The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

CPS Unfair Budget

May 9, 2022

On Tuesday, April 26th, a number of parents, teachers, community members and elected officials met outside Emiliano Zapata Academy. This elementary school is in the Hispanic Little Village Community. They were there to protest a proposed 894,000-dollar cut. This is about 6.8% from the school’s budget for the upcoming year. The proposed cut would mean losing eight or nine teachers. Which means increasing class sizes, among many other problems. Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez and other District officials said the cut is due to the school’s low enrollment. Two hundred other schools in the district have similar problems.

Community groups say there is no reason for this cut. The district has billions in federal COVID-19 relief funds to address this situation. They went to protest in front of CPS headquarters and called on Chicago’s Mayor to fix the problem.