* Tribune…
Chicago Public Schools on Monday moved ahead with plans to lay off about 950 staff members but put off an announcement on an operations budget, citing a need to wait for action on school funding from state lawmakers.
A proposed budget for the fiscal year that began July 1 had been expected on Monday, two weeks after principals received spending plans that anticipated state lawmakers would send an extra $300 million to CPS. The education funding picture remains muddled however after Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner issued an amendatory veto on a plan passed by the General Assembly that would reduce the money going to CPS.
Principals were nonetheless expected to move forward with staff adjustments. The district said 356 teachers and 600 support staff would be let go as a result of “enrollment changes, program adjustments and/or changes in students’ academic needs.”
A CPS spokesman said the district expected to have 500 vacant teaching positions it would try to refill by the time classes begin next month. The teachers whose positions were eliminated will be able to apply for those jobs.
* Sun-Times…
But the district may not be done laying off staff. A final enrollment count will be taken on the 20th day of school, which this year falls on Monday, October 2. Since CPS allocates money to school for each student they have, schools that don’t meet their enrollment projects will see their budgets drop and could lose more staff then.
That really bugs me about CPS. They complain and complain about how Gov. Rauner and the Republicans want to base their hold harmless funding by student population, contending it ought to instead be based by district. But then CPS does the exact same thing in their own school-by-school funding calculations.
* From CPS, by the numbers…
320 schools, across all geographic areas of the city, will have no teacher or staff impacts this year.
356 teachers will be impacted this year, which is less than 2 percent of the district’s total teachers.
240 elementary school teachers are impacted
116 high school teachers are impacted
Approximately 6 percent of CPS’ school-based support personnel (600 staff members) are impacted this year.
134 elementary school support personnel are impacted
466 high school support personnel are impacted
CPS expects to have more than 500 teaching vacancies, which it will attempt to fill prior to the beginning of the school year. Impacted teachers will be invited to apply to open CPS positions, and three career fairs have been organized specifically for teachers. They will be held on August 11, 15 and 16 to help expedite the hiring process and fill these positions before the start of school, per the District’s contract with CTU.
In recent years, approximately 60 percent of impacted teachers have been rehired in full-time CPS positions. An additional 23 percent of impacted teachers work as substitute teachers.
*** UPDATE *** Sen. Daniel Biss…
“The arrogant ‘my way or the highway’ mindset of billionaire Bruce Rauner has cost 950 middle class workers their jobs today. That’s indisputable evidence that it’s time he lost his.
“We can’t expect a billionaire to understand the anxiety of educators who lost their jobs, the fear of those who remain, or the frustration of families like mine who rely on Illinois public schools. If Bruce Rauner thinks he can destroy our jobs but keep his own, he’s not just arrogant — he’s wrong.”
- Shake - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 1:26 pm:
This Is Not Good For Rauner. No Indeed.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 1:31 pm:
“Rauner vetoed K-12 funding”
Chicago teachers poll better than both Rahm and Rauner.
Chicago parents, teachers… they’d be wise to spark to the truth of the matter…
“Chicago school money? Rauner vetoed that”
It was also recently announced Payton Prep was named the “best public school”… in America.
So, Diana and Bruce clouted their denied, Winnetka-living daughter over a worthy Chicago student, took the seat, and now Payton Prep again is recognized for excellence, while Bruce vetoes the state funding.
That’s fun.
- Curl of the Burl - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 1:32 pm:
They also just borrowed a large chunk of cash at usury-level rates.
- Red Rider - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 1:37 pm:
Tar and feathers
- Amalia - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 1:42 pm:
has all the CPS high level staff moved into the City yet?
- blue dog dem - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 1:48 pm:
I predict a 25% voter turnout in Cook County in ‘18. That’ll show that Rauner fella a thing or two.
- City Zen - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 1:55 pm:
==Chicago teachers poll better than both Rahm and Rauner.==
I can’t think of any examples where employees/individuals don’t poll better than employers/institutions.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 1:55 pm:
===I predict a 25% voter turnout in Cook County in ‘18. That’ll show that Rauner fella a thing or two.===
In Chicago, it was ~36% in the City in 2014.
It was a low then, and you predict almost a 1/3 less than 2014, even in the City?
Hmm.
- blue dog dem - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 1:57 pm:
OW. Yup.
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 1:59 pm:
===I can’t think of any examples where employees/individuals don’t poll better than employers/institutions.===
How about CTU polling better than Karen Lewis?
