CPS Closings Delay Individual School Budgets

The closing of 54 Chicago Public Schools is effecting elementary and high schools across the city.

Principal Anna Pavichevich told Amundsen High School's Local School Council she hasn’t received a budget from CPS for the 2013-2014 school year. The principal delivered the news Monday night at an LSC meeting at the school. 

Typically, principals are given their budgets at the beginning of April, and mid-April at the latest. Then, administrators must make decisions on staffing and how to organize the year’s funds. 

“I’m really concerned about this timing,” she said. “I’m feeling the pressure.”

What’s new this year, Pavichevich said, is the way CPS is calculating budgets and the large number of schools the district is closing.

Starting in the 2013-2014 school year, budgets will be calculated on a per-pupil basis where CPS predicts Amundsen’s enrollment, Pavichevich said. That estimate has been typically lower than reality; the district previously estimated 1,380 students at the school when enrollment actually around 1,440.

The change allows for more flexibility with money, the principal said, but could lead to fewer funds in total. 

In the 2012-2013 schol year, 82 high schools received a total of $448 million in funding for core instructional positions, according to CPS. 

Once a number is given to the high school, Amundsen’s Local School Council will hold two public meetings on the budget for the community.

While all high schools were safe from closure, 54 elementary schools are set to close pending a May board of education vote. 

Each school that takes in students from shuttered schools will receive extra funding, totaling $155 million across the district. 

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