CPS ends disability funding

More than 800 Chicago children in Catholic schools were told they would lose disability support services on Monday, April 13, after Chicago Public Schools said the money for this year’s program had run out before the school year ended. The Archdiocese of Chicago said it had been told on March 25 that services would continue through June, then got notice during Holy Week that they would stop on Friday, April 10. (archchicago.org, wgntv.com) The services at issue were not classroom aides hired by a parish school. They were federally funded instructional supports under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which can include tutoring in reading, writing, and math for private-school students who qualify. (archchicago.org, isbe.net) This setup surprises a lot of parents because a child can attend a private religious school and still receive some special education help paid for with federal dollars. In Illinois, the local public district must reserve a “proportionate share” of its federal special education grant for children with disabilities enrolled by their parents in nonprofit private schools located inside the district. (isbe.net, sites.ed.gov) That does not mean private-school students automatically get the full package a public-school student might receive through an individualized education program. Federal rules say the district calculates a citywide share of money for this group, then decides what services can be offered from that pool. (sites.ed.gov, isbe.net) The fight in Chicago is over who let that pool run dry. Chicago Public Schools told WBEZ that the Archdiocese had been warned it was overspending and had used its own authority to reallocate the remaining funds, while Archdiocese superintendent Greg Richmond said Chicago Public Schools decides eligibility, service levels, and budget control for the program. (wbez.org, archchicago.org) Chicago Public Schools also argued this was not just a bookkeeping error at one school. District officials told WBEZ that federal special education funding has been flat for years while the number of private-school students in the program has been rising by 200 to 300 students each month. (wbez.org) The Archdiocese answered with a sharper claim: it said Catholic schools appeared to be the only nonpublic schools whose services were being cut, and it raised legal concerns about a government agency treating one religious school system differently from other private schools. That allegation is from the Archdiocese, and I have not found a public Chicago Public Schools document in the search results confirming or disproving that specific point. (archchicago.org, cps.edu) Behind the dispute is a basic mismatch between law and reality. The law requires Chicago Public Schools to set aside money for eligible private-school students every year, but the amount is tied to a formula, not to a promise that every child will receive every service through the last day of class. (sites.ed.gov, isbe.net) That is why this story lands so hard in April instead of in a budget spreadsheet in August. When a program like this stops two months early, the loss shows up as canceled reading help, canceled math support, and families scrambling after spring break to replace services they thought were locked in. (archchicago.org, wgntv.com) Chicago Public Schools entered 2026 under wider financial strain even as it published a $10.25 billion budget, and the district had already been publicly debating how to cover major costs without midyear cuts. That larger squeeze does not explain every detail in this Catholic-school dispute, but it does explain why a federally funded support program could become a flash point so fast. (cps.edu, wbez.org) The immediate question now is whether Chicago Public Schools and the Archdiocese can restore services before the school year ends in June. As of Friday, April 10, the two sides were still trading blame in public, and the children caught in the middle were the ones scheduled to lose help first. (wbez.org, archchicago.org)