- Oswego Willy - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 2:00 pm:
It will be over 25%
Also, Rauner will face the voters, CTU, polling better than Rauner might be influential in causing Rauner election headaches.
- STILL WATERS - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 2:02 pm:
All of this is very misleading. What the numbers don’t tell you are how many classes go without teachers and how children are not being taught but are receiving grades for accomplishing nothing due to a lack of teachers. All you have to do is talk to teachers who are ‘cadre’ and they will tell you the reality of what is going on.
- Anonymous - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 2:02 pm:
==How about CTU polling better than Karen Lewis?==
Hmmm, so I like the organization more than the organization’s leader. I suppose that makes sense. Let me change my hierarchy of hate tree.
- Sue - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 2:12 pm:
But not to worry- CPS will make its full pension payments. Illinois and its municipalities are literally throwing away the future of the citizens just so we can honor the pension obligations. At some point but who knows when folks are going to say enough is enough
- JS Mill - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 2:18 pm:
= At some point but who knows when folks are going to say enough is enough=
They already did, that is why these decades old debts are finally getting paid.
Of course when I say “they” I mean responsible conservatives and progressives alike.
Not the tinfoil hat crowd
- Demoralized - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 2:19 pm:
sue:
You against paying your debt?
- Sue - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 2:29 pm:
Other then my future obligations to pay for these pensions- I don’t have any. What I am against is sacrificing the futures of 11 million people to honor vastly generous payments which the political class agreed to without. Ny regard to how if was to be paid so yes- I suggest the pensions be reduced but that is not what the S CT presently will permit
- City Zen - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 2:32 pm:
==sue: You against paying your debt?==
Better question: Are our descendants against paying Sue’s debt?
- Hieronymus - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 2:36 pm:
Sue @2:29pm - So why do you think the ILSC won’t let the pensions be “reduced”?
- VanillaMan - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 2:39 pm:
So, once again, we can read a Rauner supporter’s prediction of a Rauner reelection based upon a belief that Chicagoans won’t vote in the same percentage as they have in earlier gubernatorial elections.
If that’s the only way Rauner supporters seeing a win next year, then they don’t have any reasons to vote for Brucifer they can share with the rest of us.
That said, CPS is hurting, so all Chicagoans are also hurting. It’s a disaster created by a governor who only knows who he wants to destroy, not help.
- VanillaMan - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 2:46 pm:
Even if the voters in selfish tantrums succeed in electing someone who agrees with them, the bills must be paid.
Our constitution protects us from a Rauner from ripping us off by refusing to honor contracts agreed upon between citizens providing persoal service to our government, and unscrupulous legislators and governors.
When you agree with Rauner, you are in favor of wrecking your own civil rights. You favor saving a buck for yourself over solid economic theory protecting all of us.
- City Zen - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 2:59 pm:
==That said, CPS is hurting, so all Chicagoans are also hurting. It’s a disaster created by a governor…==
Which governor? The governor in the 1980’s when CPS could only agree to 1-2 year contracts? The governor during the 1987 strike? The governor in 1990 when CPS and CTU agreed to divert the city pension contribution into operating expenses to pay for raises? Or the block grant governor?
Plenty of leaders have had their hands in CPS for decades. Apparently no one has the solution.
- Hieronymus - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 3:09 pm:
@2:59pm Can’t change the past, and this gov isn’t helping now.
- igotgotgotgotnotime - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 3:10 pm:
Even better question; Are our descendants against paying for your Social Security? DO they share your fondness for cash on the barrelhead? You better hope not.
- Maximus - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 3:23 pm:
The more borrowing the state does for pensions and other liabilities the more your children have to pay including the interest. This is why I’m telling my kids not to buy a house in Illinois once they graduate college. You’ll just be sacked with all kinds of growing debt coming due for things needed many many years ago. Worse, the state keeps doing it every year! Eventually we’ll be crushed under the weight and half your income will go to paying for debt and very little paying for anything useable today.
- VanillaMan - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 3:27 pm:
==Which governor? The governor in the 1980’s when CPS could only agree to 1-2 year contracts? The governor during the 1987 strike? The governor in 1990 when CPS and CTU agreed to divert the city pension contribution into operating expenses to pay for raises? Or the block grant governor?==
The governor who saw all this going into office, but had nothing but political venom and cash to repeatedly tell us that it’s everyone’s fault but his that his venom brought no improvements to any of our issues.
