As Chicago was started as a trading outpost in the 1800s, it took several years for a citywide school system with adequate funding and instructional personnel to emerge.

A higher educational standard for the system was stated by the mayor, both to reflect his philosophy as a former teacher, and to add an attribute to Chicago that would continue to attract productive citizens.

The problem was compounded by “soft” segregation measures such as redlining and “white flight,” which further delineated Chicago communities upon lines of both wealth and race.

[18] From 2001 to 2009, CPS, under Arne Duncan's leadership, closed dozens of elementary and high schools due to classrooms being at low capacity or underperforming.

[20][21] In response to CPS's announcements in 2013 that it was considering closing nearly 200 schools,[22] many Chicago parents, students, teachers and community activists voiced their opposition through the media and at hearings around the city.

[23][24][25][26][27] In addition, several Illinois lawmakers, including chairman of the Senate education committee William Delgado (D-Chicago), pushed for a moratorium on school closings in CPS, citing "the disproportion[ate] effect on minority communities, the possibility of overcrowding and safety concerns for students who will have to travel further to class.

[32] The Mayors decision to close the schools was met with rage and feelings of injustice by the communities affected and the Chicago Teachers Union.

[33] In May 2013, the Chicago Teachers Union were joined by students and other education activities to march against the closings of 54 public schools that year.

[33] The CTU gathered an upwards of 900 protesters to participate in rally's, marches, and sit-ins against Mayor Rahm Emanuel's decision to close the schools.

[32] Over 150 protesters participated in a sit-in in the middle of LaSalle Street, blocking traffic, and forcing the response of the Chicago Police Department.

On September 3, 1975, The union went on strike for eleven days as a result to restore the loss of teaching and clerical jobs, overcrowding of classrooms.

[46] The contract negotiated by the CTU and Mayor Lori Lightfoot resulted in the teachers winning smaller class sizes as well as more support staff.

[48] In the 1980s, among the total CPS student population, the numbers of non-Hispanic Whites declined while Hispanics and Latinos, African-Americans, and other minorities increased.

Full magnet schools are open to citywide student enrollment, provided that applicants meet a level of high academic standards.

Regional gifted centers have an area of focus (such as math and science) and require one type of assessment, akin to an IQ test.

According to CPS, these schools have "intensified resources to prepare students for careers in business/finance, communications, construction, health, hospitality/food service, manufacturing, performing arts, and transportation.

Frazier Preparatory Academy, for example, is sponsored by an independent board of directors and run by education management organization Pansophic Learning.

[citation needed] In contrast, CPS is headed by a Chief Executive Officer and school board appointed by the mayor.

[60][61] The 20 story building, managed by MB Real Estate, and originally built as the Commercial National Bank,[62] has 570,910 square feet (53,039 m2) of space.

[64] In 1995, the Government of Illinois passed the Chicago School Reform Amendatory Act, which replaced the position of superintendent with that of chief executive Officer.

Through such techniques as counting students who swap schools before dropping out as transfers but not dropouts, it publishes graduation claims as high as 71%.

[75] While the report evaluated three decades of reform, it measured the progress of such policies by "analyzing trends in elementary and high school test scores and graduation rates over the past 20 years."

The authors of the report highlighted five of their central conclusions: The Illinois state government required Chicago Public Schools to move money from education to worker pensions.

CPS filed a civil lawsuit to ask the courts to require the state to rewrite its rules on how it funds schools.

The lawsuit was filed in Cook County Circuit Court on February 14, 2017, and is CPS v. Governor Bruce Rauner, Illinois State Board of Education and its chairman Rev.

In one particular case involving a half-dozen employees, almost $900,000 was stolen in what Inspector General Nicholas Schuler called a "major purchasing and reimbursement scheme".

[77][78][79] A spokesman for CPS later issued a statement that "Chicago Public Schools is committed to working with the Office of the Inspector General to eliminate corruption, fraud and waste across the district.

"[77] In April 2015, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, the CEO of Chicago Public Schools, took a leave of absence during a federal investigation of a no-bid contract to a professional development organization that she had previously worked for as a consultant.

The 2015 audit reported the shakedown of a CPS vendor, a records falsification scheme by a principal, widespread selective enrollment fraud, illegal use of taxpayer-funded resources on political campaigns, theft from taxpayer-funded accounts intended for purchasing student materials, and numerous instances of abusing tax-exempt status to purchase personal items.

[84][85][86] The Benito Juarez Community Academy shooting occurred on December 16, 2022, when two students were shot dead by an ex-student with alleged gang ties.