Illinois lawmakers previously approved $50 million for after-school and summer programs, but that funding hasn’t reached schools yet. This delay leaves Chicago Public Schools and local organizations facing difficult budget cuts.

The six-member board on Thursday unanimously approved a measure demanding Acero return any unspent public funding if it moves ahead with the closures at the end of the current school year.

The board is set to meet outside of its typical monthly schedule Thursday in a special meeting where it will take up only a small handful of matters, including a resolution to maintain the seven charter schools Acero plans to close.

Therese Boyle and Che “Rhymefest” Smith won their races for the Chicago Board of Education, according to the Associated Press.

The results of the hard-fought and expensive races will usher in a new era for the 325,000 students who attend Chicago Public Schools — and serve as a referendum on the leadership of Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former teacher, and the Chicago Teachers Union.

The Chicago Board of Elections has hired 8,100 election judges to help things go smoothly, spokesman Max Bever said. Many of those judges are students. 

Amid ongoing turmoil, Chicago’s Board of Education on Friday pushed ahead with its first meeting in more than five weeks — one day after president Rev. Mitchell Ikenna Johnson became the eighth person to resign from the seven-member board in the last calendar month.

Chicago Board of Education President Rev. Mitchell Ikenna Johnson resigned under pressure Thursday after a series of antisemitic, misogynistic and conspiratorial social media posts generated a wave of outrage that stretched from the Chicago City Council to Gov. J.B. Pritzker.

The seven new board members, appointed by Johnson earlier this month, were sworn in during Thursday’s agenda review committee meeting. CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, who was also present at Thursday’s meeting, has seen questions swirl about his continued employment with the school district.

Rafael Yáñez, who ran unsuccessfully to represent the 15th Ward on the Chicago City Council in 2015 and 2019, is set to join the board.

Last week, the Acero charter network announced it would close seven campuses by the end of the school year — impacting more than 2,000 students and 270 teachers. The charter school network cites declining enrollment, rising personnel and facility costs, and a $40 million deficit. But parents and teachers are fighting back, calling for Chicago Public Schools to absorb the closing schools. 

The milestone comes over one year since an Illinois law went into effect requiring public schools to provide a plant-based lunch for students who have, or whose parents have, requested a plant-based lunch option in advance. The plant-based school lunches meet the same federal nutrition standards as non-plant based lunch options.

The board’s monthly meeting, which had been scheduled for Oct. 24, is no longer set to be held and a makeup date has not yet been announced.

No current or former members of the Chicago Board of Education attended Wednesday's marathon session of the City Council’s Education Committee, even after some City Council members threatened to hit them with subpoenas to require them to appear.

The school district on Wednesday released its 20th-day enrollment figures — which serve as the office CPS tally for the academic year — showing there are currently 325,305 students enrolled.

The board’s monthly agenda review committee meeting, which had been scheduled for Wednesday morning, will not be held as planned, Chicago Public Schools announced over the weekend.