The governor who told you he would fix this, but can’t. The governor who demonizes every citizen in a union because he’s a non-union multi-millionaire with an obsession against citizens in a union. The governor who wormed his way into destroying most bipartisan compromises, driving our Senate Minority Leader from office after backstabbing her publically when she got too close to an agreement.
The governor unaware of what governors do to the point when he gouges our bond rating into junk bond status, doesn’t check with his legislative leaders, works against us - even when he got 90% of what he wanted, AVs necessary legislation.
You want to blame Thompson 30 years later? Or Edgar 25 years ago? You want to blame people who kept us going? You are very gullible. And silly.
You got lied to by Bruce Rauner. Stop defending him.
- Demoralized - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 3:28 pm:
==vastly generous payments==
I’m not sure I consider a $40K or $50K average pension to be “vastly generous.”
== I suggest the pensions be reduced==
Which is the real issue here. You want to take pensions away from people. How noble of you. You don’t get it so neither should they. Right? I love it when someone else complains about what someone else has.
- VanillaMan - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 3:33 pm:
==You’ll just be sacked with all kinds of growing debt coming due for things needed many many years ago. ==
I was taxed for fighting WWII, Korea, Moon landings, Vietnam, roads I’ve never driven on, schools and universities I never attended, and pensions for retirees I don’t know.
It’s called being an adult citizen. I intend to be an adult citizen, because being a selfish consumer destroys our country, regardless of where I live.
- A guy - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 3:37 pm:
I’m sure there’s a reason that they don’t count the students until October. Can someone suggest why they wait until that date?
(Besides it’s 20 school days into the school year. There’s got to be more logic than that)
- Maximus - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 3:39 pm:
Being an adult citizen is great, I’m all for it but how much unchecked spending are you willing to fund with your tax dollars? There is a limit to how much the system can support before it collapses.
- Not It - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 3:51 pm:
I find it odd that Biss is focusing on the adults losing their jobs, not on the kids losing their teachers.
Sucking up to CTU, eh?
- Hieronymus - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 3:53 pm:
@3:39 pm - At this point it’s more like pay the bills and debt starting now. It’s just going to be even more painful later.
- Anonamouse - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 3:57 pm:
I realize that this is difficult for most to understand, but state employees do not pay anything into social security. Stealing their pensions means stealing everything as they would not have any social safety net.
(And yes, I say ’stealing’ as “fixing” as advocated by most is reneging on a contractual arrangement. Theft is theft, especially when there is nothing to fall back on.)
Yes, some make “lots” of money at the universities.
So what? None of you are complaining at companies when the CEO gets millions.
Really all this boils down to the idiocy of previous politicians for borrowing from the pensions systems (aka “pension holiday”) in order to fund operations. AKA, artificially lowering your tax rate for decades. You’all have benefited. Now you’all don’t want to pay. I get it. But there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. Bill is due. Figure out how to pay for it rather than dining and ditching, aka leaving Illinois.
Most do not. Most pensions are tiny.
- Christopher - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 4:03 pm:
Thank you, Anonamouse. You’re one of I-don’t-know-how-many-people who have tried to make the exact same points in past message threads. Hopefully this time it will sink in.
- VanillaMan - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 4:15 pm:
==how much unchecked spending are you willing to fund with your tax dollars? There is a limit to how much the system can support before it collapses.==
1. It’s not “unchecked”. There’s a real budget process that requires real budgeting.
2. There’s a lot of groups claiming that the world will end if we don’t stop taxing. Look around. It’s the same people claiming that our economy should boom with tax cuts. From 2015 until now, we had one. What happened? Everything got worse, didn’t it?
It’s not all about taxes going up or down. It’s about where taxes go. It’s about who pays them. It’s about what gets taxed.
- Rod - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 4:25 pm:
That was a very legitimate observation about CPS Rich, that the district wants a state level funding hold harmless in relationship to enrollment declines yet it lays off staff based on school by school enrollment estimates. Unfortunately the same thing will likely apply to evidence based funding ratios in SB 1, the bill does not really force CPS to use those ratios as their minimum staffing ratios. Basically all CPS will have to do is submit to ISBE annually spending plans by the end of September each year for the evidence based funding. The State Superintendent of schools according to SB 1 “may, from time to time, identify additional requisites” for the spending plan, but there is no clear authority for ISBE to enforce staff ratios on CPS in the bill.
