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Schools Will Lose $140M, Despite CPS Claim of No Classroom Cuts, Data Shows

By  Heather Cherone and Tanveer Ali | July 21, 2016 8:08am | Updated on July 22, 2016 11:45am

 Principals of Chicago Public Schools have $140 million less to spend this year than last year in classrooms across the city, a DNAinfo analysis found.
Principals of Chicago Public Schools have $140 million less to spend this year than last year in classrooms across the city, a DNAinfo analysis found.
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DNAinfo/Paul Biasco (File)

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story miscalculated the funding cuts to schools. The correct overall number is $140 million. The school-by-school numbers in the graphic below reflect the new calculations.

PORTAGE PARK — Principals of Chicago Public Schools have $140 million less to spend this year than last year in classrooms across the city, a DNAinfo analysis reveals.

CPS officials late Tuesday released a revised school-by-school breakdown after DNAinfo reported earlier in the day that the across-the-board cuts were obscured by a change in the way CPS funds special education services for nearly 50,000 students in the city.

Under the new approach to funding, individual schools were given money to carry the costs of special education in their budgets, a departure from past practice where CPS' central office picked up those expenses. The change obscured overall cuts.

See how your school fared in our searchable school budget database.

While CPS CEO Forrest Claypool told reporters July 13 that school budgets would "hold the line" and protect classrooms from another round of cuts, schools will get about 7 percent less this year for each student in kindergarten through 12th grade compared with last year, officials acknowledged.

Local school leaders say cuts to programs are inevitable, and class sizes will be forced to grow across the city.

Wendy Katten, co-founder of Raise Your Hand, said CPS officials were more interested in spinning the school's bleak budget picture than acknowledging the reality of the situation, likening it to the "twilight zone."

The DNAinfo analysis uses the original budget numbers for the 2015-16 school year, which did not include special education funding and leftover funds or debts from prior years.

The analysis compared those numbers to the 2016-17 budget, subtracting projected special education funds from figures provided by Chicago Public Schools.

CPS spokeswoman Emily Bittner acknowledged in a statement that accompanied the revised school-by-school budget breakdown that requiring individual schools to carry the costs of special education in their budgets "has caused some confusion for principals, and we’re working with them to address their questions."

When CPS officials released budgets for each school July 21, it appeared many schools would have more money this year than last year, confusing parents and local school council members as well as principals.

CPS officials based their claim that budgets "held the line" on per-pupil spending on the fact that the amount is just $1 less than the amount schools received last year after an unprecedented round of midyear budget cuts announced in February.

DNAinfo's $140 million figure is the difference between what the schools will get this year compared to what they got last year before those midyear slashes.

Many principals bridged those cuts with money they saved in reserve funds that are now depleted, giving them no choice but to slash programs, increase class sizes or hike student fees.

Of the $140 million in cuts, $120 million was implemented as part of those mid-year cuts, Bittner said. The remainder of the cut for the 2016-17 year reflects the projected 1.4 percent decline in student enrollment, she added.

Principals and local school councils must submit budgets to CPS officials by Friday.

The schools hardest hit by this latest round of budget cuts — the third in 12 months — are those projected to have fewer students this year than last year, especially neighborhood high schools, according to CPS data.

The cuts from schools mirror the decline in enrollment across CPS, with some changes in the amount of federal money Chicago schools will get based on the number of low-income students, Bittner said.

The 2016-2017 budget numbers provided by CPS also assumed that special education funding for each school would stay exactly the same as the previous year.

The 2016-2017 budget numbers provided by CPS also assumed that special education funding for each school would stay exactly the same as the previous year.

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