CPS Announces $1 Billion Capital Improvement Program
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Chicago Public Schools officials on Friday announced a $1 billion capital investment in an effort to modernize schools and offer universal preschool.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel, CPS Chief Executive Officer Janice Jackson, and others formally announced the program Friday at Lazaro Cardenas Elementary School in the Little Village neighborhood.
"This is making an unprecedented investment in the ability for us as a city to finally achieve universal whole-day free Pre-K for every 4-year-old in the city of Chicago," Emanuel said.
The total CPS budget for the 2018-19 school year comes to more than $3 billion. The mayor's office said that includes nearly $1 billion to fund new schools, new annexes, and maintenance at existing schools.
The mayor's office said it is the largest capital investment at CPS in nearly two decades.
Emanuel stopped by Cardenas Elementary to check out the school's computer lab on Friday. The school will receive part of the $50 million in technology upgrades coming to CPS through the capital program.
Other goals include expanding full-day preschool to an additional 3,700 children, providing International Baccalaureate, STEM, Classical, and Magnet school programs to 5,000 more students, launching a new 4-year plan to provide state-of-the-art digital devices at all schools, rehabbing athletic facilities at 30 schools, and upgrading security and cameras at 50 schools.
Jackson summed up what she thinks the infusion of cash will mean for the district's schools.
"This is the largest investment in recent history, or even in my memory as a lifelong Chicagoan, and I'm really excited about the opportunity to not only create more spaces, more schools, annexes; but also to revitalize our aging infrastructure," she said.
A recent change in the state's funding formula for public schools helped generate the additional revenue for CPS.
