20 for 20 Campaign & CPS Budget
Last night I was on a panel at Senn HS with 10 other principals around the inequity in state funding to Chicago Schools - while I believe that there are local budget issues, I think the first thing that needs to happen is to support the change in how the state funds public education.
Senate Bill 231 was passed yesterday and is now moving into the House, this bill works to create more equity in the way schools are funded in Illinois. I encourage all of you to take 3 minutes to email your local representatives, it is quick and easy to complete and everything is set up on the cps.edu/equality site
We have a culture in CPS where there has always been a "cry wolf" scenario and things work themselves out, but this time things are very serious and we are looking at potential catastrophic cuts to start off next school year. We have been told that without a change in funding formula and without the city changing their contribution to public education we may face 20-30% cuts in our schools budget -that number for Peirce would be somewhere around 1.2 million dollars in cuts - that is more than a stop in spending but could mean a significant increase to class size and decisions around what programs to keep - hard decisions that none of us want to make.
I am hopeful that with your support and the support of the State we can avoid these cuts and continue offering high quality programs to our students and families.
This article below summarizes the forum from last night:
Please reach out with any questions, I will update the Peirce community as I hear more about our budget for next school year.
Sincerely,
Lori Zaimi
Principal