What is the Capital Improvement Program? Beginning in January 1996, the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) established a five-year Capital Improvement Program (CIP) to renovate school buildings in disrepair, upgrade school facilities, and carry out new construction to alleviate overcrowding or replace old, unsafe school buildings. The formal opportunity for public input into CIP requests has been through CPS’ annual Spring capital budget hearings, where schools and parents have an opportunity to explain the basis for capital requests in hopes of receiving funds to meet their schools’ needs. In the end, the Chicago Public Schools, without a community advisory panel (dissolved in 1999), determines as to which schools will receive funding based on three broad goals, as follows:

1. Relieve Overcrowding through new school construction
2. Provide school building Renovations and Rehabilitation upgrades
3. Provide Educational Enhancements (i.e. Playlots, campus parks, site improvements, lockers, etc.)

CPS’ FY 2004 Capital Improvement Program Allocations

Project Type Budget (millions) New Construction $ 113.4 Renovation & Capital Maint. $ 185 Contingency $ 20.8 Administration $ 20.5 Transfer to Prior Year Projects $ 35.1 TOTAL $374.8   This is $137 million less than last year’s budget!

But, schools in NEED should NOT have to fight this hard…. CPS’ building assessments, outstanding code violations, overcrowding, & overall NEED should determine CPS’ spending priorities.

Funded Construction Projects

Twain School, currently the most overcrowded elementary school in Chicago (167%), will receive a $16 million Addition. However, will this be enough, and how long will it take CPS to build the other partially-funded new schools for the Southwest Side—the most overcrowded region? What about other overcrowded neighborhoods, like on the Northwest and Far South Sides? Does CPS have a strategy & will these partially-funded schools have money for completion in a timely manner?

How Much Has Been Spent?

Since Spring 2003, CPS has invested more than $3.4 billion towards improving our schools; however, more than $2 billion worth of capital projects remain un-funded! Thanks to another $500 million allocation from our State legislators, Chicago received an additional $100 million for Fiscal Year 2004.

However, recently Governor Rod Blagojevich cautioned that he could no longer provide new funds for the future State School Construction Program, unless specific funding sources are identified. Since we know that there will always be a need for ongoing capital funds and a capital program, and this program has been successful all across the state, in urban and rural areas, we must ensure that funding is made available next year. This is why it is crucial to encourage our elected officials to prioritize funds for school construction all across Illinois so that those schools that fell between the cracks will not be neglected in years to come.

Additionally, we think that there are Alternative Creative Financing Opportunities. Just this past summer 2003, the City’s Budget Department announced $100 million may be available through Tax Increment Financing (TIF) revenue to build schools. Simeon Career Academy, which celebrated its ribbon cutting on September 2nd, is a great example of the first TIF expansion for the sole purpose of benefiting a neighborhood school!

The ritzy Lakeshore East development, along Wacker Drive and Lake Shore Drive, will provide dedicated land and funding to build a new CPS school and park for the neighborhood. Similarly, a housing developer near Ogden School on the Near North Side would like to replace the old Ogden School with a new school for the new community. So we know that if there is a will, there is a way! We want to know why CPS can’t get developers to build schools in our neediest communities and with our input?

NCBG believes that CPS should be better coordinating its capital planning efforts with the City’s Planning Department and the Chicago Housing Authority’s Transformation plan, and demand that as developers transform and re-populate some of our poorest neighborhoods, these housing developers should contribute to building replacement schools or repairing the older, neglected schools for the children who in these communities today, not after the families have all been “priced” out.

The Future of the CPS Capital Improvement Program relies on funds and a “smarter” short- and long-term strategic Facility Master Plan. Neighborhood Capital Budget Group (NCBG) is committed to working with school and community leaders to craft a citywide “Facility Master Plan” for the Chicago Public Schools to foster and maintain community engagement in facility planning and management, embody a public policy both recognizing and actively supporting the role school facilities play in anchoring healthy, viable communities. The ultimate goal of good facilities planning and design is to meet every community’s need for an adequate education for all students and ensure full and equal educational opportunity for all. Furthermore:

• To guarantee fairness and ensure the safety of students and teachers, the ranking and prioritizing of school capital projects should be based on building assessments, overcrowding conditions, assessment of potential enhancements for building usage, and enforcement of health and safety codes.
  
  
• Schools serve as anchors and centers of community; all should have the opportunity for meaningful community engagement and participation in decision-making throughout all phases of capital projects.
  
  
• Facilities planning should be coordinated with community economic and redevelopment plans, neighborhood demographic shifts and patterns, and future projected community and school needs.
  
  
• Facilities planning and design should be driven by school programming and curriculum needs and goals (“One size” will not fit all).

For more information or for details on schools who received funding for capital projects, contact: Andrea Lee, Schools Initiative Coordinator, OR John Alex Colon, Schools Associate @ (312) 939-7198; www.ncbg.org