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Hello!

This is Mila Koumpilova at Chalkbeat here in Chicago. I scrambled to get caught up on the plethora of Chicago education news I missed during the two weeks I was away. One of those weeks I spent at a training on municipal finance for journalists provided by The City University of New York — my idea of summer fun.

In discussing budgeting, borrowing, and tax increment financing, the seminar kept returning to the city of Chicago as the prime example over the years of what not to do. We spent some time chatting about the latest Chicago Public Schools budget and the precariousness of relying on uncertain revenue to balance it.

Later this week, school board members will consider trying to place last-minute questions on the November ballot to help make the case that residents support more dollars for schools from the city and the state. They would gauge whether voters would support a state millionaires tax or a new city penalty on the owners of undeveloped land. Neither would obligate the state or the city to enact the proposals and turn over the new revenue to CPS, but the hope is that the referendums could increase pressure on state and city leaders to come through for the district.

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As Trump proposes deregulating Head Start, Illinois providers worry what the changes would mean for families, Chicago Tribune (Paywall)

AI agents are taking entire online courses for cheating students, The New York Times (Paywall)

Paying vendors for student results, The Hechinger Report