Chicago Public Schools

Update: Performance Counts Bill (SB7) Passes

05/12/2011
by Mark Cavers Update: Today is a big day for children in schools across state. Senate Bill 7, which represents a significant step forward in the effort to give all our children an excellent education just passed the House!  By a margin of 112-1-1 the Illinois House of Representatives sent a strong message that they...

Chicago’s Big Hurt on Pensions: Charting Illinois’s Pension Crisis

04/26/2011
Chicago residents face twin financial crises at Chicago Public Schools and City Hall, driven by the costs of public employee pensions.  The steep tab for the retirement benefits of school and city employees is coming due. More retirees than ever are collecting pension checks. And state law will soon require the City and CPS to...

Emanuel Names New Head of CPS

By Chris Andriesen
04/20/2011
by Mark Cavers Mayor-elect Rahm Emanuel has named Jean-Claude Brizard to serve as the new head of the Chicago Public Schools. Mr. Brizard spent the past three years as the Superintendent of the Rochester School District where he pushed for a number of the education reforms that Chicago will need to implement to give our kids...

Teacher Tenure or High Performance?

04/14/2011
by Collin Hitt We’ve reached an important moment for education reform. Teacher tenure – the impregnable job protection held by teachers good and bad – could soon be replaced by a system that protects only high performance. The threat of strikes could be diminished. And school districts could no longer be forced to bargain away...

A Moral Obligation

03/25/2011
by Mark Cavers An article in the Chicago Tribune yesterday quotes a representative of the Chicago Teachers Union arguing against the CPS decision to explore closing some under enrolled schools in an effort to close a $750 million deficit. The president attacks the decision saying the Chicago Public School system has, “a moral obligation to … stop these...

A Second Chance

02/28/2011
Last year, a bill aimed at giving families in the worst performing Chicago schools a better opportunity failed in the Illinois House. This year, its back.

Your Taxes at Work: Sending CPS Teachers to Las Vegas

01/31/2011
Despite the $700 million budget deficit Chicago Public Schools is facing, fourteen Chicago public school teachers went on an all-expense paid trip to a Las Vegas resort and spa for a conference last year.