Chicago Public Schools Announces Virtual FY23 Capital Budget Community Meetings to Gather Input and Identify Project Priorities

CHICAGO - Chicago Public Schools (CPS) today announced that it will host five virtual meetings to engage communities on capital priorities as the District works to develop its Fiscal Year 2023 Capital Plan. The meetings — which will be led by the CPS Capital Department, Office of Equity, and Office of Family and Community Engagement (FACE) — are intended to provide communities with an understanding of the District’s capital planning process and help the District prioritize critical capital needs.

“Robust community engagement during the capital investment process ensures our students have access to high-quality educational facilities that meet their needs,” said CPS CEO Pedro Martinez. “Community feedback on this critical topic is a District priority, and we are looking forward to another year of transparent and accessible community meetings.”

The meetings will be streamed live on CPS’ YouTube Channel, provide real-time Spanish translation and sign-language interpreters in English-language meetings. Feedback collected through previous engagement sessions led to the prioritization of several FY21 and FY22 capital initiatives, including restroom upgrades and parking lot refurbishment. The District has continued to focus on prioritizing investments that promote equitable access to high-quality learning environments. The District allocated $706.6 million in FY22 for capital projects that included roof and mechanical projects, upgrades to expand preschool programming, and continued updates to ensure schools are accessible to students and staff with physical disabilities.

Consistent with prior years, the District will also hold public hearings to discuss the FY23 capital plan after the District’s budget proposal is developed and released this summer. The CPS facility portfolio includes 522 campuses and more than 800 buildings. The average CPS facility is 82 years old. Since FY2016, CPS has invested more than $3 billion into capital improvements across the District and there is another $3 billion of additional critical facility needs.

These projects include major renovations to ensure schools stay warm and dry, relieve overcrowding, remain safe learning environments, among others. Additionally, CPS is in its third year of investing $100 million over five years (to Fiscal Year 2025) to ensure all District campuses are more accessible.

Four of the citywide meetings will be held in English with real-time Spanish translation and ASL interpretation, and one citywide meeting will be held entirely in Spanish to create an improved community engagement experience for Spanish-speaking families. For families unable to participate, the meetings will be live-streamed on the CPS’ YouTube Channel, and the presentation materials will be available at cps.edu in Spanish, Chinese (Simplified), Polish, Urdu and Arabic. Video recordings will be posted to cps.edu/capitalmeetings.

Information on Virtual Capital Meetings:

Five capital meetings will be held during the last week of April. Participants for any of the meetings should register here: bit.ly/CapitalMeetingRSVP or tune in to the live-stream on CPS’ YouTube Channel. 

Citywide English-Language Meetings

• Monday, April 25, 2022: 3 p.m. — 4:30 p.m.
• Tuesday, April 26, 2022: 3 p.m. — 4:30 p.m.
• Tuesday, April 26, 2022: 5 p.m. — 6:30 p.m.
• Thursday, April 28: 12 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.

Citywide Spanish-Language Meeting

• Thursday, April 28: 3 p.m. — 4:30 p.m.

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Chicago Public Schools serves 330,000 students in 600 schools. It is the nation’s third-largest school district.