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Chicago Teachers Union Will Protest Massive Cuts Today

By dianeravitch
February 4, 2016 //
2

 

 

CTU to March and Rally Today for a Fair Contract, City and Schools Chicago’s Students Deserve

 

 

CHICAGO—Two days after Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s handpicked Chicago Public Schools (CPS) CEO Forrest Claypool declared war on public school educators by threatening $100 million in classroom cuts—roughly 1,000 layoffs—and the removal of teachers’ long-standing pension pick-up, the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) will continue a series of non-violent direct actions with a mass march and rally from Bank of America (BOA) to City Hall today at 4:30 p.m.

 

 

Yesterday, the CTU withdrew nearly $1 million from its BOA account in protest of that bank and other financial institutions that sold CPS toxic interest rate swaps and are demanding a payout of at least $228 million—almost the exact same amount as cuts enacted by the Chicago Board of Education to schools and special education. In total, the City of Chicago and CPS will lose $1.2 billion on these toxic swaps, despite the CTU asking the Board for years to be a partner in challenging these rip-off deals.

 

 

WHO:
Rank-and-file CTU members, CTU officers, parents, students and community organizations, public education supporters and others

 
WHAT:
March and rally for a fair contract from Bank of America to City Hall

 
WHEN:
Thursday, February 4, 2016
4:30 p.m.

 
WHERE:
Bank of America
135 S. LaSalle St.

 

City Hall
121 N. LaSalle St.

 
WHY:
Mayor Rahm Emanuel has had every opportunity to pursue revenue from his wealthy friends and backers. Instead, he has targeted educators and students to pay for the Board’s mismanagement. Today, Chicago’s educators and public school supporters take to the streets to continue their fight for the city and the schools Chicago’s students deserve.

Categories Chicago, Teachers, Unions

Chicago: Why CTU Rejected Rahm’s Offer: The Details

By dianeravitch
February 3, 2016 //
6

Phillip Cantor explains why the Chicago Teachers Union rejected Rahm Emanuel’s contract offer.

The offer had some good things in it, but what killed it was a “poison pill” provision:

“The CPS offer basically froze compensation for most teachers for four years. I was OK with that… even though CPS has taken about $2 Billion from teachers in the past five years. I like the idea of getting rid of the pension pick-up, but don’t want teachers to suffer 7% pay cuts to achieve it. Some teachers would have come out with a tiny increase over 4 years, other teachers – longer serving teachers- would have had to take a significant pay cut.

“CPS’s offer also included a requirement – added at the last minute – that over 2000 CTU members take early retirement with the provision that if that number didn’t leave the profession the contract would be re-opened. In other words… the whole thing would be scrapped. To me this seems like a poison pill. How could CTU agree to a contract that forced a 10% reduction in teachers and school staff? How could CTU agree to a contract which had a self-destruct clause in it?”

So, layoffs now or layoffs later.

The CTU bargaining team unanimously rejected the deal. And now the CEO is threatening to impose deep cuts and layoffs without a contract.

CTU will hold a mass rally on Thursday afternoon to protest.

Categories Budget Cuts, Charter Schools, Chicago, Unions

Mike Klonsky: CPS Threatens CTU with Deep Cuts

By dianeravitch
February 3, 2016 //
10

Mike Klonsky reports that Forrest Claypool, CEO of Chicago Public Schools, reacted to the Chicago Teachers Union’s rejection of his contract offer with a threat of layoffs and cuts.

 

 

“A letter sent by Forrest Claypool to the union Tuesday said that within 30 days, CPS would stop paying the teachers’ share of pension contributions (as if they’d been paying them up until now), order school administrators to cut $50 million by laying off 1,000 teachers and “re-shuffle” $50 million that goes toward general education funding to schools. That re-shuffling of Title I and II funds will hit hardest at kids with special needs and English-language learners.

 

“Claypool says he will drop the threats if the union would only agree to his contract offer which CTU’s bargaining team unanimously rejected. I believe that’s called blackmail. Or maybe — hostage taking.”

 

 

Categories Budget Cuts, Chicago, Education Reform, Teachers, Unions

CTU Rejects Contract Offer, Takes Action 

By dianeravitch
February 2, 2016 //
12

 

Yesterday, the Chicago Teachers Union rejected the city’s contract offer. This is the CTU explanation:

CHICAGO – After much deliberation, the Chicago Teachers Union has rejected the Board of Education’s most recent contract proposal because it does not address the difficult conditions in the schools, the lack of services to our neediest students or address the long-term fiscal crisis that threatens to gut public education in the city. Moreover, educators do not believe the Board will honor its promises because it has lacked the will to join with parents, students, community and others in identifying existing revenue solutions that can stabilize the district.

“Chicago Public Schools (CPS) challenges are a revenue-based problem because two of the three biggest cost drivers are things that have to be paid: pensions and debt service (which includes the swap termination payments),” said CTU President Karen Lewis. “The third biggest cost driver is charter school proliferation—and though they’ve promised to halt charter expansion there is a state commission that can override their decision. There are no guarantees.”

