The new school budgets released by CPS last week continue the trend of balancing the budget on the backs of school children and teachers.

My name is Sarah Simmons, and I work with Parents 4 Teachers and I'm a parent at Northside College Prep. I've been a CPS parent for 22 years and a resident of the 6th district for 22 years.

Reducing class size is one of most effective ways to improve student achievement. But CPS refuses to even address the issue and, thanks to school closings, student-based budgeting and other wrong-headed policies, class size is ballooning across the district. P4T analyzed class size data from Fall, 2014, the most recent data available and found that nearly one-third of CPS's youngest students attend classes in excess of guidelines on class size. Read the report here.

CPS claims half of Chicago’s schools are “underutilized” and as many as 80 of them may need to be closed to “right size” the district and help address a supposed $1 billion deficit. Parents are skeptical of these claims, with good reason.