Special education services restored for Chicago Catholic schools following brief suspension

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has reinstated funding for students with disabilities at Catholic schools, reversing a decision to cut special services after pushback from the Archdiocese of Chicago.

“We are delighted to announce that Chicago Public Schools will be restoring special education instructional services to students in Chicago Catholic schools beginning Monday, April 20. Services will be provided through the Friday before Memorial Day, May 22, as had originally been planned,” the archdiocese said in an April 16 statement.

“We appreciate the efforts of CPS CEO Dr. Macquline King and her staff to restore these important services,” the archdiocese said. “We also appreciate the outpouring of support we heard from parents and others in recent days. The archdiocese looks forward to working with CPS in the months ahead to ensure that students with disabilities receive the academic support they need and deserve, whether they attend public or nonpublic schools.”

The news comes after the archdiocese said in an April 10 statement that Chicago Public Schools abruptly terminated its funding for services provided to students with disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) more than a month before the end of the school year. The archdiocese said CPS informed them of the funding suspension without warning during Holy Week after having verbally confirmed the funding would continue through the end of the year “as recently as March 25.”

Impacted services would have included academic support services such as tutoring in math, reading, and writing for students with learning disabilities. 

The archdiocese said in a previous statement that repeated efforts to reach “an amicable solution” with King had “not yielded a response.” It also said CPS had only terminated IDEA funding for Catholic schools.

Cardinal Blase Cupich condemned the sudden suspension of the program, which he described as a “shocking and possibly discriminatory action by CPS” and an “affront to Catholics.”

“For more than 175 years, our schools have helped lift families out of poverty and produced well-prepared and civically engaged graduates,” Cupich said. “We do so at a cost far below that of other systems and are proud of our students and the teachers who work every day to serve them. We owe them every effort to right this offense by CPS.”

King’s office did not immediately respond to a request to comment.