CPS to Cut 1,400 Staff Positions
Following interim CEO of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS), Jesse Ruiz’s statement last Wednesday announcing that CPS will make $200 million in cuts and layoff 1,400 CPS staffers, a result of the school district’s difficulty making a $634 million pension payment and its $1.1 billion budget deficit, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel laid out a plan he says Springfield should follow to create a more equitable funding formula for Illinois school districts.
“It is my hope (that) when Springfield sees the implication of these cuts, it will be a wake-up call to them to get off their duffs, right decades worth of political wrongs and finally fix education funding once and for all,” Mayor Emanuel said. “These cuts would not be necessary if Springfield was doing its job.”
To solve the state’s pension funding crisis, Emanuel suggests Springfield rewrite the education formula to make it more equitable for all Illinois school districts and increase funding by 25 percent--moving Illinois from 48th to 40th place.
News of the 1,400 CPS employee layoffs took many by surprise, including the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) who released the following statement.
“We are blindsided by reports that the district intends to lay off 1,400 public school educators, given that we just met with them (June 29) and there was no mention of this action. These layoffs prove that the (Chicago) Board of (Education) never intended to make the pension payment in good faith and that they are using this to justify more attacks on our classrooms,” said Karen Lewis, president of the CTU. “Putting 1,400 people out of work is no way to balance a budget and resource our schools. This is going to hurt our students and the most vulnerable children in our district. These cuts are a result of a history of poor fiscal management by the Board of Education. Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s handpicked board has led this district over a financial cliff. We are outraged at this deceptive action that only furthers the distrust teachers, parents and students have of the Board. We thought it suspect at the time that the Board was pressuring us to sign off on an agreement yesterday, before we had a complete agreement. This is retaliatory and unnecessary because the mayor refuses to seek revenue options to stabilize CPS.”
Ruiz spoke on the matter also blaming Springfield for the layoffs.
“CPS made its 2015 pension payment by borrowing money, Ruiz said. “As we have said, CPS could not make the payment and keep cuts away from the classroom, so while school will start on time, our classrooms will be impacted."
The Chicago Tribune reports layoffs will mostly impact central office and school support staff and that "very few" teachers will lose their jobs.
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