Monday’s announcement of the Chicago Public Schools 2015-16 budget brought more than just the requisite accounting; it also brought an avalanche of criticism of teachers, their union, and their supposed overweening power by Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner, plus the reality of increased taxes, and lay offs, both in the classroom and the executive suite.
The $5.7 billion operating budget, relies heavily on $480 million dollars of state funds, not guaranteed, and which Rauner says he will only give if there are changes in collective bargaining - in fact in a recent press conference he said, “The power of the teachers union has been overwhelming. Chicago has given and given and given. It’s created a financial crisis that the Chicago schools face now,” and that the budget showed the need for change, especially the “union-weakening provisions” as they were termed by the Chicago Tribune.
Adding fuel to the fire is a $676 million payment for teacher pensions due at the end of the school year. Branded as unsustainable by school leaders, also in the budget “are also numerous fiscal wild cards in the mix, including budget adjustments,” that might be used if there is agreement with the Chicago Teachers Union on a new contract noted the Chicago Sun-Times in their budget analysis.
If the $480 million does not materialize then there would be deeper classroom cuts, thousands of teacher layoffs, and resulting in increased class sizes, although historically laid off teachers would find employment at other schools. At present there will be 479 scheduled teacher layoffs due to enrollment and budget cuts, and taxpayers will pay more property taxes to help fill the gap; for example the Sun-Times suggested that for a home worth $250,000, the owner would have to pony up an additional $19 more to the tax payment.
$137 million is to come from tax increment funding, a budgetary maneuver, where taxes are frozen for a designated neighborhood, and the proceeds designed to help low income areas; but it has faced controversy for years, because the monies, in many instances have been used to finance such upscale enterprises as the posh French Market, several years ago.
Local Chicago Reader columnist Ben Joravsky has been deriding the misdirection of the program for years and said in a recent column, after Barbara Flynn Currie, a close ally of Democratic Speaker of the House Michael Madigan, was dispatched to the Chicago City Council after Mayor Rahm Emanuel wanted a status report on his plea for more state aid, reported that she said, “Many wonder whether Chicago is in fact over-TIFed, with negative consequences for school budgets.”
Emanuel’s response was to extend the TIF districts, until 2034, for more money, “none of it guaranteed to help the schools,” Joravsky said, but with no public intention of how much he expects, or how he intended to spend it. But, if Monday’s announcement is accurate, then the amount is a drop in the bucket to what has been collected.
The new budget also includes a cut of $200 million in spending cuts, and $1 million in the office of the CEO for CPS, Forrest Claypool, who is hoping that the state government - ergo Rauner - agrees to a bail-out. But, the latter was adamant when he said: “We believe the right answer is to empower: The people of Chicago, the voters of Chicago, the mayor of Chicago, the school board of the Chicago Public Schools should be enabled to decide what gets collectively bargained and what doesn’t so they don’t end up with the teachers union having dictatorial powers, in effect and causing the financial duress that Chicago public schools are facing right now.”
CTU president Karen Lewis has made a number of statements, including an appearance on local CBS radio affiliate WBBM, Sunday, where she noted that no one had taken a look at alternative funding, and that the proposal to make teachers pay more for their pensions is a refutation of an earlier negotiated agreement, in lieu of a pay cut and now, should be phased in as a compromise, if at all.. She also suggested, in later remarks, that another strike was not welcome, but would be considered if necessary, deeming the proposed change “srikeworthy.”
In a news conference, Lewis was asked if there might be another strike, based on the new request for greater teacher pension contribution, in reality a pay cut, she responded, “If they persist on a 7 percent, all at once like a pay cut - a 7 percent pay cut - I don’t have to call for a strike. I think that our members will do that themselves “
Many observers have noted that this is exactly what is intended by Rauner’s remarks and Emanuel’s frustration - an effort to force the issue with the teachers, and as part of the national Republican gubernatorial efforts, to bust a teachers union, especially in the country’s third largest school system, this would be a pyrrhic victory for Emanuel and a total one for Rauner.
Chicago Sun-Times columnist Mark Brown also noted on Monday, that “What really seems to have Rauner excited, though, is the possibility that Chicago Democrats, led by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, may be ready and willing to force this change on the teachers by law if they won’t go along willingly.” As Brown says Emanuel, needing the money from Rauner, is in no position to push back, and also helps the governor do the same to all Illinois school unions; but he also said that the current pension pay arrangement is more typical, in the state, than Claypool would lead us to believe.
In all of these budgetary conversations one thread is certain: Emanuel and CPS need the money, Lewis and the CTU stand in the way of negotiations with Rauner, and Emanuel will do whatever he can to get the funds, and Lewis’s only tool is another strike.
In a late development Wednesday Claypool announced that CPS will no longer pick up the pension of central office staff, regional and non-union employees, for a savings of $11.1 million. The reduction is to be phased in over a three year period, with 2 percent this year, then another 2 percent the next, and finally 3 percent the year after that.
Lewis who made an appearance on the local PBS affiliate, WTTW, on ‘Chicago Tonight” said that she was supportive, if her members were, but, in the absence of hard numbers, it was “nebulous right now, it’s out there somewhere.”
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