* CBS 2…
The Chicago Teachers Union staged “walk-ins” at more than 150 schools on Monday as part of a nationwide movement to call for more funding for public education.
The demonstrations came as approximately $200 billion federal COVID relief funding is coming to an end nationwide, and school districts across Illinois are looking at big budget issues as a result.
“The funding from the federal government has had such a positive impact, and to have it taken away with no plans to replace or supplement means we will halt the incredible growth our students have made since bouncing back from COVID,” said Benito Juarez Community Acad teacher Lilliana Hogan.
Monday’s “walk-ins” by CTU are part of a national movement with The Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools – a coalition of parent, youth, community, and labor groups fighting to protect public education.
The message is that teachers want arts and after school activities – and the staff that go with it, such as librarians and social workers – to be a priority for the Chicago Public Schools. Teachers are calling on elected officials to find out where the money can come from.
The Illinois school districts which did not put the majority of their federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funding into their spending bases are not facing a crisis. Chicago did do that.
* WBBM Radio…
Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates joined teachers outside of Mollison Elementary in Bronzeville Monday morning to participate in a walk-in, demanding full funding for public education. […]
“We are calling in our Governor JB Pritzker. We’re calling in our Speaker of the House Chris Welch. We’re calling in our [IL] Senate President Don Harmon. We are calling in every member of the general assembly to work together, to give all of our communities across Illinois, a win-win, again this is a nationwide walk-in,” Davis Gates said.
The District is facing a $500 million shortfall, with the fall veto session starting in November for state legislators.
* Stacy Davis Gates Tribune op-ed…
Gov. JB Pritzker has the opportunity to address these issues head-on the same way other governors have. Gov. Gavin Newsom figured out how to commit billions more to education in California. Maryland Gov. Wes Moore championed reforms centering equity and access. Gov. Tim Walz decided to make Minnesota the best state in the country for kids. Just last year, he increased again the state’s investment in schools, and it got him a vice presidential nomination.
Pritzker is exactly the right person to end the underfunding and make a historic turn in Illinois’ commitment to education. After the murder of George Floyd, he passed sweeping police reforms. Through the pandemic, he steered Illinois with thoughtful leadership. He has helped raise the minimum wage, expand health care and rebuild our local economies. Now, he must apply that same spirit of leadership and collaboration to the education sector that badly needs it and that has never been given its due. […]
ESSER funds demonstrated what can be accomplished when schools have the resources they need. The rest of CPS’ history is an example of what occurs when those resources are denied.
With the funds expiring, we should build on the success they made possible. The alternative is returning to a culture that sees underfunding and inequity as “good enough.” That is exactly what our city and state can no longer afford.
California, Maryland and Minnesota all have graduated income taxes. Illinois voters rejected a graduated income tax 53-47 in 2020.
- twowaystreet - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 1:14 pm:
Alternative title suggestion: CTU insist Pritzker has magic beans and demand for him to use his magic beans to give them money.
- City Zen - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 1:14 pm:
First rule of education funding: Don’t get high on your ESSER supply.
- Norseman - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 1:17 pm:
Darn it Rich, your logic just spoils a nice fanciful narrative.
- clec dcn - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 1:17 pm:
i think a graduated income tax might be ok if somehow, they could figure a way to drastically reduce property taxes. i don’t think a quick fix can come.
- Henry Francis - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 1:18 pm:
I see SDG call out several politicians, Pritzker, Welch, Harmon - but nowhere does she mention the Mayor.
Also, citing Derrick Rose as some sort of success story of CPS shows how unserious she is. It has been widely reported that Rose was barely literate when he “graduated” Highschool and had to pay someone to take his ACT so he could get into college.
- JS Mill - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 1:18 pm:
=and school districts across Illinois are looking at big budget issues as a result.=
I can only think of one district.
=“The funding from the federal government has had such a positive impact, and to have it taken away with no plans to replace or supplement means we will halt the incredible growth our students have made since bouncing back from COVID,” =
Tell me you don’t know what you are talking about without telling me.
ESSER funds were temporary stimulus funds and we all knew that money would be gone by 2024 if not sooner.
CPS increased headcount and filled budget shortfalls with temporary money. Time to pay the piper.
