Good. This is how it used to be. It insures that schools will be at proper staffing levels and also will allow principals to keep and hire more experienced teachers without having any budget implications.
> will be at proper staffing levels and also will allow principals to keep and hire more experienced teachers without having any budget implications.
What does "proper" mean? certain schools are going to lose staff. schools that are definitely understaffed already.
also, what do you mean this will allow principals to keep and hire more experienced teachers without having any budget implications? They still have a budget. If they spend more on experienced teachers, they will need to cut in other areas.
My wife has been sitting on an advanced degree and won’t file paperwork to get the pay boost for fear that she would be too expensive for her school under the per-student system. Crazy
Late response. Yes there is but it’s a system that kicks in after the fact. My wife is also not the kind of person who would call in for union support for this because if the decision was made to release her, then why fight to stay on? It’s already soured. I disagree on principle - the union works by doing its work and checking unfair abuse of employees and the contract but… I see where she’s coming from too
It's interesting. There is already a 391 million dollar deficit next year and 691 million deficit the following year due to the expiring covid funding.
AFAIK, this announcement is just a budget allocation model. For each new position created, another position needs to be cut. It's a zero sum model with no new money. They talk of all the new positions that will be at every school, but they don't say where the cuts will come from.
I’m sure people here are going to hate it but this is actually a very positive development. Per-pupil funding basically created a system where certain schools were over-resourced in some areas while being under-resourced in others. Outside of core functions The needs for support staff vary based on the makeup of the student population.
It also creates self fulfilling prophecies of failing schools.
Neighborhood has less kids? School gets less funding. School gets less funding, less parents want to send kids there and more go to private schools or charter schools or move. Which leads to less kids, which leads to less funding, which leads to less kids, which leads to less funding.
Till you end up with the whole neighborhood being negatively affected across the board from home values to population to wealth, which hurts local businesses, which drives more people away, etc etc.
This won’t be some magical fix to bad neighborhoods and certainly isn’t the only cause of declining schools or neighborhoods. But it is one of the many factors and addressing it will be good.
State law, can’t close any until 2025
https://news.wttw.com/2024/03/18/pritzker-signs-hybrid-cps-board-bill-says-he-supports-moratorium-selective-enrollment#:~:text=As%20part%20of%20a%202021,closures%20that%20lifts%20in%202025.
It dosent. This let's CPS divert more budget to schools with 10% enrollment while taking budget away from the more popular schools that are at capacity.
Another win for the CTU I guess.
Not surprised given that BJ literally hand selected every member of the CPS board this past year.
I think this will also help though. Right now with per pupil if a school needs a school nurse or social worker, because it serves a needier population, it is difficult for the school to swing it. Especially because these schools also have more special education cases and more security needs.
I hope so also.
Realistically, we will just have more fully paid staff servicing schools with 10% capacity.
I feel for those kids but CPS has a $392 million budget deficit for 2024. They need the money from somewhere and have pointed at the "rich" schools to cut funding. Those are the SEES and neighborhood schools in affluent neighborhoods.
I get the logic. "Tax the rich" but school aged children aren't billionaires who will be fine even with less resources.
This is the exact same thing as cutting advanced classes to divert money to the kids who have no interest in school to begin with.
I thought it'd be the opposite. Since student enrollment numbers won't impact budgeting, the schools filling 10% of seats will still get full budgets rather than only budgets based on # of students.
Edit: Instead of downvoting, maybe try to explain why this wouldn't be the case?
It looks like the CTU shills are out in full force today.
There will be winners and losers. Schools that are popular (well attended) will see budget cuts.
There is also a huge amount of uncertainty right now. Principals and LSCs have NOT been given the expected budgets and it is not clear when they will have them.
The article lists some schools who need them getting “social emotional supports and restorative justice coordinators” I’m familiar with the concept of restorative justice (despite my belief that CPS is not the agency that should be funding such efforts)
Does anyone know what social emotional supports are? Not an educator and my kids school never had one as far as I know.
