Funds dedicated, uh, to these projects.
So we ask the support of all members
of the finance committee, of the Chicago City Council, uh,
to approve these monies for these two really amazing
and transformative projects.
It'll be cornerstones, uh, for, uh, the Chicago Loop
and also address the idea
of these buildings suddenly become, uh, becoming,
working landmarks once again.
Uh, inhabited by many, many Chicagoans.
So two very exciting projects and preservation. Chicago
McIlroy.
Mr. McIlroy, you signed up to speak on both projects.
So can you speak
to both projects in one statement?
Please vote for both of them.
Madam Chair, um, yes, of course.
I had a speech ready for each one,
but I'm gonna figure something out here. Thank
You.
This is a one. This is a great opportunity.
Both of these buildings will have their technology
and their technology infrastructure substantially enhanced
for,
for it.
1, 2, 3. 1, 2, 3. Sound check. Public mic. Public mic.
1, 2, 3. Public mic.
I, I speak on something and
pen here.
Time at 10 30.
What they waiting on The other officer always in other
room One.
They waiting on the other officer in the other room. Why?
They picture me at the same time? Because they didn't call.
They all they even bought
and they all I got
get ready to put on another.
It's I can on my eyes
and getting ready to put another person.
They driving you crazy. Oh, thank you.
I'm going to give them help driving you crazy.
All you not crazy. You know
what time it is after 10 30.
You used to work somebody every
these time.
If you had your job.
If I did, if I did,
then you used my, these Possibility
and Texas Worker drive in.
Yes. Did you have a certain time to be there? Yes I did.
Was you on task? Yes.
And when you wasn't on time, they fire you.
They fire you. These employees are here.
That man is on time. You know when he come you can't come.
He get good ready. He stabbed off. Are out of control.
Out control. And you know why these people here can't say
nothing or come to them.
Work here. They work here.
They now
Good morning. The
Committee on Education
and Child Development will now come to order today.
The first seven of this meeting votes will be taken
two Reappointments to the board
of Trustee Community College District number 5 0 8.
Ordinance 8 2 0 2 5 dash
0 1 8 7 3 8.
Darlene Oliver Hightower
and 8 2 0 2 5 dash 0 0 1 8 7 4 0
Oscar Sanchez.
The second half will feature a subject matter hearing on
ordinance number
0 2 0 2 4 8 3 8 7.
Followed by, followed by quarterly hearings
regarding the Chicago Public Schools.
We will now do a roll call vote to establish Quo
Alderwoman Chairwoman Clay
Alderman Yancy Alderman Hall Present.
Alderwoman Lee, alderman Quinn
Alder Woman Gutierrez Alder Woman
Coleman Alderman, OSHA.
Here. Alder person
Fuentes Alderman.
Tyler Farro, Alder Woman
Rodriguez Sanchez.
Alderman Gardner
Present All the woman Taylor is here.
We have seven members present.
We have a quorum pursuant to Rule 59.
Alderman Bill Chico
Gutierrez for Winz Gardner
and nine Member Moore, which is to pursuant under Rule 59,
which to attend remotely.
Can I get a motion?
So, So moved by all the woman Sanchez.
All those in favor signified by saying aye. Aye.
None opposed Alderman. Bill, are you present?
Alder Chico?
I am. Present Chair Alderwoman Gutierrez
Alder person Fuentes Alderman Gardner
Present. Madam Chair.
Thank you. And Alderman Moore.
At this time we'll begin the public comment period.
This period is limited
to 30 minutes outta respect for everybody's time.
Each speaker is limited to three minutes.
First we have Ray Roundtree,
How you doing?
My name is Ray Roundtree.
Uh, this is my first time here, so I really don't know how
to do this right here.
Um, I was trying to find out about, um, a case that I got.
Um, I have custody of my son since 2021 in December.
Uh, he ran away September of 2024
because of a argument.
Um, some people took him and I'm not able to get him back.
I'm trying to find out what's going on.
I got paperwork saying I'm the father and everything.
Um, he was kidnapped 'cause the person that took him
after he ran away didn't call me
or Chicago Police Department
to let them know they didn't have my son.
They still have my son.
I haven't been able to talk to him or even see him.
I'm trying to find out how to get this accomplished
to get my son back.
Um, I put him in school at, um,
south Loop Elementary, 1601 South Dearborn.
And um, I had some paperwork
with the courts saying, don't go up to the school.
Okay, no problem. Until the DCFS case over
with the DCFS case is over with.
I've been unfounded.
So that means I was supposed to get my son back.
I still ain't gave me my son.
So I finally got the people charged with kidnapping.
Um, that got throughout afterwards,
but I had went up to the school April 2nd, 2000,
um, 25.
The principal, um, up there was interfering
with a police investigation.
So I'm trying to find out how she's not getting in trouble.
'cause I had the police come up there
to question the lady that has my son.
Uh, Tara, uh, Shelton, the principal up there, uh,
called the phony godmother
'cause she don't have paperwork saying she the godmother
and told her to pick up my son through the side door.
When I told the police to go back in there
to check on my son, the principal told the police
that my son is no longer there.
Okay? We was waiting in front
of the front door for my son to come out.
So I went
and checked it's some more side doors at that school.
So how is it able for the principal to interfere
with a police investigation when they was only up there
to contact the phony godmother
and find out how did she get my son?
So I just need something done.
I'm trying to get help with all this. I had a lawyer.
I don't no longer got him no more.
'cause I can't afford him.
I'm just trying to get my son back.
That's it. I didn't do nothing. I didn't harm him.
We just had a little argument
or some video games that was on the card and that was it.
I'm just trying to get my son back.
If anybody can help me, please help me.
'cause my son been gone since last year,
2024, September 9th.
Thank you.
Next one, we'll have Jessica Biggs.
Good morning. Good morning.
Thank you Chairwoman Taylor, members of the committee.
Um, thank you for your partnership,
for your ongoing commitment
to Chicago students and to our families.
Um, I'm lucky to know
and work closely with many of you here.
Um, for those of you who I have not yet met, um,
I was elected as the Board
of Education member in District six,
representing the communities of Park Manor
and Woodlawn in the south north through Bronzeville
to the South Loop downtown.
And as far northwest as Bucktown.
I'm a former teacher, principal, and a current CPS parent.
Each of these roles has underscored for me the importance
of collaboration and challenging moments.
I'm not breaking news to anyone in this chamber
that this is one of those challenging moments.
The budget that we approved
as a CPS board on August 28th relies on such collaboration
as you well know, incorporating the city's expected,
projected TIFF surplus to make this school year a success.
These surplus dollars do not represent add-ons
or extras in our budget.
Given the current revenue at our disposal,
they're a necessary part
of keeping the CPS budget balanced and prudent.
While protecting the historic academic gain CPS has made in
recent years, these dollars will
work to protect our students'.
Record graduation rates increased early college credit,
and they'll also work to protect
our most vulnerable learners.
Real, we realize that the TIF surplus is essential not just
to CPS, but also to the city's budgeting process.
Real. We realize that you are considering options
for the more than $1 billion deficit
facing the city this year.
TIF surplus is a solution
that benefits both the school district
and the city as a whole.
Reinforcing the fiscal stability
of Chicago while protecting key investments in
our children's education.
Ensuring the commitment to ci TIF surplus city council
strengthens the city's financial position.
This commitment also strengthens CPS financial position,
thereby creating stability for all Chicagoans.
And I can't underscore this enough.
This is not just about schools. It is about collaboration.
Ensuring our citywide priorities
and fiscal responsibility are intertwined
and we pursue them together.
Long-term structural solutions for both pension payments
and the CPS and city budgets are a must.
We're here to work together with you
as a partner in that effort.
We made many challenging decisions
and working to balance this year's CPS budget.
We're not asking the city
to carry this responsibility alone.
The board is looking forward to a, uh,
advancing a legislative revenue strategy
that creates a more sustainable
funding path for our schools.
We must secure long-term recurring revenues
that will support continued gains in classrooms
and the academic experiences of students
and avoid this pattern of crisis and response.
In the short term, though,
we must ensure the success of this school year.
It's what my constituents,
our common constituents tell me every day.
We respectfully encourage you to reaffirm your commitment
to tif, to the TIF surplus so that together we can show
and strong city finances go hand in hand
and both are essential to Chicago's future.
Next, we'll have Carlos Revis.
Uh, thank you, uh, chairwoman Taylor, uh,
and members of the Committee on
Education and Child Development.
For your partnership and ongoing commitment to CPS students
and families, we deeply value the collaboration
between the city council and the Board of Education.
This partnership is what makes it possible
to move Chicago forward together.
My name is Carlos Rivas.
I was elected in district three representing Humboldt Park,
Logan Square, Avondale OSA and Belmont Craig.
We share constituents. My students are your students.
We all serve this incredible city we call home.
I began my career in CPS
as a school security officer in 2011,
later becoming a teacher assistant long-term substitute,
and finally a teacher and college counselor.
My career in education is about providing students like me
with the same or greater opportunities than I had.
This work is personal to me.
The budgets we approve,
the policies our district enacts affect the real learning
environments and opportunities I experience
as a student and my constituents.
Our constituents will experience now and in the future.
The CPS board approve the district's FY 26 budget on
August 28th, which carefully incorporates the city's
projected TIF surplus.
I want to be clear, these surplus dollars are not
an extra in the budget.
They are a vital part of keeping the CPS budget balance
and equally critical to the city's broader financial health
CPS have made, has made impressive gains in recent years.
Graduation rates continue to rise.
More students are earning early college credit.
Something I'm personally passionate about
as a former college counselor, students continue to rebound.
Following the pandemic. CPS has also improved
staffing stability.
Students support services, um, support for students
with dis disabilities and academic achievements.
A balanced budgets help protect these gains
by keeping the TIF surplus commitment.
The city council strengthens both CPS
and the city's overall financial position.
Bringing in long-term stability.
We know we need long-term structural solutions
for both pension payments and the CPS
and city budgets as a whole.
We are here to work with you as a partner in that effort.
We also want to be clear that we are not asking the city
to carry this responsibility alone.
The board is looking forward to working
with our intergovernmental affairs team
to advance a legislative revenue strategy
that creates a more sustainable funding
path for our schools.
These efforts aim to secure long-term recurring revenues
that will support continued gains in our classrooms
and the academic experiences of students.
Together we can show that strong schools
and strong city finances go hand in hand
and that both are essential for Chicago's future.
Thank you.
Next we'll have Jennifer Custer.
Good morning. Uh, I just wanna start by saying thank you
to Chairwoman Taylor
and to all the members of the Committee of Education
and Child Development for both your partnership
and ongoing commitment to our CPS students and family.
I'm sure many of you already know,
but my name's Jennifer Kuster
and I represent the Chicago School Board from District one
B on the northwest side.
I'm a former educator, uh, wife
and a mother of three students, two of which who attend CPS.
I came here today to continue to advocate for our students
and families, not only in my district,
but all around the city.
CPS just passed the fiscal year 26 budget,
which carefully incorporates the projected 379 million in
TIF surplus from the city.
These surplus dollars are not an extra,
and they are part a vital part
of keeping our budget balanced.
These TIF dollars allow CPS to continue
to provide critical services for our students
and avoid making cuts that could undo years
of growth coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic.
But we find ourselves in partnership over these dollars.
As the city budget season looms nearer these dollars serve
as a multifunctional tool for both to support CPS
and to help close the large budget gap facing the city.
This is a mutually beneficial solution
that isn't just about our schools,
but about aligning our citywide priorities
like the great work that you have all done
in investing in our children.
Balancing the CPS budget on the surpluses is not necessarily
a long-term solution, but has been
provided to the district for the past decade,
lacking the ability to raise our own revenue.
We've relied on these monies to close our own gaps.
And with the passing of the budget, the ability
to keep it balanced.
CPS sets our trajectory for both a stronger financial health
as well as a leg to stand on for the intergovernmental team
to help us advance a stronger
and more sustainable legislative Regi revenue strategy.
Let's continue, uh, to work in partnership
to help the students and families
of the great city that we serve.
Thank you.
Last but not least, Mr. Blakemore,
It, it'll say my three minutes,
but go, uh, somebody need the time anyway.
It's very important to be educated.
The miseducation of the black man,
the black boys and the black girls.
The system is broken.
Why would you come and need Tiff money when your board
structure is set up that you can,
you have the power to tax.
You can tax,
you don't need the tip to do that.
You have the power. Your board members
have the power to tax.
And I didn't see one black board member come up here.
It's something evil here. It's something un-American here.
When, when the 12th grade white a reason on a,
the 12th grade level and the blacks are reading on the
fourth grade level.
Our people are smart and intelligent.
It's something evil with this school board,
but they all Democrats.