- Skeptic - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 4:30 pm:
“but state employees do not pay anything into social security” Better check your facts before you argue that point too vigorously.
- AnotherAnon - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 4:41 pm:
People in SURS (state university employees) *do not* pay into Social Security. I believe the same is also true for TRS. People in SERS (state employees) do.
- City Zen - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 4:46 pm:
==I’m not sure I consider a $40K or $50K average pension to be “vastly generous.”==
Depends how long their tenure is. If it’s for less than 25 years of service when most people work 40 years, that’s like retiring in your mid-40’s. I’d take a $50K pension today to retire at age 47 (PS - yes, I know you can’t retire at age 47).
- City Zen - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 4:47 pm:
VanillaMan - I’m not defending Rauner at all. And I don’t disagree with your points. All I’m saying is there’s been a never-ending line of people trying to fix CPS and all have failed.
- Arthur Andersen - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 5:12 pm:
FWIW, a State employee (Tier 1) with 25 years of service and an “average” salary is going to get more like $25-30k in pension benefits, not $40 or $50k.
- Sue - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 5:13 pm:
Folks if we want to assess which Governor(s) hurt the State the most beginning with Thompson- Rauner wouldn’t be on the list. Thompson signed the public bargaining bill and introduced the THREE percent COLA, Edgar the pension Ramp- Ryan the 5/5 ERO, Blago the pension bond and Quinn the favorable Union deals. Quinn probably was least damaging. What has Rauner done other then try to pass a truly balanced budget and cut a favorable AFSCME contract
- Liberty - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 7:25 pm:
Leading up to Thompson signing the 3% COLA social security got the following:
Year COLA
1975 8.0
1976 6.4
1977 5.9
1978 6.5
1979 9.9
1980 14.3
1981 11.2
- Arthur Andersen - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 7:37 pm:
“Folks” it’s not a COLA according to the Pension Code. It’s an Automatic Annual Increase in Annuity, or AAI. To some, that may be a distinction without a difference, but the original intent was to allow members to receive these increases in exchange for an increased member contribution.
Sue, if you’re debt-free, you should be willing and able to give a bit of your wealth to pay your obligations as a citizen without whining about it ad infinitum.
- Anonymous - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 7:37 pm:
–What I am against is sacrificing the futures of 11 million people..
Who are these 11 million you speak of?
What do Thompson and the ramp have to do with CPS laying off some teachers this week?
Sue, by way of orientation, today is Monday, Aug. 7, 2017.
- PragmaticR - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 7:45 pm:
The previous generation voted for politicians that did not raise the revenue necessary to fund the pension plans. Let us hold that generation responsible for their politicians taking pension holidays. I suggest taxing all retirement income to fund government pension plans. Retirees are largely insulated from the shared sacrifice imposed by the income tax increase. If they choose to leave the state rather than paying their share of the bill, so be it.
- City Zen - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 7:52 pm:
Liberty - Over that same time period, social security contribution rates increased 8%. And by the time the COLA contribution for state pensions changed from simple to compounded interest, SSI rates increased 25%. That’s both employee and employer, so gross wages were suppressed by an equal amount
How much did the AAI contribution rate increase over that time as COLA was raised from 2% simple to 3% compounded? Zero percent.
- Anonymous - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 8:23 pm:
If the pension debt had been addressed several years ago before the latest attempted legislation that the Supremes overturned (and said the pensions had to be paid), we’d owe a heckuva lot less than we do today. Procratinating is ringing up the total, but many don’t seem to care about that part of it in the eternal hope that we can eliminate pensions for teachers and really stiff them good this time.
Secondly, when money comes up for teacher salary increases, aren’t there cries that more money isn’t important in education? So if no money is needed for the operations of the process, what do we need money for the kids for (sarcasm, of course) But, seriously, to save money on teacher salaries, maybe 40-50 students/teacher should happen. Who wouldn’t want that for their child, to save taxpayers some cash?
- cdog - Monday, Aug 7, 17 @ 9:34 pm:
So Biss thinks it’s smart for a school district to have 1 employee for every 10 children.
10:1 folks, and this guy Biss is supposed to be a numbers guy.
“…contending it (hold harmless funding) ought to instead be based by district.” Give me a break.
950 units less effect on the pension problem. More to come probably because there are some smart people watching these folks and hiding in the shadows is jo longer an option. Btw, what happened to that elected school board bill…. /s