A Lesson In Mismanagement: Despite borrowing $10 billion to fund school construction, Chicago still has an overcrowding problem. Millions also went to schools that now stand empty.

Jason Grotto, Alex Richards andHeather Gillers:

More than a decade ago, demographic projections signaled an important reversal for Chicago Public Schools: Enrollment was about to shrink dramatically.
Yet CPS leaders appointed by former Mayor Richard M. Daley issued billions of dollars in bonds to repair, expand or replace the vast majority of the district's schools regardless of future needs and without voter input, a Tribune investigation found.

In total, CPS officials have borrowed more than $10 billion in general obligation bonds since 1996 to fund school construction projects, debt that has contributed to the system's current financial crisis. Officials poured $1.5 billion of that money into schools that today are less than 60 percent full.

Along the way, CPS invested $100 million in schools it closed this year, in part, because they were underused. About half of that spending came after demographic projections predicted districtwide enrollment drops.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at December 18, 2013 12:48 AM
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