Latest news with #Chalkbeat
Time of India
15-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Chicago Public Schools cuts 1,450 jobs, targets teachers and special education support amid $734 million deficit
In one of the most sweeping education job cuts seen in recent years, Chicago Public Schools (CPS)—the third-largest school district in the United States—has laid off over 1,450 school-based staff members as it scrambles to reduce a ballooning budget deficit that now stands at $734 million. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The layoffs, announced just weeks before the start of the 2025-26 academic year, affect not only classroom teachers but also paraprofessionals, special education support staff, and safety personnel. These cuts come as the district delays its annual budget vote, raising fresh concerns about the financial sustainability of urban public school systems in the U.S. Who is being laid off? According to official figures and data analyzed by education outlet Chalkbeat, the layoffs include: 432 teachers 311 paraprofessionals (including teacher assistants) 677 Special Education Classroom Assistants (SECAs) 33 security officers 5 parent workers In total, over 1,450 school-based employees have lost their jobs. These reductions have impacted 57% of CPS district-run schools (excluding alternative or specialty schools). The remaining 43% of schools saw no change or even a slight increase in staffing levels, based on school-by-school budgets released Friday. This year's cuts are comparable to last year's numbers, when 1,410 staffers were laid off. However, the scale of this year's budget deficit has triggered new levels of anxiety across Chicago's education landscape. What's driving the budget crisis? Initially, CPS had projected a deficit of $229 million earlier this year, under then-CEO Pedro Martinez. That estimate was based on the expectation that the district would receive $300 million in additional funding from state and city governments. However, when interim CEO Macquline King took charge in July, she revealed that the shortfall was far worse than expected—by nearly half a billion dollars. The updated $734 million deficit includes: Lack of new state or city funding Rising operational and staffing costs A contentious $175 million pension reimbursement owed to the City of Chicago Inflation-related cost escalations in transportation, food services, and energy End of federal pandemic-era relief funds (ESSER) that had temporarily bolstered budgets This fiscal cliff comes at a time when many urban school districts across the U.S. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now are facing similar challenges: shrinking enrollment, higher special education needs, and rising per-pupil costs. Retention pools: A partial safety net CPS has created retention pools for a limited number of staff, primarily to mitigate disruption in special education. According to district officials, up to: 123 special education teachers 300 Special Education Classroom Assistants will be retained on payroll and reassigned to schools with staffing gaps over the academic year. However, not all laid-off staff qualify. The retention pools exclude employees with low performance ratings, and there's no guarantee of reassignment if vacancies don't open up in time. In previous years, around 80% of laid-off CPS staff eventually found placements elsewhere in the system—but with budget cuts deepening, even that figure is uncertain this year. Will more cuts follow? CPS has not ruled out additional rounds of staffing adjustments once enrollment numbers stabilize in the first weeks of school. The district may also choose to borrow funds, though this approach has divided the school board and civic leaders. CPS officials say they are trying to remain 'student-centered' and responsive, and may restore positions at schools based on where students actually show up in August and September. However, with no final budget approved and mounting political pressure, schools are preparing for continued uncertainty. For educators, students, and parents, the consequences are real: larger class sizes, reduced special education support, fewer counselors and aides, and more pressure on already stretched teachers. As other cities watch how Chicago navigates its crisis—through cuts, borrowing, or state intervention—this could become a national test case for how America's school systems survive the next phase of post-pandemic recovery. TOI Education is on WhatsApp now. Follow us .