These guys have no shame.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 1:26 pm:
===Alternative title suggestion===
It’s pretty good.
- Alton Sinkhole - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 1:29 pm:
2027 can’t come fast enough. Please, someone, put an end to this circus.
- supplied_demand - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 1:34 pm:
==CTU insist Pritzker has magic beans and demand for him to use his magic beans to give them money. ==
The state has run a budget surplus for 4 straight years and it has continued so far this fiscal year [1]. There is money. This may not be the best use of it, but the state does have money.
[1] https://cgfa.ilga.gov/
- TheInvisibleMan - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 1:37 pm:
Somebody made the decision in the budget to include one time revenues into expected yearly revenue. As this was likely before the district had an elected board such a decision would have come from the mayors office. That’s a different mayor than the current one, but that’s mostly irrelevant. Start there, and work your way up the chain after the expected indifference is given.
At least show you are a person in charge who can demonstrate an understanding how things arrived at their current situation. It will be more believable that you are also able to put forward a solution of all interested parties.
However, it’s a fine line between playing the political grandstanding game and making yourself look even more foolish and unqualified than the people you are attempting to criticize or place demands onto. SDG is on the wrong side of that fine line right now.
- Three Dimensional Checkers - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 1:38 pm:
I wish I could wager on when they try the “Pritzker is a billionaire, so he can pay for this himself” line. It will definitely happen some time in 2024.
- Moe Berg - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 1:40 pm:
According to Ms. Gates, state leaders have to be responsible for her protege the mayor’s campaign promise not to raise property taxes, the most obvious financial tool he has at his disposal.
State leaders also have to be responsible for CPS’s decision to put a moratorium on further school closings, an obvious place to save money and help close the deficit.
Those ideas play well in the CTU echo chamber, but they don’t resonate too much within the state capitol’s walls.
The governor and leaders, who don’t respond well to threats, can see the mayor and his erstwhile employer have put themselves in a box of their own design.
- City Zen - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 1:41 pm:
==California, Maryland and Minnesota all have graduated income taxes.==
And tax retirement income.
- Mike Gascoigne - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 1:41 pm:
The graduated tax loss really hurt the state. We needed that. I feel like we have got to have another go at it. It is the fair thing to do!
- JS Mill - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 1:43 pm:
=There is money. This may not be the best use of it, but the state does have money.=
Then the excess should be used to fund the Free Lunch for All legislation passed two years ago instead of bailing out CTU and CPS for a problem they knowingly created.
- Jerry - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 1:46 pm:
Schools cost money, so do prisons. If you want ‘em you gotta pay for ‘em.
- Frida's boss - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 1:51 pm:
CTU took one time dollars and increased their own patronage army.
They spend $30k per pupil.
It would be good to teach financial literacy in schools.
The problem is what teachers would be qualified in CTU if they all believed in this model of financial irresponsibility?
- Manchester - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 1:53 pm:
It was clear from the start that the funding was for crisis funding related to the pandemic and was not to be used to fund ongoing operations. Those school districts that put the funds towards ongoing operations have nobody to blame but themselves and it should not be up to the taxpayers to bail them out of a mess of their own making
- Google Is Your Friend - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 2:16 pm:
==Chicago did do that.==
But we were told repeatedly over the past two weeks by The Powers That Be that actually Pedro Martinez is the Master of Fiscal Sanity and Responsibility. Dang, I guess they were wrong (again).
- Sue - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 2:23 pm:
Maybe Stacy doesn’t understand that the Covid Emergency funds were always temporary - maybe she can start another pandemic with her cohorts in Wuhan
- PubllicServant - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 2:23 pm:
=== It would be good to teach financial literacy in schools. ===
It would be better to teach it in the CTU.
- DuPage Saint - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 2:32 pm:
CTU could always back a referendum to raise money for their schools.
- P. - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 2:33 pm:
Love love love Chicago Public Schools and think teaches deserve raises and the schools deserve librarians and all the upgrades they need but no one in the City Council or General Assembly is going to work with CTU, the Mayor or CPS at this moment and until that changes everyone is up a creek.
- frustrated GOP - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 2:35 pm:
or maybe CPS could raise property taxes, which they have continually kept low, or close some of their very small enrollment schools.