Lewis said CTU members have given more than $2 billion back to the district over the last five years, including $500 million from the 4 percent raise that was rescinded in 2011; $500 million from layoffs over this period, including from the school closings; and $1.2 billion from the three- year partial pension holiday between 2011 to 2013.

 

“Simply signing a contract with CPS will not bring them a windfall of resources from the state,” Lewis said. “We have to exhaust every option available, which includes terminating those swap deals, returning the TIFs to the schools and a financial transaction tax that could bring hundreds of millions of dollars to the city. Without some real movement on the revenue problems, we can’t trust that they will honor any words offered in a four-year contract deal.”

It should be noted that the CPS bond sale went south last week because investors are skittish about the real financial challenges the district faces. The downgrades came after investors’ concerns about the city’s inability to raise revenue. Also, the district is using short-term credit lines to manage cash flow because its cash flow is so limited. The money from property taxes is already spent – those short-term lines have to be repaid.

“CPS has been living on borrowing for too long,” said CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey. “Now to turn around and blame teachers and staff for that debt while letting bankers off the hook is not acceptable. We think bankruptcy is a bluff, but if it isn’t, the mayor and his handpicked school board need to examine our commitments to progressive revenue.”
CPS’ uses this math to plug its budget hole:

· $200 million from the state for pensions
· $150 million from the state in a school aid formula change
· $170 million from a new local property tax levy for pensions
· $150 to $175 million from eliminating the teacher’s pension pickup and from increased healthcare costs.

“That’s about $700 million of the claimed $800 million deficit,” said Sharkey. “They want us to foot two chunks of that through property tax increases and classrooms cuts. We need a big fix to school funding at the state level through progressive taxes on wealthy people. The Board cannot continue to balance its budget on teachers and students by cutting our compensation and eliminating vital education services such as special education.”

 

Today, CTU took action to protest the city’s actions:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Stephanie Gadlin
Feb. 2, 2016 312-329-6250

 

CTU to close Bank of America account and challenge City of Chicago and CPS to do the same

News conference and action at 10:00 a.m. Wednesday

 

CHICAGO – The day after the Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool declared war on public school educators by threatening another $100 million in classroom cuts and the snatching of their pension pick-up benefit, the Chicago Teachers Union will engage in a series of non-violent direct actions to call attention to Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s refusal to explore every revenue option available to him to stabilize the school district. Instead of working with the CTU to return toxic swap payments, tax the wealthy and restore the TIFS to the school district, the mayor would rather have Governor Bruce Rauner send in the Illinois National Guard to take over CPS.

WHO:
CTU Officers; toxic swap experts; community allies and others
WHAT:
Will close its account with Bank of America in the amount of over $700,000 and redirect those monies to Amalgamated Bank
WHEN:
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
10:00 a.m.
WHERE:
Bank of America

35 S. LaSalle Street, Chicago
WHY:
Bank of America and other financial institutions that sold CPS toxic interest rate swaps are demanding a payout of at least $228 million, which is almost the exact same amount as the recent cuts enacted by the Board to our schools and special education at the same time. In total, the City and CPS is expecting to lose $1.2 billion on the swaps. CTU has asked the Board to be a partner in challenging these rip off, toxic swap deals for years.

 

###

 

 

Categories Budget Cuts, Chicago, Education Reform, Funding

Mike Klonsky: Layoffs, Mainly in Special Education at Central

By dianeravitch
January 27, 2016 //
4

Reports from Chicago sound like reports from the front lines (as they do when they come from Detroit).

 

Mike Klonsky tells us that the new CEO, Forrest Claypool, was brought in to lay off employees. He has surrounded himself with administrators from his previous position at the Chicago Transit Authority. And now he begins the cuts. Here is more about Claypool. 

 

Rahm Emanuel knew what he was doing when he brought educational know-nothing, Forrest Claypool over from the CTA to run the schools. Claypool, who like Rahm, sends his kids to private school, didn’t come to CPS to lead an educational transformation. With apologies to Shakespeare, he came to bury public ed, not to praise it.

 

While stalling contract negotiations with the CTU, he’s contracted (no-bid of course) with his old firing squad from CTA to help him engineer the mass firings of thousands of teachers and staff.

 

Carol Rubin was chief administrative officer at the CTA and the Park District while Claypool ran those entities for Daley and Rahm. Rubin has been working with Sally Csontos, another former CTA and Parks staffer who’s married to John Filan, once a budget director for former Gov. Rob Blagojevich and another longtime Claypool associate.

 

This is the same way Claypool ran the CTA. Readers may remember back in 2014 when he hired Jimmy D’Amico to help “manage the CTA’s rail maintenance” even though D’Amico has no railroad experience.

 

I’m anticipating that one day, Claypool may even share a cell with Blago.

 

This week’s layoffs of 227 central office staffers was billed by Claypool as a way of avoiding classroom cuts. But most of those laid-off were the very staffers (lower-paid) who deliver direct services to schools, many in the area of special education. His central office is stocked with high-paid patronage hires or former CTA cronies. They were untouched by the lay-offs.

Categories Chicago, Education Reform

Mike Klonsky: Urban Prep’s Union-Busting PD

By dianeravitch
January 22, 2016 //
12

One of Chicago’s most celebrated charter schools–Urban Prep–has been fighting its teachers’ effort to form a union. Mike Klonsky reports that UP even had professional development about the evils of unions.

