One new way that schools are raising a little extra money is through an annual fee.  It’s called a school fee, student fee, or book fee.
Well, this seems relatively new in Chicago, but it seems to be pretty standard in the suburban world (meaning the entire country’s suburbs, not just ours.)

The concept is that the school needs to buy disposable materials every year for the students and that the families need to cover that cost.

My son’s school just sent out a matter of fact letter that the fee will be $100.  Ouch!   That kind of hurts coming off buying what is usually $60+ in school supplies, new backback and lunchbox, clothes.  All the random toys I buy my son when we’re out shopping for the aforementioned items.  (Although wait, am I the same mom who shelled out $8K per year for Montessori preschool and now I’m screaming about a $100 fee!?)

One thing that interests/amuses me about the $100 fee is that when I was on the LSC at my neighborhood school last year we decided to add a school fee to cover all the one-time-usage workbooks that must be purchased every year (btw, this is a scam perpetuated by the education publishing companies who use it as their cash cow.)  Oh, the debate that took place.  We truly spent hours discussing whether the school feel would freak people out, offend them, make families feel self conscious if they couldn’t pay it, discussed the wording, offered a volunteer option instead (time vs money.)  We had an interesting discussion about what % of families would pay different dollar amounts?  (Do you get more people paying if you go with $40 rather than $50?  Which would generate the most total $?)   What about families with 3+ kids? It was an interesting discussion about the psychology of pricing, family pride, fairness, etc.

We called other local schools to inquire about their school fees.  They ranged from $25 – $100.  Of course the fee can in no way be required.  It is just “suggested.”  And collection probably depends on whether someone has the time to remind/hound/guilt people into paying.  The clerk at (I think) Decatur told me she makes it her mission and gets 95% compliance.  Impressive!

In the end, my local school went with a sliding scale with a volunteer option and wording to make you feel like you were still a good person if you couldn’t pay.  That’s why it humors me a bit that my son’s school just dropped the $100 fee on us without (seemingly) the blink of any eye.    I think it’s a good tactic though.  The school is in Tier 4 and I think people whose kids get into the gifted programs can be expected to shell out $100 per year.  And it won’t come close to what the school is losing in funding this year, due to the loss of lower income students.

But yes, I will still grumble the day I write that check.

Be still my data-loving heart.  A reader has sent in a link that breaks out race info for the selective enrollment schools.  Score! 
This shows the race breakout for the entry level class for last year and this upcoming school year so we can see how the Tier System affected things (and basically who, if anyone, got screwed.)

http://www.scribd.com/doc/34610420/Changes-in-Magnet-and-Selective-Schools

HIGH SCHOOL
The total numbers for SE high schools show only a little change. 
Freshman Class 2010 => 2011 all schools:
Af-American 37%  =>  32%  (-5)
Asian 12% => 10%  (-2)
Hispanic 28% => 33% (+5)
Caucasian 23% => 23% (0)

Apparently there was rounding that lead to 2 missing % points this year.  So basically African Americans lost some spots and Hispanics gained some spots and are at equal percentages.  One could argue that Caucasians are over-represented as I believe they less than 10% of CPS.

I looked for any notable differences by school:
King, Westinghouse, and Lindblom all lost Af-Ams and gained Hispanic students.
Northside lost Asians (-12%)
Payton gained Caucasians (+6%)
Whitney Young lost Asians (-11%) and gained Hispanics (+12%)
Other schools didn’t show big shifts.

ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS
As for the magnet, gifted, and classical, some of the numbers look a little screwy which may reflect small base sizes (a school like Edison takes 28 new kids a year, so one child = almost 4% points.)

Some big shifts I noticed (again, I know the Coonley numbers look way off so I’m not sure I totally trust all these:)
Bell – no change
Beaubien +12% White
Decatur -15% Asian
Edison +10% White
Keller -8% Af-Am and -8% White
Hawthorne +26% White (hello proximity lottery!)
Stone – No change
Franklin +9% Af-Am
Thorp +8% Hispanic
Lenart – No change

So…. not quite sure what to conclude except the glaringly obvious impact on Hawthorne.    Many of the schools continue to have a good mix of diversity in their entering class (although some schools remain very off-kilter in terms of balance.)

Post any comments.  I’m eager to hear if anyone else sees something interesting in the data…..

*As a note, if you’re new to the Tier System, 4 Tiers were used to select kids for these schools.  The Tiers are based on socio-economic status (and not race) using information from census tracts.

Barbara has been the Chief Education Officer of CPS since 2001.  Apparently she has taken a job as the superintendent for Michigan City Area Schools (Indiana.) Yeah, way to go Barbara!  She was sort of the CEO of education while Arne/Ron have been the more on the business end of things, I guess.  Arne had more of an education background than Ron did though.  I have no idea whether she did well in her job or not.  It’s hard to determine when you’re facing a system like CPS.  I suppose any small improvements are really major accomplishments.  HAS CPS seen small improvements since 2001?  I’m not even sure how to assess that.

In any case, the search is on for her replacement.

A reader sent this link in that talk about Mayor Daley’s top contender being a white woman from with a private school background.  Which begs several questions (not necessarily my own questions, but questions nonetheless.)

