Chicago City Wire

Paul Vallas, former Chief Executive Officer of Chicago Public Schools, has expressed concerns over Illinois' approach to education standards. He said on X that the state is "lowering standards and hiding poor academic results rather than addressing education failures."

"Illinois solution to students abysmal academic performance is to lower test scores needed to be considered “proficient," said Paul Gust Vallas. "This will help cowardly administrators and politicians who won't remove teacher union obstacles to improving school quality, to mislead the public on school performance. Illinois is following Chicago's lead as Chicago Public Schools, which spends over $32,000 per student, has worked overtime to hide the districts disastrous academic performance and its many failing schools by negating the impact of test results. This is what Chicago's leadership are spending the majority of our property taxes on."

Illinois has recently revised its statewide education standards by adopting new proficiency benchmarks and aligning performance levels across state assessments. The Illinois State Board of Education approved these changes with the aim of providing families, educators, and policymakers with consistent measures that better reflect college and career readiness. Officials highlighted that previous cut scores were not always aligned with post-high school expectations, prompting this shift.

According to data from the Illinois Policy Institute, there has been a significant increase in per-pupil spending within Chicago Public Schools, while student achievement outcomes have declined. Instructional spending per student was reported at $15,274 and operational spending at $24,132 in 2022—an increase of more than 45% since 2018. Despite this rise in spending, only 21% of 11th graders were proficient in reading and about 20.5% in math.

The Illinois State Board of Education reported long-term improvements in graduation rates alongside changes in standardized test performance. The class of 2023–24 achieved a record graduation rate of 87.7%, continuing a steady rise over the past decade. New cut scores are expected to boost measured proficiency, with projections indicating that by 2025, 53% of students will be proficient in reading and 38% in math.

Vallas is an experienced education administrator who served as the first CEO of Chicago Public Schools from 1995 to 2001 under mayoral control. He later led several other school districts including those in Philadelphia and Bridgeport, Connecticut. Additionally, he has held roles such as Chicago’s budget director and has run for both Illinois governor and Chicago mayor.

Chicago Public Schools (CPS), the third-largest school district in the United States, serves approximately 325,000 students across more than 600 schools. Governed by the Chicago Board of Education under mayoral control, CPS faces significant financial pressures despite funding from local, state, and federal sources. Reports indicate a $730 million budget shortfall for 2025 and debt exceeding $28,000 per student.