All Democrats, the black ones, the white ones,
the Hispanic, the Asia.
That's not a good look. We need a check and balance.
We need some Republicans, some socialists, capitalists.
We need a multi-party system,
uh, is evil here.
Why would you have those two meetings at the same time?
COVID-19 is up.
These elected officials should be here.
Not virtue should be here.
So if something evil un-American here,
when, when you go to the ghetto, those schools are not equal
to the schools in the white area.
Why? Why did they dismantle CVS
not teaching our children trades?
So that clock is ticking very quick for me
and it didn't click as quick
for these other two speakers.
Now Mr. Blemo, you are sin. It's the same.
It's not the same. They manipulate the system.
The system is broke. It's evil.
And on my hat, I I will paint,
make America great again.
She'd never been great to us. We need our reparation.
She never been great to us. George Washington had slaves.
He didn't wanna work the land. He had slaves.
He was the pres first president of the United States.
History must be taught in our school.
Black people are great.
So this Clark did manipulate very quickly on me. Maybe you,
Oh, This concludes the public comic period.
Thank you all for, for speaking today.
Our first order of business.
Can I get a motion to approve the Rule 45 report?
So moved by Alderman Yancy. All those in favor.
Second final by saying aye. Opposed? There are none.
Mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely.
To hear from two Reappointments, Darlene Oliver Hightower
and Oscar Sanchez to ask the body
for its favorable consideration of their reappointments.
To the board of Trustee Community College district number
5 0 8, I wanna recognize
Alderwoman Clay, vice chair Clay for Quo.
Chairwoman Gutierrez is also present requested.
Thank you all Gutierrez.
Mrs. Hightower, you would you like to go first?
Yes. Thank you. Good morning.
My name is Darlene Oliver Hightower and I'm the president
and CEO for Think and Do Consulting.
I'm a Chicago native and have served this great
city in a number of roles.
As a civic leader, a lawyer, a healthcare executive,
and a nonprofit leader, I've had the pleasure of serving
as a trustee for City Colleges of Chicago
for a year and a half now.
After this committee graciously confirmed my appointment in
early 2024, my time
as trustee has been incredibly rewarding.
The passion and commitment of the leadership
and staff at City Colleges has been impressive.
City Colleges served more than 70,000 students
in the last year alone.
Increased student enrollment
and launched new programs like a new nursing program at
Kennedy King College.
And a basic needs initiative across the district
to provide social supports to students.
The students that I've met have been outstanding
and they really have a lot of pride in the program offerings
and the support that's provided by city colleges.
Based on my experiences, I would like to continue my service
as a trustee for city colleges.
As a product of CPS
and a first generation college graduate, I know firsthand
that education is the foundation for success
and it's been very rewarding to serve as a trustee
and to support city colleges amazing work.
I welcome any questions from the committee
and I ask for your support
and consideration of my, of my reappointment
to city College's board of trustees.
Thank you very much,
Oscar.
Good Morning. Members of the Committee of Education.
My name is Ska de Sanchez
and I'm honored to serve as a trustee for the City College
of Chicago, where I also serve as Chair
of Finance Administrative services.
I wanna begin by recognizing our incredible financial team,
staff and administrators whose guidance
and commitment have ensured that we continue
to make strong decisions for our students.
I especially wanna highlight the administration's commitment
to adult education.
Even as federal funding has been threatened,
the chancellor has made it clear
that no support would be lost
and the results speak for themselves.
Adult education graduates have nearly tripled
and for those graduations, they show truly
how life changing these courses are
for families across Chicago.
As the first generation college student, college graduate
and proud CPS alum, I know how transformative, affordable,
high quality education can be.
That is why I'm proud
of city college's continued innovation from programs like
the new doula certificate at Kennedy King
to expand workforce pathways
and trades service and healthcare.
These programs are not only preparing students
for meaningful careers,
they're also helping us meet the needs
of Chicago's communities and economy.
Looking ahead, I'm excited about our commitment
to green infrastructure as a strategy
to reduce long-term costs
and strengthening affordability for students and families.
Together with city council
and this committee, we can ensure city colleges remains a
cornerstone of opportunity and progress for Chicago.
Thank you for your time and for your continued support
and for all you do to help City Chicago,
the city of Chicago Thrive.
I welcome your questions and I humbly ask for consideration
and support from our employment to City College
of Chicago Board of trustees.
Questions on the committee?
I do. Can you tell me what is your responsibility
as trustee members?
Sure. Uh, from my perspective, it's to provide, um,
accountability and oversight for the work
that the staff is doing
to make sure the city colleges is fiscally sound,
is providing, uh, programs that are equitable
and of high standards in quality to, um,
oversee the strategic plan at a high, at the highest level
to make sure the city colleges is meeting its obligations
and, um, its strategy going forward.
I also sit on City College's Foundation board as well,
which has been really helpful in understanding the fiscal
steward, um, responsibilities that I have for city colleges.
I just wanna say that was a beautiful response.
Thank you. So I don't know if I'll do better,
better than that, but I think
for us it's really making sure community members
and all stakeholders are really taken into account.
As I mentioned earlier, the new dolo program.
There's only that and alongside other programs
that we really want to be excited
about in the city of Chicago.
For me as a board member, we want to be part of that vision
of Chicago, thinking about how do we make things affordable
for our, you know, constituents?
Because at the end of the day, these are the people
that are gonna be impacted the most.
So for me, I think about how are we making costs
as low as possible?
How we also ensuring that we are ambitious
in our plans for innovating.
We've just expanded some of our programs in healthcare
and building out relationships with hospitals.
So as a board member for me,
I think it's really ensuring at the end of the day
that we're looking at what is the
city of Chicago looking to do?
What is this administration looking to do that is going
to progress these communities that are impacted?
Because at the end of the day, if we're not looking
to ensure that community members are even attending
or even acknowledging the different resources available at
the college level than we're doing a disservice.
So for me, it's ensuring that we are keeping track
and holding accountable our institutions ourselves to
that standard to making sure
that we're working for the working class.
Sorry, it wasn't working. Um, you,
you both kinda hit on earlier about federal funding
that we're not gonna receive.
What is the board that's going to do in order to make sure
that we could fund adult education
and some of the programs
that would've came from the federal government
and is there a Springfield spattered strategy for you all?
I agree. Go ahead. Yeah, so I think one
of the things we did mention that there are this removal
of federal funding, but it's a minimal
impact as of right now.
It is nothing for us to be concerned about.
The staff though is keeping track, um, and,
and seeing, trying to anticipate things
that are coming down the pike.
We're on this. I mean, it's a big deal
and we know, um, every dollar matters
and so people are really making, um, strides
to keep track of what's happening.
I'll say too, I mean I'm on the foundation board
and the staff's ability to fundraise,
especially in this last fiscal
year has been really impressive.
I know how difficult that is,
but they're doing everything that they can to, uh,
cultivate new relationships with foundations
and to bring in additional dollars in anticipation of like,
if, if additional federal funding cuts happen.
All the women. Clay, thank you all for coming.
Um, one of my questions is about re
or multip purposing some of the buildings.
Um, in my neck of the woods.
I have Truman College that used
to have a beautiful viable pool.
And I know when President Jackson
hears this, he gonna say, here she go.
But the pool has been decommissioned for years now
with the infrastructure still in place.
Um, are there any opportunities
or are there any conversations that you all are having about
repurposing spaces in some of our colleges
or potentially bringing resources
that have been underutilized back
to the community and the students?
I think for two of those parts, one is
that I think we're looking at ways
to making sure we're keeping students safe at this time.
Right now we are talking to a lot
of security administrations to make, see
how can we bring community members into facilities
to be part of that, right?
When you have community members being able
to be in those campuses,
they see themselves part of those campuses.
And I think that's what's a truly beautiful part of wanting
to do that we are in conversations about what
that looks like during this time
because people are at a heightened time of their safety.
The one part about infrastructure, we are also,
as we're trying to do fundraising, one
of the most important parts is we're looking
how can we see infrastructures being invested in
by corporations at this moment?
We are expand, looking to expand a lot of our soccer fields.
We are investing in them right now
because there's a growing demand,
especially from Kennedy King.
I'll be very blatant with
that request alongside other facilities.
So I think we're looking at seeing how can we look, work
with the current assets we have in Chicago to expand some
of the infrastructures we have.
And of course, with the first point, wanting
to make sure they're open to the community
members to be also part of them.
Yeah. And just to add onto that, speaking of Kennedy King,
there was space, um, for a secure restaurant
that closed down, I wanna say like
around when COVID started.
And so just over the last year, year
and a half investments have been made in that space
and it's been completely redone and it's now open.
It's a beautiful facility that adds
to the environment at Kenny Kennedy King.
And it's also an opportunity
to raise funds for the school as well.
So I think in addition to what Oscar said, that there have,
there are conversations about how to best utilize that space
and to do it in a way that benefits the students,
the community and the district as a whole.
So I don't know if you all can answer the questions.
Have you all seen a decline in, um, enrollment as far
as the raids and kind of what's going on federally?
That might be a GI
Haven't, I haven't seen that in the most, um,
recent meetings that I've been in.
In fact, we got, um, an update on enrollment
for city colleges.
And like I said in my opening remarks,
the college has served over 70,000 students this year
and that hasn't declined as my understanding.
I don't know if you've, uh,
experienced something different like more recently
given all of the things
Happening. Yeah, I think we,
I think we'll follow up
with the numbers specifically to see if they are declining.
I will say from speaking to a lot of the different educators
that there are students who are not currently attending.
We're not sure if how that's impacting attendance right now.
But we've had heard firsthand testimony from educators
that there is a concern and there is
a worry for people's safety.
But I think, let's make sure we have the numbers
correct and we'll follow up with that.
I'll just add, um,
So state your name for the record.
I know I called you out. I'm free.
Jen Mason, vice Chancellor for, uh, government
and community affairs for city colleges.
Um, so to echo both, um, trustees here,
we can circle back with you with the numbers.
Overall, we have seen an increase in enrollment
across the district.
Um, there are some pockets though
that have shown some trends,
but rather than, you know, give you numbers right now,
I can make sure that you have that.
But overall, we're up across the district.
Thank you. Mm-hmm. Um, last question
to trust to the trustees.
How are you all going to make sure
that we increase the number
of Chicago public school students
who actually attend City College?
'cause we do, what I've realized is it is not our young
people's first option.
And a lot of times they don't understand that you can go
to the HBCU, but you also can, can go to a city college.
Um, 'cause if you ever ask a young person their reason
for not going to college, they always
say 'cause what it cost.
And I don't think they really understand that you can,
you can go to city colleges for nothing.
Um, and it's an accredited college for the most part.
So what, what are you all as trustees going to do
to reinsure that young people from Chicago public schools
attends the city college?
Yeah, you know, I really appreciate that question.
One because I have a 25-year-old daughter who was able
to get college credit by attending, um,
or getting like the dual credit from city colleges.
And so that saved us money when she was able to go
to Hampton and HBCU.
And so it just, it, you know,
makes me feel even better about my service at City Colleges.
One of the things that I've seen is the investment in
marketing dollars so that CPS students are aware of all
of the things and programs
and supports that are available at city colleges.
There's a lot going on that I had no idea about.
And so I think as trustees, it's our job to be ambassadors
for these programs and
to tell people in our communities about the resources
that are available so that young students, CPS students
can take advantage of scholarships
and, um, dual credit enrollment.
We've gotta, um, toot the horn of, of city colleges
and, and continue to push for the investment in dollars
to do marketing in our communities.
Likewise, in the response,
I think there's two parts that we can be doing.
One is really important to marketing,
and I'll go into them in a moment, but I think we, I mean,
and I mean don't mean this in a joking way.
We have to make transferring as easy as possible.
We've had the experience
and even from my time that transferring over from community
college is one of the most difficult parts,
state four year university.
If for example, the student doesn't want
to get a certificate program, what we need to be doing,
and we are doing already,
is solidifying our partnerships across the board
with Visa universities, right?
We are solidifying more of engineering
and healthcare when it comes to UIC
and that's gonna be one of our most,
the second most attended university in the city of Chicago,
which is great for us because again, that pathway
of affordability is exactly what we're trying
to structure alongside that.
And just to mention, uh, high tower's point,
it's gonna be really important that people are aware
of these resources, like I just mentioned, and I,
and I mentioned the doula program just
because it is something the community has asked for
and it's something that community members
are gonna be taking benefit of.
So for me, it's making very much the marketing of
what we actually have access to
and the resource the community
members can take advantage of.
So I mentioned the doula program.
I mentioned we, even
before we get into the controversy, we've actually,
the spring have also allocated funds
to be building out AI curriculums
when it comes to our colleges.
