In July, CPS claimed the mass layoff of special education staff was an equity-driven reset, and not a means to address the $734M education budget shortfall. CPS officials told The Chicago Reporter the city aimed to redistribute Special Education Classroom Assistants (SECAs) to higher-need schools on the South and West sides.
Six months later, a Chicago Reporter analysis shows that those schools lost more special education professionals than they gained, while rehiring patterns largely preserved staffing advantages in wealthier areas of the city.
TCR analyzed recent data on rehired special education staff and vacancy levels per CPS network, with a focus on SECAs who were rehired following this summer’s layoff—not newly hired professionals.
(Data visualization: Sara Cooper, 2025)
Rehiring patterns don’t favor high-need areas
Rehiring data shows that CPS’s layoff process did little to redistribute special education staff toward the city’s highest-need schools.
While SECAs laid off from the South and West sides and those from the North Side and Downtown were rehired at similar overall rates—and showed similar patterns of staying in their regions or moving into the district’s citywide staffing pool—very few moved into higher-need areas.
Only two of the 191 rehired SECAs (3 percent) who had worked on the North Side or Downtown before the layoffs transferred to schools on the South or West sides. By contrast, nearly two-thirds remained in North, Northwest, or Downtown schools, and one-third moved into the Talent Office’s citywide pool.
The imbalance was more pronounced among special education teachers. Of the 34 teachers laid off from North or Northwest Side schools and later rehired, only two moved to the South or West sides. Most either stayed in the North or Northwest or shifted into citywide placements. Meanwhile, more than a quarter of rehired teachers laid off from South or West Side schools—20 of 70—moved to positions on the North Side or Downtown.
Taken together, the rehiring outcomes left high-need communities with fewer special education professionals than before the layoffs.
Schools on the South and West sides lost 435 special education staff and rehired 295, most of whom came from the same regions. Schools on the North, Northwest Side, and Downtown lost 225 staff and rehired 148. In effect, South and West Side schools—where vacancies have historically been harder to fill—lost more experienced CPS special education employees than they gained.
When it comes to the rehiring of special education teachers, TCR found that the percentage of rehired teachers who moved from the South and West sides to the North Side or Downtown was higher than the percentage who moved from the North Side or Downtown to the South and West sides.
Of the 34 teachers laid off from North or Northwest Side schools and later rehired, only two moved to the South or the West. Of the remaining 32 teachers, six moved citywide and 26 stayed within the North or Northwest sides.
On the South and West sides, 28.5 percent of the rehired teachers (20 out of 70) shifted to the North Side or Downtown.
[Visual – rehiring movements]
In total, CPS schools on the South and West sides lost 435 special education professionals and rehired 295—mostly from the same regions—while the North, Northwest Side, and Downtown lost 225 and rehired 148. As a result, high-need South and West Side schools ended the year with fewer special education staff than they started, losing more experienced CPS employees than they gained.
Looking only at special education teachers, the disparity is stark: 20 teachers moved from the South and West sides to the North Side or Downtown, while just two made the reverse move.
Layoffs and equity
CPS claimed the mass layoffs were part of an equity strategy to address staff imbalances, intended to move SECAs from overstaffed to high-need schools in underserved areas like Chicago’s the South and West sides.
“We found that schools on the North Side of our city, more affluent areas, were staffed at a different rate, a higher rate, than schools on other parts of our city, which fell into the South and West sides,” CPS Chief of the Office for Students with Disabilities Joshua Long told TCR in an interview. “What has resulted in layoffs started very much with a strategy to promote equity.”
According to CPS, the layoffs were one small part of a larger strategy to promote equity in schools.
“Impacting staff is not our primary strategy to improve access to great teaching,” Chief Talent Officer Benjamin Felton told TCR. He mentioned initiatives such as encouraging CPS students to become teachers, subsidizing costs and recruiting international teachers, and using an early offer system.
In a Dec. 5 statement shared with TCR, CPS added that it allocates positions based on “actual student enrollment and programmatic needs, not projected enrollment” and that it maintains pools for SECAs and Special Education Teachers so they can be rehired with CPS.
In the same statement, CPS also said that the professionals ultimately decide which schools they want to apply to.
A case for permanent placements
One special education teacher on the West Side told TCR that reapplying for positions is stressful for laid-off teachers. The teacher, whose name has been withheld to protect his identity, said it would be helpful for both professionals and children if transfers were made more intentionally, without the need for layoffs.
