§ 34-210 — The Educational Facility Master Plan

(a) In accordance with the schedule set forth in this Article, the chief executive officer or his or her designee shall prepare a 10-year educational facility master plan every 5 years, with updates 2 1/2 years after the approval of the initial 10-year plan, with the first such educational facility master plan to be approved on or before October 1, 2013. (b) The educational facility master plan shall provide community area level plans and individual school master plans with options for addressing the facility and space needs for each facility operated by the district over a 10-year period. (c) The data, information, and analysis that shall inform the educational facility master plan shall be published on the district's Internet website and shall include the following: (1) a description of the district's guiding educational goals and standards; (2) a brief description of the types of instructional programs and services delivered in each school, including specific plans for special education programs, early childhood education programs, career and technical education programs, and any other programs that are space sensitive to avoid space irregularities; (3) a description of the process, procedure, and timeline for community participation in the development of the plan; (3.5) A description of a communications and community involvement plan for each community in the City of Chicago that includes the engagement of students, school personnel, parents, and key stakeholders throughout the community and all of the following: (A) community action councils; (B) local school councils or, if not present, alternative parent and community governance for that school; (C) the Chicago Teachers Union; and (D) all current principals. (4) the enrollment capacity of each school and its rate of enrollment and historical and projected enrollment, and current and projected demographic information for the neighborhood surrounding the district based on census data; (5) a report on the assessment of individual building and site conditions; (6) a data table with historical and projected enrollment data by school by grade; (7) community analysis, including a study of current and projected demographics, land usage, transportation plans, residential housing and commercial development, private schools, plans for water and sewage service expansion or redevelopment, and institutions of higher education; (8) an analysis of the facility needs and requirements and a process to address critical facility capital needs of every school building, which shall be publicly available on the district's Internet website for schools and communities to have access to the information; (9) identification of potential sources of funding for the implementation of the Educational Facility Master Plan, including financial options through tax increment financing, property tax levies for schools, and bonds that address critical facility needs; and (10) any school building disposition, including a plan delineating the process through which citizen involvement is facilitated and establishing the criteria that is utilized in building disposition decisions, one of which shall be consideration of the impact of any proposed new use of a school building on the neighborhood in which the school building is located and how it may impact enrollment of schools in that community area. (d) On or before May 1, 2013, the chief executive officer or his or her designee shall prepare and distribute for comment a preliminary draft of the Educational Facility Master Plan. The draft plan shall be distributed to the City of Chicago, the County of Cook, the Chicago Park District, the Chicago Housing Authority, the Chicago Transit Authority, attendance centers operated by the district, and charter schools operating within the district. Each attendance center shall make the draft plan available to the local school council at the annual organizational meeting or to an alternative advisory body and to the parents, guardians, and staff of the school. The draft plan also shall be distributed to each State Senator and State Representative with a district in the City of Chicago, to the Mayor of the City of Chicago, and to each alderperson of the City. (e) The chief executive or his or her designee shall publish a procedure for conducting regional public hearings and submitting public comments on the draft plan and an annual capital improvement hearing that shall discuss the district's annual capital budget and that is not in conjunction with operating budget hearings. (f) After consideration of public input on the draft plan, the chief executive officer or his or her designee shall prepare and publish a report describing the public input gathered and the process used to incorporate public input in the development of the final plan to be recommended to the Board. (g) The chief executive officer shall present the final plan and report to the Board for final consideration and approval. (h) The final approved Educational Facility Master Plan shall be published on the district's website. (i) No later than July 1, 2016, and every 5 years thereafter, the chief executive officer or his or her designee shall prepare and submit for public comment a draft revised Educational Facility Master Plan following the procedures required for development of the original plan. (j) This proposed revised plan shall reflect the progress achieved during the first 2 1/2 years of the Educational Facility Master Plan. (k) On or before December 1, 2018, the Board shall adopt a policy to address under-enrolled schools. The policy must contain a list of potential interventions to address schools with declining enrollment, including, but not limited to, action by the district to: (i) create a request for proposals for joint use of the school with an intergovernmental rental or other outside entity rental, (ii) except for a charter school, cease any potential plans for school expansion that may negatively impact enrollment at the under-enrolled school, (iii) redraft attendance boundaries to maximize enrollment of additional students, or (iv) work with under-enrolled schools to identify opportunities to increase enrollment and lower the costs of occupancy through joint use agreements.

Legislative History

(Source: P.A. 102-15, eff. 6-17-21.)