CPS per student spending soars while private school excels on thin
budget
[March 10, 2025]
By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
(The Center Square) – Taxpayers are spending tens of thousands of
dollars per student at public high schools in Chicago, and at two
schools, the number is more than $100,000 per student. Leo Catholic High
School on the city’s South Side, meanwhile, has achieved 100% graduation
rates for over a decade at a fraction of the cost.
According to the Illinois State Board of Education’s Illinois Report
Card, Safe Achieve Academy, a specialized-education school in the South
Shore neighborhood, spent more than $130,000 per student in 2024. Safe
Achieve was formerly known as Camelot Safe Academy School.
Simpson Academy High School for Young Women spent just over $100,00 per
student. Simpson specializes in educating pregnant and parenting teens
and providing support for young mothers. The school includes onsite
child care, a health clinic and other services.
Douglass Academy High School on the West Side spent more than $93,000
per student. Douglass had about 35 students enrolled and a chronic
absenteeism rate of 62%.
According to the Illinois Report Card, Chicago Public Schools had an
overall chronic absenteeism rate of 40.8% in 2024. The chronic
absenteeism rate for CPS teachers was also reported around 40% last
year.
Chicago’s public schools on average spend $19,908 per student in
taxpayer funds.
Wirepoints President Ted Dabrowski said the dollar numbers will likely
rise when Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union agree to
a new contract.
“Teachers are either going to get a 9% annual raise or a 12% annual
raise. That’s what they’re fighting about,” Dabrowski told The Center
Square.
CPS and CTU have been without a contract since June 30.
“It’s so expensive. Again, ordinary, everyday Illinoisans and Chicagoans
are going to have to pay for this. It’s just become too much. It’s not
fair,” Dabrowski said.
In Chicago’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood, however, Leo has reported a
100% graduation rate since 2012. The school’s attendance rate has risen
from 91% in 2021 to 96% last year.
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Principal Shaka Rawls said there isn’t necessarily a secret formula.
“Educational systems and school systems need to be nimble enough to
be able to meet the needs of their individual students, yet
structured enough in order to prepare students for post-secondary
success,” Rawls told The Center Square.
Tuition at Leo is $9,300 per year, and the school offers a $3,000
incentive to parents who perform volunteer duties.
“We don’t dis-involve the parents, we involve the community writ
large. You’ll find dozens of organizations that’ll partner with us.
You’ll find dozens upon dozens of parents that’ll partner with us.
We believe in this kind of holistic approach that it takes not only
our churches and faith-based organizations, but community-based
organizations,” Rawls explained.
Rawls said it costs about $15,200 to educate a student at Leo, and
philanthropic organizations, including Big Shoulders Fund, have
stepped up to cover 80-90% of the costs.
Leo’s goal is to grow students who come in at or below grade level,
Rawls said.
“In terms of growth, we’re one of the leading schools in the
Catholic League in terms of what we are able to do, but we do have a
variety of students who come in far below grade level. Our job is to
help them reach their full potential academically as well as
efficacy-wise,” Rawls said. “Not every student that comes out of Leo
will be an academic all-star. We have those, but we also have
students who come out of Leo self-confident, positive young
African-American men, which we think is just as successful as
scoring a 25 or a 27 on the (ACT).”
Many Illinois schools have faced criticism for lowering standards,
but Rawls said Leo has not eased requirements.
“Once we teach the young men the rules of the game, they’ll be
successful. I think that, sometimes, large bureaucratic structures
inhibit those successes. At a small, nimble school like Leo, we’re
able to pivot and make necessary arrangements so the individual
child’s individual needs are met inside the building. That’s the
secret sauce, if you will,” Rawls said. |
