Responding to the budget cuts approved this week by the legislature, Chicago Public Schools Supt. Ted Kimbrough will recommend Friday that $2 million be trimmed from the system`s summer school program and $200,000 be cut from its free lunch program.
In addition, Kimbrough will ask the school board at a reconvened meeting Friday to authorize a $1.4 million reduction in textbook purchases.
”The recommended $3.6 million in budget cuts will have the least impact on the classroom,” Kimbrough said Thursday.
The proposed $2 million reduction in appropriations for summer school would affect gifted and remedial students and could mean that summer classes will be provided only to students who have the greatest academic need for them.
The cuts will trim the original summer school budget of $5 million by about 40 percent.
The free lunch program faces a relatively small $200,000 cut. Most of the more than $100 million the school system spends on the program comes from federal sources.
Under Kimbrough`s proposal, the state`s contribution to the program will drop to $7.2 million for this fiscal year.
School officials said they expect to make up for the lost $200,000 through greater efficiency. They said the cut is not expected to result in reduced staff or meal offerings.
The textbook reduction could mean that students will have to use older books.
