Chicago Public Schools said Wednesday it will add dozens of teacher and aide positions for students with special needs, a reversal from previously announced cuts to special education.
Some district-operated schools are still losing special education jobs, according to a CPS accounting of positions allotted to each building.
But after announcing shortly after the beginning of the academic year that it would cut special ed positions, CPS said an unspecified “flawed funding formula” and an appeals process led it to not only restore some of its earlier cuts, but add positions.
Overall, about 121 special education teachers and 24 classroom aides will be added compared with last year, CPS said.
The result is that this year’s budget for special education spending is “largely unchanged” from the last budget year, district spokeswoman Emily Bittner said. The move comes at a cost — Bittner said it will increase the district’s budget deficit.
The cuts had sparked protests from advocates, parents and principals who questioned how CPS would adhere to legal regulations that govern funding and services for special education students.
The complaints led CPS to restore some of those positions even before the appeals process ended. Wednesday’s announcement represented an even broader reversal of the earlier plans.
“It indicates that the school district has issued a complete refutation of the original cuts issued by the special education department that were presented to the board in September,” disability rights expert Rodney Estvan said.
District CEO Forrest Claypool said in a statement that CPS was “committed to implementing an improved, bottom-up process for next school year.”
“We recognize this process has been challenging for some of our families and school leaders,” Claypool said.
Enrollment figures distributed shortly after the school year began indicated the district would lose dozens of special education positions, most of them aides, on top of other district spending cuts announced this summer by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and CPS officials.
With Wednesday’s announcement, Tanner Elementary in the Greater Grand Crossing area, which had been projected to lose two teachers and two aides, will gain five teachers and lose no aides.
Neil Elementary in Chatham, originally told it would gain no aides, is now in line for seven new special ed positions.
Not every school gains positions. Schurz High School, told it would get five new special education aides, now will get no additional aides.
High schools already hit hard by dwindling enrollment stand to lose the most special education teachers — Manley, Bowen and Wells will lose four to six teachers.
“This is a hot mess,” Wells High School Principal Rita Raichoudhuri said. “There is no way that I can lose four teachers. Absolutely no way.”
CPS said it now has on staff about 3,000 special education teachers and about 2,700 paraprofessional aides districtwide.
Estvan said the district’s about-face on special ed staffing indicates “something deeply and profoundly wrong in the analytics that were being used over at CPS, and whether these were just ordered cuts.”
“They’re back very close to what they should’ve been, so they won’t face any federal penalties,” he said.
In September, district enrollment data suggested schools would cut a total of nearly 70 special education positions. The new figures show that instead, schools will have 146 more special education positions than they did at the end of last school year.
To justify the cuts this summer, the district said an 18-month review by its Office of Diverse Learner Supports and Services showed CPS exceeded state standards for special education staffing. The district said hiring had outpaced the enrollment of disabled students.
“We’re trying to make sure that we’re aligning all the supports and services that we’re delivering to (state) guidelines,” said Markay Winston, formerly the district’s top official for special education services, at an August budget hearing.
“But at the same time, we are not watering down or compromising the quality of supports and services that we’re delivering,” she said then.
Winston resigned her post in October, as the district grappled with the challenge of making changes to programs that are governed by the individualized education plans of each special-needs student, as well as complex federal and state regulations.
Estvan, of the city’s Access Living advocacy group, predicted this summer that CPS would have to undo its planned special education cuts to comply with students’ customized learning plans. Now, Estvan said he’s worried how the district will be able to fill positions it’s restoring.
“The question is now, with this increase, where are they going to find these teachers at this point in the school year?” Estvan said.
“And, moreover, we’re still talking about a 5,000 position cut for the district come February,” he said, referring to Claypool’s prediction of steep layoffs absent help from state lawmakers. “I think this is a great thing for kids with disabilities if we can hold onto these positions for the next school year.”
CPS on Wednesday acknowledged “a national shortage of teachers with special education certification,” adding it “anticipates that all teachers and paraprofessionals will have opportunities at other schools within the district.”
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