonment of former CEO Barbara Byrd Bennett,
last year, for taking bribes from a former employer for a series of dubious
teacher and principle continuing education classes, and then the ethical
violation of her successor, Forrest Claypool, a longtime Chicago political
insider, it seems that the job is associated with criminal behavior, and
ethical violations.
That
was followed by another scandal, discovered in late July, of this year, with
Camelot Education “to open publicly funded schools for students who’ve dropped
out or are at risk of doing so,” said the Chicago Sun-Times, where Byrd-Bennett, once
again, followed the same format, with bribes and payouts of $25,000 for each
school that was opened with her influence; and, skirting the bidding process,
said Chicago Board of Education Inspector General Nicholas Schuler.
The
current occupant, Janice Jackson, is a product of CPS, and seems to be, at
least on the surface, a good choice, but critics argue that many of the
movements from Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s hand picked board, were also signed off by
her, as Claypool’s right hand.
While
many like the idea of a homegrown executive whose own daughter is in the
system, other voices are more critical: “CPS’s Executive Officers have one job:
To get their talking points from the Mayor’s education people, memorize them,
and repeat them at every opportunity,” Troy LaRaviere, president of the Chicago
Principals and Administrators Association, said in an email to Chicago Tonight.
“That
was Ms. Jackson’s job as (chief education officer), and the only thing that
will change as CEO is her salary.”
LaRaviere
is one of Emanuel’s most vocal critics, and he headed an award winning school,
some say, by breaking all of the rules as the student test scores and parental
satisfaction soared. He is also running for mayor in the 2019 municipal
elections.
Then,
another, even more egregious investigation, this time by The Chicago Tribune
which revealed the sexual abuse of students at CPS, 523, over a nearly ten year
period, from 2008 to 2017, and then shortly afterwards, another painful
revelation: incidents where students had sexually violated other students; and
where a majority of the perpetrators, and victims, were special needs students.
In
all, as the investigation showed, there was a lack of thorough background
checks, including meta checks for sex crimes, as well as violent behavior, even
including the use of firearms; a situation that traumatized the students as
well as their parents, by the system’s failure to protect their children.
In
an eerie similarity, with the sexual abuse of children by Roman Catholic
priests, it was also revealed by the school investigation, that “The Tribune
found that the CPS Law Department sometimes cut confidential deals with problem
educators to get them to resign. To other potential employers, the district
provides dates of service but no details about sex abuse investigations — a
practice that puts students in other districts at risk.”
School Closings
In
2013 the mayor infamously shuttered 50 schools in mostly black and brown
neighborhoods, who, of a total
population of 371,000 students, are also the dominant student population.
Angered residents, both black and white, protested, and as sociologists have
noted, schools are the cornerstone of city neighborhoods, and their closing
represents a further disinvestment in those neighborhoods, many of whom are on
the South and West sides of Chicago, long neglected areas for economic and
social opportunities.
WTTW ‘s program Chicago Tonight noted, at the end of last
year, that “Chicago Public Schools’ five-year moratorium on school closings
runs out in 2018, and a new slate of schools is already on the chopping block.
“Among those are four Englewood-area high
schools – Hope, Harper, Robeson and TEAM Englewood – that would be shuttered in
favor of a new $85 million school that would open in 2019. But those existing
schools will shut down in 2018, leaving a gap year between them and the
yet-to-be-constructed facility.
The proposed actions will also
include the long-discussed Ogden-Jenner merger and a plan to convert the
existing National Teachers
Academy elementary into a high school, while shipping current NTA students over
to South Loop Elementary beginning in 2019.”
Changing the award winning elementary
school created an uproar, when it was announced last month, and “NTA parents
have protested that move, and students at Harper have held sit-ins to voice
opposition to their school’s closure.”
For Emanuel, critics, such as Chris
Kennedy, former gubernatorial candidate, this represents, part and parcel, of
the gentrification of some of the city’s most developing, and desirable
neighborhoods; underscoring, and accelerating, the trend of city living
especially by affluent whites, with school age children.
“NTA
students would move into buildings controlled by the nearby South Loop
Elementary School, which will take over NTA’s attendance boundary. That plan continues to face stiff
opposition from a well-organized group of NTA parents and teachers.
No
one is going to argue integration is not a good thing. Integration is a great
thing,” said Elisabeth Greer, NTA’s school council chair, after a protest . . .
“ and she clarified her statement by
saying, “But there is natural integration, and then there is, essentially,
forced busing — which brings two communities together by force.”
An elected school board to the rescue?
Hovering
in the background of many of these controversies is the desire to have an
elected school board, as many critics, lawmakers and parents feel that removing
power from Emanuel's hand can advance CPS into some level of parity, if not
equality.
