Chicago Public Schools plans to spend $9.4 billion in the 2023 school year on 321,000 students. That comes out to $29,307 per student – a new record.
Just four years ago the district spent $7.5 billion on an enrollment that was 40,000 students higher. Then, the total taxpayer cost was just under $21,000 per student.
What does that mountain of money buy you? Not much:
Today just 1 in 10 black CPS students can read at grade level and only 1 in 20 are proficient in math.
Less than 10% of black 3rd-graders read at grade level based on the most recent Illinois Assessment of Readiness test.
It’s even worse for math readiness.
The Chicago Teachers Union makes sure its members and schools are protected regardless of student outcomes.
98% of CPS teachers were rated “proficient or excellent” in 2020. 100% of teachers got the same rating in 2021. And in 2022, 84% of all evaluated CPS teachers were rated either “proficient or excellent.
Schools, too, get protected under updated state board of education measurements. School ratings aren’t based on whether kids can read or do math but instead on “improvements.”
The problem isn’t money.