[UPDATE: CPS has responded to this post. Click here to read it.]
* From yesterday’s coverage of Gov. Rauner’s Bloomington press conference…
Asked about the suburban and Downstate superintendents who yesterday criticized the governor for wanting to put “more money into this worst-in-the-nation K-12 funding system in the same way,” Rauner said, “The vast bulk of the money that they’re advocating for goes to Chicago, not to school districts around the state.”
When asked, specifically, why superintendents in Peoria and other districts are pushing a different funding plan, Rauner said, “Because they get a little bit more. Chicago gets a lot more, unfairly more. Peoria gets a little bit more.”
* From CPS’ spokesperson…
All:
For those of you who have asked for our insight into the Republican education measure that Governor Rauner’s administration pushed today, here you go:
Below, please find a statement from CPS CEO Forrest Claypool addressing the Republicans’ bill.
Attached, please find a chart showing how the school districts that Governor Rauner has visited since May 31 would fare under HB6583.
Statement (Claypool)
“The ongoing display of disdain by this governor toward the poorest students in Illinois is baffling. The Senate and House have both put forward funding proposals that would help students living in poverty across Illinois and increase funding for all districts in the state. Unfortunately, Gov. Rauner seems content to allow Illinois to remain last in the country for education funding by doubling down on a broken funding formula that punishes the poorest students. His budget would even force Chicago schools to make draconian and deeply harmful cuts of 26 percent on average in the fall. Districts throughout the state – including districts on the governor’s recent whistlestop tour – would get significantly less under his plan than under the House proposal, so it’s no wonder that it’s facing so much opposition.”
* Here’s the attached chart. Click the pic for a much larger image…
As you can see, CPS would get $821 more per student with the House Democratic plan. That’s more than any other district on this chart, and it’s much more than most.
* Meanwhile, let’s get back to our discussion of Gale Elementary in Rogers Park. Remember the photo I posted yesterday of the peeling hallway ceiling? CPS sent this e-mail in response…
Rich: like I mentioned last night, CPS is well aware that we have significant maintenance issues in our schools: we have 660 schools and more than $3 billion in deferred maintenance, including at Gale (where we have spent $1.6 million in the past five years).
But the photo that’s up is another case of an issue that is not current. That issue was remedied. Here is the current photo.
Best,
Emily
* The pic…
*** UPDATE *** From Kyle Hillman…
When I spoke to the principal yesterday to confirm she told me it hasn’t been remediated (sealed). I should have asked has it been touched. Regardless, it isn’t fixed - neither are the hundreds of other places throughout the school. But we are getting quite a lot of attention to fix those now.
- LizPhairTax - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 10:33 am:
Send Kyle and his iPhone everywhere!
- steve schnorf - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 10:34 am:
On the pictures, someone’s not being straight
- Anon221 - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 10:34 am:
How much does cost of living/ doing business factor into the more of Chicago dollars? Probably a foolish question, and if so, I can takes the “arrows”:)
- allknowingmasterofracoondom - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 10:38 am:
Not to nit pick, but that picture shows work (poorly done) that was recently completed. You can see the patchwork through the paint…..
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 10:44 am:
“As you can see, we’ve scrubbed the deck of the Titanic nicely”.
- Earnest - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 11:01 am:
>more than $3 billion in deferred maintenance
Good that they are acknowledging a mammoth problem. They probably have their own set of current photos to show what their priorities are and what they’re not able to get done. Real numbers are always a great place to start.
- Formerly Known As... - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 11:04 am:
Looks like they just painted over it.
The lead paint still remains. It will peel again in that area in due time, and is likely peeling in other areas of the building currently.
That’s not =remedied=.
- Levois - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 11:06 am:
How long till Mr. Hillman takes more photos of the work not being done at Gale?
- sal-says - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 11:14 am:
Everybody ‘talks’ infrastructure up, but nobody wants to spend $ on it.
Bridges, Executive Mansion, decades old schools, and on and on. First item to Dr off spending plans - ‘it’ can be deferred. How we get to where we are.
