THE LOOP — Chicago Public Schools posted 20th-day attendance figures Friday in a move that will affect school budgets across the city.
In what it called "the official districtwide enrollment," CPS said it has 392,285 students, with 303,148 in district-run schools and 61,496 in charters. That was actually up 2,230 from the 10th day of classes, allowing CPS to increase grant rates to the tune of about $30 a student for low-income and high-poverty areas, although individual schools were affected differently, with some losing money.
"Every additional dollar in our classrooms helps our students," CPS Chief Executive Officer Forrest Claypool said in a statement issued Friday. "It's essential that we maximize every dollar in light of diminishing funding from the state. We will continue to fight for Springfield to prioritize education funding and end the pension inequity that comes at the expense of Chicago’s students."
Yet CPS spokeswoman Emily Bittner added that "staff impacts," meaning teacher reductions, have already been based on 10th-day attendance, and that affected teachers were informed Oct. 5, as required by law and the contract with the Chicago Teachers Union. She said CPS was working to release a list of the affected schools and positions.
CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey was actually sympathetic to that. "You don't want to be laying staff off and reprogramming schools and all that stuff in the middle of a semester," he said Friday.
"Obviously, you wouldn't want to cut at all," Sharkey added, "but if there are going to be cuts related to correcting for student enrollment, those should be as close to the first day as possible."
According to Sharkey, CPS laid off 131 people based on 10th-day attendance: 94 teachers and 37 support positions in special education and other school jobs. He fully expected some of those to be rehired when schools get their adjusted budgets, saying, "I'm sure principals will do just that."
Attendance on the 20th day was up from the 10th day, but down from the 20th day a year ago. According to CPS figures, charters gained 1,786 students from a year ago, while district-run schools lost 5,898, with a total reduction of 4,398 students across the city.
At the same time, CPS said it was removing students from the 20th-day count if they had never attended a class by then, which included 345 students at district-run schools and 165 at charters, 546 districtwide including three dozen in other alternative programs.
CPS' student-based budgeting sets individual school budgets based on enrollment, with 20th-day attendance figures considered the final arbiter.
CPS considers the 20th day of school, toward the end of the first month of classes, an accurate barometer of where schools stand with enrollment, although the practice has been controversial, especially for principals who might see budgets reduced a month into the school year.
Blaine Elementary Principal Troy LaRaviere posted a message critical of the practice in July, pointing out that CPS in previous years said it was not penalizing schools that suffered attendance drops, but reversed that decision this year.
That post included a letter from Kennedy High School Principal George Szkapiak charging that CPS was violating its own policies on student-based budgeting to benefit charter schools to the detriment of traditional neighborhood schools.
CPS acknowledged Friday that "for the first time" this year it is withholding funds "from schools where students appeared to be enrolled, but had not attended any days of school or received class schedules." It added that "in cases where schools demonstrated that these students were attending or had valid reasons for not attending," student-based funding was restored.
It said it would be picking a couple of school days in October and November to reassess those "final" figures.
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