 

It failed. UP fired 17 teachers–mostly African American–for their union activities. They complained to the NLRB, which ordered UP to rehire them and pay back wages.

Categories Charter Schools, Chicago, Education Reform, Unions

Mike Klonsky on Rauner’s Plan to Control Chicago and CPS

By dianeravitch
January 21, 2016 //
26

We have learned in recent years that “reform” goes hand-in-hand with the suspension or muzzling of democracy. Mike Klonsky explains what’s behind Governor Bruce Rauner’s plan to take over Chicago and the Chicago Public Schools.

He writes:

“Yesterday, we heard the news that Gov. Bruce Rauner and top Republican leaders are planning to introduce legislation aimed at an emergency financial takeover of the city of Chicago and Chicago Public Schools. Their rationale is the $500 million shortfall within the Chicago Public Schools system which they themselves — with help from sellout Democrats — created.

“We are told that the legislation would also allow for CPS and the city of Chicago to declare bankruptcy – something by law both cannot currently do. To sweeten the pot, Rauner threw in the promise of a elected CPS school board, but only “once the financial situation is remediated”.

“Given the history of corruption, racism, and incompetence behind Rahm Emanuel’s own autocratic rule over the schools, the promise of an elected board may sound attractive, given the widespread support shown for an end to mayoral control by Chicago voters. But it’s merely a ploy.

“The move is also Rauner’s way of heading off a budget compromise and a contract agreement between CPS and the CTU and cutting the heart out of collective bargaining rights for teachers public employee unions, statewide. It’s their alternative to raising taxes on their wealthy and corporate patrons to pay for the operation of a predominantly black and Latino school district.

“It’s the “Katrina model” which Paul Vallas used to bust the teachers union and privatize the entire New Orleans school system, getting Arne Duncan’s stamp of approval in the process. Gov. Snyder used it in Michigan to destroy democracy, including elected city government and the school system in Detroit. Snyder poisoned the people in Flint as a cost-cutting measure, along the way….

“The move brings to mind the Tribune editorial board’s call back in May, for a “Mussolini-type” dictatorship over CPS followed by the Trib’s Kristen McQueary praying for a Katrina-like storm to hit Chicago.”

How can Rauner do this when Democrats have a veto-proof majority in the legislature?

Categories Chicago, Democracy

More on Chicago Bankruptcy Plan

By dianeravitch
January 20, 2016 //
38

Republican leaders are exploring a plan for a state takeover of Chicago public schools that would cancel the union contracts. This article in Crain’s Chicago Business Report has greater detail than previous linked headline. 

“The Republican leaders of the Illinois House and Senate are stepping into the financial crisis at Chicago Public Schools, and it sounds like they’re proposing a solution that City Hall will not like.
“In a press conference scheduled for Wednesday morning, Senate GOP Leader Christine Radogno and her House counterpart, Jim Durkin, will propose legislation that would allow the state to take control CPS and potentially push it into bankruptcy, according to knowledgeable sources.
“The latter move — forcing the school system to reorganize, and in the process dumping its union contracts — has been strongly pushed by Gov. Bruce Rauner, but resisted by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. But the Radogno-Durkin proposal comes at a very sensitive time for Emanuel. CPS has been pleading for state help to fill a $480-million budget hole even as Emanuel’s own power has been restricted by fallout from the Laquan McDonald police shooting.
“I’ve also confirmed that the bankruptcy clause would apply to the city itself, which has its own financial problems, and result in electing members of the Board of Education, who now are selected by the mayor. That measure could appeal to some, even some Springfield Democrats, who have grown disaffected with Emanuel’s leadership and handling of the school board.
“Specifically, I’m told, the package offered by the two top Republicans would extend to Chicago a measure authored by Sen. Heather Steans that allows the state to intervene in and effectively run troubled downstate and suburban districts. Such a move would be initiated by an independent review panel appointed by the State Board of Education.”

Categories Chicago, Education Reform, Illinois

Illinois: Plan for State Takeover of Chicago and CPS

By dianeravitch
January 20, 2016 //
8

Governor Bruce Rauner and top Republican legislative leaders are discussing a plan to declare Chicago bankrupt and take control of the city, its finances, and the Chicago public schools.

 

This would give control of the city, its services, its pension obligations, and its children to an aggressive new Governor with no prior public service. Rauner was a hedge fund manager before he ran for governor. He would gain the power to appoint an Emergency Manager to make cuts. Rainer is known as an advocate for charters and privatization.

 

 

Categories Chicago, Education Reform, Illinois

Report: Rahm Knew: City of Chicago Lawyers Buried the Damning Video

By dianeravitch
January 7, 2016 //
17

A report in the Daily Beast says that the City of Chicago lawyers advised Rahm Emanuel to pay off the family, enter into a confidentiality agreement, and keep the video of the killing of Laquan McDonald out of the public eye. This agreement was reached on the eve of the election last spring. Would Rahm have been re-elected if this video had surfaced?

 

The Chicago way.

Categories Chicago
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