How many times have we read stories that Chicago faces a huge deficit? I can’t recall it was $600 million, or some other figure.
But the huge deficit, plus “underutilization,” gave Mayor Rahm Emanuel the change to make history:
He closed the largest number of public schools in history, at one fell swoop (50).
But now he is going on a spending spree, building new schools and pledging to spend at least $90 million for new construction and upgrades.
What happened to the budget crisis? Did the deficit disappear?
Were the schools really underutilized?
There must be a simple explanation.
Maybe a reader from Chicago can translate what this means.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“There must be a simple explanation.”
Yes, there is. The politest way I can say it is mendacity. I could be more accurate, but not while abiding by your request for civility.
If you had the experience as we do at LAUSD you would easily see what they are doing. This requires both expertise in the subject and a broad knowledge of how they play the games with money. This requires you to know the budget. Obviously, not many on this blog know much about the budgets from my experience of posting and reading a lot of the posts.
$90 million, that is pocket change to us here. I usually will not deal with an amount that low. Here we have over 1/2 of $27 billion in just the school construction bonds that are disappearing by outrageous construction costs which have been compared to the state studies. $90 million goes into $27 billion 300 times. All you have to do is go into the budgets for the last few years and see the trends of what they are doing with the different line items. Why is this such a big deal? I keep telling people they have to know their budgets and not just for one year as that tells you almost nothing. Without perspective through time you do not know.
CPS keeps changing categories, job descriptions and otherwise moving the goal posts in their budget. It would take a team of forensic accountants to sort it out for us to be able to make any year to year comparisons. Also, it is true that there are different revenue streams at play here. Some of the money is state money. The fact that this is used to further obfuscate the situation should come as no surprise. Another no surprise is that the money is being targeted at communities/demographics that Rahm either wants to try to win back of attempt to solidify with an eye on the next election.
Ms. Ravitch- quite a bit off topic here, but…
I would like to thank you for relentlessly keeping us all in the loop on education situations all over our country. When I read your daily, and often hourly!, blogs, I often think to myself, ‘thank God she puts the time in to gather all this info from all around the country and deliver it to us in such a timely and efficient manner’…
I honestly feel you are one of the very few, and extremely thorough advocates for the education of our children in this country that delivers such an effective service to us all… and I believe it is knowledge of not only the present, but also the past that will move this cause (and IS moving) to a more appropriate solution for our children and our country.
Thank you doesn’t seem enough, but I humbly thank you.
I think the Sun-Times summed up the situation best here:
“The mayor’s spree of school announcements was aimed at four constituencies: Southeast Side Hispanics and Northwest Side whites whose children are jammed into overcrowded schools; West Side blacks whose kids go to schools that need educational upgrades and safe places to play; and lakefront liberals fighting to get their kids into a selective-enrollment school where seats are slim and competition is fierce. The blitzkrieg of improvements will allow the mayor to go to groundbreakings and point with pride to construction jackhammers during his re-election campaign.”
These are all capital expenditures that are paid for by cobbling together different revenue streams, including TIF funds. (Look for Ben Joravsky of the Chicago Reader to provide some excellent analysis on all of this in the near future.) What this doesn’t do is improve the system or classroom experiences. But, it may look impressive to some voters around election time. If there isn’t a strong oppositional candidate, this will be enough to get him re-elected.
The answer is simple. Each and every year the city gins up a “crisis” to drive the process (put pressure on Union demands, etc.). Just as if you were to look at your personal budget and then wring your hands over how you were going to pay next year’s mortgage, and food! don’t forget about food … and Internet charges, and … and … and so it goes. Each year during planning a near $1 billion dollar shortfall shows up, but by the end of the year everything is okay.
So much for democracy being the best form of government. Maybe it was a mis-spelling and they really meant demagogary.
http://karenfraid.tumblr.com/post/56080765916/cps-math gives a short overview of the PR smoke and mirrors show from Rahm/CPS on the budget, while the Substance article including must read comments by some highly qualified debunkers is also a must read. http://www.substancenews.net/articles.php?page=4324
“Direct spending in schools – including teacher and principal salaries, supplies and the like – accounts for nearly 70 percent of the CPS budget and has increased by about 4 percent since 2010. Meanwhile, CPS’ overall budget has gone down by about 2 percent.
