A funding error led to a Chicago school district receiving $189,000. | Celyn Kang/Unsplash
A funding error led to a Chicago school district receiving $189,000. | Celyn Kang/Unsplash
Adam Thorns, superintendent of Chicago Ridge School District 127.5, told board members that Chicago Public Schools (CPS) received too much money, so the state is redistributing some of it.
A funding error allowed his district to receive $189,000, as seen in a video of the board meeting that was posted on YouTube.
"You don't get good news very often from the state of Illinois, but this was talked about a couple months ago that they had miscalculated the evidence-based funding payment and gave CPS millions and millions of dollars more than they should have received," Thorns said. "So, our portion that we have received back is $189,000, and that is in the letter. And then we should be getting that money moving forward ... that's three years that they hadn't given it to us because they didn't calculate it correctly ... I'm very surprised they caught it and then they told everybody about it, but I won't pass it up."
A coding error by an Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) contractor in 2018 caused $87.5 million to be distributed to CPS "that should have gone to other districts," the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The error caused the number of students in school to be overestimated, which led to the funding being misallocated. Over 760 school districts received letters in April informing them that they would receive the unexpected money.
"The error made by an ISBE contractor in 2018 during the initial development of the enrollment verification system for evidence-based funding has caused an overpayment to CPS in the amount of $87.5 million," Mary Fergus, CPS spokeswoman, said. "We are in discussions with ISBE and the General Assembly about the impacts on CPS and the state budget."
The CPS budget rose approximately $200 million from the last school year, totaling $9.5 billion for the 2022 to 2023 school year, according to Chalkbeat Chicago. This amount represents an 8% funding increase per student, given the declining enrollment numbers. The district's debt is $8.6 billion, and $769 million will be used to pay down that debt.
The Chicago Ridge District 127.5, where Thorns serves as superintendent, includes Ridge Lawn and Ridge Central Elementary schools, as well as Finley Junior High, according to the district's website.
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