Sponsoring
a bill to do just that is House Rep. Robert Martwick who was quoted as saying that, “The
thing about 2017 is our toes were at the goal line,” he said. “It’s literally
hammering out two little legislative details and then the bill sits on the
governor’s desk.”
Growing unease headed into legislative victory as “The House this past spring approved a bill eliminating mayoral control in favor of an elected Board of Education on a 105-9 vote. The Senate then followed suit with its own amended version, passed on a 53-2 vote.”
Segueing next into structural reforms, “This legislation would divide the city into specific voting regions and grant each the power to elect its own board representative. In one version of the bill, a 12-member commission would be tasked with creating 14 district zones, each of which could then elect its own school board member beginning in 2023,” and “A board president would also be chosen through a citywide at-large race.”
Growing unease headed into legislative victory as “The House this past spring approved a bill eliminating mayoral control in favor of an elected Board of Education on a 105-9 vote. The Senate then followed suit with its own amended version, passed on a 53-2 vote.”
Segueing next into structural reforms, “This legislation would divide the city into specific voting regions and grant each the power to elect its own board representative. In one version of the bill, a 12-member commission would be tasked with creating 14 district zones, each of which could then elect its own school board member beginning in 2023,” and “A board president would also be chosen through a citywide at-large race.”
Former
alderman, and now associate professor of political science at the University of
Chicago at Illinois, Dick Simpson wrote last year that, ““there are
problems. First, if we held school board elections citywide rather than by
district, we could end up with racial imbalance. Ninety percent of the students
in the system are black and Hispanic but most of the elected board could be
white. Second, with more than 600 schools to supervise, it is unclear how much
any school board -- appointed or elected -- can do to really govern the system.
Third, when we had elections of other local agencies like Model Cities Chicago,
the political machine controlled the outcome in order to control the patronage
jobs. The Democratic Party could control the outcome of school board elections
as well.”
That
might support the age-old adage to be careful of what you ask for, and as I
previously noted, in my now shuttered column for The Examiner, in our later
interview with Simpson, he said that the probability of political party
domination still exists, but also might be highlighted, even with district wide
elections, and “some of these county board districts are huge, and many people
may not even know their county board members.”
Simpson also cautioned that there could be an increased role for different participants whether they are parents, teachers unions, or others, “all with different ideological positions, and each with their own slate, and from their own perspective.”
Noting
that while an elected board is not a perfect panacea, especially for quick
solutions for CPS indebtedness, Simpson concluded that, “on balance we need a
positive start [towards change] and no solution, no financial solution, or
representation problem can be solved easily.”
Finances: New budget shows hope
Money, or lack
of, is another critical aspect of survival, for CPS, and after heavy borrowing
ay high interest charges, many were ready including bond agencies to downgrade
CPS’s financial outlook.
This past April, “The best news came from Wall Street,
where the three firms that rate CPS debt now have all brightened their view of
its future,” noted Crain’s Chicago
Business.
“Last fall, it was Fitch that moved CPS debt up a notch from B+ to BB-. Kroll
followed by changing its outlook . . .
S&P moved its outlook from stable to positive, an indication,
according to the firm, that there is a 1 in 3 chance of a ratings upgrade
within the next year.
S&P based its shift on what bondholders like to
see: increased liquidity and ability to cover debt. It specifically noted the $220
million in additional state aid CPS is getting this year under a budget vetoed
by Gov. Bruce Rauner but overridden by lawmakers; $130 million in increased
property taxes to pay soaring pension costs; $79 million in other new state
aid; and $80 million from the city, mostly for assumed security costs.”
As a result of those "notable wins," CPS
cash flow has "notably improved," S&P said, and the Board of
Education has been able to diversify the purchasers of its tax-anticipation
notes, "a positive sign given its reliance on lines of credit to support
operating and debt service expenses,” with its new budget for FY 2019.
In 2017, the district had “budgeted roughly $79
million just to pay the expected interest costs associated with that borrowing,” noted the Chicago Tribune
nearly two years ago, to this date.
Now
Crain’s reports the good news that money to shore up pensions is not coming
from the same pile used for teacher salaries, supplies and lunch programs, due
to the groundbreaking bill, for statewide education funding
The
clue to that confidence was the increase in a tax levee from 0.383 to 0.567,
that in, and of itself, represented an increase from 2017, and which mostly
affected affluent homeowners.
"We're
in a completely different place than we were," says Chicago Chief
Financial Officer Carole Brown. "We are at a point where the money (for
pensions) comes from dedicated revenue sources that do not cannibalize
operating revenues."
Not so fast, say others
Critics
noted that the foundations of that statement are not solid, and are, in fact,
based on projection: “For instance, the projections assume that growth in pension
expenditures will be limited to 2 percent a year. While newly hired state
workers, indeed, will get smaller pensions, assuming 2 percent average annual
growth could be a bit optimistic, given that annuitants now get a guaranteed 3
percent compounded annual cost-of-living increase.