- 47th Ward - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 11:19 am:
===That’s not =remedied=.===
Geez, what’s next? Are you going to demand CPS remove all of the asbestos in its schools too?
Don’t make the perfect the enemy of the good. Short of tearing down each school and re-building them to modern standards, lead paint will always be in the schools. Expecting a remedy that completely removes it is unrealistic. Try again.
- Federalist - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 11:21 am:
Anon221 - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 10:34 am:
“How much does cost of living/ doing business factor into the more of Chicago dollars? Probably a foolish question, and if so, I can takes the “arrows”:)”
It is not a foolish question and needs to be analyzed by economists- not politicians. Certainly it has to be a little more expensive although it many not be as much as one thinks. Most anything you buy is at the national market rate whether you live in Quincy or Chicago. Sometimes Chicago is cheaper.
Electricity can vary but I rural areas where rural coops have high rates it may be more expensive there.
The biggest factor would be the CPI Index for living in Chicago compared to various downstate areas as would/should then be reflected in salaries. How much of an impact on the overall expenditure per student this would involve I do not know and I can not find any data. Got to be something.
I would love to see a real analysis of this issue. As far as I know I do not believe it has been done.
Of course, politicians and advocates for a particular ’cause/agenda” probably are not that interested in such analysis.
Anyboyy have a body of research on this issue.
- Mama - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 11:43 am:
It cost a lot of money to remove lead paint. I have a feeling the CPS does not have the money to eliminate the lead paint at this time.
Patching might be the best they can do right now.
- Qui Tam - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 11:45 am:
Schnorf +1. Two patently opposite stories with the pics.
- Federalist - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 11:45 am:
@Anon221
Below is a website that measures the CPI of various cities in Illinois compared to Chicago. For example they claim that Chicago is 17% more expensive than Peoria and 25% than Galesburg.
http://inflationdata.com/Inflation/Cost_of_Living/Cost_of_Living_Calculator.asp
So it would seem reasonable that to the extent that Chicago and various downstate schools had these types of differences in salaries and that was a portion of the overall operating expenditure that would have to be factored in.
- Sue - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 11:46 am:
Deferred maintenance is akin to deferred pension payments- Rich Daley should be roommates with Blago.
- Precinct Captain - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 11:51 am:
==- Sue - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 11:46 am:==
Three’s a crowd, Bustout Bruce can join them.
- Anonymous - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 11:57 am:
That’s not even the same room.
- Carhartt Representative - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 12:02 pm:
CPS was trying to get into the 21st century a few years ago by putting smart boards into classrooms. That worked until one day, the workers putting in the smart board, hammered into a wall and discovered asbestos. CPS stopped the program because they knew a bunch of schools had the same problem and they didn’t want to pay for asbestos removal. The school my wife is at has duct tape covering a hole to protect students from asbestos. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done citywide.
- Battle - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 12:15 pm:
Take Chicago out of the list.
Under the Democratic plans suburban and downstate districts receive $99,119,487 from SB2048 and $117,522,732 from HB2990.
Under the Gov’s introduced budget these same districts receive a total of $12,766,304 with 9 districts losing money.
Under the Republican bills (SB3434/HB6583) these same districts receive a total of $16,306,002 with 9 districts not receiving any increase.
These are areas that the Governor has traveled to recently and just a tiny fraction of districts statewide.
If the Republican bill were to pass it looks like these 28 districts would lose between $82,000,000 to $100,000,000 compared to the Democratic bills.
- noname - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 12:22 pm:
who published the numbers? there is no source cited.
- Vet - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 12:39 pm:
They complain about schools needing repairs. There are schools around central IL that are a century old and are crumbling, but can’t get the money to rebuild.
- Ghost - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 12:50 pm:
they get points for basically saying we defiently have issues, just these particular problems have been fixed.
- Chris - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 1:01 pm:
==didn’t want to pay for asbestos removal. ==
That really should be “can’t pay”. Whether CPS wants to do asbestos remediation or not is of no moment, given the district’s finances.