“To reduce non-school spending by $573 million would require cuts of 40 percent in non-school-related spending.
“A Catalyst Chicago analysis of the CPS budget shows that virtually every area that is not considered a direct school expense has posted an increase in spending.”
So not only has there not been $573 million in cuts, but there has actually been an increase in spending by the (redefined) Central Office.
“It just makes me laugh,” says Wendy Katten, who runs the parent advocacy group Raise Your Hand.
Through her tears, I’m sure.
*
By the way, I’ll take Katten any day of the week and twice on Sunday in any dispute in which Becky Carroll unironically calls her a liar.
Email calling me a “friggin liar” from Becky Carroll. Classy! Was abt an email I sent re goodlow scl http://t.co/GHmNzBHXaJ
— Raise Your Hand (@ILRaiseYourHand) May 26, 2013 http://www.beachwoodreporter.com/politics/cps_claim_of_central_office_cu.php
I think the Sun-Times hit the nail on the head in its analysis and characterization of this spending spree being all about politics and Rahm beginning his bid for re-election Rahm knows he has alienated many Chicagoans in his short tenure as mayor, especially with his closing of 50 public schools, plans for opening even more charter schools and use of TIF funds to pay for the stadium of a parochial university, etc., so he’s trying to win voter support in neighborhoods with key constituents.
Bad move, in my opinion. We’re talking about the addition of some projects that cater to whites on the North Side and the Northwest Side, building a new school on a toxic dump site serving Hispanics on the Southeast Side and some small projects at schools that serve African Americans on the West Side. The black families on the South Side, who are effected most by the shut down of neighborhood schools, are still largely being discounted. Even if Rahm adds some new projects there in the future, this won’t work for many of us, because it would still clearly be part of a political ploy to ensure Rahm’s re-election.
I empathize with all of the African American parents and children on the South Side who lost their neighborhood schools and who are still being overlooked by our mayor. I plan to vote for virtually anyone with a moral compass who supports public education that opposes Rahm.
He’s crooked. What else can we say?
There’s an election coming up. Time to buy those votes. Of course, my vote is for sale. The price is a fully funded, appropriate public education for my child. Too bad nobody is buying.
Someone needs to tell Rahm what a Swiss sales clerk recently told Oprah:
“Don’t bother; you really can’t afford it.”
Buying votes.
To echo what many others have said: Rahm greatly miscalculated the backlash from closing and underfunding neighborhood schools. Now he is desperate to throw money around to create some positive sound bytes around education. There is no plan… just haphazard spending designed to win votes. (He’s the worst mayor ever.)
Second term…
One additional factor: Rahm is using money from Tax Increment Financing accounts. TIF accounts are basically a mayoral slush fund to be thrown around wherever the mayor finds it politically expedient to spend some cash. Each year any surplus in TIF accounts should be returned to the original taxing bodies. Even Rahm’s own city budget director admitted this summer that there is at least $200M sitting around in TIF funds that should be declared a surplus. If this surplus were returned, it would mean $100M would go back to the Board of Education where it could be used to restore a very large portion of the devastating school-level budget cuts.
By running around the city handing out TIF money as political largesse, there will be an even smaller amount left. To be fair, Rahm himself was claiming there was only $20M in surplus, but these handouts have the extra benefit of making certain constituencies feel like he is spending on schools (despite chopping the very resources, like STEM teachers, that these facilities require).
In addition, none of these projects are part of the 10-year facilities Master Plan that the district was supposed to have done before the mass school closing.
TIF funds used for school construction have historically been inequitably distributed to whiter, wealthier schools with restricted enrollment policies, just like the ones Rahm announced this week.
There are scores of schools more crowded than the very, very well-funded Walter Payton.
and yet, somehow both chicago papers — the tribune and sun times — came out in support of the emanuel building project announcement
Explaining Rahm Emanuel’s spending spree can be done in one word. CORRUPTION.