-When CPS is only 9% white or so, should a white woman get one of the top spots?
-Isn’t there SOMEONE in CPS right now who is visionary enough but also knows the system well enough to make a difference?
-Shouldn’t some people from outside the city be considered?  i.e. Total outsiders who can shake things up a bit more and aren’t tied to any local political drama.
-Can someone with private school experience relate that to a system like CPS where there is a ton of low income families, huge bureaucracy, funding problems galore, etc, etc.  It seems a bit like fantasy to imagine that one could take their kick-ass private school skills and make them work in CPS.  I wish it seemed likely, but just am not sure.
-Can someone totally amazing / visionary really make an impact on our struggling District 299?  That is one tough job.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/education/2484150,CST-NWS-daley10.article

On another note, having gained experience in CPS, I hope B.E.W. blows them away in Michigan City.  Go Barbara!

If you haven’t heard of this group of parents who are mobilizing to get the funding issues in CPS addressed (and in all of Illinois as we have a statewide problem) you can join their Facebook page here.  It’s a great way to stay in touch with other like-minded people and to get updates about what they’re doing to fight the fight and see how you can help.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=117581168258426

Here is their home page:

http://www.ilraiseyourhand.org/content/raise-your-hand-illinois-public-education

No, not CPS.  Me.

For those wondering if I’d dropped off the face of the earth, I’ve been completely submerged in work for the past 2+ months.
To relate my personal situation (or actually my boss’s situation) 2 months ago her toddler son had a typical late winter cough that lasted for 3 weeks.  The coughing was so severe that he ended up with a hernia (which I guess isn’t uncommon in young kids.)   Their doctor told them to wait the weekend, then come in for the routine surgery but things when awry from there.  He ended up rupturing part of his intestine which lead to more complicated surgery.  The surgery lead to extreme infection which they couldn’t locate for over a month.  Twice he came close to death and the parents were forced into that situation we all dread of being at the edge of the abyss, wondering whether they’d plunge in.  Each time, disaster was marginally avoided.  Finally, the doctors managed to find the infection hidden deep inside and actually sucked it out of him.  Within days he went from near-death to a thriving, bouncing, high-fiving toddler.  It was a miraculous recovery.

So I, just a few months into a new job have been helping cover for her and sort of floundering my way through work stuff I’m not quite familiar with.  Plus we had 37 days of horrible worry about her son.  Overall, it’s been a long stressful couple months.

I’m passing the story on just in case any of you are ever in a similar situation (painful hernia… don’t wait to get to a doctor!)  And as a reminder of how lucky we are when we have healthy kids.

So my boss is finally back and things have calmed down… so I can finally get started writing about CPS again.   Thanks to everyone for keeping the posts going and sending me articles, etc.

CPS says it won’t lay off elementary teachers

June 28, 2010 11:55 AM | No Comments

I don’t know why it cracks me up that this family contacted the Tribune’s Problem Solver because a magnet school wouldn’t let both their twins in.  (One got in via the lottery, the other didnt.)  The Problem Solver handles things like ComEd sending you a bill for $20K or a repair place refusing to give your car back.

So I find it funny that these people thought the Problem Solver could call CPS and make things happen.  I also admire their moxie for doing it.  Hey, why not?

They do point out an absurdity in the current system — Magnet schools will allow siblings into the school (only younger, I assume) but this does NOT include a twin!  CPS “defends” itself by saying that they’re still figuring things out so they just put a 1 year policy in place.   But still, if class sizes are really going to rise, wouldn’t it make sense to let twins in first and THEN add other kids?  Wouldn’t it?!?!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/problemsolver/ct-biz-0617-problem-king-obrien-20100617,0,6874234.column

Just so people can see what’s going on in the world of CPS, the school my son attends is offering half-day Kindergarten for free and asking parents to pay for full day.  There are 2 neighborhood classes and one gifted class and the half day is offered as an all-or-nothing deal, which I think makes sense.  Yes, I know that CPS *may* be paying for full day K for the gifted program (and who really knows for sure?)  But I think it’s only fair to make it equal.  Both programs bring resources to the school that benefit each other.

Unfortunately, the timeframe in which to raise the money for full day was reallly short.  In the past, CPS would sometimes let the parents pledge the money and they could raise it by the Fall.  If they didn’t get it, CPS would take the position away.  But in the current economy, it appears that CPS wants that cold cash in hand.  Now.  You want full day Kindergarten, you pay now people!

Our school needed to raise $125K within a few weeks.  By June 15th.  As of now, they still need $45K.  I ain’t lookin pretty.  I don’t know if some people are holding out to see if the money is really needed?  If they can get away without paying?  If 45 families will be willing to put in an extra $1000 each to make it happen?

Obviously the difficulty is that now everyone can or will or wants to pay, so the bill can end up being pretty high.  This also makes it weird for letting in people from outside the neighborhood.  You can’t REQUIRE them to pay, but who wants to let in outside freeloaders?  (Eek, I sound like the state of Arizona — but it seems to make sense here!)  I’m thinking 3 classes would be about 80 kids so if everyone paid, that would be about $1600 per family.  I think they asked for $2000 per family, which means that only about half the families have paid.  Or some paid less.

Such a weird situation.  I’m curious to see what happens.

UPDATE: They’ve done it!  Hit the deadline just $2K short of the required.  Hopefully some out-of-district family can buy their way in and make up the difference (just kidding.)  But the school has approved full day K.  That was an impressive effort.  That will need to be repeated again next year.  Sigh.

Hey guys, someone just asked whether the lotteries were broken out by Tiers (meaning 4 lists per school.)

I know the Magnet lotteries were by Tier.

We the neighborhood school lotteries supposedly also done by Tier?  That seems like it would start getting really complicated.  And almost impossible to determine since neighborhood schools, by nature, aren’t balanced on socio-economics.

What are your impressions?