Blaine School Rejects CPS Budget, Calls it 'Grossly Inadequate'

Officials at James G. Blaine Elementary School are pushing back against Chicago Public Schools, saying the latest budget cuts are too deep for the top performing school.

Blaine Local School Council Chair Anthony Porfirio sent a letter on June 20 on behalf of the council after learning it would be receiving a more than $600,000 funding shortfall. The letter reads the parent, teacher and community representatives unanimously voted to reject the budget.

“The amount of funds allocated to Blaine from CPS was grossly inadequate,” the letter reads. “Had we approved the budget, we would have failed our 950 students who deserve a quality education, including music and art, and additional resources for a full school day. We would have failed our teachers who deserve appropriate class sizes and more professional development.”

And apparently rocking the boat paid off. Porfirio said he didn’t know what to expect when sending the rejection letter. Just days later, however, representatives with CPS were in touch regarding the budget as they review the options.

“We are just trying to hopefully get our voices as a part of the conversation,” Porfirio said. “… Over the weekend, I was out of town, and basically the message was that this is a draft, they’re reviewing it, and they’ll keep us in the loop, in the conversation.”

But if the budget stands, some major changes will need to be made at Blaine. Porfirio says while the CPS budget is admittedly hard to understand, members of their LSC are savvy enough to decipher it.

A $600,000 budget cut would mean dropping specialty programs, increasing class sizes and more. Porfirio says those specialty classes aren’t only for the kids, but also a time for teachers to prepare and hold meetings, not instruct classes back-to-back.

“There was just no juggling to be done. There was no tightening here and there to make it work,” Porfirio said. “We went as far as to look at which consumables parents could donate and bring, like no long buying toilet paper. But we just couldn’t find a way to tighten it and make it work.”

Slashing the budget at Blaine also couldn’t have come at a more inopportune time. The school recently launched an expansion campaign to help remedy its overcrowded school at 1420 W. Grace St. off Southport Avenue.

“The timing couldn’t have been worse,” Porfirio said. “We’re at 138 percent population. We’re absolutely bursting. The classes are coming in 30-40 percent larger than the ones leaving.

“I’m not a big rallying person. We weren’t trying to set off a flag,” he continued. “But being included on the conversation is why we had to make some racket.”

Porfirio says while he knows CPS is not to blame as they make mandatory cuts, he’s looking forward to working on a budget that will prevent Blaine from losing.