CPS enrollment drops to lowest in nearly half a century... Was it caused by Emanuel policies? This ... will result in 262 of more than 500 schools receiving less money than anticipated. Those 262 schools will see their cumulative budgets for the year shrink by $36 million...
Chicago Board of Education Vice President Jesse Ruiz (left) and Frank Clark (right) were in power by the time of the August 2015 Board of Education meeting (above). Substance photo by George N. Schmidt.By the weekend of September 26, 2015, the latest administration of Chicago Public Schools announced that after ten days the number of students in the city's public schools had reached a low not seen in half a century, and the Board of Eduction, instead of trying to bolster the schools, made further cuts at the local school levels. The cuts were made based on a propaganda plan called "student-based budgeting," which in reality is a way of forcing principals to get rid of experienced and veteran teachers and replacing them, if at all, with novices.
Several news reports simply transcribed the words of the CPS propaganda department (called the "Office of Communications"), ignoring the fact that CPS "deficit" claims have not been checked out, let alone audits, and the fact that historically CPS has made adjustments in school membership based not on the tenth day of class, but on the 20th day. Furthermore, prior to the current administration schools were held harmless and not cut based on reasonable enrollment projections. During the latest round of administrators put into power by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, cuts are made as early as possible, thereby guaranteeing the destabilization of the majority of the city's real public schools.
As usual, CPS issued the information via a press release, with CPS Chief Executive Officer Forrest Claypool refusing, again, to hold a press conference open to questions he is not scripted or experienced enough to answer. Claypool, whose expertise has been on public transportation (he was president of the Chicago Transit Authority), was appointed CEO of CPS in July 2015 by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Immediately prior to his appointment, Claypool was working as Emanuel's "Chief of Staff." Claypool thus became the fourth CEO to destabilize the city's massive public school system since Emanuel's inauguration in May 2011. Claypool's predecessors were Jean-Claude Brizard, Barbara Byrd Bennett, and Jesse Ruiz (Interim CEO; still Vice President of the Board of Education). In addition to undermining the stability of the third largest school system in the USA at the top, Claypool has eliminated dozens of middle management people who at least had some knowledge of the city's schools. A signal fact of the Claypool administration is that by the opening of schools for the 2015 - 2016 school year, the latest Emanuel CEO had added a million dollars of bureaucrats to the top of the school system's organization chart. None of Claypool's "team" had any experience in education.
REPORTS IN THE CORPORATE NEWS MEDIA HAVE GENERALLY REPEATED THE PARTY LINE OF THE RULING CLASS AND THE EMANUEL ADMINISTRATION.
DNA INFO...
CHICAGO � Enrollment in Chicago Public Schools dropped by more than 6,000 students this year compared with last, according to figures released by the district Friday.
The number of students enrolled across all CPS schools dropped to 367,499, from 373,087 last year. That number is based on attendance numbers from the 10th day of the 2015-2016 school year.
Unlike the past two years when budgets were based on projected enrollment rather than actual enrollment, CPS is adjusting individual school budgets this year based on the 10th-day enrollment.
This move will result in 262 of more than 500 schools receiving less money than anticipated. Those 262 schools will see their cumulative budgets for the year shrink by $36 million.
"This year budgetary constraints mean that the district can no longer afford to hold those schools harmless," according to a district news release. Four schools will lose more than $1 million in funding this year, whereas only two stand to increase funding levels by $1 million, according to CPS.
One of this year' largest losses in funding is at Ogden International School, which isconsidering merging with nearby Jenner Elementary. Ogden, in the Gold Coast, will lose $1,059,129.
The schools that will lose the most money include:
1. Foreman High School in Portage Park will lose $1,322,693, the most of any school, according to CPS. The school is 144 students below its projected number.
2. Manley High School in East Garfield Park will lose $1,081,786 after it enrolled 89 fewer students than projected.
3. Schurz High School in Irving Park will lose $1,066,223 due to it losing 156 students, the second largest dip in enrollment, according to the CPS data.
Dunbar High School in Bronzeville lost the most students, with 173 students fewer than its projected total. The school will lose $990,393.
The schools with the highest increase in funding include:
1. Edwards Elementary in Archer Heights, which will increase funding by $1,356,730 after its enrollment jumped by 93 kids, according to CPS.
2. Kelly High School in Brighton Park, which gained 101 students and $1,293,138 in funding.
3. Johnson Elementary in North Lawndale, which saw the biggest jump in enrollment at 132 student, will gain an extra $943,394 in funding, CPS said.
Almost the entire drop came in district-run schools, including neighborhood and magnet schools, where overall enrollment dropped from 308,977 to 302,834, or 2 percent.
Charter and contract schools had an increase of enrollment from 59,068 last year to 59,998 this year.
CPS said 10 schools saw a loss in funding of $500,000 or more, while 116 lost between $100,000 and $500,000. Only 2 schools gained more than $500,000, while 88 gained between $100,000 and $500,000.