As 47th noted, it’s not possible (cost-effectively) to eliminate the lead (paint, pipes) and asbestos without tearing down and building new, and at $100m per high school (times about 100) and $30m per elementary (times about 300), that’s about $20 billion and a decade of work. It would be *awesome* if there were a capital bill to support even a fraction of that, but I doubt that is forthcoming.
Anyway, I don’t think the issue is a lack of desire to fix things, it’s an absence of political will (with the mayor (current and former), the aldermen, and the citizens of Chicago, and the state government, too) to raise taxes sufficiently to pay for what all the nice things (competitive salaries, funded pensions, shiny new infrastructure) actually costs.
- Chris - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 1:19 pm:
“There are schools around central IL that are a century old and are crumbling, but can’t get the money to rebuild.”
As there are in Chicago.
So, what you are saying is that *everywhere* needs a school capital plan. Not a surprise. Who’s willing to pay for it?
- Vet - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 1:27 pm:
What i’m saying is no, its not all about chicago. one of the few things i can agree with the gov on
- illinois Bob - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 1:41 pm:
Looks like they just did the priming to start with. The paint comes later. Chill out, folks!
BTW, there’s no legal requirement to REMOVE ALL asebestos or lead paint from public areas. On floors, for example, you often encapsulate it. You always take precautions when removing it, however. You also don’t rip out all plaster that may contain some, but once again encapsulate the area when you may disturb the asbestos so that no one can inhale it.
You DO remove the lead paint and asbestos that may be a reasonable health threat. That includes asbestos in ceilings and insulation around things like piping that could dust down and result in someone inhaling it. If lead paint isn’t chipping, it also produces little threat. It’s still a good idea to remove it in areas frequented by very small children, however.
- Illinois bob - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 1:47 pm:
BTW, school facilities are not a state responsibility. That’s not part of the funding “formula”. Sometimes the state doles out grants for building new school space to certain “favored” districts. That’s simply not fair, IMHO.
Maintenance and renovation in schools with declining or stable enrollment is typically less than 10% of a schools operating budget according to the ISBE. Locals should be able to handle that on their own in an insolvent state.
- Federalist - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 3:44 pm:
Chris - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 1:19 pm:
“There are schools around central IL that are a century old and are crumbling, but can’t get the money to rebuild.”
As there are in Chicago.
So, what you are saying is that *everywhere* needs a school capital plan. Not a surprise. Who’s willing to pay for it?
I can tell you what I am saying. And that is the focus seems to be on Chicago in the school funding debate and there are many schools statewide that are not receiving much political attention- and rarely do.
- Formerly Known As... - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 4:00 pm:
==Are you going to demand CPS remove all of the asbestos in its schools too?==
Research shows how damaging even small quantities of lead can be to developing brains. Little kids putting their hands on handrails containing lead dust as they walk up the stairs every day, then possibly touching their face or mouth shortly after, is really disturbing.
If there was lead paint falling from this spot in the classroom for so long before being addressed, what is happening in other parts of the building or other schools that receive less attention? Perfection is not necessary, but this seems =tip of the iceberg= more than =all better=.
- Formerly Known As.. - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 4:16 pm:
Even small quantities of lead can permanently harm developing brains. Kids putting their hands on handrails containing lead dust as they walk up the stairs every day, then possibly touching their face or mouth shortly after, is a problem.
If there was lead paint falling from this spot in the classroom for so long before being addressed, what is happening in other parts of the building or other schools that receive less attention? This seems =tip of the iceberg= more than =all better=.
- Anon221 - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 4:29 pm:
Thanks Federalist:)
- Chris - Wednesday, Jun 8, 16 @ 4:41 pm:
“I can tell you what I am saying. ”
Ok, then please do.
Maybe the governor should stop trying to take the tar out of Rahm and use your schools as a reason to reallocate state funding in your district’s favor. As it stands, it is *Rauner* who is most focused on Chicago, and trying to stick it to Rahm, Madigan and Cullerton who all represent some part of Chicago.