Chicago Schools is an evidence-based plan to fix chronic absenteeism in Chicago Public Schools (CPS), where four in ten students miss at least a tenth of the school year. The plan catches a student's chronic absence after three to five missed days instead of eighteen, and every school where one in five students or more is chronically absent gets an attendance coordinator whose whole job is getting kids back in class.
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PART OF THE NEW BURNHAM PLAN
CONSTRUCT · SYSTEMS
Chicago Schools
I want to get kids back in class by catching them early, when they first start missing school.
We catch chronic absence after three to five missed days instead of eighteen, and the hardest-hit schools get someone whose whole job is getting kids back. More than four in ten Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students missed at least a tenth of the 2024-25 school year.
Kids can't learn if they're not in the building, and the reasons they miss usually aren't the ones people assume: the bus that doesn't come, asthma in a building with bad air, a family that moved twice because the rent went up, an older kid staying home to watch the younger one. Most of these parents care plenty. They're up against a lot. Nationally, fewer than one in four kids miss at least a tenth of the school year.
This matters even if you don't have a kid in CPS. Schools are one of the biggest reasons families decide whether to stay, and Chicago lost about 40,000 children in the years after 2010.
Every school where one in five kids or more is chronically absent gets an attendance coordinator. That's not a teacher or the principal. It's one person who calls, visits homes and connects families to help. Parents get text updates. Parent mentors work in classrooms, on the model Logan Square built. Extra coaching goes only to schools where 70% of the teachers vote for it. Every school's results are published every quarter, so you can see what's working.
WHAT IT WON'T DO
It doesn't go around your elected school board. Chicago votes on Nov. 3, 2026 for its first fully elected board, and this is my offer to work with it.
It doesn't tell teachers how to teach. Classroom help comes only where 70% of a school's teachers vote for it, and no school has to take part.
It doesn't come out of the city's general budget. The plan pays for it inside the CPS budget, with federal and state grants and savings on administration and purchasing.
It doesn't pretend attendance fixes everything. It starts there because everything else a school does depends on it.
How it connects
Nothing in this plan works alone. These are the questions people ask next, and the policies that answer them.
What about before kindergarten? Chicago Family Care for All offers childcare for $10 a day, or $300 a month, from six weeks old until your child can start free pre-K in Chicago Public Schools, with no income test.
Chicago Family Care for All →
What about families who have to move mid-year? The Housing Stability Initiative helps families stay in their homes, with a lawyer for low-income tenants facing eviction and an emergency rental fund that covers back rent after a job loss or a medical emergency.
Housing Stability Initiative →
How do kids get there safely? The Safe Streets Initiative funds Safe Passage, which puts adults along the routes kids walk to school, for more than a year at a time, and fixes broken alley lights within 48 to 72 hours.
Safe Streets Initiative →
FISCAL IMPACT
Investment Cost
RENOVATION STEP
Construct · Systems
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01
Where it ranks
OUR PRIORITIES
#16 of 33
MEDIUM
53.8 / 100
Daily life
Long-term future
Reach
Unlocks
PROVEN It puts attendance coordinators and parent engagement programs in every school to cut chronic absenteeism. Four in ten Chicago Public Schools students are chronically absent, and getting them back in class shapes the rest of their lives.
When you'd feel it: Within Year 1.
See all the priorities
How I set them
02
How it works
An offer to the elected board
The mayor doesn't run Chicago Public Schools (CPS). Everything here is a proposal to the new elected Board of Education, which decides what CPS adopts and pays for.
Attendance coordinators
Every CPS school where 20% or more of students are chronically absent, roughly 350 to 400 schools, gets one staff member whose whole job is attendance. That person is not a teacher or the principal. They call, visit homes and connect families to help. Chronically absent means missing 10% of the school year, about 18 days.
Parent mentors
The program follows the model the Logan Square Neighborhood Association built. In each school, 6 to 8 parents work in classrooms as aides, two hours a day, with a $1,500 stipend after 100 hours. The program starts in 75 schools in Year 1, growing to 200 by Year 4.
