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Good morning!

For all Chicago parents and educators reading this, you have now officially made it halfway through the first week back to school in the city! Giving you that reminder is one of your Chalkbeat Chicago reporters, Makiya Seminera. I hope the back-to-school week has treated y’all kindly, and if it hasn’t, know that the weekend is just a few days away.

Yesterday, Chicago kicked off its first day of preschool, which is why a story from Chalkbeat Tennessee Bureau Chief Melissa Brown caught my eye. Melissa details a push from a committee of top education officials across Tennessee to include special education funding for preschools in the state’s funding formula. Local school districts are required to serve children with disabilities as young as 3 under federal law, but in Tennessee, schools don’t get state financial support to fund those services.

You might be familiar with advocates’ demands to revise Illinois’ own education funding formula. Unlike Tennessee, there haven’t been any official recommendations by the Illinois State Board of Education’s review panel to change the state’s formula.

Have any news tips from the first week back to school? Reply to this email to share that info with our reporters.

A new school year needs strong local reporting. Help Chalkbeat’s reporters keep asking the questions that matter.

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