Chicago Board of Ed doesn’t plan school closures

The Chicago Board of Education adopted a nonbinding resolution proposed by Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez declaring a moratorium on school closures through spring 2027 during a heated meeting on Thursday.

special meeting, board President Jianan Shi argued the state continues to underfund CPS.

“We have to dip into our operations budget to fund capital improvements, which means that our students are robbed of 21st-century facilities they need and deserve,” he said. “As a school district that cannot raise its own revenue, we’ve identified $500 million in reductions and efficiencies, and we’ll continue to look for areas to save. But at the end of the day, our schools need their fair share. … We need to demand better.”

The district in July approved a 2025 budget that leaned on the final $233 million tranche of federal COVID-19 relief funds and other one-time revenue sources to close a $505 million deficit.

In its five-year strategic plan, CPS said it would “advocate for full, fair, and equitable school funding across all levels of government, leverage philanthropic investments, and strengthen collaborative partnerships in every community.”

The plan reiterates the district’s shift from student-based funding, in which dollars follow students, to a need-based funding model that aims to address inequities regardless of enrollment.

“Our progress is hindered by funding challenges on numerous fronts, including inadequate funding from the state, an expansive and aging facility infrastructure requiring capital improvements to support healthy green schools, and declining student enrollment,” the plan notes. “Our current funding falls short of keeping up with the needs of our students with disabilities and fully funding early childhood programming.”

Overall state funding is declining, the plan said, while facilities needs are growing and structural deficits are widening. The plan calls for a 10% annual increase in facility improvement funding, reaching $250 million within five years, by drawing on both public and private funding sources.

Other speakers at Thursday’s meeting included Claude Holmes, CTU charter division secretary, who argued that charter school operators are sitting on huge reserves that could be used in classrooms; a CPS teacher who said class sizes at her school have grown by roughly 20%; and multiple parents who backed Martinez, calling him “an inspiration for our community,” praising the results he’s produced and arguing the revolving door of CPS CEOs — there have been seven over the past decade — negatively impacts student outcomes.