So when it comes to the things
that we're being innovative in the curriculum,
bringing this new job market, making sure we can market it,
and then afterwards if, for example,
the certificate is not someone someone is interested in
making sure we market that very much thorough
and seamless transition from a community college
to a four year university.
And even more importantly, the dual credit program we have.
I've had my brother part of it, he's now been a part
of going into UIC, into ROTC and had his credits down.
He's having a great time, not today,
he's having a bad day today,
but hopefully it's his final semester.
But I think again, we want to make sure it's the experience
that students have feeling
that they are part of these campuses.
Thank you for that. And, um, I think marketing,
as we keep talking about it, I just wanna make sure
that it is culturally relevant marketing.
I know you all have departments, I know you have people,
but it needs to actually matriculate to the communities
that we are trying to attract our young people for from.
So that's number one.
Number two, I also, um, would like to join you in
that marketing strategy.
Excuse me. I think one of the beauties of working
with Alderman, where you have our community colleges,
is we have some deeper knowledge of
how we can best target our young people, right?
So I extend that, um, olive branch of let's work together
to see how we can make sure
that our community at the forefront is sending our babies
to our beautiful institutions and then expand from there.
Thank you for that. Thank you. You're welcome to that.
There are no more questions to the committee.
I make a motion to reappoint Darlene Oliver Heights, Iowa
and Oscar Sanchez
to board trustees of the community college.
All those in favor signify by saying aye.
There are none opposed. Welcome back. Thank you.
Thank you all.
Free your time. While we are switching seats,
we're going to bring up Dr. King
and the CPS um, members
to have our quarterly hearings.
It was voted for a couple of months ago for CPS
to have quarterly meetings to talk about the district's,
um, ups and downs.
Okay.
You good?
Dr. King? Good morning.
Macklin King, interim, CEO, superintendent
of Chicago Public Schools.
Did she wanna hit off? I think Jamele wanted to kick it off.
Sorry. Um, are we good to go?
Um, good morning each Roman Taylor,
vice Chairwoman Clay members
of the Communal Education and Child Development.
Um, for the record, my name is Jamel Chambers,
executive Director of Government Affairs
for the Chicago Public Schools.
I wanna thank you all for this opportunity, um, to appear
before this body today.
Um, first on, on the record, thank Alderman Vasquez for his,
um, determination and leadership
and getting this ordinance through city Council.
I truly think it creates the aperture for us
to have meaningful dialogue around supports being
provided to young people within Chicago Public schools, um,
excuse me, within Chicago Public Schools.
Um, I want to acknowledge that in a time of transition,
we are oftentimes confronted with hesitance
around stability and progress.
Contrary to Dr. King has boldly, uh, confronted
that resistance and successfully opened schools on August 18
for students and families
and successfully passed a financially responsible budget.
As you know, our district is navigating an important moment,
balancing the need of to keep schools strong
and stable, while also responding to new
and complex challenges, uh, facing our communities.
In times like this, I'm reminded of the words
of the other great Dr. King, my Morehouse brothers,
who proclaim that the function of education is to teach one
to think intensively and to think critically.
Intelligence plus character.
That is the goal of true education.
That vision guides the work that we do every day on behalf
of our students within Chicago public schools.
So today, our superintendent, as well
as other CPS leaders will provide a comprehensive update,
update on the state of Chicago public schools,
including academic progress, staffing, and operations.
The recently approved budget
and steps, um, around how we're taking, um,
steps we are taking to ensure the safety
and wellbeing of all students
and families to ensure that every child has access
to high quality public education.
And with that chairwoman, I'll pass it
to our interim superintendent, Dr. King.
Good morning again. Good morning, Madam Chair, VP Clay,
uh, members of the city council and distinguished guest.
Thank you for your time, your attention
and your ongoing support for Chicago Public Schools,
especially now as your budget season gets underway.
We appreciate you making time for today's meeting.
Today's session marks the first
of our 2025 quarterly updates with the education
and, uh, childhood Development Committee.
Our presentation will give you the most current overview
of district performance metrics
as we close out school year 24, 20 24, 20 25,
and move into the SY 25 26 school year.
You'll notice that a handful of local
and state data points remain pending.
For example, today marks the 20th day of school.
Therefore, the earliest school year 26 enrollment data would
be available would be by the end of the week.
And we will update you
accordingly when the school leadership team presents later.
They'll also walk you through other reasons of, uh,
and other timing gaps.
And our plan for updating the record,
our team will cover several topics today.
Uh, we'll provide an update on student progress as, uh,
Jamelle mentioned school readiness operations, our budget
and federal deploy development for academic progress
and student progress.
We'll highlight academic trends across all grade levels.
Uh, full SY 20 25, 24 25 data will be
available in the fall.
But today's snapshot underscores the importance
of protecting key investments across the district.
Students are making progress and getting back on track
and proof that the investments, uh, delivers results.
Our focus will remain in sustaining the momentum
that the district has achieved
and ensuring every dollar benefits students
for school readiness, staffing, and special education.
We had a strong start to the school year
and we'll share staffing updates
and including special education,
which we know is a high interest area for operations.
We'll share updates on essential supports, nutrition,
custodians, crossing guards,
and safe passage for the budget.
The recently B board approved funding preserves the school
budgets that schools received in the spring.
It it, it actualizes structural savings
and honors our labor commitments.
This is a student-centered, centered budget
that protects learning.
We appreciate your continued support
and partnership in securing state funding
for federal deployment.
We'll also address the community concerns about the influx
of federal immigration agents.
We have a proactive district response
that includes training staff,
establishing school-based committees,
and partnering with labor leaders.
We have ongoing communication with families,
including information and know your rights trainings
and legal and community supports.
We have confidence in CPS policies
and protocols to keep our schools and our students safe.
In closing, all of our work from academics
to safety is centered on the student experience.
I want to thank you for your continued support of CPS
and look forward to our future collaboration
throughout the school year.
These quarterly hearings will serve as a testament
to a strong ongoing partnership
between CPS and City Council.
Thank you again for your engagement.
We welcome your questions
and feedback throughout today's discussion.
And I will now turn this over to our team.
Good morning, I'm Megan Hogar.
I'm the Chief of College and Career Success for CPS
and I'm excited
that our partners at City Colleges teed up much of
what I'm gonna share today.
Um, we are very excited
to see our graduation rate continue to climb,
and this graduation rate also includes, um,
strength in our ninth grade year.
So when we talk about graduation, we have 87%
of our ninth graders on track, which reflects our goals
of supporting students through each year.
We also have a concrete post-secondary requirement
for all students to graduate with Learn plan, succeed,
and that is over 98%
of our students meeting that requirement.
I do wanna give a thanks to our, um, counselors and college
and career specialists
and coaches who really take on this work along
with principals and the school teams.
What that means for our students is that we have one
of the highest college enrollment
and persistent rates in the country.
And it is even higher when you think about, um,
when you look apples to apples.
So if you look at other districts around the country, um,
I think we all know that the A CT
and SAT um, largely are students who are
planning all to go to a traditional four year college.
For us as a district, we look at, um, similar
schools and districts around the country.
And when you look at our college enrollment rate
for similar student populations, um,
we even exceed not only similar districts,
but districts that have a much different
demographic than ours.
This has been, um, a bedrock of our work
of really believing all students have the potential,
all students deserve the supports.
And when we think about, um, what this means in terms
of city colleges, it means an even greater percentage
of students are earning not only, uh, early college,
but matric matriculating through.
Um, we have 3,300 students that go
to city colleges every year from CPS.
And so that was, that was one of the questions.
Um, and this next slide shows you a little bit more about
how we think about early college and career credentials.
So I wanna be very clear that, um, we talk about college
enrollment and persistence,
but we're also talking about career persistence
and persistence in high skill, high wage, um, jobs.
And so this slide that shows you this percent
of students earning early college
and career credential also highlights, um,
all ECCC, which would include CTE, it includes AP
and IB dual credit and dual enrollment.
And that also, uh,
includes the certificate programs At city colleges,
we don't, um, we don't distinguish between can you take a
class that goes to only a four year degree versus can you
take a class that goes to a certificate like
hvac, um, certificate.
So the other piece, um, that I think is very important is
that we're able to now combine AP
and IB credits into an associate degree
through city colleges.
If anyone remembers, um, I transferred a bunch of times
in college, I could not decide.
And there were other concerns.
Um, you lose credits every time you transfer.
The way that, uh, we've been able to work
with our partners at City College, you can earn up to 75%
of an associate's degree through ap, ib,
other early college, and then com complete the last 25%.
And it becomes a finite degree that can transfer,
that saves a lot of money
and it also saves the loss of credit.
Next slide, which really contributes
to this significant increase
that we have in students earning early college credit
and completing their associate's degrees.
Um, Dr. King and I were on the stage, uh, last year
and we literally shook a thousand hands in our
early college ceremony.
And that's because we have
students from all across the city.
Every, uh, every high school.
We had 6,600 students earn early college credit last year.
Um, and that adds up to $10 billion,
over $10 billion in funds that families save to, um,
apply towards higher ed.
So I really appreciated those, those comments.
Um, from our city college partners new this year,
we also launched our Roadmap 2.0 with UIC.
So now you, um,
and UIC is our other biggest, um, higher ed institution.
So we have 3,300 students go right from CPS
to city colleges.
We have 1800 go right from CPS to UIC
and then another 500 transfers from City College to UIC.
So together the three institutions have worked out all
of the transfer agreements, we've aligned our pathways,
we've made it, uh, with the goal of zero credit loss
between those transfers.
And we started mapping out our highest demand pathways
for Chicago, of course, education as one
of our highest demand pathways as well
as healthcare, uh, business.
It. So really being able to, um, look at
where do we have the most students in the, um, in CPS
who are interested in those pathways,
but also where do we have employers that are ready
to make tho the hires?
Um, ideally while the students are still with us
and continue through their degree,
we've also focused, um, on the,
um, as I said, career success.
So our students are
at a higher rate than ever are interested in careers in the
trades, and we are very, very clear
that it is not college or career.
Our trades are competitive, um, career pathways
that require, um, not only support to enter the trades,
but also a high level of academic preparation.
So our programming and career
and technical education, our early college stem, as well
as our work-based learning
through industry partners has really been an area of focus.
Um, we have a meeting with, I see our executive director
of the Public Building Commission on this picture.
Um, we have a, a session this week with a number
of young people who are interested in, um,
skilled trades careers
and our CPS departments.
Um, this summer we had 73 interns with the capital team.
We had a hundred young people with streets
and sand with the city who are now applying, um,
for full-time jobs.
We had interns with, uh, IQMP,
with the quantum development interns with Clayco.
And then of course we have our largest groups are with, um,
rush and Laurie Children's.
Next slide. And I'll end with these two young people.
Um, they are in their first year as full employees
of the city of Chicago with streets
and sand at the open house that we did at Laborers Union.
Um, they were there taking a Saturday class
because they're getting ready to build, uh, to bid on their
next higher level career.
And this is really what we want.
We want our young people to be academically prepared
to have the career connections
and to be ready to enter into a, um,
with a warm handoff into a high demand, high wage career.
Um, these two young men are from Kenwood
and Juarez respect respectively.
And they chose to enter a, a career in the trades.
Um, they were academically prepared.
One of these young men had the the second highest
test score, um,
on the union entrance test for another trade.
And I think that really shows you this is, um,
a wide variety of young people who are really able
to make their decision, um, with the support
to enter into their the career of choice.
Good morning. My name is Nikki Milberg.
I'm the Chief of teaching and learning
and really privileged to be here to speak
with you briefly about the successes
of our amazing educators and students across CPS.
Success in Algebra One is a strong predictor of academic
and economic achievement.
Students who pass Algebra one by the end
of ninth grade are twice as likely to graduate high school
and more likely to persist
through college and earn a degree.
Algebra one by grade eight is the gateway
to advance math coursework,
which further bolsters student success.
High school students with access
to college math courses have better attendance,
greater academic engagement in higher graduation rates than
students who do not take courses
beyond graduation re requirements.
This investment in algebra expansion matters
for the success of our students.
Over the past seven years, we have worked
to ensure algebra serves as a gateway to opportunities,
not a gatekeeper for future success.
In school year 2019, just over half the schools
provided access to algebra over the years with the addition
of the virtual academy courses
and investments in algebra, certification
and professional development.
Now we are proud to say 98%
of our schools offer students access to algebra.
I'm not done. I have more successes to talk about.
Gimme a second. Um, as we worked
to intentionally expand access, we found
that path path path rates have also improved.
More students are taking algebra
and a higher percentage of students are passing the course,
starting high school on a pathway
to advanced math coursework and future success.
