Chicago Schools Face Cuts, Renaissance 2010 Hitting Road Blocks

By Rachelle Bowden in News on Apr 12, 2005 3:53PM

Chicagoist wonders, who's more in debt - the CTA or the CPS? And who deserves the state's money more?

We all know about the CTA drama, but Chicagoist didnt realize that our schools are facing a $175 million deficit next year and to save money officials are going to cut 800 teaching jobs. This would save $50 million but would also force schools to increase class sizes and cut programs. Hello 30 students/teacher? Goodbye art & music?

Education officials say they're going to lobby hard for more funding from the state but they're worried that the budget won't get them more money and the district can't afford to wait.

In other school news, Chicago's Renaissance 2010 school-reform plan facing a bunch of obstacles. .. slow infusion of cash, disagreements, power struggles. The plan is to close the city's worst schools and open 100 small new ones with money from businesses and the philanthropic community. The new schools would be free from many district controls.

Renaissance 2010 was approved in September of last year and members of the Board of Education say it's a blueprint for creating better performing schools.. but it's gotten a lot of criticism from the Teachers Union and community organizations who say the program wasn't totally thought out.

Chicago has the 3rd largest school district in the nation and both of these issues affect about 600 schools, over 400,000 students and about 26,000 teachers.

Image via ABC7