Stories by Matt Masterson

The “New Chance: Arts and Literature” fund will provide Chicago students with new supplies beginning next school year, having already raised $1.2 million through philanthropic donations in just the last month.

As the Chicago Teachers Union continues debate over a possible one-day strike in response to furloughs and cuts from Chicago Public Schools, some members have come out in favor of other options that wouldn't cost teachers another day of lost pay.

The owners of tens of thousands of homes and properties in Cook County who’ve fallen behind on their taxes have only a couple more days to settle their debts – or they could wind up paying a lot more.

“If your district is broke, take care of the schools that you have before you open new schools. We think it’s a pretty straightforward idea,” said state Rep. Will Guzzardi, who introduced the legislation.

Facing an ongoing lawsuit brought by Chicago Public Schools and increasing calls to restore vetoed funding to the cash-strapped school district, Gov. Bruce Rauner is urging “swift action” to enact statewide pension reform in a new Republican-led bill.

The former SUPES Academy chief charged in connection with the Barbara Byrd-Bennett fraud scandal was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison after pleading guilty last year.

Local School Council members from across Chicago hand-delivered a letter to Gov. Bruce Rauner this week, urging “immediate action” from the state.

Chicago Teachers Union delegates are taking this month to discuss the possible May 1 strike with the union’s rank-and-file members before a vote on the action, scheduled for April 5.

Nearly 150 years after a small barn fire ballooned into a two-day blaze that engulfed the city, the story of the Great Chicago Fire is being retold. On social media.

Chicago Public Schools is seeking to prevent a proposed teacher strike later this spring, claiming the move would be illegal under state law.

As Chicago Public Schools continues seeking cost-cutting measures to balance its annual budget, local teachers are rallying around school staff they believe could be next on the chopping block.

The latest draft of what will become Illinois' new public education policy plan cleared its first major hurdle Wednesday, earning unanimous support from state education leaders.

CPS CEO Forrest Claypool and the Board of Education are both named in a civil suit filed Friday by Access Living, a disability advocacy nonprofit, on behalf of the wheelchair-bound student at Drummond Montessori Magnet School in Bucktown.

Had ASPIRA teachers gone through with their threat to go on strike March 17, it would have been the first labor stoppage for charter teachers in U.S. history.

Days after giving $1 million to Chicago Public Schools to support arts and enrichment programming, the Chicago-born rapper named 10 individual schools that would each receive a separate gift from his nonprofit organization, SocialWorks.

A union spokesman confirmed the union’s 800-member House of Delegates will begin discussions Wednesday over a “possible May 1 action.” No strike vote has yet been scheduled.

If progress isn't made over the next 10 days in ongoing labor negotiations, educators in a small Chicago charter school network say they will walk off the job in what would be the nation’s first charter teachers strike.

Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, state Sen. Daniel Biss and Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa were among those who pledged their support for Noble charter teachers who are working to create what would be the nation’s largest charter teachers union.

Teachers in Chicago's biggest charter network say a union will allow them to better advocate for their students and colleagues. If successful, it will create the largest charter teachers union in the country.

A report released this week by the Chicago Urban League shows minority students in the state are still as likely to attend a racially segregated school today as they would have been 60 years ago.

Days after Chicago Public Schools' deadline to submit charter school letters of intent, the district announced it had received word from more than a dozen operators looking to open up to 20 new schools across Chicago.

A second judge has tossed a case brought by former Gov. Pat Quinn calling for the Chicago Board of Education to be transformed into an elected body.

Chicago Public Schools announced Friday it will return $15 million in frozen discretionary funds to high-poverty district schools, citing a “disproportionate impact” that freeze had on predominantly African-American and Hispanic schools.

The longtime speaker announced Thursday he has appointed a dozen House Democrats to address unanswered questions in the Illinois School Funding Reform Commission’s final report and draw up equitable school funding reform legislation.

The ASPIRA teachers union issued a near-unanimous vote Wednesday evening in favor of walking off the job in what would be the nation’s first-ever charter school teachers strike.

Nearly all members of a Chicago Public School advisory council turned in resignation letters to the city's Board of Education on Wednesday morning, citing the disproportionate effect of district budget cuts on Latino schools.