Public Schools

The moratorium on school closures ends in 2025 and we have a few schools that are at risk of closing.  Our students would not be best served by school closures.  Because school funding is based on student enrollment, schools with low enrollment have budget deficits. Charter schools have the benefit of being able to raise funding from private sources to augment their state and city funding. Our public schools need help from our leadership.

Now, more than ever, it  is imperative that we do all we can to support our local schools and make sure that our children continue to have access to a safe, convenient, free education.

Belia Rodriguez

What Can We Do?

Our public schools deserve the funding and support they need to ensure that our children are receiving the very best public education at schools that are safe, accessible, well-staffed, and provide students with the materials and technology they need to receive a first-rate public education.

• Increase school enrollment. Safe neighborhoods attract families. Addressing community safety will encourage more families to make their home in Rogers Park. This means we also need more family-sized housing. More families mean more public funding for our schools.
• Advocate for our Rogers Park schools within city and state government. Like our neighborhood in general, we need a cheerleader for our schools, a leader who is focused on highlighting our wonderful schools, teachers and students to the city and state at large.
• Attract additional resources and funding through state grants and corporate sponsorships. Let’s build a school-to-opportunities pipeline. Our students should be introduced early on to all the potential careers of today. Let’s engage corporate partners to be part of our local schools.
• Support community volunteerism and fundraising events. They say it takes a village to raise children and it is absolutely true. Let’s engage our community to be active participants in our local schools.
• Support mentorship programs with volunteers from our community. Students can only dream as big as what they see around them. Let’s expand the world of opportunities for children by introducing mentorship programming with people who can volunteer to participate in activities where students are taken outside of the ward and the city to have new experiences and to learn from different people and cultures.
• Help families of unhoused students. CPS has over 10,000 students that do not have stable housing. We need to take action in Rogers Park to make sure all students in our ward have housing.
• Increase activities and opportunities for our students. Find opportunities for partnerships between local non profits, the parks, and other city resources to provide programming for our students.

Creating a stronger and safer community begins with our children. As leaders and as adults, we are responsible for making sure the next generation has the proper tools, resources, and guidance to grow into happy, healthy, and productive adults. Our public schools are full of potential, yet the demographics at Chicago Public Schools contain some of the most marginalized populations. We don’t invest nearly enough in our students and there is tremendous room for improvement. Our children are counting on us to give them the best chance possible to realize their full potential.