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Tuesday, Feb 7, 2017 - Posted by Rich Miller

A day after Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool heightened his war with Gov. Bruce Rauner by blaming him for the school district’s latest financial woes — and likening him to President Donald Trump — Rauner’s education secretary on Tuesday fired back — essentially telling Claypool to look in the mirror.

Education Secretary Beth Purvis released an open letter to CPS parents, placing the blame for the financial mess squarely on CPS’ “continued mismanagement” and calling the latest cuts “curiously timed.”

The letter to parents comes after CPS officials encouraged parents to bombard the governor with phone calls in support of “fair funding.” It also comes during a high pressure week in Springfield, as Illinois Senate leaders try to pass a package of bills meant to end the state’s budget crisis.

In the letter to CPS parents, Purvis called the freezing of as much as $69 million in spending “a shock to all of us.” And she noted that CPS doesn’t have to make its full pension payment until June 30. […]

“Why would CPS arbitrarily create a crisis and hurt its students and teachers rather than work to pass the Senate’s balanced budget reform package?” Purvis wrote.

The full letter is here.

* You’ll get no argument from just about anybody that CPS finances are a mess and have been for a very long time.

And yesterday’s timing may very well be suspicious. CPS’ numbers are so opaque (and I’m being kind) that it’s impossible to determine if all these cuts are necessary or if they’re cutting items for maximum media impact and are using the Rauner bogeyman to mask their own incompetence and/or failure…

“He’s clearly adopting Donald Trump’s tactics of attacking vulnerable citizens in order to score political points,” Claypool told reporters. “Just like Trump, [Rauner is] attacking children of immigrants, he’s attacking racial minorities, attacking the poor here in Chicago. In this case it’s children which is particularly shameful.”

Yeah, that’s gonna invite a retaliatory response, which is what Purvis did today.

But, look, if CPS didn’t make cuts and no budget deal is reached by June 30th, then the district may not be able to make its pension payment in four and a half months and that would be a very, very bad thing. These cuts are, ostensibly, at least, meant to avert a potential catastrophe in just a few months. I mean, would you bet on Springfield averting your own personal bankruptcy before June 30th? Of course not. So, on that level, the cuts can be seen as prudent.

* I agree with Purvis that Emanuel and Claypool ought to be far more supportive of the Senate’s work. Don’t just sit up there in Chicago and scream. Activate the troops before Rauner’s allies at the Illinois Chamber, the Illinois Policy Institute, Americans for Prosperity and Liberty Principles PAC kill the Senate plan. Do something positive. If you’re too afraid of Madigan, then push hard for a plan in his chamber. The Rauner veto is a dead horse. It can’t be undone. The only choice anyone has now is to move forward.

And while we’re at it, maybe the governor could say something about his allies’ trashing of the Senate plan? A public brush-back pitch, perhaps? Or maybe pick up the phone to call off the junkyard dogs? Or maybe (gasp!) start working on behalf of the Senate plan like his education secretary wants CPS to do? Unlike Claypool or Emanuel, after all, he actually plays a direct constitutional role in this here crisis.

11 Comments

- Anonymous - Tuesday, Feb 7, 17 @ 3:41 pm:
C’mon, givernor. Engage. What, specifically, will you call a good deal?

- NeverPoliticallyCorrect - Tuesday, Feb 7, 17 @ 3:43 pm:
This is one God awful mess and like many messes, there are multiple hands in the mess. The key to ever fixing this is for everyone to stop looking for someone to blame and instead work together. Wait, this is Illinois-that never happens. So anyone with a lick of sense who has school age kids would be looking for anywhere else to live.

- Henry Francis - Tuesday, Feb 7, 17 @ 3:46 pm:
“Why would CPS arbitrarily create a crisis and hurt its students and teachers rather than work to pass the Senate’s balanced budget reform package?” Purvis wrote.

Ummm, isn’t that basically what Rauner did when he vetoed CPS’s funding? Couldn’t he have merely sat on it until the Senate passed its pension reform?

Or is the distinction never nervous Beth Purvis is trying to make is that CPS is creating a crisis “arbitrarily” (whereas the administration creates its crises methodically).

- wordslinger - Tuesday, Feb 7, 17 @ 4:17 pm:
–Education Secretary Beth Purvis–

Why do the media persist in advancing this fiction? It is simply not true. You’re not supposed to print things you know to be false.

By statute, there is no such thing in the State of Illinois as the “Education Secretary.” The title, the office, the job description do not exist.

Beth Purvis is a contractual worker in the Department of Human Services, for which she receives $250K a year doing nothing for the Department of Human Services.

She is, in fact, a ghost on the governor’s personal staff, stashed away on the DHS payroll to hide the true cost of the governor’s posse.

Back in the day, that sort of arrangement used to be a story, a scandal. Now, rather than expose such shenanigans, the media enable them by printing untruths.

- Dan Johnson - Tuesday, Feb 7, 17 @ 4:20 pm:
I’m not in a great position to give the Governor political advice, but I can’t imagine how he gets re-elected without a grand bargain. How can anyone, even with $200M in political spending, walk away from the absolute failure to pay bills for four years and put taxpayers on the hook for incredibly large cascading debt payments for decades is hard to imagine.

- Precinct Captain - Tuesday, Feb 7, 17 @ 4:20 pm:
The governor “actually plays a direct constitutional role in this here crisis” is the only line that matters. Without any signal that Boss Rauner will step up and work for the public good, why would Emanuel and Claypool waste all their energy promoting the ever-changing Senate deal?

- Free Set of Steak Knives - Tuesday, Feb 7, 17 @ 4:27 pm:
I just want to bookmark this:

The Rauner administration is accusing others, once again, of manufacturing a crisis in order to advance a legislative agenda.

- Jocko - Tuesday, Feb 7, 17 @ 4:52 pm:
I’m with WS. Please tell the Tribune, Daily Herald, Sun-Times, and SJR to change Beth’s title to “Recently created position of Education Secretary”.

No offense, but Pervis, Munger, and the recently departed Donna Arduin (and their salaries) need to be called out.

- Jaded - Tuesday, Feb 7, 17 @ 5:19 pm:
==I’m with WS. Please tell the Tribune, Daily Herald, Sun-Times, and SJR to change Beth’s title to “Recently created position of Education Secretary”.==

Do a search. It was pretty widely reported when the appointment was made.

- wordslinger - Tuesday, Feb 7, 17 @ 5:38 pm:
–“Recently created position of Education Secretary”.–

“Fictional position of Education Secretary” is accurate.

There’s a statutory State Superintendent of Education, who, like Purvis, makes $250K a year.

He can be found on milk cartons everywhere.

- Roman - Tuesday, Feb 7, 17 @ 10:54 pm:
== I agree with Purvis that Emanuel and Claypool ought to be far more supportive of the Senate’s work. ==

Yeah, I think they should be, too. It might build some momentum. But I’m not sure it matters much when it comes to the actual roll call. Are there Senate Dems who Cullerton can’t get that can be persuaded to sign-on by Rahm and Claypool? I can’t identify them. Karen Lewis can probably deliver more Dems than Rahm can.

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