Principals and parents from throughout the city are lobbying Chicago Public Schools this month.
Some want money to make much-needed repairs to their buildings; others need more space to relieve over-crowding.
The district is holding hearings to decide which of its 600 schools will get funding for these and other projects from its Capital Improvement Program.
Last night at Bell Elementary, principals from over a dozen schools complained about overcrowding. CPS’s Heather Obora, chief purchasing officer for the district, agrees there’s a problem.
HEATHER OBORA: Computer labs are gone, art rooms are gone, you know, music rooms are gone, because they need just those classrooms for instructional—not necessarily for all these additional—programs.
Last year, the District spent over half a million dollars on structural repairs. Next year’s budget goes before the School Board in late June.