Chicago Public Schools has 275 buildings that are too empty. On average, over 1-in-3 school desks is empty. The Chicago Teachers Union unrelentingly forces that big waste on CPS as administrators scramble to close a $734 million budget shortfall.
When students return to Chicago Public Schools on Aug. 18, they will look left and see another student, then look right and see an empty desk.
On average over 1-in-3 desks is empty in CPS, but many schools are much emptier, according to data from the 2024-2025 school year.
This isn’t a new problem for the district. A 2018 CPS board policy sought to address under-enrolled schools, but that was years ago and hundreds of school buildings remain too empty.
The problem is even more dire considering the district’s space-use problem comes as it grapples with a $734 million budget deficit.
So why not just close schools to give students a better experience and taxpayers less risk of tax hikes? Because the Chicago Teachers Union won’t allow it.
CTU bosses believe they know best how to administer schools and they have lobbied for near-empty buildings to remain open and staffed. The new contract this year is rife with expensive new demands that add to the costs of keeping nearly-empty schools open.
CPS has a space-use problem
Space utilization is measured annually by the district. It then reports on the data, splitting the schools into three categories: underutilized, efficient or overcrowded. An elementary school’s ideal capacity is 77% of its maximum capacity and a high school’s is 80%.
Data shows 58% of schools – or 275 school buildings – were underutilized, 37% were efficient and 5% were overcrowded in the 2024-2025 school year. The data reports on school buildings operated by CPS, excluding charter schools operated in their own buildings and alternative schools.
The average “space utilization rate” in the 2024-2025 school year is 65% across 474 single-location schools analyzed from district data. That means the average school in CPS has 35% of its seats empty.
CPS faces budget deficit amid dropping enrollment and increased staff
CPS is facing a $734 million budget deficit. But district leaders must bring a balanced budget before the board of education for approval at its Aug. 28 meeting, the day before the deadline for CPS to adopt a balanced budget.
Balancing the district’s budget will require more cost-cutting measures beyond the $165 million in savings expected from laying off some central office staff, janitors, lunchroom workers and crossing guards announced earlier in the summer.
CPS’ budget deficit comes amid the district operating on larger and larger budgets each year, despite both student enrollment and proficiency trending downwards.
CPS recorded enrollment growth for the second school year in a row in 2024, but it followed 11 years of enrollment decline.
There were 325,305 students enrolled in CPS last fall, according to CPS’ 20th Day Membership Report. That’s down 18%, or 71,378 students, since 2014. The largest decrease was Black students at a loss of 29%, or 44,680 students.
While enrollment is down , reports show employment in CPS has increased in recent years. Between December 2014 and December 2024, employment has increased by the equivalent of 6,900 full-time staff members, or an 18% increase. CTU’s newest contract with the district includes 800-900 additional staff during the four years and in targeted areas, such as special education and bilingual positions.
Chicago students are struggling to meet the state’s proficiency standards in core subjects. Fewer than 1-in-3 students could read and fewer than 1-in-5 do math in third through eighth grade in 2024. Among the district’s 11th graders, fewer than 1-in-4 could read and 19% perform math proficiently.
CPS must find cost-saving measures, but costly CTU contract could make it difficult
There exist inefficiencies in the way CPS is operated: many buildings are half empty, some nearly empty such as Douglass Academy High School where 28 students are housed in a 900-student building. Staffing numbers increase despite decreasing numbers of students during the past decade.
In the face of the district’s financial hardships and inefficiencies, CTU leadership ratified a new contract with CPS this summer, estimated to add $1.5 billion to district expenses over four years. Among the provisions is the addition of more staff members.
The Chicago Board of Education must pass the district’s next budget by Aug. 28. More cost-saving measures are needed to fix the over $734 million shortfall. With such a large deficit hanging over the district, all cost-saving options should be on the table.