Yahoo
10-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Expanded AI Training for Teachers, Funded by OpenAI and Microsoft
This article was originally published in Chalkbeat. More than 400,000 K-12 educators across the country will get free training in AI through a $23 million partnership between a major teachers union and leading tech companies that is designed to close gaps in the use of technology and provide a national model for AI-integrated curriculum. Get stories like this delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for The 74 Newsletter The new National Academy for AI Instruction will be based in the downtown Manhattan headquarters of the United Federation of Teachers, the New York City affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers, and provide workshops, online courses, and hands-on training sessions. This hub-based model of teacher training was inspired by work of unions like the United Brotherhood of Carpenters that have created similar training centers with industry partners, according to AFT President Randi Weingarten. 'Teachers are facing huge challenges, which include navigating AI wisely, ethically and safely,' Weingarten said at a press conference Tuesday announcing the initiative. 'The question was whether we would be chasing it or whether we would be trying to harness it.' The initiative involves the AFT, UFT, OpenAI, Microsoft, and Anthropic. The Trump administration has encouraged AI integration in the classroom. More than 50 companies have signed onto a White House pledge to provide grants, education materials, and technology to invest in AI education. In the wake of federal funding cuts to public education and the impact of Trump's sweeping tax and policy bill on schools, Weingarten sees this partnership with private tech companies as a crucial investment in teacher preparation. 'We are actually ensuring that kids have, that teachers have, what they need to deal with the economy of today and tomorrow,' Weingarten said. The academy will be based in a city where the school system initially banned the use of AI in the classroom, claiming it would interfere with the development of critical thinking skills. A few months later, then-New York City schools Chancellor David Banks did an about-face, pledging to help schools smartly incorporate the technology. He said New York City schools would embrace the potential of AI to drive individualized learning. But concrete plans have been limited. The AFT, meanwhile, has tried to position itself as a leader in the field. Last year, the union released its own guidelines for AI use in the classroom and funded pilot programs around the country. Vincent Plato, New York City Public Schools K-8 educator and UFT Teacher Center director, said the advent of AI reminds him of when teachers first started using word processors. 'We are watching educators transform the way people use technology for work in real time, but with AI it's on another unbelievable level because it's just so much more powerful,' he said in a press release announcing the new partnership. 'It can be a thought partner when they're working by themselves, whether that's late-night lesson planning, looking at student data or filing any types of reports — a tool that's going to be transformative for teachers and students alike.' Teachers who frequently use AI tools report saving 5.9 hours a week, according to a national survey conducted by the Walton Family Foundation in cooperation with Gallup. These tools are most likely to be used to support instructional planning, such as creating worksheets or modifying material to meet students' needs. Half of the teachers surveyed stated that they believe AI will reduce teacher workloads. 'Teachers are not only gaining back valuable time, they are also reporting that AI is helping to strengthen the quality of their work,' Stephanie Marken, senior partner for U.S. research at Gallup, said in a press release. 'However, a clear gap in AI adoption remains. Schools need to provide the tools, training, and support to make effective AI use possible for every teacher.' While nearly half of school districts surveyed by the research corporation RAND have reported training teachers in utilizing AI-powered tools by fall 2024, high-poverty districts are still lagging behind their low poverty counterparts. District leaders across the nation report a scarcity of external experts and resources to provide quality AI training to teachers. OpenAI, a founding partner of the National Academy for AI Instruction, will contribute $10 million over the next five years. The tech company will provide educators and course developers with technical support to integrate AI into classrooms as well as software applications to build custom, classroom-specific tools. Tech companies would benefit from this partnership by 'co-creating' and improving their products based on feedback and insights from educators, said Gerry Petrella, Microsoft general manager, U.S. public policy, who hopes the initiative will align the needs of educators with the work of developers. In a sense, the teachers are training AI products just as much as they are being trained, according to Kathleen Day, a lecturer at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School. Day emphasized that through this partnership, AI companies would gain access to constant input from educators so they could continually strengthen their models and products. 'Who's training who?' Day said. 'They're basically saying, we'll show you how this technology works, and you tell us how you would use it. When you tell us how you would use it, that is a wealth of information.' Many educators and policymakers are also concerned that introducing AI into the classroom could endanger student data and privacy. Racial bias in grading could also be reinforced by AI programs, according to research by The Learning Agency. Additionally, Trevor Griffey, a lecturer in labor studies at the University of California Los Angeles, warned the New York Times that tech firms could use these deals to market AI tools to students and expand their customer base. This initiative to expand AI access and training for educators was likened to New Deal efforts in the 1930s to expand equal access to electricity by Chris Lehane, OpenAI's chief global affairs officer. By working with teachers and expanding AI training, Lehane hopes the initiative will 'democratize' access to AI. 'There's no better place to do that work than in the classroom,' he said at the Tuesday press conference. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. Sign up for their newsletters at
Chicago Tribune
10-07-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Forrest Claypool: CPS must engage the community before consolidating empty schools
