Money is the Real Source of City Hall, CPS Drama
The clashes between personalities and ideologies have made for good theater, but the true source of the conflict remains: money.
The City’s Public Schools: A Deeply Entrenched Funding Crisis
The city’s public schools don’t have enough money to provide every student with a world-class education. Leaning on the state, borrowing money, and kicking the can down the road on pension payments are temporary band-aids that prolong the structural deficiencies in how public education is funded.
Even if the district somehow climbs out of this year’s budget hole with the help of tax increment financing dollars or some other creative financial magic, there’s another budget deficit waiting next year. That’s the real status quo that has to be disrupted.
Deeply Entrenched Funding Inequities
Mayor Brandon Johnson’s passion and commitment to not leaving Black and Brown children behind is laudable, but his plans are risky and many have questioned his tactics.
But attention needs to be focused squarely on crafting a sustainable funding model that provides the resources needed to keep the city and the district from falling into panic mode when it’s time to pass a new budget or to ratify a new contract with the Chicago Teachers Union.
Our city and state education funding woes are deeply entrenched, inequitable, and infuriating. Relying heavily on property taxes as the basis for funding public schools just translates economic inequity into educational inequity.
Higher-end properties on the North Shore yield well-funded public education systems — often at lower property tax rates than those in the south suburbs, where property values are much lower. Many south suburban communities have taxed themselves to the hilt to provide as much as they can for their schools, a strategy that has damaging ripple effects for their economies.
In Chicago, the city’s overall property wealth brings in more resources per student than in many suburban communities. But Chicago Public Schools itself has its own version of the haves and have-nots. The city’s top-tier selective enrollment schools look and feel like they’re in a different city than neighborhood schools serving lower-income children, which lack basic necessities in terms of staffing, academic programming, arts, and athletics.
Education is ‘Building Block’ for Equity
In theory, the state is supposed to help school districts provide, through its evidence-based school funding formula (EBF), the money needed to pay for best practices that research has tied to better student achievement. But the state simply doesn’t have the money to meet what the formula prescribes; the EBF is currently underfunded by over $2 billion.
As for federal funding, it doesn’t go far enough to close the gap.
Conclusion
The city’s public schools face a deeply entrenched funding crisis, marked by inequities that affect not just the schools but the entire community. It’s time to acknowledge that the true source of the conflict is money, and that a sustainable funding model is necessary to provide the resources needed to educate Chicago’s children.
FAQs
Q: What is the current state of funding for Chicago Public Schools?
A: The city’s public schools are facing a budget crisis, with insufficient funds to provide every student with a world-class education.
Q: What is the purpose of the evidence-based school funding formula (EBF)?
A: The EBF is intended to provide the money needed to pay for best practices that research has tied to better student achievement.
Q: How is the EBF funded?
A: The EBF is currently underfunded by over $2 billion, with the state unable to meet its obligations.
Q: What is the impact of the EBF on Chicago Public Schools?
A: The underfunding of the EBF has a direct impact on the ability of Chicago Public Schools to provide the resources needed to educate the city’s children.
