CPS High Schools in Flux - Part 2

As the Sunday edition of the Chicago Tribune noted, the 17 high schools with drastically dwindling student populations are not only at risk of closing (3 will shutter at the end of this school year) they are in a situation where they can hardly deliver a decent level of education. And much of this failure to deliver a quality of education lies outside of what teachers and staff are able to do.

Here's what has been happening. As the population of a neighborhood diminishes - for a whole host of reasons - so does the student population in the high schools. That always leads to a cut in funding. So for every student lost roughly $5,300 doesn't make it to the coffers of the principal.

For example, Manley High School had a student population of 1,221 in 2007-08. In the current school year Manley has a population of a mere 114 pupils, a difference of 1,107. Multiply that drastic drop in students by $5,300, or even a smaller amount for earlier years and there has been a loss of over $4,000,000.

That means that Manley - and some of these other 17 schools - see a loss of teachers, a severe reduction in curricular programs and it feeds into the fact that students continue to flee from schools as all of the above occurs. In short, it is a cycle that continues to further erode what a high school can deliver.

Quite sad

Dick