Chicago Prioritizes Migrant Services Over Its Own Struggling South Side Schoolchildren
Source: "Chicago's priorities are clear. South Side schoolchildren are paying the price | Fox News." August 18, 2026. www.foxnews.com
The Gist
The author argues that Chicago is failing its own South Side schoolchildren—who struggle with low literacy and inadequate funding—while spending hundreds of millions of dollars on services for migrants. He says this shows the city's leaders, despite claiming to fight for racial equity, are not truly prioritizing the Black children who have long been neglected in their own communities.
Conclusion
Chicago's leadership has misplaced its priorities by directing significant public resources toward migrant services while failing to adequately fund and support struggling South Side schools, revealing that the city does not truly prioritize its own children, especially poor Black children.
Premises
- Dulles Elementary School, near the author's church, has extremely low proficiency rates (13.7% in English, 3.9% in math) and spends far less per student ($16,200) than the CPS district average ($27,000-$32,000).
- Chicago Public Schools faces a roughly $732 million budget deficit, leading to layoffs of 1,458 employees including 432 teachers and 677 special education assistants.
- The district's plan to restore cuts relies on an unconfirmed $150 million from the state, which is not a real solution and risks further debt.
- Chicago spent roughly $639.6 million in city and grant funds on services for migrants and asylum seekers between August 2022 and the end of 2024.
- Every dollar spent on migrant services is a dollar that cannot be spent on schools, representing a direct trade-off in resource allocation.
- City leaders, including Mayor Brandon Johnson, publicly emphasize racial equity and fighting White supremacy, yet allow stark funding disparities and neglect within Black communities on the South Side.
- South Side schools show visible signs of neglect: students unable to read at grade level, insufficient support for special-needs children, and overworked teachers.
Assumptions
- The city's spending on migrant services and on schools draws from a comparable or interchangeable pool of unrestricted funds, allowing direct trade-off comparisons.
- Increased per-student funding would meaningfully improve educational outcomes at schools like Dulles.
- Political rhetoric about equity and anti-racism should be judged primarily by budgetary allocations rather than other policy outcomes.
- Taking care of 'our own' (existing citizens/residents) should take precedence over aid to noncitizens in municipal budgeting.
- The persistence of CPS deficits year after year reflects a deliberate choice of priorities rather than structural or external funding constraints (e.g., state funding formulas, pension obligations).