New school construction has been an important piece of funding, especially since more than 30% of our students attend overcrowded schools. However, some schools have been built because their current facilities are long overdue and are clear safety and health hazards. At least two of our high schools were temporarily placed in reconfigured wharehouses, but it wasn’t until decades later that school construction funding was finally allocated to build new replacement schools. Many other schools are temporary modulars that are long past their building life. As you can see, the balance of building new neighborhood schools to relieve overcrowding versus investing in neighborhood replacement schools is a priority policy issue that is sometimes misunderstood; however, when the rules of capital spending are conveyed to the public in a clear, fair manner (rules of the game), the public is generally understanding and sympathetic to the process—they can see where they fall in the prioritization order and see that a fair and equitable process is taking place.

What is often difficult for the community to rationalize, however, is when CPS builds new schools that aren’t intended to serve the local attendance area, and schools are built in neighborhoods where there is little school-age population to serve when there are tremendous school capital needs in other neighborhoods serving the neighborhood. Spending allocations to build non-neighborhood schools tends to raise concerns to the public who is often demanding: What happened to the new school or project funds promised to us using 84% of my taxpayers money? This raises questions about CPS’ spending priorities and ranking for school capital projects.

The terminology for new school construction can be confusing. An annex is a freestanding building containing fewer than 12 classrooms. An addition is a connected building that generally contains more than 12 rooms. A modular unit is a temporary building to provide a short-term fix to overcrowding. CPS has stopped building new annexes.

CPS’ Completed New Schools and Additions, 1997 – Present

Since 1997, the Chicago Public Schools has built 15 new schools and 30 additions, in most cases, to relieve overcrowding.

CPS’ Planned and Funded New Schools and Additions

Over the next few years, 15 new schools and 10 additions will be completed. The schools listed below have been allocated construction funds from CPS and are currently in the planning, design, or construction phases.