Continuing
in that vein, “At least debatable is the assumption that the city's property
tax base over the next 20 years will increase at least 4 percent a year. Brown
says Chicago historically has easily passed that mark, but when it comes to
real estate values, there are no guarantees.”
The
2019 budget does have its advocates, however, cautious that they are, and
leading the pack is the non-partisan Civic Federation of Chicago who in their press release
praised the budget, the first under Jackson, and said: “Fortunately, the
Chicago Public Schools’ finances have begun to stabilize following
Springfield’s much-needed overhaul of the decades-old education funding
formula—though the work is far from over,” said
President Laurence Msall. “Unfortunately, because Illinois continues to
languish in its own financial crisis, State funding will remain a source of
uncertainty for CPS and other districts.”
“While CPS’ credit ratings are still below investment grade, improved outlooks from ratings agencies and upgrades from Moody’s and Fitch translate to reduced interest costs for the District’s debt issuances. . .. At the end of FY 2018, CPS is projecting its first operating surplus in several years.
Despite an improved financial position, the Federation has concerns that the nearly $1 billion capital budget will require CPS to generate $750 million in additional capital funding, the majority of which will come from issuing long-term debt on top of the District’s $8.2 billion in outstanding debt.”
“While CPS’ credit ratings are still below investment grade, improved outlooks from ratings agencies and upgrades from Moody’s and Fitch translate to reduced interest costs for the District’s debt issuances. . .. At the end of FY 2018, CPS is projecting its first operating surplus in several years.
Despite an improved financial position, the Federation has concerns that the nearly $1 billion capital budget will require CPS to generate $750 million in additional capital funding, the majority of which will come from issuing long-term debt on top of the District’s $8.2 billion in outstanding debt.”
After
the nearly two years absence of a state budget, Illinois now has an unpaid
backlog of $14.3 billion dollars, making state contributions uncertain.
“Msall
is also concerned that CPS will borrow $750 million of the nearly $1 billion it
plans to spend on capital projects announced
. . . That’s on top of $8.2 billion in outstanding debt — plus the
public has no way of knowing which capital projects get priority, according to
the 96-page analysis,” said the paper.
Finally,
this extremely cautionary note, “CPS’ finances have barely reached more stable
footing; this is not the right time to issue massive amounts of additional debt
with only a portion going to the most critical facility needs,” said Msall, in
reference to Jackson’s open letter touting the budget, where she said, that, by
priority, it would help those with “the greatest need.”
Reactions
The
reaction from the Chicago Teachers Union was swift, and stark. In part, their
statement said: “Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jesse Sharkey responded
to Mayor Rahm Emanuel touting CPS’ new bond rating as a sign of
"progress," while neighborhood schools confront desperate shortages
of resources and neglected facilities.”
“The brutal truth is that this mayor is still starving Black and Brown schools across the city in every way, shape and form. The Chicago Teachers Union has advocated tirelessly in Springfield and City Hall for new revenue, and that advocacy has a real impact. We’ve succeeded in winning passage in the state legislature of a vastly more equitable school funding formula and hundreds of millions of dollars in additional funds, while removing pension payments from CPS’ operating funds.
“The brutal truth is that this mayor is still starving Black and Brown schools across the city in every way, shape and form. The Chicago Teachers Union has advocated tirelessly in Springfield and City Hall for new revenue, and that advocacy has a real impact. We’ve succeeded in winning passage in the state legislature of a vastly more equitable school funding formula and hundreds of millions of dollars in additional funds, while removing pension payments from CPS’ operating funds.
We’ve
forced the mayor to dip into his TIF slush fund to pay for public education. Yet
conditions in the vast majority of our schools, for the vast majority of our
students, effectively remain ‘junk’ because this mayor will not spend revenue
equitably, and refuses to create sustainable sources of revenue that will
guarantee our students the quality of education they deserve.”
Noting who the losers are, in the absence of a varied and sustainable revenue stream, the final question is: “Who ends up paying? Chicago taxpayers, including our teachers and paraprofessionals, and most critically, the Black and Brown children who make up 90 percent of our students.”
Noting who the losers are, in the absence of a varied and sustainable revenue stream, the final question is: “Who ends up paying? Chicago taxpayers, including our teachers and paraprofessionals, and most critically, the Black and Brown children who make up 90 percent of our students.”
"In
2018 the district was rocked by the news in an investigative report that it had
neglected special education students, and now despite the injection of $32
billion, in the new budget, the shortage of trained special education students
is not enough to fill its mission, toward that student population.