Thank you. Over the past years, central office has
provided targeted resources in our schools based on student
need, including 167 lead coaches to lead teacher teams
and provide instructional coaching, 577 interventionists
to provide math and reading support for students
who need it the most, and 190 programmatic coordinators
to strengthen academic programs such as stem, steam,
international Baccalaureate,
and personalized learning programs in our schools.
Over this time, students in grades three
to eight saw strong growth in reading.
Our black students led this upward trajectory
by increasing proficiency over 11% percentage points.
During this time, the growth in
math has been slower across the nation and in Chicago,
but we saw some positive change here
as well in school years 23
and 24, excited to end
on our data of our earliest learners,
our students in grades K to two in both reading and math.
Our K to two students show
that more students are on grade level than the average
across our large city peers.
And this is from school year 25.
And in math, more students are in grade level in comparison
to the national average.
Thank you.
Okay,
So I want to acknowledge Alderman Tyler Farro for corn.
Good morning. Thank you. Uh, thank you Chairwoman.
Thank you, uh, uh, committee for having us today.
Uh, my name is Ben Felton.
I'm the Chief Talent Officer at Chicago Public Schools.
Um, I'm here to talk a little bit about our, uh, teacher,
sta teacher, uh, and ESP staffing and vacancy data.
Um, we had, in short, we had the most successful, uh, hiring
and staffing season that we've had in any
time in recent history.
Um, you can see these are, uh,
lemme just quickly orient you to this page.
On the left side is a, um, is our talent
and staffing data from the first day of school for teachers
of each of the last four years.
On the right is the, uh, ESP education support personnel.
So anybody, uh, who is in a school building
who is not a teacher or an administrator, uh,
is captured on the right.
And what you see here is that we started school, uh,
with a 2.46% vacancy rate down 44%, I believe,
um, from, uh, the vacancy rate last year.
And we had been making progress on that vacancy rate, uh,
over the course of the last, uh, several years.
Um, and you will also see that we have more staff positions.
That means mostly teachers.
We have more teachers in front of kids
that at any point in recent history
and less vacant positions, uh,
than at any point in recent history.
And we're exceptionally proud of that.
Uh, vacant positions in Chicago public schools,
but in any large school district, disproportionately impact,
uh, some of the kids who are most vulnerable.
Um, 'cause most, you know,
almost every school district in America is more likely
to have vacant positions in higher need communities
and in a very specialized school, uh,
teaching positions like bilingual
education or special education.
So we're exceptionally proud of this work.
It's been a multi, uh, year effort through our,
what we call our Teach Chicago program, uh,
which is designed to, uh, attract and develop
and retain, uh, the next generation of CPS teachers.
Um, in short, there's sort of two strategies on that front.
There is re the recruitment strategy,
and we've done a lot of work to become a lot more
competitive and sophisticated in our recruitment efforts.
Um, but also in the piece that I'm most proud
of really is our teacher pathways work.
Uh, we have a teacher residency program
where we are supporting our paraprofessionals,
mostly teacher's assistants
and special education classroom assistants
to become full-time teachers.
They get, they earn a, uh, a salary
for the full year while they train.
They get a master's degree in the night
and the weekends in the summer, and
they become teachers of record.
Um, we are also have a program called Teach Chicago Tomorrow
where we're recruiting our own high school kids.
We've welcome cohorts of more than
a hundred over the last couple years.
And we think there's a lot of opportunity to grow
that we think the next generation
of CPS teachers ought to be our own students.
Um, and then, uh, we've also done a lot of work
to move more student teachers
and pre-service teachers into higher need communities.
And we're seeing the results of all that.
So, um, as a result of a lot of those efforts, in addition
to more targeted recruitment, uh,
what we are seeing today is that 52%
of our new teachers from this year are black or Latino
or Latina, I should say, uh, up from 49% last year,
but up from 33% in 2018.
So we've made very considerable progress in a very short
period of time, diversifying our
workforce and our teacher force.
We know that representation matters deeply,
benefits not only kids of color,
but all students that have teachers
of color in front of them.
Um, and you know, in, in just about six short years,
we've gone from about a third
of our new teachers being black or Latino to more than half.
Um, and, and so that's starting to play, uh, a very, uh,
important role going forward.
As, you know, as these cohorts continue to matriculate on,
we will see, um, we'll see more
and more teachers of color in our system.
Um, similarly, we have very low vacancy rates for our, uh,
ESP staffing, uh, on the first day of school as well,
which again, is, is excellence.
'cause we're, you know, we know that vacant positions tend
to disproportionately impact our, our kids, uh,
who have some of the most needs.
So very, we're very, uh, pleased
and proud of our, of our, uh, talent
and staffing efforts from this summer.
And we think we're set up for
a really excellent school year.
Hello everybody. My name is Josh Long.
I'm the chief of the Office four students with disabilities.
Uh, and, uh, I've had the pleasure of, uh, speaking to most
of you through our virtual meeting where we, uh,
talked about a lot of the same data.
I'm here today to reaffirm
that we have not balanced the budget on the backs
of students with disabilities.
In fact, we are projected to spend, uh,
more than we spent last year, uh,
currently budgeting at 1.3 billion
for our students with disabilities.
To give some context to what growth we've seen in staffing
and resourcing for students
with disabilities over the past five years.
In the past five years, we've had a 16% growth in our
special education teacher workforce.
We've had a 48% growth in our special education classroom
assistants or, uh, ESPs.
Those are, uh, individuals who work with students
with disabilities and different educational environments.
And in that same time, we've had an 8% growth
in students with disabilities.
So just want to, you know, provide those numbers.
16%, 48%, and an 8% growth in students.
So we've certainly seen a lot more growth in our staffing
than we have in our, uh, growth of students.
One thing that you might have, we go to the next slide.
One thing that you may have heard about is, um, you know,
we're hearing from, uh, older people, uh, persons
and, you know, different people within the communities that,
you know, we're not providing the resources
that students need in the schools.
Well, the shift that we made this year is
that we did not provide any positions based
on projected enrollment.
So in the past, you know, a principal could say, Hey,
I'm getting these 50 kids from, you know, this charter,
or this family's moving in.
Well, we can't control where families are gonna go.
And we have data to show that families don't always go
where they tell the schools that they're going to go.
So this year we did not, uh,
grant appeals over the summer based on projected enrollment.
Uh, we waited until the fifth day of school,
at which point we did our first adjustment
of special education positions.
After the fifth day, uh, we were able
to look at the actual need in all of our schools.
We allocated 150 additional teachers
and over 400 additional, uh, secas, we're about to,
we're doing this on a monthly basis.
We're about to run our analysis.
Uh, we'll be tomorrow
and then we'll allocate positions again.
And you may say, well, okay, why did you do this?
Well, what we found is by looking at data,
some schools have a lot easier
of a time in filling special
education positions than others.
And so what we've seen is those schools
who have an easier time are able to fill what be,
would be an over allocated, uh, position,
or, you know, they don't necessarily
have the need at that moment.
Whereas some of our other schools do not have the ability
to fill even the positions they need to meet the students,
uh, needs that are sitting in front of them.
So we feel it's very important that we make sure
that we get it right and that we're precise
and how we allocate resources.
Thank you.
Good morning, Madam Chair and Committee.
Uh, my name is Charles Mayfield.
I'm the Chief Operating Officer for CPS.
And so as we move into operations, I, I really wanna start
with good news, right?
Um, we open strong, right?
Our buildings were ready, our routes were staffed,
and cafeterias were serving hot and healthy meals.
And our focus is simple.
Keep kids safe, keep services steady,
and keep learning first.
The changes you will hear about today are,
are not just the cuts for the sake of cuts.
Uh, they were improvements in how we work so
that services are more reliable
and dollars go where students need them most.
Next slide. So, of course, a, uh, a healthy day starts
with a safe and welcoming building.
And I want to just give an example here of some
of the construction work that we do year
over year throughout the summer.
Uh, I wanna share one of the projects
that we did at Ray Ram Training Center.
This is a CPS high school that serves, uh, students, uh,
from 18 to 22, uh, with diverse learning needs.
And what we delivered there was a full renovation
of their MO modular.
So Graham's focus is, is about helping students transition
to independence.
Uh, the independence of work and life
after school, uh, that makes these
facility upgrades even more meaningful.
'cause we improve their, uh, we improve their accessibility,
uh, their bathrooms, uh, their mechanical systems.
They even have a, a chicken coop, right? And a garden.
So it just creates a, a great learning environment.
And this is just one example of the more than 200 projects
that we had this summer.
Uh, and it extended from roofs to fire alarms, uh,
to even turf fields and playgrounds.
And, and we even renovated a, uh, a stadium at Hanson Park
that was about a $30 million project.
Keep in mind, this was one
of the shortest summer construction
windows that we've ever had.
And, and our teams worked long hours and nights
and weekends to make sure that we were ready day one.
And so now this school is back in session.
Uh, we still have a little bit of remaining work out there,
and as it's done out after hours
to avoid classroom disruption.
And for our, uh, FY 26 capital plan,
which was recently approved, uh,
we're beginning the design work
of over a hundred projects across a number of schools.
And we need to make sure
that we're very intentional in focusing on tackling
the 3.5 billion in critical maintenance, uh,
that needs to occur.
While at the same time, we'll also inherit the, some
of the sero schools, five sero schools
that will be joining the district's portfolio this year, uh,
with roughly about 5 million in critical needs, uh,
building needs, and about 12.4 million of overall need.
Next slide. But even with the best buildings, right?
It doesn't matter if students are nourished.
And so in this case, uh, I wanna make sure
that our nutrition team, uh, was focused and,
and was ready to open up with a strong school year.
So students, yes, they received hot and healthy meals
and cafeterias that were calm, clean, and welcoming.
Uh, we have been averaging around 1.2 million meals a week,
uh, where we serve these across our CPS
schools, uh, every day.
And to manage costs, we adjusted afterschool meals.
And so what does that mean? So the afterschool meals were
replaced with nutritious snacks,
but most importantly, no child is left without food support.
We also prioritized our equipment repair
so the kitchens could keep serving without interruption,
and there were no staff layoffs.
Uh, we closed over 250 vacancies
and protected the frontline service.
So the bottom line here is
that students are still being fed, uh,
staff are still employed,
and every cafeteria is serving strong.
Next slide. And when students arrive to school, you know,
families expect to walk into
buildings that are clinging and ready.
And so that's what we did.
We were ready again, day one, uh, for clean buildings.
And that's why this custodial transition matters.
And so, just to give, get everybody up to speed.
Uh, we are transitioning from a hybrid model
where we have both had insource
and outsource, uh, custodial personnel,
and we're moving to a hundred percent in-house.
And the benefits here will be, uh, streamline operations,
fairness and consistency, and improved team cohesion.
So on September 30th, this month, uh,
750 custodians will move from private vendors
to CPS employment.
This is not new. This is something
that we included in our strategic plan
titled together We Rise.
And CPS in that commitment, uh, stated specifically
that we are transitioning about 25%
of our privatized support staff, including custodial
and custodians and other staff into district positions.
So I can tell you the interest there has been overwhelming.
Uh, more than a thousand private custodians have completed
an interest form to stay with CPS as a board custodian.
And about 200 have already been onboarded.
And we got about 550 in the pipeline today.
So we waived the background check fees,
we waived the drug testing fees just
to make the process easier.
And every custodian joining CPS will have access
to health benefits October 1st.
So we know that our labor partners have raised concerns.
Uh, we actually got a memo from them,
and we are taking those seriously.
And so we've already sent a response letter to them
to let them know and to be very clear that
only vendor custodians are being considered for this role.
Seniority follows the contract
and pay is transparent, tied to the service,
already worked in CPS schools.
So the bottom line here is this is about stability.
It's about fairness, and it's about accountability.
So families can trust that every school is safe,
clean, and welcoming.
And I can tell you we really value, you know,
the contributions of every custodian,
whether they have begun under a vendor
or directly employed with us.
And we share that same goal with our labor partners.
Again, safe, clean, and welcoming schools for every student.
Next slide. But schools just
don't start at the front door, right?
So, uh, they start on the sidewalk,
they start at the corner, they start on the bus.
And, and in this case, with crossing guard,
CPS took over the crossing guard program from OEMC in 2021,
in January, 2021, actually, which covered both private
and public schools.
Since then, we've managed with one focus keep kids safe.
So this year we transitioned about a hundred positions
through data, uh, data-driven approach.
Uh, and this was guided
by cdot traffic data intersection usage,
student residence patterns, and onsite assessments.
And principal feedback
Adjustments were made at district schools
with multiple crossing guards, never at a district school
with just one crossing guard.
And so of those a hundred adjustments that we made, 33
of those were at private schools, including some at
outside city limits.
And so today, you know, 600,
approximately more than 600 crossing guards remain
assigned across the city.
