School buildings are far more than just a roof over our children’s heads. There is a growing awareness that good school buildings are one crucial ingredient to a quality education. Overcrowded schools, for example, can lead to larger class sizes, less direct teacher-student contact, discipline problems, and even health and safety concerns. In some overcrowded schools, students are forced to learn in spaces never meant to be classrooms (such as hallways or storage rooms), or have important facilities such as the school library converted into one or more classrooms just to meet the crush of students.

We're also noticing underutilized schools, where schools are experiencing low and declining student enrollments.  Underutlized schools often have the ideal small class size; however, because of smaller enrollments, these schools may experience a declining level of school funding, a shortage of teachers where there may not be enough money for one teacher per grade, and less money for resources, since funding is influenced by the number of students in a school. 

This 2002 schools Fact Sheet serves as an update from NCBG's 1999 report, Rebuilding Our Schools Brick By Brick. 
Download a copy in Adobe Acrobat format, or contact us at (312) 939-7198.

How Overcrowded Are Chicago's High Schools?

While elementary schools are deemed overcrowded if their enrollment is at least 80% of their “design capacity,” the term the Chicago Public Schools use to describe the number of students a school can hold if it is packed to the rafters, more recently CPS says that high school overcrowding is  defined if they exceed 100%.  This is because high school design capacity is based on curriculum programming.  For instance, a Career Academy will be larger because the programming of the school requires larger spaces for such needs as auto shops, or culinary arts kitchens. 

During the 2001-2002 school year, 19 Chicago high schools were overcrowded (22%).  This means that 33,221 high school students had to learn in overcrowded schools.  After declining steadily since 1996, high school enrollments are beginning to rise again. In the past, NCBG suspected that enrollments were dropping due to factors that influence high school enrollments from year to year (such as lower birthrates, dropouts, people moving out of the City or switching to private schools, etc.).  Judging by the recent increase in overcrowding, it appears those suspicions were true.  If new construction was decreasing overcrowding, overcrowding should be even lower.  However, the number of overcrowded high schools has inched up 4% from the 2000-2001 school year, and that's after building 3 new high schools, and completing 2 additions since 1996. 

Many of the overcrowding trends are geographical.  8 schools are on the City’s Southwest side and 6 on the Northwest Side, the same regions where elementary overcrowding is most prevalent.  The Southwest side has 8x’s as many overcrowded high schools than the West, South, and Far South sides.  Although CPS offers schools of choice and specialty programs, many high schools continue to cater to neighborhood schools.  Since neighborhood trends and demographics often influence the school population, NCBG encourages CPS to be better planners so that, for example, funding will be available to build enough new schools to relieve the overcrowding in these neighborhoods. 

Where Are the Underutilized Schools?

Chicago has overcrowded schools that are bursting at the seams.  On the other hand, during the 2001-2002 school year, 36 (39%) of our high schools were underutilized.  CPS considers a school underutilized when the school percent capacity falls below 65%.  This is not a crisis of and in itself, especially since we have heard that small schools and small class sizes are good for students and learning, particularly in low-income and communities of color; however, we must think about the consequences declining enrollment may have if it becomes too low:  less school funding, less funding for teachers and aides (there is a student/teacher formula that dictates # of teachers), fewer program options, greater creativity needed on behalf of school administrators to entice outside neighborhood attendance in order to keep their schools afloat, and also the danger of school closure.

The highest concentrations of underutilized schools fall on the West side (11 schools) and South side (7 schools) regions of Chicago, the same geographic areas for elementary schools.  The 10 major underutilized high schools are charted below.

Many explanations address school de-population.  NCBG believes that declining enrollment is often directly related to neighborhoods that are experiencing economic and development changes.  When we see a depopulation of communities, declining school enrollments trends seem to occur alongside.  For instance, the South side community has 11 "underutilized" schools, one of which is DuSable High School located in the Grand Boulevard community.  Much like its neighborhood feeder schools, this school is experiencing the CHA public housing “Transformation” Plan in which demolition and family displacement is taking place, which is clearly affecting the student population in the attendance area. 

Again, NCBG believes that "changing" neighborhoods are often planned, and that CPS could better plan for and respond more effectively to these families and schools affected.  In the case of underutilized schools, CPS should think about the need to keep student mobility low and learning and stability high, and the need to recognize these underutilized schools as "small schools" of value, where resources are adequate for learning, teachers are qualified and plentiful for each grade level, and students have a right to walkable, neighborhood schools. 

Does Overcrowding Tell the Whole Story?

NO -- Overcrowding is not the only problem facing our school buildings.  In some schools, there are still physical problems that interfere with learning. Poor electrical systems, for example, make it difficult or impossible to run the computers that have become an important part of our kids’ education. Leaky roofs or bad heating systems create distractions that hurt our children’s ability to learn. Finally, some schools don’t have the types of up-to-date facilities - science labs, computer centers, even auditoriums and lunchrooms - that are needed for a 21^st Century education. 

What About the Money?

With all of these capital needs waiting to be addressed, CPS says that they're running out of money.  While they have spent nearly $2.6 billion, the work is not over.  Thankfully, Illinois recently authorized a $1 billion bond for school construction, appropriating half of that for school construction bonds this year (the other half will likely be available for 2003-2004).  Of CPS' $512 million capital program for school year 2002-2003, $100 million comes from the State.  However, this is not enough for more than $2 billion of needs remaining, and that is why we need to continue to work with CPS and our legislators to ensure that funding remains available and ongoing.

What steps should we take to continue improving the state of our facilities?

• Parents, LSCs, and schools should continue to inform CPS on building conditions and needs and advocate via CPS' annual spring capital budget hearings and monthly Board of Education meetings.
• CPS should provide more meaningful opportunities for greater public input into the school capital program process, allowing for greater community engagement and participation.
• CPS should create a school Facility Master Plan that provides a well-balanced, detailed and comprehensive 5-10-year capital plan with a clear ranking and prioritization process and funding resources, influenced by community demographics and anticipated neighborhood changes, and steered by input from community stakeholders.
• View facilities as a means to better learning, teaching, and success so that we truly don't leave any children behind.