Chicago schools spend $93,000 per student who is not proficient in math or reading
In 2024, operating spending at Douglas exceeded $93,000 per student, which does not include capital expenditures and debt service, pushing total expenses to even higher levels. Despite this generous funding, the state’s most recent data from 2024 reveals not a single 11th-grade student is proficient in math or reading.
Poor attendance exacerbates failure: 65.6% of enrolled students are chronically absent, missing more than 10% of school days. Fewer than a dozen children regularly attend, turning the building into little more than an expensive daycare for a handful of children — and even that description overstates its educational value.
Douglas is no stranger to Chicago Public Schools (CPS). There are at least 255 underutilized school buildings, accounting for more than half of the district’s public charter schools. Of these, 145 are more than half empty, and 24 are operating with more than 75% vacancies. These ghost schools drain resources that could transform education elsewhere.
Chicago Teachers Union members gather for a rally ahead of a potential teachers strike on September 24, 2019 in Chicago. (Scott Haynes/Getty Images)
Since 2019, CPS has lost 10% of its student enrollment, yet its headcount has swelled by 20%, inflating costs without improving outcomes. In 2024 alone, 80 Chicago public schools reported zero students proficient in math, and 24 schools reported zero proficiency in reading. The pattern is clear: Pouring more money into failing structures does not raise student achievement.
The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) bears much of the blame for perpetuating this inefficiency. The union fights tooth and nail against closing any public school, no matter how empty or ineffective. Union leaders claim that lockdowns are disrupting communities, but the real disruption comes from propping up zombie institutions that trap families in mediocre conditions.
In 2023, the CTU successfully pressed for murder Illinois Children’s Investment Scholarship Programwhich provided school choice options for more than 9,000 children from low-income families. This program allowed parents to escape failing districts, but the union prioritized monopolistic control over students’ opportunities.
Schools that allow students to leave class to protest on the ice have failing academic records
The union also successfully limited a number of charter schools in the city, stifling competition and innovation – a policy that must be reversed to allow more high-performing options to flourish.
This stance has pushed the UAW to a record low level of favorability in a new poll, showing a net favorability of 26.1%, with most Chicago voters reporting a negative opinion.
Hypocrisy is deeply rooted in CTU leadership. President Stacey Davis Gates once called school choice “racist,” yet she enrolled her son in a private school, providing him choices she denied to others. Such double standards reveal the union’s true agenda: protecting jobs and dues revenue, not serving children. By preventing lockouts and pick-ups, CTU ensures dollars flow into empty hallways rather than functioning classrooms.
TEXAS PARENTS FLOOD SCHOOL CHOICE PROGRAM, FAR EXCEEDS INITIAL STUDENT CAPACITY OF 90,000 STUDENTS
Defenders of the status quo claim that more funding solves all ills, but Chicago’s empty schools shatter that myth. If money alone was the answer, Douglas High School—with its lavish per-pupil spending and personal hiring—would produce scholars, not dropouts.
Instead, the region’s failures stem from a lack of accountability and competition. Public schools operate as monopolies, insulated from pressures for improvement in other sectors. Families cannot easily vote with their feet, and unions exercise veto power over reforms.
By embracing competition and efficiency, Chicago can redirect its resources to where it matters most: educating its children. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Closing these underutilized schools will not harm teachers or students. It would benefit them. Redirecting funds from vacant buildings may result in increased salaries Teachers in thriving schoolsAttracting the best talent and rewarding performance. It’s also possible that savings on fixed costs — utilities, maintenance, and overhead — will offset employees displaced by closures, allowing them to earn more at consolidated sites with full classrooms.
Before any closure, charter or private schools must have the right of first refusal in these vacant buildings, enabling them to reuse the space for better educational models.
For a small number of students in these failing environments, even a small portion of the $93,000 per child could fund tuition at a private or charter school designed specifically to meet their needs.
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The district’s enrollment has steadily declined Families flee to the suburbs Or search for alternatives, yet bureaucrats cling to outdated infrastructure. Closing the 24 most vacant schools alone could save tens of millions annually, freeing up resources to reduce class sizes, upgrade technology, or pay merit pay in high-performing buildings. Teachers unions condemn such moves as attacks on public education, but the real attack is to preserve a system that wastes billions while graduating illiterate students.
Nationally, similar patterns are emerging in urban areas from Detroit to Los Angeles, where enrollment is falling but spending is rising unchecked. The solution is to empower parents through comprehensive school choice programs that link funding to students rather than buildings. When money follows the child, schools must compete to attract enrollment, foster creativity and efficiency. States like Arizona and Florida have embraced this model, seeing enrollment increases in choice options and improved outcomes across the board.
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Critics warn that choice drains public schools, but evidence shows the opposite: competition stimulates reform. In Milwaukee, studies reveal that voucher programs have increased performance in both the public and private sectors. Chicago could follow suit, but the CTU’s grip is holding back progress. Until unions prioritize students over self-preservation, the cycle of waste and failure will continue.
Chicago’s empty schools serve as a cautionary tale for policymakers everywhere. More money transferred to broken systems only leads to more collapse. True reform requires accountability, choice, and a willingness to allow failing institutions to close. Families deserve better than ghost schools and empty promises. By embracing competition and efficiency, Chicago can redirect its resources to where it matters most: educating its children.
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