The
Sun-Times noted that “Chris Yun, Access Living’s education policy analyst, also
questioned when the school system would be able to fill those positions given
Illinois’ chronic shortage of special ed teachers. After CPS officials
announced in January 2018 that they’d hire 65 more special education positions,
they filled only 25 of them by that May,” she said.
“We have one month to go, one month to fill those positions by the 2019 school year,” Yun said. “I don’t think they can fill it.”
“We have one month to go, one month to fill those positions by the 2019 school year,” Yun said. “I don’t think they can fill it.”
Declining Enrollment
Another
glaring aspect is the decrease in student
enrollment, attributed to many black families leaving Chicago, either for Northwest
Indiana, or the South, or even nearby suburbs, or else to charter, or even
other private schools, and, there is now a call from conservative lawmakers to
decrease the budget.
Complicating
matters is that CPS has played some old-fashioned back door politicking to
either get public support for closings in exchange to new schools, such as the
one in Englewood, but paradoxically opened 15 alternative schools were in areas
that saw declined enrollment; and some are blaming the Emanuel administration,
in an attempt to avoid confrontation about closings, or to even avert another
teachers strike, at the beginning of the new school year.
Adding
to the conundrum is the political blowback from conservatives, as seen in the
following statement from the Illinois Policy
Institute: “The underutilization problem has only grown worse since then. CPS has
lost at least 20,000 students since 2013. And as of 2015, 50 CPS high schools
were considered underutilized, with nearly three dozen of them less than half
full.
With the school-closing moratorium set to expire in 2018, CPS officials should be looking for ways to combine and close the most underutilized schools – while also focusing on minimizing the disruption to students and parents. But there is little chance district or city officials will do that. With so much new state funding rolling in, they’ll have no reason to endure the wrath of Chicagoans by making necessary school closures.
So the moratorium will continue, unofficially. And state taxpayers will effectively pay for CPS to keep its underutilized and inefficient schools open.”
With the school-closing moratorium set to expire in 2018, CPS officials should be looking for ways to combine and close the most underutilized schools – while also focusing on minimizing the disruption to students and parents. But there is little chance district or city officials will do that. With so much new state funding rolling in, they’ll have no reason to endure the wrath of Chicagoans by making necessary school closures.
So the moratorium will continue, unofficially. And state taxpayers will effectively pay for CPS to keep its underutilized and inefficient schools open.”
By
the best accounting, 32,000 students left CPS in 2013, with a result of 370,000
total enrollment, down from a high of 580,000 in 1970.
In 2016, there were
layoffs, and they “had been expected since the district announced last week that
enrollment on the 10th day of classes was down almost 14,000 students from last
year. The layoffs come on top of the more than 500 teachers and 500
school-based staff members let go in August, a move also attributed to
enrollment declines.”
In
2018, the die was cast and “The roughly 371,000 students enrolled at CPS this
year is a 15 percent decrease compared with the year 2000, when enrollment
topped 435,000, according to CPS data. And there’s no sign the
numbers will trend upward soon: The
district projects about 20,000 fewer students to enroll in the next three
years. The trends mirror population drops in Chicago, which has about 182,000
fewer residents than it did 18 years ago, according to Census data. More than
220,000 black residents have left since the year 2000.”
What
seems to be disinvestment in the South and West Sides, angers mayoral and CPS
critics, pending an increase in gentrification, read white gentrification, and
that is when schools would be built, with prominence given to charter schools.
In
other areas charter, or alternative, schools are built to siphon off the
existing enrollment, and close certain neighborhood schools, as they are either
edging themselves to gentrification, or on the edge of a nearby neighborhood
that is.
A
case in point is that the Uptown neighborhood on the city’s North Side, a long
desired spot for gentrification, is now getting closer to that goal: They
received the extra push when CPS closed the lovely old
Graeme Stewart school; and its subsequent redevelopment into expensive
condominiums, despite that there remains a substantial student population, but
again, being mostly black and brown, these students are on the losing side.
78
percent of CPS students are low income, giving them little bargaining power,
and support from lawmakers, in the face of mayoral domination, cannot afford to
offer them protection.
Chalkbeat.org
an educational advocacy website had this to say
recently: “Despite the
criticism, and despite declines in city population and enrollment, CPS said it
is taking a neighborhood-by-neighborhood approach to creating new schools and
academic opportunities. In a statement to Chalkbeat Chicago, CPS defended its
decision to open new schools, despite enrollment declines, by citing community demand.
And CPS CEO Janice Jackson told a room of business and nonprofit executives at the City Club of Chicago on Monday, “we can’t do great work without
investing” — and not just in school staff, but in buildings themselves.
Critics reading between the lines note
that the investment seems lopsided and that this plan, like others may be less than
what the students need, but what CPS wants. It also speaks volumes of what the
2019 school year will bring to eager students on the first day of school.
