Chicago fights feds to tutor own students.

While Chicago students need tutoring in math and reading and the district wants to provide that help, the U.S. Department of Education says the law is the law.

Under No Child Left Behind, a district or school deemed to be "in need of improvement" cannot be a supplemental service provider, according to Jo Ann Webb, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Education. The district must contract out for a provider for such services.

Officials at Chicago Public School District, which as a whole failed to make adequate yearly progress this past year despite most schools' steady academic gains over several years, claims it will challenge this, saying it's a "slap in the face" to teachers and students. "If this is what the law calls for, then the law should be changed," says CPS Chief Executive Officer Arne Duncan.

Tens of thousands of students have been going to Chicago Public Schools' tutoring program after school, but the U.S. Department of Education, which funds the tutoring program for low-performing schools, says Chicago has failed those students and cannot receive federal money to boost performance. Ten other districts in Illinois that failed to make AYP this past year have also been told they cannot provide SES.

The Chicago district spends about $400 per child to tutor students, but the same services cost about $1,500 per child using a private vendor. And often, teachers who tutor students through the district's program are the same teachers who are hired by vendors, but at the higher cost.

Out of 80,000 children needing tutoring, the district can only afford to send 24,000 students to tutoring from vendors. Before the decision, parents had been able to choose between the district and vendors, with the district's program being more popular, officials say. Private vendors are already overburdened, and some are unable to serve special education and bilingual students, Chicago officials say.