CHICAGO, IL—Today, U.S. Representatives Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), George Miller (D-CA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL), Danny K. Davis (D-IL), Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), Bobby Rush (D-IL) and Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) sent the following letter to U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige, objecting to the Department of Education decision to prohibit Chicago Public Schools (CPS) from directly providing tutoring services to students.  According to CPS, this ruling could discontinue tutoring services for 56,000 of the 80,000 students currently being tutored and would disrupt services for all 80,000 students while transitioning to tutoring exclusively by private vendors.  The letter also addresses the Department’s double standard in exempting private vendors from tutoring students with disabilities and limited English proficiency, while requiring CPS to do so. 

Following is the text of the letter:

December 22, 2004

Dear Secretary Paige:

We are writing to express our serious concern about the Department of Education's decision to prohibit Chicago Public Schools (CPS) from providing direct tutoring services for students.  Discontinuing supplemental education services (SES) provided by CPS would cut services for more than 50,000 children who depend on CPS tutoring to supplement their education.  We believe it is particularly egregious that these students' tutoring will be interrupted in the middle of the school year.  

As you know, the No Child Left Behind law does not prohibit districts in need of improvement from serving as supplemental service providers, and the Department’s decision to require that  private vendors provide all tutoring services for CPS students is a tremendous misuse of resources.  Many of the same teachers who tutor within CPS are often hired by private vendors at a cost of about four times as much per student – meaning far fewer students will actually benefit from these services as a result of the Department’s action. 

If the Department forces CPS to cease providing SES, approximately 80,000 students will have their tutoring interrupted mid-year, as many as 56,000 may lose their tutoring services entirely, and many students who rely on CPS tutoring will be unable to access these much-needed services. 

Finally, we oppose the double standard that the Department would be setting by exempting SES providers from serving students with disabilities or who are limited English proficient (LEP), while continuing to require CPS to provide supplemental services to these students, even if barred from serving other non-disabled and non-LEP students.  This is not the message we should be sending to these students and their parents.  We strongly urge you to reconsider the Department's policy toward supplemental education services and its decision to exclude CPS tutors from providing these critically needed services for Chicago children.  Thank you for your attention to this request.