7/25/2019 Chicago Teachers Union Rejects CPS Offer

1/2

NEWS RELEASEFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Stephanie Gadlin

February 1, 2016 312-329-9100

CTU rejects the Board of Educations offer because it fails to address the

districts fiscal instability and reductions in education quality

CHICAGO After much deliberation, the Chicago Teachers Union has rejected the Board of

Educations 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 proliferationand though theyve 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years, including $500 million from the 4 percent raise that was rescinded in 2011; $500 million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 cant 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 citys inability to raise revenue. Also, the district is using short-term credit lines to

7/25/2019 Chicago Teachers Union Rejects CPS Offer

2/2

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 notacceptable. We think bankruptcy is a bluff, but if it isnt, 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 teachers 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.

###

The Chicago Teachers Union represents nearly 27,000 teachers and educational support personnel working in

the Chicago Public Schools, and by extension, the more than 400,000 students and families they serve. The CTU is

an affiliate of the American Federation of Teachers and the Illinois Federation of Teachers and is the third

largest teachers local in the United States and the largest local union in Illinois. For more information please

visit CTUs website atwww.ctunet.com.

SG:oteg-743-tr

http://www.ctunet.com/http://www.ctunet.com/http://www.ctunet.com/http://www.ctunet.com/