Last month, Chalkbeat and ProPublica produced an investigative report on Chicago's vastly underused schools, concluding they cost too much and teach too little. The data portends major school closures soon, if Chicago Public Schools is to avoid bankruptcy and provide comparable educations to all its students. To avoid the mistakes of the past, however, school consolidations must be part of a larger plan that marshals significant new neighborhood investments under the guidance of organic community leadership. With around 71,000 fewer students than a decade ago, CPS has almost twice as many severely underenrolled facilities as in 2013, when then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel shuttered 50 schools, the largest mass closure in the nation. Today, 3 of every 10 schools are half empty, and 47 operate at less than a third of capacity, including Frederick Douglass Academy High School, which spends $93,000 for each of its 28 students. For its 20 least occupied schools (less than 15% utilization), CPS is seeking $1 billion for repairs and improvements, a per student average of $330,000. For taxpayers, these numbers are sinful; for students, they are sinister. Chalkbeat and ProPublica found that underenrolled schools are more likely to have lower graduation and college attendance rates, with higher numbers of chronic truants and dropouts. Normal course offerings and extracurricular activities are limited or absent. When a fully elected school board is seated in 18 months, it will inherit a functionally bankrupt district. CPS carries a junk debt rating, the worst among urban school systems. Since 2019, enrollment has dropped by almost 38,000 students yet school officials used one-time COVID-19 relief dollars to hire 7,800 new permanent employees. Worse, they inked a lavish new four-year teachers union contract adding $1.5 billion in expenses and no road map to fund it. When federal COVID-19 relief funds run out next year, the school board will face difficult decisions, including the need to consolidate schools. Chicago must craft its strategy not only to lift students but also entire neighborhoods. In the painful but necessary 2013 closings, no effort was made to replace shuttered schools that had served as neighborhood anchors or to ameliorate the harmful effects of closings. The message to affected communities was one of disinvestment and despair. It need not be that way. In 2016, with memories of the painful closings still fresh, Emanuel greenlighted an experiment in how to approach school consolidations differently. As his new schools CEO, I did not turn to bureaucrats or accountants. Instead, I reached out to community leaders in Englewood, the impoverished South Side neighborhood containing four aging, academically failing and deeply underenrolled high schools. It was obvious the status quo was failing, but change could not be imposed by CPS or City Hall. Englewood was the right place to try a grassroots approach because it had strong and sophisticated leaders with deep credibility and pride in their neighborhood. Supported by a foundation grant, the Englewood Community Action Council and the West Englewood Coalition led a lengthy and assiduous process of research, outreach to residents and community forums, deftly sidelining outsiders who came to rabble-rouse, engage in self-promotion or carry water for special interests. Task force members studied the hard data and concluded Englewood's underenrolled schools could not offer what their children deserved. With no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, they made the tough decision to recommend closing four underperforming schools in exchange for construction of a brand-new one. They also bargained for a new community health clinic, neighborhood construction apprenticeships, new safe transit options and a college credit program with Kennedy-King College. Today, Englewood STEM boasts a state-of-the-art high school complete with gleaming science labs, an 800-person gymnasium, carefully groomed sports fields and specialized after-school programs. Sadly, its five-year academic record is weak but can be turned around under stronger leadership that leverages the benefits of modern infrastructure and fulsome resources. An expanded version of the Englewood model can provide a blueprint for change. It will require significant public and private investments in infrastructure, housing, recreation, public safety, transit, job training and more in an all-hands-on-deck effort that coordinates city and state; CPS, the CTA, the Chicago Housing Authority, City Colleges and parks; labor and business; foundations and philanthropists; and not-for-profits such as the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), among many others. To succeed, each neighborhood improvement plan must be defined by local residents and the process free of outside interference. That's easier said than done in today's toxic political and media environment, in which demagoguery and naked self-interest too often win. But it offers the best chance for the next generation of students and for Chicago's neighborhoods.
Axios
01-07-2025
- Business
- Axios
CPS crisis revives sensitive school closure talk
Interim CPS CEO Macqueline King adjusted the district's deficit last week to $734 million, $200 million more than her predecessor Pedro Maritnez estimated. Why it matters: It means deeper cuts or more borrowing for the nation's fourth-largest school system, one already facing financial trouble and staff shortages. The big picture: The increased deficit is driven by King's willingness to take on the $175 million non-teacher pension payment that has traditionally been paid by the city and Martinez refused to shoulder. The latest: Late Friday afternoon, CPS announced it was laying off 161 employees, including 87 crossing guards, and cutting 209 open positions. The intrigue: Despite the need for savings, officials have avoided closing half-empty schools, a sensitive issue that Chalkbeat Chicago and ProPublica explored last month. By the numbers: CPS enrollment has dropped from 402,000 in 2010 to about 324,000 today in 634 schools. About 150 of those schools are half empty and 47 operate at less than one-third capacity, according to the Chalkbeat analysis. While CPS spends an average of $18,700 per student, severely underenrolled Douglass Academy spends $93,000 per pupil while offering a very limited selection of courses. The investigation suggests CPS could save millions by closing or consolidating many of these schools. Friction point: Former Mayor Rahm Emanuel's closure of 50 schools in 2013 displaced thousands of low-income kids from local schools and became seen as a generational tragedy in some circles. The prospect of new closures has become so radioactive that no progressive leader — especially former Chicago Teachers Union staffer Mayor Brandon Johnson — is likely to broach the idea. What they're saying:"Our footprint is too large," Martinez told Chalkbeat before he left his job as CEO last month. "Every time somebody wants to address this issue, you see at all levels of politics, nobody wants to do it." "Now that Chicagoans have elected school board members, there are opportunities for communities and their elected representatives to think about school enrollment patterns and the district's building infrastructure together and plan around both in ways that provide great school experiences for students," Chalkbeat Chicago bureau chief Becky Vevea tells Axios. The other side: CTU vice president Jackson Potter told Chalkbeat that union officials oppose closures because they predict the city's progressive policies will draw new residents and students. They also oppose them because the previous closures were done without stakeholder input. What's next: CPS' closure moratorium lifts in January 2027, and at least one board member wants to be ready.