The bottom line here is that every CPS school
that had a crossing guard will continue
with the crossing guard coverage.
And safety remains our top priority.
Uh, the next two slides, we just threw an example up here,
um, and we just wanted to show you an example of
how these adjustments were made.
And so to walk you through those maps
that in the next two slides, I'll turn it over to our, uh,
acting Chief of Safety and Security.
All right, thank you. My name is Ronan Lesky.
I'm the Acting Chief of Safety and Security.
Um, as Chief Mayfield was saying, uh, it's one thing
to look at the numbers on a sheet of paper
and seeing what the impacts were.
So we pulled a couple examples here so you can see
what it looks like on a map.
Uh, first here to start with is Boucher Elementary School.
Uh, the previous school year,
the school's assigned four
four crossing guard intersections.
Um, and now, uh, moving forward the school have three.
Uh, importantly, the area is also supported
by Safe passage route.
As you can see, it's listed on the map, uh,
and which is gonna ensure
continued coverage along the route.
We did engage with the school principal who agreed
with this reduction, uh,
and parents were notified in advance
before the start of the school year.
We go to the next slide. Secondly, we have, uh,
in this community, we have a com combination
of both the district school and a private school.
As you see with Sutherland Elementary School, uh, and St.
Barnabas, there were seven crossing guard intersections
in this, in this area.
Uh, moving forward, uh, this community will have, um,
uh, sorry, five, five
crossing guards will remain in the area
at strategic intersections.
And again, we worked with the principal at Sutherland
to make thoughtful adjustments based on their feedback and,
and they're assigned at the,
the critical intersections that were identified.
Next slide. Alright, so now for our older students,
especially, uh, you know,
safety just doesn't stop at the crosswalk.
Uh, in this case, safe passage, uh, a significant program
that we implemented years ago.
It remains one of our strongest tools
to keep building family trust.
And no CPS school has lost its safe passage program.
Every route from last year is still in place
today to manage costs.
We've adjusted hours from four, from five to four,
so from five hours to four.
But we've aligned coverage directly
to when students are traveling before and
after school, that allowed us to sustain,
to sustain the 191 routes across the city.
The the bottom line here is clear.
It's is that every safe passage route remains intact.
And every school that had coverage last year continues
to have it today.
So, in a nutshell, uh, across operations, uh, from buildings
to, to custodial support crossing guards, safe passage,
our focus has been steady.
Keep students safe, keep services strong,
and keep learning first.
And so we've made these responsible adjustments,
but no CPS school is without the support
that they actually need, uh, with
that alternative to the next presenter.
Thank you.
Good morning, Madam Chair, members of the committee.
My name is Mike Sikowski,
and I'm gonna give you an update on the CPS budget.
Um, so we've heard a lot about the strength
of our operations
and maintaining strong operations for our schools.
We've heard a lot about the academic success
that our students have had.
Um, this is all because we are protecting these investments
with our FY 2026 budget.
And despite the challenges that are posed
by persistent revenue shortfalls and growing costs,
and a deficit of $734 million that we had
to resolve on August 28th,
the board did approve a balanced FY 26 budget
with no further cuts.
That protects the progress made
by our students A bit about this budget.
First, it fully protects the level
of school funding from the previous year.
It funds all of our commitments to our labor partners.
It delivers on the promise to promise
to stabilize school budgets
and eliminates the risk of cuts to classrooms both now
and later in the school year.
It includes only borrowing that provides current
or future savings to the district,
and is required for necessary capital investments.
And lastly, it allows for CPS to reimburse the city
for M-E-A-B-F pension costs with new state
or local revenues, unlike the FY 2025 budget
that did not allow for this possibility.
It's important also to look ahead at what we are dealing
with as a district financially.
And the fact that this budget
that we passed a few weeks back
makes significant steps in structural funding
solutions for CPS.
And so, the structural actions
that we've taken in this budget not only put us on steady
footing today, but they make significant headway towards
future year challenges.
This budget does reflect hard choices made
to protect school funding cuts away from the classroom
maximization of existing grant funds
and an improved state revenue outlook.
Improve our future year budget projections
by nearly $500 million.
This budget also relies only on the level
of TIF surplus funding that was delivered in 2025.
Any additional dollars that CPS receives would,
we would be able to be paid back to the city
for M-E-A-B-F costs.
Lastly, we will continue to work with all
of our partners on our robust revenue campaign
to secure additional funding from the state of Illinois.
As we look at this next slide, um, this shows
what our five year forecast looked like prior to the actions
that we took to pass the FY 26 budget,
and then following the actions that we took
to pass the 2026 budget.
And so, I wanna highlight here,
while we still require some long-term revenue solutions,
our outlook is greatly improved from where it was.
You can see in the chart that has our previous five-year
forecast, we were looking at a deficit of $734 million
that went to zero as we balanced our FY 2026 budget.
Beyond that, deficits were growing close
to $1 billion in 2027.
And beyond that, in years 2028 and beyond.
Now we've cut those almost in half,
where next year's deficit currently projects
to be $520 million,
and growing a little bit beyond that in those years,
but not to the degree to which it was previously.
So this is still, uh, a significant challenge.
This is still something that we'll need to partner
with our city state partners
to find long-term solutions for CPS.
Uh, but the budget that we've passed puts us in a situation
where now these challenges are not insurmountable.
Um, but they still are challenges
that will require collaboration and some solutions.
All right, thank you. Uh, again, Ronan Lesky,
acting Chief of Safety and Security.
Uh, when we talk about safety in Chicago public schools,
we're not just talking about protocols on paper.
We're talking about strong responses that protect students,
staff, and families in real time at the foundation
of our strong protocols,
or are clear commitments to our families,
grounded in both the Illinois Trust Act
and the Chicago's welcoming city ordinance.
That means CPS does not ask
about a family's immigration status.
We will not coordinate
with federal immigration enforcement agencies.
We do not share student records with ICE
or any federal representatives, except in the rare case
where there is a court order or consent from the parent.
And we will not allow ICE
or other federal representatives access
to CPS facilities without a judicial warrant
signed by a federal judge.
This is what a strong response looks like.
Clarity, consistency, and coordination.
Families know their rights are protected,
and schools know exactly what
to do if they face these situations.
Since January, CPS is built on these, sorry,
since January, CPS is built on these commitments
by training administrators
and other school staff members across the district,
we recognized early on that the clarity
and confidence are essential.
When staff know exactly what to do,
they can focus on keeping students calm and safe.
To that end, we've provided training sessions,
sample letters so schools can communicate directly
with families and comprehensive written guidance that serves
as a quick reference manual for schools.
These materials include scenario based protocols
that outline exactly what to do if a student is stranded,
if federal agents request records,
or if a lockdown should be considered.
But safety isn't only about procedures,
it's also about wellbeing.
That's why we've embedded mental health
support into our response.
Our guidance emphasized the importance of caring
for students and staff who may feel fear
or trauma in these situations.
Finally, we've developed family resource packets available
in multiple languages to ensure accessibility
for the communities we serve.
These packets contain legal resources, know your rights,
guidance, and practical tips
for safe travel and preparedness.
Together these layers of training resources
and supports give families the confidence
that CPS is prepared
and that their school is a place of safety and trust.
We also know that no school can face these challenges alone.
Safety is not something that rests solely on the shoulders
of our principal or a security officer at the front door.
It requires the full weight of the district
and our partners working in lockstep.
That's why our senior district leaders meet twice daily
to review emerging issues so
that we can adjust our posture when necessary.
These meetings allow us to identify patterns early,
provide guidance before problems escalate,
and ensure every school has access
to the same up-to-date information.
We also meet weekly with our labor partners
and keep consistent communication with C-P-D-O-E-M-C,
the board, community-based organizations
and immigrant rights advocates.
These layers of coordination, internal, external,
and community based are designed to ensure that no principal
or school staff member is ever left
to navigate these challenges alone.
Each school is supported by a robust net robust network
of expertise, resources, and communication.
Giving CPS the ability to respond quickly, consistently,
and with confidence Supporting Stu
students as they travel to and from school
has been another focus.
Despite budget reductions,
CPS has maintained every safe passage route across the city.
Face staff remain in daily contact with community partners
to monitor enforcement activity.
And when concerns are verified, they coordinate directly
with the office and safety and security.
So we deploy support. And from here I'll turn it over
to the chief of, uh, family and Community Engagement
Morning fan Diego Alvarez.
So, you know, Ronan spoke a lot about like all
of the different protocols
and systems that we have in place at CPS,
but really wanting to also very humbly admit
that our strength is really
with our partners on the ground, right?
And so we have established daily communication
with community-based partners, um, throughout the city
of Chicago that allow us to understand what is happening,
um, on the ground real time.
And so we're in consistent communication
with our partners at Illinois Coalition for Immigrant
and Refugee Rights, as well
as community-based organizations throughout
the different communities.
Um, additionally, I wanted to note that
as we had been building this out, like our response,
we really have also been analyzing all of our federal
response, which is inclusive
of any possible National Guard deployment.
Right now. We've heard that maybe that's not gonna happen,
and we're happy about that, right?
But throughout our, our work in, um,
addressing the increased immigration enforcement,
we have also created protocol for, uh,
possible National Guard deployment.
And that includes, um, the to and from walking to
and from guidance that we sent out to partners to partners
and, uh, families three weeks ago.
Now, in addition to that, later this week phase, the Office
of Family and Community Engagement, as well as the Office
of College and Career Success we're planning, um,
gathering some of the community based partners that, um,
are seeing the most activity on the ground.
And so, so far it, you know, we know
that there is an operation, uh, named, uh,
operation Midway Blitz,
but we're also taking a look at other areas of the city
that are experiencing similar, um, increased enforcement.
And we also, um, wanted to highlight our external resources
for staff, families, and community members.
We, since the spring, since January, we established, um,
a new webpage and it's cps.edu/immigration.
And that is, um, our main webpage
for immigration related information as well as resources.
So obviously we have our commitment to our student safety,
as well as like the different policies that we have, um,
with the, with our Board of Education
resources from Community Partners.
We have information about, about constitutional rights
for everyone, the tips that I mentioned earlier, as well as
guidance for higher financial aid and higher education.
And we regularly keep up the website
with the latest know Your Rights workshops,
and most recently with the Family preparedness, uh,
workshops that, uh, families can benefit from available
through, uh, um, virtually for everyone.
Additionally, as I mentioned, we have the policies
that protect our students, staff,
and families, um, that are state, local, and,
and board, um, as well as, um, an an information packet
and re with resources for all families
and a list of legal services, um, organizations, uh,
specifically with Illinois Coalition for Immigrant
and Refugee Rights.
But most notably over the last several months,
we know there are partners at the city, at the state, um,
icer, the Resurrection Project, um, NIJC.
Um, they have really created a one-stop shop website, um,
which is the Illinois Immigration Information website.
And we utilize that for, um, for all of our communication so
that families understand the latest information
and know exactly where to access everything from,
know your rights cards to legal services.
Lastly, I also wanted to mention
that we've been working in close contact, uh, with, um,
the rest of our, our departments and offices,
because we know that this is not just living at safety
and security or face
or, you know, at, at our district run schools.
And so we've done a tremendous amount of work to ensure
that our contract and charter schools
are also included in our, um, process and our,
and that we're constantly thinking
about how we're supporting them.
So I'm gonna hand it over to Chief Carmona.
Uh, good afternoon. Alfonso Carmona.
I'm the Chief Portfolio Officer, uh, chief Fannie mentioned.
Uh, we continue supporting
and working with our charter schools
and contract school partners, uh,
and providing the existing procedures
that we con we have in the district
and collaborating with many departments, whether it is ONS,
whether it is safety and security, OA phase.
And of course, uh, the innovation
and innovation team, uh, to make sure
that they have the necessary information, um, and
provided to their teams, uh, will continue to, uh,
update any protocols
or any information that is necessarily any
resources, uh, with them.
I wanted to make a very point clear the last one,
the last bullet point, and yes, is the last slide
of this presentation as well, um, is that the charter
and contract providers are only required to follow mandates
that are either codding the state law
or in the, uh, contract agreement.
However, many of them have come to us
and asked us for those guidelines.
So they are following the guidelines that we provide to them
and are making modifications to
that guide those guidelines as well.
So, wanted to make that clarification
as they're not required
to follow every single protocol that we have.
They're making their own modifications based on whether it's
a state law or, uh, the current contract with CPS.
Thank you, Gerald. And that concludes our presentation.
Know a lot of questions, a lot
of musical chairs being played,
but happy to take questions from the committee.
So I'm gonna start, um, Dr. King, how long
have you been in this interim seat?
I think it's been 12 years. No, I'm just teasing.
