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The Chicago Board of Education once again delayed renewals for 21 charter schools, which usually take place in January. Behind the scenes, some members are reportedly pushing for shorter renewal periods than the district proposed, Reema Amin reports. chalkbeat.org/chicago/2025/0…

Bogdana Chkoumbova, the chief education officer at Chicago Public Schools & outgoing CEO Pedro Martinez's second-in-command, is stepping down at the end of the school year after 24 years in CPS. That's the first high-profile departure as Martinez prepares to leave in June.

Some Chicago school board members have voiced concern that Martinez’s departure could set off a domino effect of defections from CPS leadership, potentially creating instability amid the transition to a new CEO. chalkbeat.org/chicago/2025/0…

CPS put 20 old schools out for bid. They’ve been empty now 12 years. chalkbeat.org/chicago/2025/0…

CPS will send principals their budgets tomorrow for next school year. Those budgets are based on the assumption that CPS will get an additional funding from the city or state — an unlikely scenario that's been criticized as unrealistic. chalkbeat.org/chicago/2025/0…

NEW: Last year, Sarah Karp & I tackled a complicated question: How is Chicago’s graduation rate rising when high school students are missing so much school? Almost 25,000 missed more than 35 days last year — double the 2019 number. What we found out: projects.chalkbeat.org/2025/chicago-p…

LATEST w/Sarah Karp: Chicago schools are giving students more chances to turn in work late or make it up when they miss school. Some adopted a grading scale in which missed assignments get 50, not 0. Now, some teachers worry the shift is backfiring. projects.chalkbeat.org/2025/chicago-p…

So stark: "Across Chicago, nearly 25,000 high school students — or a quarter of all high schoolers — missed at least 35 days last year...That’s double the number who missed that much in 2019 And yet, the graduation rate has continued to inch up — from 81% in 2019 to 85% in 2024."

Last year, Mina Bloom and I found that many migrant kids settling down on Chicago's South and West sides often weren't getting the help they needed. This year we wondered: How well resourced are schools that are supposed to have bilingual ed programs? chalkbeat.org/chicago/2025/0…

The number of English learners in Chicago Public Schools grew by 25% since 2022. Some schools have lagged in staffing up. Almost 40 enroll 60+ English learners for each certified bilingual teacher. Our Reema Amin & BlockClub's Mina Bloom report: chalkbeat.org/chicago/2025/0…

One of the schools affected by National Science Foundation cuts was Chicago's McAuliffe Elementary. It lost afterschool programs with the Chicago Children's Museum, meant to spark an interest in engineering & science careers in students and families. chalkbeat.org/2025/06/10/tru…

A divided Chicago school board picked Macquline King as interim district CEO in an 11-to-8 vote. King is a former principal, a staffer in Mayor Brandon Johnson's office & the mayor's favorite to lead the district until the board finds a permanent CEO. chalkbeat.org/chicago/2025/0…

NEW and important! 100 Students in a School Meant for 1,000: Inside Chicago’s Refusal to Deal With Its Nearly Empty Schools propublica.org/article/chicag… by Mila Koumpilova Jennifer Smith Richards w/ Chalkbeat Chicago

NEW: Chicago has a growing number of tiny schools in huge, aging buildings. It’s a complex, radioactive issue in a city that carried out the largest mass school closures. ProPublica's Jennifer Smith Richards & I dug into the cost to students & the district. chalkbeat.org/chicago/2025/0…

Outgoing Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez on the clash with the mayor's office that ultimately cost him his job: "I took a stand. No regrets on that, and I would do it again." Our exit interview with Martinez: chalkbeat.org/chicago/2025/0…

A new interim schools chief just took over. There's a $529 million budget deficit. Chicago Public Schools will unveil its overall budget much later than usual this year — and schools are feeling the uncertainty keenly. With Reema Amin: chalkbeat.org/chicago/2025/0…

Interim Chicago Public Schools CEO Macquline King told the school board today that the district needs $730 million to balance its 2025-26 budget. That's up from a previous deficit calculation of $529 million.

The new $734 million budget deficit interim Chicago Public Schools CEO Macquline King is citing includes: - a $175M payment to a city employee pension fund that former CEO Pedro Martinez refused to cover - $30M in costs of absorbing Acero charters chalkbeat.org/chicago/2025/0…

Illinois lawmakers didn't pass a bill restricting cell phones in schools that Gov. JB Pritzker had championed. It got unanimous backing in the state Senate but stalled in the House. Legislators might revisit it in the fall, Samantha Smylie reports. chalkbeat.org/chicago/2025/0…

Special education staffing changes in Chicago are under scrutiny as the district faces a major budget gap. But officials say the shift has nothing to do with the deficit. Special ed funding will go up though support staff numbers will likely shrink. chalkbeat.org/chicago/2025/0…