The Illinois State Board of Education released a late, flawed report on the Invest in Kids scholarship program. Despite comparing apples to oranges, the report shows the Invest in Kids program worked for low-income kids.
This edition of The Policy Shop is by policy analyst Hannah Schmid. “We pigs are brainworkers. The whole management and organisation of this farm depend on us. Day and night we are watching over your welfare. It is for your sake that we drink the milk and eat those apples.” – George Orwell, “Animal Farm” If...
Chicago Teachers Union leadership will use this summer’s contract negotiations with Chicago Public Schools to push for expansion of “sustainable community schools” in the district. The model doesn’t work: students perform worse, absenteeism rises.
A new bill would revive a scholarship program that was stripped from 9,600 low-income Illinois students, ending their best chances to attend schools of their choice.
State lawmakers failed to save the Invest in Kids program allowing nearly 10,000 low-income students to attend a school that better fit their needs. Now some of those schools are being forced to close and families are left with poor options.
The Chicago Teachers Union for decades pushed to elect the school board, but with their former employee in the mayor’s office they rather he choose most of the board for a little while longer.
Absenteeism rates among Hispanic students in Chicago Public Schools are chronically high. Proficiency in reading and math is low.
Chronic absenteeism rates among Illinois public school students increased after the pandemic-era school closures. Rates are even higher among low-income students, limiting their futures.
Chronic absenteeism rates are higher in Chicago than statewide, with 44% of low-income Chicago students missing at least 10% of their days in school.
With Invest in Kids scholarships expiring, four schools across Illinois already decided to close their doors for good. Futures for nearly 10,000 low-income students remain uncertain.
Seven states enacted new private school choice programs in 2023 and 11 states expanded existing programs. But Illinois killed its Invest in Kids tax-credit scholarship program, ending the only help for nearly 10,000 low-income students.
House Bill 4417 requires an annual “Workplace Readiness Week” in all Illinois high schools, which focuses not on getting kids ready for jobs but on the labor movement’s role in the workplace.
Chicago Public Schools Inspector General’s report showed 77,505 devices were lost or stolen during the 2021-2022 school year. At 36 schools, every single student device was gone.
The Chicago Board of Education is preparing to remove police officers from public high schools. Local School Councils already have the power to remove officers, but district leaders are taking away that local control.