Parent leadership teams
10 to 15 parents per school are trained to organize and hold their school accountable. There are 100 teams in Year 1, growing to 200 or more by Year 4.
Warning at 3 to 5 absences
A district-wide early-warning system flags a student after 3 to 5 absences instead of waiting until 18. Parents get automatic text messages with attendance updates and tips.
Classroom help only where teachers vote for it
If 70% of a school's teachers vote in, the school picks from a menu: structured literacy training for K–3 reading (160 hours over two years), daily low-stakes quizzes, and relationship-building like greeting students at the door. Training is covered, teachers get $500 a year for two years, and schools share one coach per 2 to 3 schools. No school has to take part.
Results in public
Each school's attendance, participation and results are published quarterly. Opt-in schools are compared with schools that didn't opt in.
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What it costs
Attendance coordinators (about 350–400 schools)
$26–30M a year
Parent mentors (75 schools in Year 1 → 200 in Year 4)
$3.9M → $10.4M a year
Parent leadership teams (100 → 200+ teams)
$4.5M → $9M a year
Early-warning system
$2–3M a year
Text messages to parents
$2–3M a year
Opt-in classroom support (training, stipends, coaching)
$7–11M a year
Planning figure, Year 1 → Year 4
About $45M → $66M a year ($220M over four years)
It's paid for inside the CPS budget (federal Title I and II money, state attendance and literacy grants, and administrative and purchasing savings), not the city's general fund. The elected board decides whether to spend it this way.
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What it takes to make it happen
CHICAGO BOARD OF EDUCATION
Adopt the program and fund it from CPS's budget and grants. The board, elected Nov. 3, 2026, takes office in January 2027.
MAYOR
Bring the proposal to the board and line up the city services the plan touches. The mayor can't order CPS to adopt it.
TEACHERS AT EACH SCHOOL
70% of a school's teachers have to vote to opt into classroom support. Without that vote, a school gets only the attendance and parent programs.
SPRINGFIELD
No new state law is needed.
VOTERS
No referendum is needed.
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Timeline
NOV. 3, 2026
Chicago elects its first fully elected Board of Education, all 21 seats. It's seated in January 2027.
YEAR 1
With the board's approval, attendance coordinators are hired, parent mentors start in 75 schools, 100 parent teams form, the early-warning system goes live and the public dashboard goes up.
YEARS 2–3
Opt-in classroom support opens. Parent mentors grow to 150 schools and parent teams to about 170. The target is to bring chronic absence down to 30% by Year 2.
YEAR 4
Parent mentors are in 200 schools, and there are 200+ parent teams. The target is to bring chronic absence down from about 40% to 25%. The program grows if the results justify it.
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Where it's worked
Chicago today
More than 40% of CPS students were chronically absent in 2024–25, about 130,000 students. Among 9th graders it was 48.5%.
SOURCE: WTTW, AUG. 24, 2026 ↗
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New York City
Under the city's Success Mentors effort, chronically absent students gained almost two extra weeks of school a year once they had a mentor, and were more likely to stay in school in later years.
SOURCE: JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, EVERYONE GRADUATES CENTER STUDY, NOV. 2013 ↗
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Logan Square, Chicago
The Parent Mentor Program has run for more than 25 years. Parent mentors work in classrooms two hours a day, four days a week, and earn a $1,500 stipend after 100 hours.
SOURCE: PALENQUE LSNA (LOGAN SQUARE NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION) ↗
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Chicago today
All 21 seats on the Board of Education are on the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot. After this election the mayor no longer appoints any board members.
SOURCE: WBEZ, SEPT. 21, 2026 ↗
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Sources
WTTW, Aug. 24, 2026
Johns Hopkins University, Everyone Graduates Center study, Nov. 2013
Palenque LSNA (Logan Square Neighborhood Association)
WBEZ, Sept. 21, 2026
WHAT YOU CAN DO
If your child's school takes part, you can train to help in a classroom two hours a day, with a $1,500 stipend after 100 hours, or join a parent leadership team that holds the school accountable.
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