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Chicago’s public schools stand as a monument to resourcefulness and deprioritised priorities, where vast amounts of taxpayer dollars are wasted on underutilized buildings while student outcomes decline. Frederick Douglass Academy High School is an example of dysfunction. Built to accommodate 1,008 students, the school now has an enrollment of just 27, yet remains open with 28 full-time staff – more staff than children. A one-to-one staff-to-student ratio is a luxury that even private schools cannot provide, but here it does not reflect academic progress.
By 2024, spending at Douglass exceeds $93,000 per student, and that number does not include capital expenditures and debt service, making the total cost even higher. Despite this massive funding, the latest national data from 2024 shows that not a single 11th grader is proficient in math or reading.
Poor school attendance results in failure: 65.6 percent of enrolled students are absent regularly, missing more than 10% of school days. Children under a dozen seem to make any adjustments, making the building an expensive childcare facility for a few children – and that description outweighs its educational value.
Douglass is no exception to the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). At least 255 school buildings are underutilized, representing more than half of the county’s private schools. Of those, 145 are more than half empty, and 24 are operating at more than 75% vacancy. These ghost schools are consuming resources that could transform education elsewhere.
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Members of the Chicago Teachers Union gather in a rally before a possible student strike on Sept. 24, 2019, in Chicago. (Photo by Scott Heins/Getty Images)
As of 2019, CPS has lost 10% of student enrollment, yet staffing has increased by 20%, increasing costs without improving outcomes. In 2024 alone, 80 public schools in Chicago reported students who were proficient in math, while 24 were proficient in reading. The pattern is clear: pouring more money into failing buildings does nothing to raise student achievement.
The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is largely responsible for perpetuating this dysfunction. The union is fighting tooth and nail against the closure of any public school, regardless of whether it is empty or dysfunctional. Union leaders argue that the shutdown is disrupting communities, but the real disruption comes from supporting zombie centers that hold families in the middle of nowhere.
In 2023, CTU successfully lobbied to kill Illinois’ Invest in Kids program, which had provided school options to more than 9,000 children from low-income families. That plan allowed parents to escape from failing districts, but the union prioritized monopoly control over student opportunities.
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The union also effectively shut down the number of charter schools in the city, stifling competition and innovation — a policy that must be reversed to allow the best performing options to flourish.
The situation has pushed the CTU to a record low approval rating in a new poll, showing a negative approval rating of 26.1%, with the majority of Chicago voters reporting a negative view.
Hypocrisy has permeated the CTU leadership. President Stacy Davis Gates once called school choice “racist,” yet she enrolls her own son in a private school, giving him options she denies to others. Such double standards reveal the union’s true agenda: protecting jobs and wages, not taking care of children. By blocking the shutdown and picketing, CTU ensures that dollars flow into empty hallways instead of working classrooms.
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Advocates of the status quo say more funding solves all problems, but Chicago’s empty schools dispel that myth. If money alone were the answer, Douglass High School – with its expensive per-student and dedicated staff – would be producing scholars, not dropouts.
Rather, the region’s failure stems from a lack of accountability and competition. Public schools operate as monopolies, immune to the pressures driving development in other sectors. Families cannot easily vote with their feet, and unions exercise veto power over changes.
Although union membership has been declining since 2000, a growing number of Americans approve of unions, according to a 2022 Gallup poll. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Closing these underutilized schools will not hurt the teachers or the students. It can benefit them. Redirecting funds from vacant buildings could increase teacher salaries in progressive schools, attract top talent and benefit efficiency. Savings in fixed costs – utilities, maintenance and overhead – can also compensate workers who are displaced from closed facilities, allowing them to earn more money in integrated facilities with full classrooms.
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Before any closings, charter schools or private schools must obtain first right of refusal on these vacant buildings, allowing them to repurchase the property for better educational models.
For a few students in these failing situations, even half of that $93,000 per child can fund tuition at a private or charter school that meets their needs.
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The district’s enrollment has steadily declined as families flee to urban areas or seek alternatives, yet officials cling to outdated infrastructure. Closing 24 vacant schools alone would save tens of millions a year, freeing up resources for class size reduction, technology upgrades, or fair wages in high-performing buildings. Teachers unions denounce that as an attack on public education, but the real attack is to maintain a system that wastes billions while graduating illiterate students.
Nationally, similar patterns are emerging in urban districts from Detroit to Los Angeles, where enrollment is falling but spending is rising unchecked. The solution lies in empowering parents with selective school programs that include funding for students rather than buildings. If the money follows the child, schools must compete to attract enrolment, encourage innovation and efficiency. States like Arizona and Florida have adopted this model, seeing increased enrollment in electives and improved outcomes across the board.
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Critics warn that choice is eating away at public schools, but the evidence suggests the opposite: competition drives change. In Milwaukee, research shows that voucher programs have increased the performance of the private and public sectors. Chicago can follow suit, but CTU’s hold on it hinders progress. Until unions prioritize students over self-preservation, the cycle of waste and failure will continue.
Chicago’s empty schools serve as a warning to policymakers everywhere. More money invested in broken systems produces more brokenness. Real change requires accountability, choice, and a willingness to allow failing institutions to close. Families deserve better than ghost schools and empty promises. By embracing competition and efficiency, Chicago can redirect its resources to where it matters most: the education of its children.
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