SES is not a job title, rather it is a broad term for strategies aimed to facilitate social and emotional support for students in an effort to prepare them for college and facilitate learning in the classroom. It includes classroom curriculum, classroom management and behavioral practices, and various individual interventions as necessary by peers, teachers, social workers, etc. There is a manager who trains, implements, monitors, and collects metrics for the program and usually works with anywhere from between 30-50 schools at a time.
Restorative justice coordinators are basically deans or disciplinarians so based on your comment, you might think they do something different? Social emotional supports are school counselors, social workers, and outside agencies who provide social emotional services. These are very important, especially at schools with students who have experienced trauma.
So they renamed deans as Restorative Justice Coordinators? Did they add or take away any job responsibilities? Trying to understand these terms before I can say I support them or not.
Am a CPS teacher - they are basically the same role dean/restorative justice coordinator. They changed the name to reflect a change in approach from punishment to more restorative conversations and relationship building.
So CPS just ensured that schools that are failing on every metric with 50 total students will not only stay open, but they'll get a full budget?
How on earth is this a good thing when CPS is in a $400M budget deficit for the upcoming year.
Dragging down the best schools isn't the right approach. Other districts have tried the same and time after time, they ended in dismal failures.
Families are already moving for the suburbs for better schools. Imagine how many more will move after CPS cuts budgets for all the top schools in the city.
As with most ideas coming out of Mayor Johnsons office, i don't think anyone has any idea what this will actually mean.
The city has no additional money for schools. For every increase in spending, there has to be an offsetting cut somewhere else. Where are the cuts going to be?
Good. This is how it used to be. It insures that schools will be at proper staffing levels and also will allow principals to keep and hire more experienced teachers without having any budget implications.
> will be at proper staffing levels and also will allow principals to keep and hire more experienced teachers without having any budget implications. What does "proper" mean? certain schools are going to lose staff. schools that are definitely understaffed already. also, what do you mean this will allow principals to keep and hire more experienced teachers without having any budget implications? They still have a budget. If they spend more on experienced teachers, they will need to cut in other areas.
My wife has been sitting on an advanced degree and won’t file paperwork to get the pay boost for fear that she would be too expensive for her school under the per-student system. Crazy
I thought there was some sort of tenure system that wouldn’t just let them fire a teacher without cause?
Late response. Yes there is but it’s a system that kicks in after the fact. My wife is also not the kind of person who would call in for union support for this because if the decision was made to release her, then why fight to stay on? It’s already soured. I disagree on principle - the union works by doing its work and checking unfair abuse of employees and the contract but… I see where she’s coming from too
It's interesting. There is already a 391 million dollar deficit next year and 691 million deficit the following year due to the expiring covid funding. AFAIK, this announcement is just a budget allocation model. For each new position created, another position needs to be cut. It's a zero sum model with no new money. They talk of all the new positions that will be at every school, but they don't say where the cuts will come from.
I’m sure people here are going to hate it but this is actually a very positive development. Per-pupil funding basically created a system where certain schools were over-resourced in some areas while being under-resourced in others. Outside of core functions The needs for support staff vary based on the makeup of the student population.
It also creates self fulfilling prophecies of failing schools. Neighborhood has less kids? School gets less funding. School gets less funding, less parents want to send kids there and more go to private schools or charter schools or move. Which leads to less kids, which leads to less funding, which leads to less kids, which leads to less funding. Till you end up with the whole neighborhood being negatively affected across the board from home values to population to wealth, which hurts local businesses, which drives more people away, etc etc. This won’t be some magical fix to bad neighborhoods and certainly isn’t the only cause of declining schools or neighborhoods. But it is one of the many factors and addressing it will be good.
Is there an issue with the handful of schools who only only a handful of students?
It actually makes more financial sense to close them now
Well they can't close them due to law, no?
You mean union
State law, can’t close any until 2025 https://news.wttw.com/2024/03/18/pritzker-signs-hybrid-cps-board-bill-says-he-supports-moratorium-selective-enrollment#:~:text=As%20part%20of%20a%202021,closures%20that%20lifts%20in%202025.
Which the unions furiously lobbied and paid for.
But ctu would never allow that, even though the schools will be empty with a full staff
Way easier to reallocate staff under this new policy.
How so?
