While liberal Justices of the Supreme Court criticize the Trump Department of Education for laying off 1,400 bureaucrats, the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) announced it is laying off more than 1,400 workers to adjust for enrollment and programming changes.
The district confirmed that the layoffs of 1,458 employees last Friday. That total includes 432 teachers, 311 paraprofessionals, and school-related personnel. Meanwhile, the 1400 bureaucrats at the Department of Education in Washington who were laid off did not include a single teacher. Not one.
In a statement, a CPS spokesperson said:
“As part of our annual workforce planning and budgeting process, CPS evaluates staffing and resource allocations to ensure we are meeting the evolving needs of students and schools. These staffing adjustments are part of a systemwide effort to align resources more equitably and strategically based on school enrollment trends, academic programming, and student needs.”
This is the second round of layoffs this summer.
A CPS spokesperson also stated this week’s layoffs were not related to its efforts to close a more than $700 million budget deficit for the 2026 fiscal year.
CPS released its school-based budgets for the upcoming year, in which school funding was being maintained at the same level systemwide. Nevertheless, with the budget shortfalls that have been announced for the city of Chicago, it remains to be seen how Chicago can pay these bills as the city moves closer and closer to bankruptcy, due in part to the large expenditures tied to illegal immigrants over the last several years.
Just as disturbing as the economic shortfalls and layoffs are the academic result in Chicago schools. 2024 state test scores showed that while some elementary school students recorded improvement, overall proficiency rates remain below pre-pandemic levels, especially for 11th graders. Specifically, reading scores for 3rd through 8th graders have surpassed 2019 levels, but both reading and math scores for 11th graders remain lower than before the pandemic, according to the Illinois Policy Institute.
And it is not just a Chicago problem. Fewer than one-third of Illinois fourth-grade students met or exceeded reading proficiency standards on a recent national assessment, part of a nationwide literacy crisis in which students are already behind in fourth grade.
Students failed to meet or exceed reading standards in most states in 2024. Illinois joined 40 other states and Washington, D.C., in which 1 in 3, or fewer, fourth-grade students met or exceeded reading standards.
Nevertheless, this week, teachers unions, the Democratic party and education activist continue to focus on the Trump administration, reducing the size and scope of the US Department of Education. The same department of education that is produced these abysmal results for decades.
