Chicago Public Schools (CPS), officially classified as City of Chicago School District #299 for funding and districting reasons, in Chicago, Illinois, is the third-largest school district in the United States, after New York and Los Angeles. For the 2020–21 school year, CPS reported overseeing 638 schools, including 476 elementary schools and 162 high schools; of which 513 were district-run, 115 were charter schools, 9 were contract schools and 1 was a SAFE school. The district serves 340,658 students. Chicago Public School students attend a particular school based on their area of residence, except for charter, magnet, and selective enrollment schools. The school system reported a graduation rate of 82.5% for the 2019–20 school year. Unlike most school systems, CPS calls the position of superintendent the "Chief Executive Officer", but there is no material difference in responsibilities or reporting from what is traditionally considered a superintendent. CPS reported a student–teacher ratio of 15.84 for the 2019–20 school year. For the 2020–21 school year, 46.7% of CPS students were Latino and 35.8% were African-American. 63.8% of the student body came from economically-disadvantaged households, and 18.6% of students were reported as English-language learners. Average salaries for the 2019-20 year were $74,225 for teachers and $114,199 for administrators. For the 2020–21 school year, CPS reported 39,323 staff positions, including 21,974 teachers and 516 principals. In 2021, CPS reported a budget of $6.92 billion with $3.75 billion from local sources, $1.85 billion from the State of Illinois and $1.3 billion from the U.S. Federal Government. Per student spending was reported at $13,694 in 2020. In recent years, Chicago Public Schools has led the nation in test score improvement, learned at a faster rate compared to 96% of all school districts in the country, and as of 2020, has an all-time high graduation rate.
