Chicago Public Schools (CPS) will begin the upcoming school year with a less than 1% reduction in overall staffing compared to last year, according to a recent analysis of school budgets. Despite the slight decrease, over 200 schools will have more staff positions, primarily due to the addition of hundreds of new special education positions.
Staffing Changes Vary Across Schools
The changes in staffing vary significantly across the district’s 500-plus schools. Some schools will experience staff increases of up to 22% compared to last year, while others will lose nearly 20% of their positions. The positions affected by the cuts include counseling positions and teachers meant to reduce class size ratios.
The school-based staffing figures come as the district attempts to close a $732.5 million deficit. The Chicago Board of Education is expected to vote on the district’s nearly $10 billion budget plan, which includes hundreds more special education teaching positions but many other layoffs. CPS recently decided against implementing five-day furloughs for the next school year.
Impact on Individual Schools
At individual schools, the changes in staffing range from a single part-time position to 16 positions. The schools with staffing increases serve an average of 70% of students from low-income households, which is on par with the districtwide average. Roughly 270 schools will have fewer staff compared to last year, with three-quarters of students on average coming from low-income households, slightly higher than the district as a whole.
Forty-one schools will not experience any change in positions compared to last fall, with 68% of students on average coming from low-income families. These budget figures do not tell the full story of the decisions that principals must make, according to one principal who requested anonymity to speak candidly. Her school, which serves predominantly low-income students, is gaining a couple of positions to open a special education cluster program but had to cut some non-teaching positions to keep a teacher.
The district is slated to spend about $18 million less on charter schools, but it has budgeted $27.6 million to absorb and reopen five former Acero charter schools and Chicago High School for the Arts as district-run schools. The data shows how many positions schools got before the start of the school year compared to the same point in time last year, but it does not capture whether schools gained or lost staff during the last school year.
Original reporting: Block Club Chicago — read the source article.