During his seven years as a CPS special education teacher, the teacher told TCR that most of his students were diagnosed with moderate to severe disabilities. Instead of focusing on current enrollment, CPS should base its hiring practices on projected enrollment, he added.
With an “ideal staff number you would need forever,” he said, CPS could ensure schools were always prepared to care for incoming children with special needs and avoid misallocation or overallocation of staff more effectively. “We [Chicago] could be a model for the country.”
“SECA work is so dependent on the kids learning to trust you specifically,” Bhunia said.
Rounak Bhunia, a part-time SECA at an elementary school in Albany Park on the Northwest Side, told TCR that he has heard general complaints within the SECA community this year, with professionals saying they have been “spread thin” and need to spend limited time in different classrooms. This way, he said, “none of the kids gets a full day coverage, but they all get like an hour.”
Bhunia said that, despite being part of a pool of employees who can choose to work in different schools during the year, he has remained at the same place for most of 2025, which has benefited his students.
“SECA work is so dependent on the kids learning to trust you specifically,” Bhunia said. “Getting the same SECA every day is a big deal for them. They get attached, and they have particular patterns and ways of doing things.”
Bhunia, who lives in Lincoln Park, has mainly worked on the North Side, but he has occasionally served schools in higher-need areas. He says the lack of personnel or resources can be more challenging than dealing with severe disabilities.
“I went to a couple of downtown or South Side schools where the child wasn’t particularly high need, but my job was made more difficult because I didn’t have much teacher support,” Bhunia said.
High need schools, high vacancy rates
CPS has modestly reduced overall special education vacancy rates in recent years: teacher vacancy rates fell from 6.85 percent in 2019 to 5.31 percent in 2025, and SECA vacancies fell from 6.40 percent to 5.26 percent.
But a TCR analysis of vacancies and rehiring shows the SECA layoff plan did little to shift staffing toward the highest-need areas, which already struggle to attract CPS staff from wealthier parts of the city.
Network 3, which includes Austin and Belmont-Cragin, has a 7.6 percent SECA vacancy rate–the highest out of the city’s 17 specific CPS networks.
In both communities, most laid-off SECAs were rehired into the same schools or nearby West Side campuses, with almost no new hires coming from other regions. Austin ultimately received nine rehired SECAs, only one of whom came from outside the area, which was also high-need. Belmont-Cragin rehired only staff who had already worked there.
Among special education teachers, the highest vacancy rate is in Network 7, which includes Pilsen and Little Village. The network currently has 19 vacant positions and a 9.2 percent vacancy rate.
[Visual – vacancy rates]
During the July layoffs, one teacher was laid off in Pilsen and later rehired at a Lake View school on the North Side. In Little Village, of the five teachers who were laid off and later rehired, two moved to West Side schools, one to the north, and two were allocated “citywide.”
Not one special education teacher or SECA moved from schools in the North Side or Downtown to Pilsen or Little Village during the rehiring process.
When CPS fails, parents act
Last year, Dulce Dominguez, a Little Village resident whose son was diagnosed with autism, moved her son to a different school due to the lack of support for his learning differences.
“CPS, far from helping him, was pushing him to the limit,” Dominguez said.
Dominguez’s son had been enrolled in Little Village’s Saucedo STEAM Magnet Academy until last year, when Dominguez opted to move him. The school, which has 282 students enrolled in special education, currently has four vacancies in special education positions, including two SECA vacancies.
Dominguez told TCR she plans to take matters into her own hands by creating a parents’ group to exchange information and educational resources.
Mary Carmen Soria’s son, who was diagnosed with ADHD, attends the same school. Soria’s son is currently on the waiting list to be tested for autism. He is currently enrolled at that same school.
Both Soria and Dominguez said they were dissatisfied with the level of personalized attention their children received and that some staff members weren’t aware of their specific educational plans.
Both mothers expressed frustration with how the school has handled their sons’ specific needs during crises, citing the school’s use of punishments as well as a failure to communicate with parents.
“Why do I have to be the one telling these people?” Soria said.
A single mom of two biological children and also a foster parent, she said she lives in “survival mode” while balancing caring for her children with supporting her family through freelance work. Still, she believes that change can only be brought about through vocal advocacy from parents on behalf of their children. “We have to make time for things like this,” Soria said.