It's been, it feels like 12 years.
No, it's been about three months now. June 18th.
June, yeah, about three months.
So I'm gonna poke the bear a little bit just
'cause I feel like it needs to be poked
and it probably needs to be said,
but honestly, is this your budget
or this a budget from the previous CEO?
I think it's a combination.
Some of the impacts that have been felt, um, were decisions
that were made under the previous administration,
and then there are some budget.
Um, some of the items, including the budget,
are representative of my, uh, administration.
What happens if the City
of Chicago does not give you the TIF surplus?
We are currently working different scenarios in the event
that we do not receive the TIF fund.
So it would cause us to, um, our budget
to be negative, to go negative.
Um, we are preparing currently some
scenarios in the event that that does not happen.
So, Mike, do you wanna respond at all?
Yeah, we're certainly,
the budget relies on us receiving the same level of,
of TIF surplus receipt as last year.
So we're certainly hopeful that we'll
be able to receive that.
We're preparing for options if that's not the case.
But our priority from the start on this has been,
it has been to protect schools
and to prevent any sort of midyear cuts.
And so our priority in, in this space will continue
to be making sure that impacts are not felt by our schools.
I asked the questions because before I took the seat
and I had this conversation
with the previous CEO about you all getting a forensic
audit, um, I get to see schools a little bit closer
and they're very wasteful.
Even in looking at the closed schools.
Imagine going in the closed schools, you see no students,
you see no electronics, but you still see desks and books.
And so you CPS has been very wasteful for decades.
And now that we are in a budget crunch,
we don't have that luxury.
And so I wanna see that forensic audit happens, um, so
that we're actually saying what the need is
and not what we want.
Um, if you all don't receive that TIF payment,
that means we won't receive, um, our pension payment.
So the budget supports the ability to make that payment,
but does rely on revenue
above the assumptions included in the base,
in the base budget.
So if additional TIF surplus above the amount
that we have included in the base comes in,
additional state money comes in,
additional other local resources come in above what we need
to sustain this budget, we'll be able to make that payment.
But if you don't receive this TIF surplus,
we are not getting our money back
At that point. The budget doesn't
support the ability to make that payment.
That's a no. Yes.
Just real quick, um, what is that base amount of tiff,
um, that you've built into the budget just for clarity?
$379 million.
So that represents, just for, just
to get it on the record, the 298 that we approved
with the 2020 with our 2025 budget, um,
plus any sun setting tiffs that produced a surplus that was
above and beyond the 2 98.
Yeah. It reflects the amount that we have received in,
in our fiscal year 25. Okay.
So anything above and beyond 3 79, um,
would then have the potential
to be put towards them a BAF payment.
Correct. The budget supports that. Okay.
Thank you. Hold on. What does that look like?
What does the, can you,
what does Chicago public schools look like if
we don't make that payment?
If you all don't get this tip surplus, does that look like
teachers walking off the job?
Does what? Can you
and chicken little me a little bit, the sky's falling.
What happens? I, I'll let you follow up, Mike.
I, I want to say the budget that we currently have,
I'm sure you all the alder, the alder electeds,
you all have heard from your constituents.
It is less than ideal as it stands in the event
that CPS does not receive the, um,
the TIFF payment, the 3 79
that has been assumed in the budget.
I would assume that more of those impacts would come,
unfortunately, unless the scenarios
that we play out are able, that we are working on.
We don't have the scenarios.
So I can't speak to the scenarios just yet, um,
unless we were able to have a scenario, um,
to address otherwise.
But I do think that it's, it's, um, we've seen
what impacts can happen with the negative 229 million
that the budgets are currently based on.
We do know that on August 18th
and August 19th, students children born
during the pandemic entered Chicago public schools.
And I do know that they deserve better.
And I do know that, um, the budget is not as a result
of anything that they've done.
It's just, uh, to your point, the adults
that were leading the system, you know,
may have made choices that impact
what their student experience looks like now,
which is definitely at a deficit.
They deserve better. And I'm concerned
what it might look like if the students do not receive the
379 million.
That's assumed. Mike,
if you would wanna speak more to possibilities.
Yeah, no, I, I think you said that.
Well, this budget, obviously, we started with a deficit
of $734 million.
And so it required a lot of difficult choices on our end,
required a lot of things that, that allowed us to be able
to protect schools and
to make sure we're not disinvesting in the classroom.
Um, this is a funding source that has been part
of our budget now for, for well over a decade
and a significant portion of it.
So we're hopeful that that will continue this year.
So I got two other questions
and then I'm gonna turn it over to my colleagues.
What is the state strategy every year?
I've asked, and this is prior to your seating,
which is why I asked the first question first.
It's always a method to my madness.
Where's the state strategy to get your families,
your teachers, this admit you all to go down to Springfield?
'cause maybe y'all don't remember it. It is election season.
People wanna get elected.
These are the people that we're paying to represent us.
And if you all are not getting represented
or the funding that you need
or deserve, what's, what's the strategy to go down
to Springfield doing veto
to make sure we get some of this funding?
We have, uh, started with myself
and making myself available, introducing myself
to elected officials to establish a relationship
and then build on that relationship
and be prior to even veto session.
So that's the start.
Um, we are working, building up our IGA team to ensure
that we have representation downstate on the regular basis.
Um, I believe last year we were very, um,
the team was very light.
And so that's one that's part of our strategy.
And I'll let Jamelle speak to some
of the other steps that we're taking.
Sure, sure. Yeah.
Um, I could speak to a few
of the revenue options too that we have.
We've raised in the past and continue to see as priorities
as far as increased state funding.
Obviously we've seen the mandated categoricals funded at
less than one 100%.
So activities that we provide
for our special education students, transportation,
different placements, different services.
We're not receiving the full reimbursement for those.
So that's one that's, that's big on our agenda.
Increasing the funding for early childhood.
Now we've expanded to free full day pre-K across the
district, but the funding is not kept up with that.
Um, obviously the pension issue
with our teacher pension being very different than every
other district in the state is a con, continues
to be a big issue for us.
And then also continuing the, the state continuing
to increase evidence-based funding.
Obviously we saw an increase this year,
but it hasn't kept up with the growing need of both CPS
and districts across the state.
So there's areas that we're continuing to highlight
and push on that would generate additional revenue
for CPS if the state increased funding.
And I'll let Jamel speak to the rest of
This. Yeah. And as we
continue to bid our revenue strategy at the
Springfield level, um, we've been meeting
with our board members and we're gonna ensure
that they're working with their district reps to understand
that there is alignment between CPS
and our board around our revenue acts at the state level,
but also to ensure that, um, that's been, uh,
our board members are serving as ambassadors
and elevating that down to Springfield
with their district reps.
Additionally, uh, once the session starts, uh,
there are several advocacy days that happens in Springfield.
Uh, we'll be working with our board members as well
as our families, um, community members
and city council, uh, members to, uh, rally in Springfield
with us as we advocate for those revenue.
Um, sources that, um, Mike just mentioned.
Are there conversations with the state about them paying
more of the teacher's pension?
I think that's something that we've continuously raised
both in public forums and in other places.
And so I, I, I assume those will continue in some, some form
or fashion as we get into veto session and beyond.
So I'm gonna pass it over to my coworkers,
but I'm gonna say this, I need y'all to listen to us.
Uh, I, I honestly, I want to see everything on the table.
Nothing or nobody should be left off through the chair.
I wanna see how much other things in CPS
that you all contract out,
because you all got rid of Aramark from custodial
and cafeteria workers, is that correct?
Just, just custodians, just the custodial.
I wanna see how much it cost to do that also.
'cause if you all ask the community,
that is not anything we ever agreed of.
And the problem with a lot of these systems,
and that includes the city of Chicago, is instead
of paying people who actually live in our city,
we contract out and make they friends rich.
And so I wanna see what that looks like.
I want to see what the cost difference between what we pay
for custodians and what we're paying them now.
And I'm gonna say it publicly, it is real disheartening
that those folks, those custodians didn't have a choice
to move over to Aramark.
And now they have to go back to CPS with no seniority
or anything that's, they made,
y'all made the decision, not them.
And so, I wanna know what we gonna do different.
And that's, I know that's a longer conversation,
but I, I want us to look at,
I want us to look in every corner.
I want us to look at everything we're contracting out
and see what the cost difference.
I never understand a c any city agency.
And that's includes, includes the city of Chicago
who would prefer to contract out than to pay people
who actually live in their own communities.
'cause there's a cost added to contracting out.
And so I wanna know how many things at Chicago public
schools that you all are contracting out
and what is the difference that
they're actually CPS workers?
And let me say this, people deserve to have healthcare.
So thank you for, for saying October one,
they gonna have healthcare.
'cause that's important in a time where
COVID numbers are coming back up
and we're in that se season of sickness.
And so I want that to see happen, but be before I,
and as soon as possible, I need to see what's the strategy
to look at everything, take tiff out the conversation.
Not that, and I'm gonna say this publicly,
of course I'm gonna vote
because I don't wanna see young people without a teacher.
I don't wanna see them without services.
I don't wanna see them suffer
'cause we can't get it together.
'cause y'all do realize we are the problem.
And so I'm looking at every one of y'all.
My knees don't work, but I'm going down
to Springfield on a bus with everybody else
to advocate for our young people.
I'm gonna turn it over to Vice Chair Clay.
Thank you Chairwoman Taylor.
Um, and I'm sorry if I missed this you all
because I was outside having a conversation.
But what is the strategy for if
the TIFF dollars are not there, what,
what is the backup plan for that?
Mike, you wanna speak to that again?
Yeah. So, so we passed a budget with the expectation
that we would receive just the same amount
that we received this past year.
So continuing at, at that same level, this has been a source
of revenue that's been a big part
of our budget now for over a decade.
Um, in the event that this doesn't happen, we're gonna,
we're gonna have to look at everything.
Our priority from the start has been
to make sure we're protecting our classrooms,
protecting our schools, protecting the investments
that are important for our students, not only
to be well educated, but to have a safe, um,
functioning environment as well.
So we're gonna look at everything.
If, if that doesn't, if that doesn't materialize,
our board has certain options to be able
to take if it doesn't come through.
But we're also confident that, you know, with, with working
with our partners here, and then continuing also to push
and advocate for new revenue in Springfield, that
this is a budget that's gonna set
us up for success this year.
Thank you. I would love
through the chair if you could share with us what a, um,
what a plan B and A plan C looks like.
Right? A plan B in my opinion would be,
if you only got a certain amount of TIF funding,
what does that look like?
The other one would be if the state were
to pitch in, what would that look like?
I would love to see that plan.
And the only reason I'm asking for it explicitly is
because we have to be honest
and not wait until the ninth hour.
All of my colleagues up here know
that we are going into a budget season that all
of us are dependent on, right?
And the more that we have those conversations now,
it just allows us to prepare.
Even if we don't wanna prepare for what we're preparing for,
we just have to have that conversation.
So I think now is the time to have it.
Um, my other question is about the, uh,
me reimbursement.
How can you assure this body that CPS will
actually do good on their word to pay that?
Um, I think a lot of the co conversations that we have
behind the scenes is, um, a little unsettling.
And I would love to just hear how you all are going to
provide that clarity
and confidence to council members that
that payment is actually going to be made.
I can start, I entered this role on trust and transparency.
So I'm being as transparent
with my team within the three months that I've been here.
And I cannot obtain trust if I do not honor my word.
I'm the leader. I included the M-E-A-B-F if the district
receives the funding above and beyond.
And that's what I tend to honor.
It's just, it's a matter of trust.
We are asking you
to trust us, seek us.
I heard you laid off some seekers.
How many Zika do we currently have in CPS?
How many, uh, were laid off?
And how many current vacancies do we have?
If anybody can speak to that,
We're gonna bring up our chief of, um, um, officer
of students with disability to respond.
Thanks for that question.
Uh, the amount of vacancies is
maintained by the talent office.
So Ben wants to join me. Hey
Ben, come on. We'll see you with that laptop.
Uh, but let me, he's probably looking up the number,
but let me speak to some of that.
So, you're right. We did impact secas, uh,
and that was due to a change in the way that we
allocate positions to cluster programming.
We have just over 700 cluster
programs in the city of Chicago.
And for, uh, the past couple of decades, our model has been
to staff one special education teacher
and two paraprofessionals, which we call ikas and CPS.
That was done because you can have up to 13 students per
Illinois State Board of Education with one teacher
and one paraprofessional.
We front loaded a second paraprofessional
to anticipate student needs that might be beyond
what one paraprofessional could provide.
What we started to see over the past several years since
COVID is that we've seen a huge increase in the number
of students who've been placed in more restrictive
settings in CPS.
And those students are being placed in cluster settings at a
rate that's much different than what we've seen.
