Sarah Karp
Stories by Sarah Karp
Chicagoans are torn over school choice, a new poll shows
Chicago residents are divided over whether parents should be able to bypass their neighborhood school, and two-thirds want to prioritize funding those local schools.
Chicagoans give CPS a ‘C,’ say students are not learning enough
Parents and others don’t blame teachers. Instead, they see the lack of learning as an effect of poverty and other challenges, a poll of 2,100 Chicagoans finds.
Facing a budget cliff, CPS lets teachers out of school to lobby Springfield
District leaders will join teachers for a lobbying day in the state capital. Critics say the day away from classrooms is inappropriate.
Faced with cuts under a new funding formula, several CPS schools are rejecting their budgets
The move is symbolic because CPS has the final say, but offers insight into how a new needs-based approach to distributing money is playing out.
CPS’s selective and magnet schools appear to take a hit under new equity funding formula
Local School Councils at several specialty elementary schools say they are facing budget cuts, a claim backed by a WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times analysis.
Chicago Teachers Union has ‘ambitious’ goals for new contract
The current contract expires this summer. On top of raises for staff, the union wants help for unhoused students, more dual language education.
Principals get first look at impact of Chicago’s new school funding formula
Principals received their school budgets for next year, the first under a new system that focuses on needs of schools, rather than enrollment.
Artist Rhymefest announces he is running for a seat on Chicago’s new elected school board
Che “Rhymefest” Smith’s district runs along the south lake shore. His opponent, Adam Parrott-Sheffer is a former principal. The election is in November.
The history of selective enrollment in Chicago schools
Selective admissions started out as a way to integrate Chicago’s schools. It became a highly competitive program the school board wants to deemphasize.
You’re running for what? Campaigning begins for Chicago’s first-ever elected school board.
Much of the public still knows little if anything about these elections, to be held in November, but groups are lining up to exert influence and educate.