ChiArts funding vote postponed as CPS board debates budget consequences

<p>The Chicago Board of Education has postponed a vote that would have provided extra funding for the school formerly known as the Chicago High School for the Arts — putting its vaunted professional arts training program in limbo a few weeks before the start of the school year.</p><p>The resolution was meant to be the culmination of months of advocacy by the ChiArts community after the leaders of the privately run but publicly funded school voted against renewing their contract with Chicago Public Schools because of financial deficits.</p><p>Amid fears the school would shutter, CPS stepped in and absorbed it as a fine and performing arts school recently renamed Chicago Arts High School. But parents, students and teachers argued that keeping the doors open wasn’t enough.</p><p>They wanted CPS to maintain its current flagship arts training program, as well as retain the teaching artists responsible for executing it — otherwise, they said layoffs and school schedule changes risked upending the fabric of the school that has produced a bevy of professional artists, including talents such as R&amp;B <a class="Link" href="https://www.wbez.org/music/2025/07/30/ravyn-lenae-chicago-high-school-arts-lollapalooza-sabrina-carpenter" target="_blank" ><u>singer Ravyn Lenae</u></a>.</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center> <div class="Enhancement-item" data-crop=""> <figure class="Figure"><a class="AnchorLink" id="image-570000" name="image-570000"></a> <picture data-crop="medium"> <source type="image/webp" width="490" height="275" data-srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/cd182e8/2147483647/strip/true/crop/8192x4598+0+199/resize/490x275!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Ff9%2Fad%2Fd3d418ac4ad4b97f9af06b0701fa%2Fchiartschanges-260527-017.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/85d5d2a/2147483647/strip/true/crop/8192x4598+0+199/resize/980x550!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Ff9%2Fad%2Fd3d418ac4ad4b97f9af06b0701fa%2Fchiartschanges-260527-017.jpg 2x" data-lazy-load="true" srcset="data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIyNzVweCIgd2lkdGg9IjQ5MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=" /> <source width="490" height="275" data-srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/5694788/2147483647/strip/true/crop/8192x4598+0+199/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Ff9%2Fad%2Fd3d418ac4ad4b97f9af06b0701fa%2Fchiartschanges-260527-017.jpg" data-lazy-load="true" srcset="data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIyNzVweCIgd2lkdGg9IjQ5MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=" /> <img class="Image" alt="Teaching artist Kyle Cortés speaks at a rally protesting the loss of many artists-in-residence at ChiArts." srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/5694788/2147483647/strip/true/crop/8192x4598+0+199/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Ff9%2Fad%2Fd3d418ac4ad4b97f9af06b0701fa%2Fchiartschanges-260527-017.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/6140f1a/2147483647/strip/true/crop/8192x4598+0+199/resize/980x550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Ff9%2Fad%2Fd3d418ac4ad4b97f9af06b0701fa%2Fchiartschanges-260527-017.jpg 2x" width="490" height="275" data-src="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/5694788/2147483647/strip/true/crop/8192x4598+0+199/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fchorus-production-cst-web.s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com%2Fbrightspot%2Ff9%2Fad%2Fd3d418ac4ad4b97f9af06b0701fa%2Fchiartschanges-260527-017.jpg" data-lazy-load="true" src="data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2ZyB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwMC9zdmciIHZlcnNpb249IjEuMSIgaGVpZ2h0PSIyNzVweCIgd2lkdGg9IjQ5MHB4Ij48L3N2Zz4=" > </picture> <div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>ChiArts music conservatory teaching artist Kyle Cortés spoke at a rally in May protesting the loss of many artists-in-residence at the school.