CPS crisis revives sensitive school closure talk
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Interim CPS CEO Macqueline King adjusted the district's deficit last week to $734 million, $200 million more than her predecessor Pedro Maritnez estimated.
Why it matters: It means deeper cuts or more borrowing for the nation's fourth-largest school system, one already facing financial trouble and staff shortages.
The big picture: The increased deficit is driven by King's willingness to take on the $175 million non-teacher pension payment that has traditionally been paid by the city and Martinez refused to shoulder.
The latest: Late Friday afternoon, CPS announced it was laying off 161 employees, including 87 crossing guards, and cutting 209 open positions.
The intrigue: Despite the need for savings, officials have avoided closing half-empty schools, a sensitive issue that Chalkbeat Chicago and ProPublica explored last month.
By the numbers: CPS enrollment has dropped from 402,000 in 2010 to about 324,000 today in 634 schools.
- About 150 of those schools are half empty and 47 operate at less than one-third capacity, according to the Chalkbeat analysis.
- While CPS spends an average of $18,700 per student, severely underenrolled Douglass Academy spends $93,000 per pupil while offering a very limited selection of courses.
- The investigation suggests CPS could save millions by closing or consolidating many of these schools.
Friction point: Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel's closure of 50 schools in 2013 displaced thousands of low-income kids from local schools and became seen as a generational tragedy in some circles.
- The prospect of new closures has become so radioactive that no progressive leader — especially former Chicago Teachers Union staffer Mayor Brandon Johnson — is likely to broach the idea.
What they're saying: "Our footprint is too large," Martinez told Chalkbeat before he left his job as CEO last month. "Every time somebody wants to address this issue, you see at all levels of politics, nobody wants to do it."
- "Now that Chicagoans have elected school board members, there are opportunities for communities and their elected representatives to think about school enrollment patterns and the district's building infrastructure together and plan around both in ways that provide great school experiences for students," Chalkbeat Chicago bureau chief Becky Vevea tells Axios.
The other side: CTU vice president Jackson Potter told Chalkbeat that union officials oppose closures because they predict the city's progressive policies will draw new residents and students.
- They also oppose them because the previous closures were done without stakeholder input.
What's next: CPS' closure moratorium lifts in January 2027, and at least one board member wants to be ready.
- "There needs to be an extensive conversation with community members, educators and other stakeholders from around the city [about underenrolled schools]," CPS board member Debby Pope tells Axios. "I think that we probably need to start discussing it soon."
Editor's note: This story has been corrected to say CPS board member Debby Pope is advocating for a discussion about underenrolled schools (not about school closures).