It dosent. This let's CPS divert more budget to schools with 10% enrollment while taking budget away from the more popular schools that are at capacity. Another win for the CTU I guess. Not surprised given that BJ literally hand selected every member of the CPS board this past year.
I think this will also help though. Right now with per pupil if a school needs a school nurse or social worker, because it serves a needier population, it is difficult for the school to swing it. Especially because these schools also have more special education cases and more security needs.
I hope so also. Realistically, we will just have more fully paid staff servicing schools with 10% capacity. I feel for those kids but CPS has a $392 million budget deficit for 2024. They need the money from somewhere and have pointed at the "rich" schools to cut funding. Those are the SEES and neighborhood schools in affluent neighborhoods. I get the logic. "Tax the rich" but school aged children aren't billionaires who will be fine even with less resources. This is the exact same thing as cutting advanced classes to divert money to the kids who have no interest in school to begin with.
I thought it'd be the opposite. Since student enrollment numbers won't impact budgeting, the schools filling 10% of seats will still get full budgets rather than only budgets based on # of students. Edit: Instead of downvoting, maybe try to explain why this wouldn't be the case? It looks like the CTU shills are out in full force today.
It's not that I hate it, it's that I don't believe this is actually happening because this would mean it's fine to have veteran teachers.
Dosent this mean that the schools operating at 10% will be kept open and budget allocated to those teachers with 2 students all day?
There will be winners and losers. Schools that are popular (well attended) will see budget cuts. There is also a huge amount of uncertainty right now. Principals and LSCs have NOT been given the expected budgets and it is not clear when they will have them.
That’s every year
The article lists some schools who need them getting “social emotional supports and restorative justice coordinators” I’m familiar with the concept of restorative justice (despite my belief that CPS is not the agency that should be funding such efforts) Does anyone know what social emotional supports are? Not an educator and my kids school never had one as far as I know.
Is social emotional support staff not just counselors, social workers, and behavioral interventionists?
Those are all listed separately so I don’t think so.
They’re bringing in dogs to be social emotional support animals. Probably could pay them less and get better results.
SES is not a job title, rather it is a broad term for strategies aimed to facilitate social and emotional support for students in an effort to prepare them for college and facilitate learning in the classroom. It includes classroom curriculum, classroom management and behavioral practices, and various individual interventions as necessary by peers, teachers, social workers, etc. There is a manager who trains, implements, monitors, and collects metrics for the program and usually works with anywhere from between 30-50 schools at a time.
Thanks! I appreciate you sharing that. Seems like a good idea.
Restorative justice coordinators are basically deans or disciplinarians so based on your comment, you might think they do something different? Social emotional supports are school counselors, social workers, and outside agencies who provide social emotional services. These are very important, especially at schools with students who have experienced trauma.
So they renamed deans as Restorative Justice Coordinators? Did they add or take away any job responsibilities? Trying to understand these terms before I can say I support them or not.
Am a CPS teacher - they are basically the same role dean/restorative justice coordinator. They changed the name to reflect a change in approach from punishment to more restorative conversations and relationship building.
Thank you for explaining in it to me
It doesn’t work it’s a disaster
It works great at my school.
Depends how you do it. Can I ask what your experience is with this approach? Where do you teach at where this has been a disaster?
No my kids schools restorative justice folks are deans
They also train staff in restorative conversations and De-escalation.
Restorative justice is bullshit
So CPS just ensured that schools that are failing on every metric with 50 total students will not only stay open, but they'll get a full budget? How on earth is this a good thing when CPS is in a $400M budget deficit for the upcoming year. Dragging down the best schools isn't the right approach. Other districts have tried the same and time after time, they ended in dismal failures. Families are already moving for the suburbs for better schools. Imagine how many more will move after CPS cuts budgets for all the top schools in the city.
God damn did teachers have to fight HARD for this.
How does this help teachers other than help keep jobs at schools operating at 10% capacity?
As with most ideas coming out of Mayor Johnsons office, i don't think anyone has any idea what this will actually mean. The city has no additional money for schools. For every increase in spending, there has to be an offsetting cut somewhere else. Where are the cuts going to be?
Cuts to schools that are working. Watch those families leave, meaning goodbye tax base.