CPS spends more per student then any other school district in the State, has lower property taxes, and some of the highest paid teachers.
Not only that, they have received a higher per pupil allocation of state funds then any other district if they were any other District
Time for CPS to make decisions that the rest of us don’t have to keep paying for.
This isn’t about needing more resources, this is about CPS starting to have to work like the rest of us.
- Back to the Future - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 2:35 pm:
Thinking the blame game is not useful.
That’s not to say that the events leading up to this problem should not be revisited.
Mayor Lightfoot wanted to close some schools but the Governor, the General Assembly and the Union stopped that plan from getting off the ground.
The school Board seems stuck on the idea of not examining the excess space issue, but that seems to be a good place to start looking for funds.
No one is saying the funds from the Feds were not spend on education our children. Those funds are now gone. No real need to keep pointing fingers.
It is common knowledge that the test scores are a problem. Seems that we should work more on investing in our children than blaming CTU or the State folks at this point and just work on a solution.
Compromise around what can be done to help the kids should be on the table.
We really do need some adults in a room working on a solution.
- P. - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 2:40 pm:
A referendum and sustainable funding is what they should be working toward but the runway for that would involve harmony as opposed to discord and chaos. It would benefit from buy in from Council and the support or better yet a financial pledge from the ILGA and support from JB but all those relationships are in a holding pattern for the medium-term at least. Taxes on Chicago homeowners are relatively low compared to the suburbs and people want to support the schools but not under these circumstances. There’s years worth of growth that needs to take place before we could even try a referendum and ironically the people who want the extra money the most is to blame for the mess that needs to be cleaned up between now and then.
- Perrid - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 2:41 pm:
I think I commented something like this before, but did CPS really increase their overall budget that much? As in, did they use the emergency funds to buy new stuff, or did they use it to fill a hole that was already there? Meaning they kicked the can down the road, but didn’t actually CREATE the crisis so much as delayed it? I have little sympathy either way, but I have much less if they used the windfall to wildly increase spending overall.
- SWSider - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 2:48 pm:
==California, Maryland and Minnesota all have graduated income taxes.==
Our state may be falling behind similar peers, but at least it’s boring now. Good work, JBP.
- Formerly Unemployed - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 2:55 pm:
I like how the archdiocese has to close and merge schools all the time because of the falling birthrate and shifting population, but CPS is completely and totally immune to these trends and any talk of closing schools is forbidden.
- RNUG - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 3:03 pm:
== And tax retirement income … ==
That’s one of the very few things keeping retirees here in Illinois paying sales tax, license plates, and (a bit lower) property taxes, and even income tax on their non-retirement income. Those retirees sure aren’t staying here for the weather …
- RNUG - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 3:08 pm:
== Schools cost money, … ==
Especially way underutilized schools
- RNUG - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 3:13 pm:
== The state has run a budget surplus for 4 straight years and it has continued so far this fiscal year
.. ==
And the State has increased school funding every year.
We can argue about whether the State is sending as much as the State should. But don’t bring up the CPS pension hole; they wanted control from the State, they got it, were even less responsible than the State, and dug their own hole.
- Sam E. - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 3:18 pm:
Interesting that the CTU is against merging the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund with TRS, even though it could result in CPS saving hundreds of millions of dollars a year. Why? Because they don’t want to give up their say in how those pension dollars are spent.
The merger would transfer costs to the state, so it’s no slam dunk to get approved in Springfield even if CTU pushed for it. But if Brandon and CTU were for it they at least could put forward an intellectually honest “treat us like every other school district” argument. That would have a better chances of resonating with legislators than the dubious “you owe us a billion dollars” demand they’re making now.
https://www.chalkbeat.org/chicago/2024/09/24/budget-cuts-teacher-pensions-contract-negotiations/
- Dirty Red - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 3:37 pm:
= Because they don’t want to give up their say in how those pension dollars are spent. =
That, but also consider that TRS has a greater unfunded liability than CTPF. If the state becomes responsible for the employer contribution, everybody’s fiscal problems intensify. Plus, the City would have to explain to every suburban and downstate interest why they are picking up the pension skipping and shoddy ESSER tab. Consolidation seems highly unlikely without the Mayor and CPS making some pretty big concessions.