Uh, at this point. Now we have close
to 10,000 students in cluster settings, whereas in 2018,
we had just around 5,000.
What we're also seeing since CO with
that big increase in students being placed in cluster is
that those students who are being placed are coming in
with what's known as dedicated paraprofessional support
already noted in their IEP.
So that means when they come into cluster, there's no need
for us to overstaff a second.
What would've been a second paraprofessional above
and beyond what's required by the State Board of Education.
And now those students are coming in
with the paraprofessional support when they need more than
what can be provided by the one that's required,
that's already written in their IEP.
And so what we did is we changed
and we aligned two, the guidelines from the State Board
of Education, which means that we impacted just over 700,
uh, secas within the district.
Now, I also wanna share,
and Ben can correct me on the updated numbers,
the last numbers that I know, we did a few different ways
of adjusting positions over the summer.
As I mentioned in my presentation earlier,
we did not honor any, uh, projected enrollment appeals.
It was all based on actual student need.
And what we also did is we looked at day five enrollment
of students with disabilities to then allocate positions
that day five enrollment added an additional, uh, plus, um,
some programmatic needs from over the summer.
We added an additional 444 CA positions back
to schools at that time.
And then do we have any updated numbers? Ben? Okay.
So, correct. Uh, we did impact cicas,
but also wanted you to understand why
and where we stand with the numbers now.
So of the 440 that you added back, what is still our gap
in terms of how many secas that we need?
Is that, I guess my question is, is that 440
the official number of secas that we need?
I'm trying to figure out where our gap is.
'cause I know ika are a stronghold in our community.
Absolutely. I'll let Ben comment on the numbers.
Uh, good afternoon now.
Um, so as of today,
we have 189 CA, uh, full-time.
Um, I'm sorry, that's, sorry, excuse me. That's teachers.
We have, uh, 393, uh, CA teacher, I'm sorry,
CA special ed classroom assistant vacancies.
Um, compared to, um,
this time last year, um, we had
about 455.
So it's down a, we have about a quarter, well, about 60
or 70 fewer vacant, uh,
secret positions than we did this point last year.
A couple other things that I would note.
One, uh, for the first time central office, the town office,
uh, and working with the Office of Students
and Disabilities is actually centrally recruiting Zika.
Um, you know, that's been part, part of the numbers
that we shared earlier, um, was
because we've centralized a lot of the recruitment focus
and we took it off of schools that have to like, you know,
the principals are busy, like they're running a school,
they have a parent in their office, they have, you know,
team meetings, all sorts of stuff to do.
We try to recruit Sika centrally
and push them out to schools through an early offer program.
Sometimes we start ikas, uh, through, you know, as a sub,
and then they get, get to work at multiple schools
and usually they get scooped up.
We also worked with our partners at SCIU
73 this past summer.
Um, and this is the second year in a row
that we've done this, is that we've, um, created a, a
layoff prevention pool.
So this year we, um, allowed for th for 300 impacted Zika.
Essentially what we said
to them is th those with the most tenure.
Um, we said, if you can't find a job,
we will employ you centrally
and assign you to cover school, uh, vacant positions,
vacancy positions at schools.
And we had hundreds of them take us up on that.
So that was a really good way for us
to keep the talent in the system while
we went through this change.
So basically we said, if you haven't found a job, you know,
by the week before the first day of school, we will,
we will employ you centrally out of the, out of my budget.
Um, and we will assign you to vacant positions.
And then now what we're seeing is that a, a lot
of the vacancies that I'm talking about have been covered
by people in that retention pool,
and that was a good collaboration between us and SIU 73.
And then, or secondly, you know,
once we assess enrollment, when we,
once we assess school's needs
and we open more CA positions like Josh is talking about,
then we can, the principal will like, you know,
potentially have someone in the building
or they will continue to interview and get scooped up.
Uh, so we've thought of spot some innovative ways
to make sure that like though we were attracted the number
of CA positions we were able to get, um,
we were able to get more secas hired
more quickly this summer.
And, and I would also just note, um, that,
um, that vacancy rate matters quite a bit.
It was six point half percent versus 5.5%.
It's, I'm sorry, it's five and a half percent this year.
It was about six and a 5% last year.
Again, it's a similar trend.
We see that when we have vacant positions, uh,
it's a lot of those one-to-one.
Or I'm sorry, that's not the right terminology.
What's the right, the dedicated CA positions,
uh, that aren't getting filled.
So the kid who desperately needs, you know, the, the,
the dedicated aid in the classroom, those are the ones
that we have a hard time filling.
Now, what we are seeing, both
what we're hearing anecdotally from schools,
but we're also seeing in our data is there's fewer
vacancies, which means
that those dedicated positions are actually
being filled at a higher rate.
And, and we think that that's, that was a big part
of the strategy here and we think that
that's gonna yield positive results
for our kids with disabilities.
Ben, stay right there.
Uh, 'cause my next question was about vacant positions.
Sure. And you just told me we got about 60 short CICA
positions Out of that 400, I think that's what you said, um,
can we get a breakdown of
what those current vacant positions are?
I think it would also, something that I would love to see
for going forward is even on a quarterly
or monthly basis, if you could share that with the alderman,
if there are any vacancies in the schools in their ward, so
that we can also get that word out for you.
Um, so I would love to just see the breakdown.
Do you have off the top of your head
or in that beautiful laptop of yours, how many
teacher vacancies we have?
Yeah. Um, so on the seek of vacancy, so first of all,
I was sitting back here and,
and you were talking about engagement
around federal activity
and how there's an opportunity given you y'all's deep
commitments and, and relationships within your wards.
Um, we ha you know, I was thinking the same thing,
that it's an opportunity to hire people in the community.
So we haven't had as much support
or as much luck with, um, teacher hiring that way
because it's such a highly cr, you know,
if you're a credentialed teacher, um, you know,
you're likely already looking for a job.
You're already a contacting schools, you're already, uh,
you know, probably on our radar.
But there's a lot of people with like an associate's degree
or an equivalent, uh, who are out in communities
who don't necessarily know that, like being a CICA
or a teacher's assistant or, or, or myriad.
Other opportunities within CPS, uh, are viable.
So we would, I think a that's a great idea.
We'd like to share the vacant positions would be my office.
Uh, we've done some of this with Jemele's support,
getting out into community of hiring events, um,
and advertising the different opportunities
for careers at CPS, whether that's anything from, you know,
uh, custodial positions or bus aid positions
or security officer positions, um,
or some of the classroom based positions as well.
So we're, I will work with Jamel and, and,
and a get you the data,
but then BI think there's a good opportunity
there to continue to work together.
As far as teacher vacancies go, uh, as
of this morning we are sitting on, um,
584 teacher vacancies out of about 23,000.
So that's a 2.5% vacancy rate.
Uh, on this date last year, um,
we had about 900 teacher vacancies.
Uh, so we're seeing considerably fewer teacher vacancies,
um, than we did a year ago, which were, again, the,
the overall staffing numbers are critical
'cause we want more teachers in front of our kids as,
but like the vacancies
that really disproportionately affect black students on the
south and west side, they affect kids with disabilities
and they affect English language learners.
Yeah. Ben, if you could, when you send out the list
of vacancies, uh,
and work with Jamil, if you can put that on a map, I think
that it, I would love to just see
where these vacancies are highly concentrated, um,
as we're talking about inequities in our classrooms
and how do we help you, right?
How do we push that out to folks so
that they understand we have a huge need And also so
that you all can get a little bit of breath, right?
So that people can say, I want to help you,
instead of what are you doing?
Yeah. Right. Um, to that point, is there anybody here
to give us any updates on the Black Student Success plan?
We got any updates on our black student success plan?
If I may, other, other person, um,
at some point I would love to talk with you about some
of our strategies to address vacant
positions in the highest need schools.
We've done a lot of good work on
that over the past 5, 6, 7 years.
We've seen good cuts, but there's still a lot of work to do.
So I would love Yeah, and you,
and not just me, I mean anybody I know my colleagues up here
are like really dedicated, not just to making sure
that our babies have great teachers and Ikas
and everybody in their schools, but also
because people are constantly coming
and saying, I wanna help.
I want to work, I want, I'm a parent now.
CPS got me, my, my COVID baby is now a kindergarten.
Let's all share some tears.
Um, but you got,
you have a deeply rooted parent, right?
That's now in the thick of it with you all that wants
to be very helpful,
but also extending these opportunities out into the
community so that they are also helping us as well.
So yeah, let's find some time. Would love to back. Great.
Um, Madam Vice, Madam Vice Chair, um,
our Blackstone success plan is our equity office
office, um, led by Dr.
Fima Cook. She isn't here with us today,
but, um, I can definitely set up a meeting with you guys
so you can get an update, um,
around the good work that we're doing. Yeah,
I would love to get updates on that
and then help you highlight that.
I think that that is something critical that a lot
of us want to make sure you, you need positive press.
You, you, you need good stories
and we know that you have good stories,
but we, we need to help you push those out.
And so I know as you all are getting in the thick of
how do all of us swim, right?
With Tread and Water, we need to push out some positive, uh,
success stories as well.
And I think that that's one of 'em.
I know you all have a West side steam hub.
Yes. We just, um, think last fall,
I wanna say we secured $2 million, um, in tiffs, um, funds
to support the North Lawndale Esteem partnership
with Collins and Charmers and Johnson.
Is that underway? Is it up? What's the progress with that?
Yeah, so I think we're about to begin construction,
um, at those three schools.
Uh, the program is running enough.
I can provide you the most up-to-date, um, construction
Was completed, that was one
of my babies while I was here at City Hall.
They're, they're up and running,
but I'll let Charles talk about,
Yeah, they, they, they are up and running.
Most are complete.
I think we have to close out a few things at, at Collins,
but happy to follow up with you
with more detail in regards to that.
That was a $30 million project. This is working very well.
Welcome to the mic. I know that we met this morning.
Sorry y'all. This is all an education field day. Okay.
Um, and you know, my question is gonna be around this gym.
How did you guess? So McKeson Elementary at my neck
of the woods, um, is facing an issue where equi,
equitability and accessibility is at the forefront.
They're one of the only Chicago public schools
that doesn't have a gym.
Thankful for the Boys and Girls Club right next door to it
where we utilize their facilities.
But trying to, trying to make sure
that we are prioritizing our, our schools in a way
that gets them the resources that they need the most.
There was, um, allocated money for the gym
and now there is no allocated money for the gym
before all of our times.
Right. Is there an opportunity,
and I know we're talking about this as a school,
on a school need basis,
but is there an opportunity for you to share
with alders on a broader basis, just a real needs assessment
of some of our buildings?
Um, because I feel like we only hear about it when it's like
a fire, right?
But to give us a real strategy to plan for the future
that says, Hey, Alder Woman Clay,
you have a school over here
and our five year plan for them is to get X, Y, and Z.
Let me just put this in front of you now,
I think will be really beneficial and helpful.
Um, so I'm not gonna pressure you about the Jim Emma
McCutchen 'cause I did that this morning.
But would love to see if we can connect again on a worldwide
basis that you can share some of the strategic planning
and needs, uh, for all
of our schools, I think will be really helpful.
I I 100% agree with you
and look forward to sharing that information.
Uh, just a a little bit of context.
So we just recently did about a year
and a half ago, our educational facility master plan.
That's something that we do an assessment on, uh,
every five years and every few years we do a facility
conditions assessment report.
Uh, and so what that tells us is what each
of our buildings need, both from a critical standpoint,
both from a long-term standpoint, a DA requirements
and any just general upgrades.
And so happy to share what our strategy is.
'cause overall we have a 14, over $14 billion need
to be able to bring all of our buildings up to par.
Uh, roughly about of that 14 billion, 3.5 billion is
critical maintenance that needs to occur.
'cause buildings are, they're really like living things.
I mean, one day everything could be fine.
Then a storm hits, uh, flooding happens,
fire happens, freeze happens.
And so we have to react, uh, to those certain things.
But happy to share the strategy on
how we process our capital planning, uh,
because we use our capital planning dollars to figure out
and the facilities condition assessment report to
where we have the most need by ward, uh, by district.
And so happy to share that strategy
so we can have further dialogue. Yep.
Thank you for that. It also just helps so that you know,
CPSI know you are dependent upon some TIFF money
to balance your budget.
However, if you are also gonna be using TIF funds to do some
of these capital improvement plans, we should know about
that because then we have to fight for those TIF dollars
to stay there and not get surplus so
that you only get a portion and not the full amount.
So would love to have those conversations soon so
that we can make sure that we're protecting
as much money as we can.
That goes directly to you. Thank you, chairwoman.
You're welcome. Don't, don't leave.
Can you talk about transportation this year?