Time of India
28-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
What Mamdani's plan for 911,000 NYC students says about the next era of US education
If Zohran Mamdani wins New York City's mayoral race in November, he could usher in a bold new chapter not just for the city's public schools, but for urban education across the US. As the presumptive Democratic nominee, Mamdani would oversee the nation's largest school system—serving roughly 911,000 students across 1,600 schools—and he's signaling that he doesn't intend to lead with a top-down approach. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now The 33-year-old Queens assemblyman and democratic socialist told Chalkbeat he is "opposed to mayoral control in its current iteration," expressing support for a more participatory system that involves school communities directly. His platform emphasizes equity, transparency, and investment, combining sweeping progressive ideals with a personal connection—Mamdani is a graduate of the Bronx High School of Science and a former standardized testing tutor. A vision grounded in equity, care, and public investment Mamdani's education agenda centers heavily on combating child poverty and homelessness—issues he argues are inseparable from student success. During the first primary debate, he highlighted that "500,000 children go to bed hungry each night and 100,000 of the city's students are homeless," as reported by Chalkbeat. He supports expanding the Bronx pilot program "Every Child and Family Is Known," which connects children in shelters with dedicated adult mentors who check in daily. In line with this care-focused model, Mamdani wants to improve services for students with disabilities. He suggested boosting wages for paraprofessionals to address current staff shortages, which is critical to reducing class sizes and supporting inclusive classrooms. He has also proposed cuts to consultant contracts within the Department of Education to reallocate funding directly into schools. Rethinking early education, child care, and public college Mamdani's platform proposes universal free child care from birth to age five, with salaries for child care workers matched to those of public school teachers. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now On higher education, he advocates for a "new deal" for the CUNY system—including tuition-free education, infrastructure funding, better staff pay, and free OMNY transit cards for students—framing it as an investment in economic justice and workforce development. Challenging traditional governance and curriculum models In a departure from recent administrations, Mamdani opposes centralized mayoral control. He envisions a model that leverages bodies like the Panel for Educational Policy and school leadership teams to co-govern, according to Chalkbeat. As the current city school governance structure awaits renewal in 2026, this stance could spark major debates. While he supports the literacy initiative launched under Mayor Eric Adams as "a step in the right direction," Mamdani told Chalkbeat he would adjust the program to allow greater teacher discretion and ensure materials are adapted for diverse learners. He underscored the need for culturally responsive teaching and robust professional development. Addressing class sizes, school safety, and segregation Mamdani has expressed a commitment to meeting the state's class size mandate, even though it's projected to cost up to $1.9 billion annually. He suggested conducting a full audit of the Department of Education to locate inefficiencies and reinvest funds in hiring teachers and expanding classroom space. He also mentioned capping enrollment at overcrowded schools and pursuing mergers "where appropriate," Chalkbeat reported. On school safety, he proposes investing in guidance counselors, mental health professionals, and restorative justice models over expanding the school safety force. Mamdani told Chalkbeat he supports forming a youth advisory committee to prevent hate violence and believes restorative practices will help "students remain in schools, learn from mistakes, grow conflict resolution skills, and improve academic outcomes. " A progressive but uncertain path forward While Mamdani's agenda resonates with a growing progressive movement in US education, critics may raise concerns about its feasibility. The scale of proposed spending lacks full financial detail, and his opposition to mayoral control could raise questions about accountability. With limited experience managing education systems, Mamdani's ability to deliver on sweeping promises remains to be seen. Still, as reported by Chalkbeat, Mamdani stated: "I am running to protect New Yorkers from Trump," adding that his education policies will shield families from "his attacks on funding for vital services." His campaign makes clear: the future of NYC's schools—and perhaps urban education nationwide—may hinge on how voters interpret that promise.
