Chicago Public Schools Holds Public Budget Hearings

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) held one of three public hearings last week.

Lee Edwards | As of Wednesday, July 23, 2014

“I [wanted them] to address the cuts, any cuts, especially in a school geared toward technical education, cuts should not come out of the career and technical education programs and they should be based on performance instead of just because." - Latisa Kendrick, a recently laid-off CPS teacher, formerly of Simeon Career Academy, 8147 S. Vincennes Ave., was in attendance at KKC’s budget meeting.
“I [wanted them] to address the cuts, any cuts, especially in a school geared toward technical education, cuts should not come out of the career and technical education programs and they should be based on performance instead of just because." - Latisa Kendrick, a recently laid-off CPS teacher, formerly of Simeon Career Academy, 8147 S. Vincennes Ave., was in attendance at KKC’s budget meeting. Photo by Lee Edwards.

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) held one of three public hearings last week, at Kennedy King College (KKC), 6301 S. Halsted St., to publicly provide an overview of its FY15 budget. CPS held the meetings in separate locations across the Chicagoland area where community members were briefed on specific budget items, spending constraints and were given an opportunity to voice concerns.

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Photo by: Lee Edwards

Ginger Ostro, Budget and Grants Officer, Chicago Public Schools (CPS), outlined specific budgetary items during a meeting at Kennedy King College on CPS’s FY15 budget.

“The District continues to face dire fiscal concerns in the coming years, including a nearly $1 billion deficit driven in large part by skyrocketing pension costs,” said CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett about the matter. “Pension reform remains critical to our long-term financial future, as does increased education funding from the State. As a school community, we must work with our elected officials to address these issues, protecting the academic gains our students have made while laying a strong foundation for future growth.”

“With its significant improvements to our schools, programs and facilities, I am confident that the FY 2015 budget will benefit students in every area of the city. I thank our principals, teachers, families and community members for their support, and for their unfailing commitment to Chicago’s next generation of leaders,” Byrd-Bennett continued.

Ginger Ostro, Budget and Grants Officer at CPS, outlined specific budgetary items during the meeting and compared FY14's budget to the FY15's numbers.

" Now, we are changing the timeframe [that] we count revenue to include August, where about $650 million is collected. This is not new revenue, just a change in the fiscal year we count it. This is a one-time fix for this year and gets us through next school year without having to initiative major cuts to the classroom. Without pension reform next year, it will be increasingly difficult to protect the classroom," Ostro said.

Ostro may have been referring to the layoffs of 550 CPS teachers and 600 Educational Support Personnel (ESP) that went into effect on June 26.

The Chicago Citizen Newspaper asked Ostro how will CPS’ FY15 budget prioritize individual school needs throughout the year including the loss of teachers.

Ostro responded by stating with the finalization of the budget each year, CPS principals often make the final decisions regarding all personnel decisions and the allocation of funds.

A recently laid-off CPS teacher, Latisa Kendrick, formerly of Simeon Career Academy, 8147 S. Vincennes Ave., attended the hearing at KKC and told the Chicago Citizen Newspaper, that she was one of the few electrical shop teachers within the CPS system.

Kendrick explained that she was told that the cause for her dismissal was due to “budgetary cuts” and that it was a “principal and network decision” which was necessary to “meet the goals of the building”.

“I [wanted them] to address the cuts, any cuts, especially in a school geared toward technical education, cuts should not come out of the career and technical education programs and they should be based on performance instead of just because,” said Kendrick, on why she attended the meeting. “[These skills] are a gateway to the middle class, it’s a place where they can learn a skill that they’ll always have, they can work with their hands and make money whether it’s as contractors some day, working for a contractor, being a union member…it’s a skill that can never be taken away from them.”

For more information about CPS’ FY15 budget visit http://www.cps.edu/fy15budget/Pages/fy15budget.aspx.

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