Let’s not forget that consolidation, bailouts, borrowing, or even higher EBF contributions - another recommendation in The Civic Federation’s report - all require increased revenues.
- Lurker - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 3:45 pm:
All the posts asking for more money and more taxes is insane. CTU spent temporary monies when told not to do so. They must “unspend” by the same amount. Since they ruled out any school consolidation, I’d start with a 25% reduction in admin staff and see where that leads them.
- RPOne - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 3:48 pm:
=There is money. This may not be the best use of it, but the state does have money.=
And the State has wisely used that to build up its Rainy Day fund. When Pritzker and Mendoza came into office, the State had less than $100,000 in its rainy day fund. Today, it has over $2 billion, which is a huge accomplishment. Still, that only amount to about two weeks of operating expenses. Best practices state that governments should ideally have 1-2 months of reserves, meaning the State’s rainy day fund should be at least double what it is now.
The State has money for the first time in decades, but is still healing itself from decades of mismanagement. There isn’t a lot of loose money just sitting around.
- Sue - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 3:53 pm:
I recently looked up a neighborhood HS- Wells Academy on the Northside- 320 students and even given it’s location it is 89 percent minority population- I was dumbfounded to read the teacher student ratio is 12 to 1/that is insane given how ratios in thecsuburbz are closer to 24 to 1 depending on the District- there is no rationale for refusing to close schools which are under utilized other then the CTU and the Union’s puppet mayor are opposed
- Dupage - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 3:57 pm:
“the state has run a budget surplus for 4 straight years”
And is still paying dental insurance claims for retired SURS community college retirees about 18 months late. My old dentist retired, and Delta sent him a check for work he did about 18 months ago. The new dentist requires me to pay a “deposit” of the full amount of the bill. He will credit me when the state finally pays Delta who will then pay him. Please pay up, Governor Pritzker.
- Tim - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 4:01 pm:
Wow. So many things, so little time.
Certainly someone in CTU and CPS has to be able to do math. Can’t spend one time money on ongoing expenses. They absolutely dug their own hole.
Highest paid big city teachers in the country asking for 9% raises when there is no money to pay for them. That takes a lot of chutzpah.
Love to see another graduated tax referendum on the ballot so I could vote no again. Even the transfer tax referendum got beat. Sorry gang, the answer is still no. No one trusts the legislature or the city or CPS to spend its money appropriately. Doubt that has changed.
No Stacey. No Brandon. No CTU. The answer is still no.
- Lurker - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 4:10 pm:
@Dupage, you bring this up in every thread. None of us that work for the State are having this problem. In fact, my dentist does not even ask for the co-pay anymore because he loves the State employees for his customers because it’s the easiest (low admin costs for him) and pays fast. Maybe try another dentist.
- 48th Ward Heel - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 4:11 pm:
What if we stopped opening intentionally redundant magnet and charter schools just so we could have *school choice?*
No, I’m not suggesting we close Lane Tech, so I don’t want to hear it. (Although I can think of a few charter school operators who should have their charters revoked…)
But we’re very much in a doom spiral of: siphon resources for a new selective enrollment school–>poach top students–>”our local schools are failing and parents demand better options.” And the establishment media just keeps calling for more leeches, and making it an issue in the upcoming election. Where does the money for all these extra schools come from? The Trib doesn’t care (banned punctuation)
- Demoralized - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 4:17 pm:
==student ratio is 12 to 1/that is insane==
I don’t think I would be making the argument that low student to teacher ratios are “insane.” Try another argument because low ratios are most definitely a good thing.
- Demoralized - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 4:19 pm:
==Maybe try another dentist.==
Ditto. If your dentist is forcing you to pay go somewhere else. As has been stated I have not heard that this is a big problem other than from you.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 4:42 pm:
===And the State has wisely used that to build up its Rainy Day fund===
It’s also paid off a ton of debt.
- We have the money - Monday, Sep 30, 24 @ 5:03 pm:
We cannot have a graduated income tax in IL unless there’s a new proposal that is approved by voters. That is certainly not imminent. However, that does not mean we don’t have taxes we can raise to pay for school funding or other purposes. If people want to argue over whether we should or should not for schools or something else, that’s an argument we can have. Saying “there is no money” doesn’t make much sense.