And then next is Alder Woman Lee.
Yeah. So transportation has been, uh,
I would say it's been challenging
for the past several years.
Uh, and with COVID it really exacerbated, uh, some
of the challenges that we continue to have even till today.
Um, right now, just for context,
we are 100% outsource.
So meaning that, to your point
where you talk about vendor contracts,
those are vendor contracts that we use, uh, to be able
to provide support to our students daily
of those vendor contracts.
We roughly have about 20, 22
or so vendors who provide both yellow bus service
and pair transit services.
Uh, this year, uh, with a multitude of things
that we've changed in partnership with the city,
in partnership with the state,
we actually have more drivers than we've had
over the past several years.
So this year we started with 900 yellow bus drivers, uh,
which was able to make us adequately be able
to provide transportation, uh, to our students
with disabilities, our most vulnerable students
and our homeless students as well.
However, we were not in a place to be able to provide
services to our general education students who, uh,
are at our option schools.
We plan to do that
after, uh, the November Thanksgiving break.
So in December, we plan to reignite our hub stop program
that we did last year, uh,
to be able to provide those services.
Reason that we had to delay that is we have a number
of students of vulnerable students, mainly students
with disabilities who actually need our services.
And so we've had to prioritize them in
a way to be able to do that.
As we get more drivers on board onboarded, we're able
to provide more services.
Now, what are we doing to get more drivers on board?
Well, in the past we've
provided incentives such
as a hiring bonus, attendance bonus.
Those things have been beneficial
and have helped to onboard more.
We've also been able to work with the state, uh, to be able
to provide the testing both in English and Spanish.
So the CDL testing wasn't always in Spanish.
Uh, we were able to work with
the state to be able to do that.
Uh, there was also a, a requirement part of the CDL test
where you actually had to learn the, the engine components
of a vehicle.
And that didn't always necessitate, uh, to
what we actually needed our drivers to do,
because obviously if the bus breaks,
then you call out a mechanic,
you don't need the driver to actually do that.
So that's part of the test.
Today we were able to get a waiver, uh,
from the state temporary rate waiver right now, uh,
to be able to onboard more of those drivers.
So those are some of the things that we've done in the past
and currently, uh, to be able to get more drivers.
So I received a note from Matt oj
and he said he lost 11 crossing guards.
You stated in your, your, um, okay,
you stated in your, um, PowerPoint that nobody,
he said he lost 11
and he said they are from Beverly Morgan
Park and Mount Greenwood.
Yeah, before I, before I turn it into our, uh,
our acting chief of safety and Security.
So in my PowerPoint, uh, uh, I was, uh, stated
that we lost 33 crossing guards for the private school.
So, uh, for context, so you
Said 33 for private schools?
Private schools. Okay. So when we took over the program
from OENC, the Crossing Guard program in January of 2021,
it included both public schools and private schools.
Uh, the transition that we just,
The breakdown absolutely private birth public,
We will absolutely share that.
I'll let, uh, chief Leski talk about those
two questions that you had.
Yeah, and I think Charles mentioned it.
Yeah, so we took the program out in, in January, 2021,
and we took it as is, uh,
and we managed it the best that we could with,
um, the funding that we had.
You know, with these challenges, we had to make some very,
um, difficult decisions.
Um, you know, and they're not always ideal,
but we had to focus all of our funds on CPS students.
So, and with that, we were, again, we,
we didn't take away from districts.
We didn't eliminate the program at district schools,
but we, we weren't able to continue supporting at private.
So we did engage with the archdiocese to have discussions
around how we can be partners in providing
support or continued support.
Um, you know,
and that included additional funding
that we could receive from them, uh,
or us, uh, you know, supporting
and volunteer, uh, training for, for these private schools.
Um, but those conversations stalled, you know,
and we didn't hear back from them.
But as of right now, the, the, the cuts
that we're talking about for that was brought up here was
for the private schools only.
I wish you all would've had a conversation
with all alderman osha
and with Alderman, you all have to remember we have access.
So I'm a alderman. I don't take money from businesses.
I don't take money from really anybody other than probably
the unions and some smaller donations.
I'm pretty sure had you all worked with him,
he could have got people to support
and probably pay for having those crossing guards.
'cause for him, whether it's private
or public, those are still his young people in his community
that he, he wants to keep safe.
And so, um, I, I need for you all to sit down
with Alderman O'Shea to have that conversation.
Would be happy to do so.
I know I reached out to Alderman OSHA several times, ready
to have a dialogue with him.
So how we can figure out a way
to meet in the middle on this thing.
And, and to chief les's point, we did have that conversation
with the Irish, and we didn't hear back in regards
to them funding the program that we would help them manage.
Um, and then the second piece was that, that was offered up,
is could they get volunteers?
And we said, yes,
and we will train those volunteers on your behalf,
but you could manage them at that point.
So again, happy to have a dialogue with Aldo Che
to be able to close the loop on this
Aldo Woman. Lee,
just while we're on the, the topic, that was one
of the, going to be one of my questions
because I also have parochial schools in my ward.
Uh, and we did lose a, a crossing garter two, um,
in the 11th ward as well.
So how much, and I'm, I apologize if I missed it.
Um, what's the average cost of a crossing guard?
Like, if this was gonna be offered, uh, to parochial school
to sort of fund, but have you all
managed, what would the cost be?
Yeah, so for, uh, first year crossing guard starts
around $29,000 a year.
And that includes, uh, health and benefits. Okay.
Um, they are part of the SCIU local, uh, 73,
so they are on a, uh, a pay scale.
So it, it ranges from like 2020 9,000
to about $39,000 all in.
Okay. Yeah.
Look, I, I know that when the crossing guard program went
back to CPS, it, it came with no money.
So I just wanna acknowledge that for everybody in the room.
Um, you know, I, I think that, um, I,
I understand how the cuts were made,
your Chicago public schools, uh,
but there's still that consideration
and somebody should have considered, I'm not putting
that necessarily wholly on CPS.
Um, the city should have made accommodations for this too
as well, even if it was strictly through OEMC.
I think that's something that we'll take up in
the budget process as well.
Um, but it is really important that, you know,
these are all taxpayers in the city of Chicago.
I know that they're not necessarily, you know,
sending their kids to public schools,
but surely they're helping to pay
for public schools through their tax dollars.
So I know that my constituents definitely
have that expectation.
So I'd be interested in that conversation that you're having
with, uh, alderman osha.
Just better understand how we, um, find a better solution
for, um, the other students that are,
uh, in our communities.
Um, this is a more of a budget question.
I don't expect you to have it here,
but through the chair, can someone provide
how much TIF surplus CPS has received, uh,
in the last five years?
And I know we can, we can provide through the chair.
You can. Okay. That's great. Um, through the chair is fine.
Um, I know that there've been questions about what's gonna
happen with the M-A-B-E-F payment.
I, I was, um, pretty vocal in my support
for this budget that was approved.
Um, without the M-A-B-E-F payment, I, I still maintain
taxpayers are the ones that are gonna be paying
for this one way or another.
And I certainly did not want to see you
CPS take out any sort of, uh, additional debt, um,
to make this payment, which the,
the city is technically on the hook for,
even though there was an agreement before.
Um, either way it's taxpayer dollar.
So do we have the taxpayers pay a higher rate?
Um, I, I think we've gotta look at this on the whole,
but to be fair, um, you know how much you've been,
the reason I'm asking how much you've gotten in TIF funds
over the course of the last five years is that I understand
that it, tif TIF surplus had become,
has become a regular part of your budgeting process.
So, um, the ability to sort of plan for what you're going
to get has a big impact on what you're able
to fund in any given year.
Um, and I don't know what we can assume.
I think, you know, looking at what we're, what we're faced
with at the city, um, I don't personally see
how we're going to pass a budget without, um,
leveraging tip surplus as much as we can.
I don't know what that dollar amount's going to be,
but I know that you've gotta be able to plan.
And I think what you're hearing from, from all of us in,
in terms of just agreement, is
that we wanna better understand
what those ramifications are.
And I, I have no doubt that you've thought
through every single scenario at this point.
Um, but I wonder if anybody can talk about,
just on the, um, on the, the funding side of things
and the disentanglement of, uh,
CPS from the city in terms of allowing CPS to
have a little bit more self-determination, um,
on the revenue side.
Um, have there been any more conversations at the state
level or with city officials about, you know, how that,
how we begin to move to that place?
'cause I haven't heard anything about, you know, what
that looks like and, you know, the,
the timing for all of that.
Yeah. Um, Alder Roman Lee, if I can,
I think you hit on something really important here in
that there are entanglements between CPS and the city
and there's things that, you know, could
one entity pays for
that could reasonably sit on the other's.
Mm-hmm. The others' books.
The challenge that we face
as a district at CPS is we're limited in
our ability to raise revenue.
So our current revenue structure is governed by the state.
Our property tax caps, our set in state legislation,
the funding that we receive beyond our property taxes
is determined by local, state, and federal entities.
And so the challenge that we have that we'll need help
with moving forward is us having a bit more autonomy
and inability to raise revenue on our own.
And that's been part of the challenge, both in dealing
with the last few years budgets
and dealing with some of these entanglements, is
that we don't have the, the same ability to go out
and raise revenue that the city does that other entities do
to cover some of these costs.
And so, you know, there's, there's places
where we'd certainly like to invest more
where we think it would be, would be worthwhile,
where we certainly think we may
wanna pick up a different cost here,
but we don't have the ability to do so without making cuts
or, or borrowing money there.
So that's gonna be a big part of going forward, you know,
what we can do to help, to help CPS is, especially
as we transition to a fully elected board, have those tools
that other districts
that other municipalities have to raise revenue.
It's gonna be great when you guys have that.
I think you'll be much, you'll be much happier.
I'm sure everybody will look a little less stressed.
Um, no,
but I, I think you guys have done a really good job with
what, what the, with the hand that you've been dealt,
at the end of the day, you're out your forecast then assumes
no, no additional autonomy based
on, 'cause you don't have it today.
I'm just, I just wanna be clear about that.
Cor correct. It assumes it assumes the current state.
So that's why when we talked about the revenue options at
the state level and we talked about the different options,
the different tools that could, um, exist either locally
or at the state level to help us in terms
of having more revenue, autonomy, those are all things
that would improve that out your forecast right now.
'cause that does assume this, that steady state of
legislation costs, et cetera.
Got it. All right.
Um, I think all of my other questions were asked.
Yeah, they were. I'm good.
Thank you so much, uh, for all of your time chair. I'm done.
I'm tapping her out for a second.
I'm gonna call on Alder woman Gutierrez, who's remote.
I
Thank you. Vice Chair.
Um, just wanted to echo about what, um,
my colleagues have been mentioning.
I know a lot of our custodians now that are transferred
to CPS, um, when they lost their seniority and their wages.
I'm interested in knowing, um, through the chair exactly,
uh, what was the final, um, decision made towards this
and if they were able to keep the salary they were, uh,
having before.
'cause I know there was some discrepancies and some stuff.
If you can just, uh, elaborate more about that.
Yes, happy to follow up with the chair in regards to that.
And yes, the custodians will receive their,
uh, their pay, their rightful pay.
Uh, we have a process that we will do
to validate that information.
A memo was shared, uh,
with our labor partners this morning in regards to that.
And any other details.
I'm, I'm happy to follow up with the chair, uh, to make sure
that your, uh, other questions are addressed,
Please. Thank you. I
appreciate that
Also about the funding for Safe Passage.
Um, and especially right now
with our current times ICE being present in our communities
and our parents not, um, being able to drop off their kids.
Um, a lot of kids are walking alone in our streets.
Um, so with that, uh, cut unsafe passage, you know,
less hours or safe passage where workers are,
are working the streets
and the sidewalks in our communities.
So also, is there any way we can move
around our numbers in order to help out that program?
We really appreciate as well as the CA
'cause I know all of that support that,
that our students deserve.
I know, um, CPS struggling with it,
but I hope we can continue to advocate to find a way to,
to secure more funding in able to for those two programs.
Thank you.
Well, on behalf of chairwoman Jeanette Taylor, um,
I appreciate you all for coming
before the education committee.
Appreciate you for being as truthful
and transparent about the situation that all of us are in.
Again, we know as parents or as former CPS employees
or just as regular community members,
our babies really are the future.
And so we don't take any of this lightly.
You definitely have partners here at the city
that wanna work with you and
we'll continue to work with you.
We'll continue to step with you when you're ready to go down
to Springfield as well,
because this has to be a collective effort to protect
and save and educate our baby.
So I will ask, uh, all the person, Lee,
if she can make a motion to adjourn.
All in favor? Aye. Any opposition?
Thank you. All this meeting on education early childhood
development is adjourned.
Thank you.
I.