Despite Financial Woes, CPS Considers $75 Million New South Side High School

After shuttering 50 school buildings in 2013, Chicago Public Schools is under a moratorium on further closings until 2018. Commenting on the dichotomy of closing existing schools while spending tens of millions to build new ones, former CPS Vice President Jesse Ruiz says: “I’ve always said that instead of cornerstones with the year the school was built, we should put expiration dates and not have folks believe that a given facility or building is what is always going to be there for that community.”

Rapid growth of school choice alternatives, including charter schools and selective enrollment programs, without a comprehensive city wide plan for school building locations has created substantial under-enrollment at traditional neighborhood school buildings. Twenty two attendance boundary high schools in the city draw less than 13% of their students from within their attendance areas.