Latest news with #CTU-driven
Chicago Tribune
2 days ago
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Paul Vallas: CPS budget is responsible, but avoids structural fixes
Chicago Public Schools interim CEO Macquline King has presented the most responsible budget possible under current conditions, especially considering the strong influence of the Chicago Teachers Union and a mayor committed to prioritizing union interests over all other considerations. King's plan solidly protects local school funding without worsening the district's immediate financial health. However, it disappointingly avoids structural fixes — guaranteeing Chicago will face a similar budget crisis next year. The plan clearly elevates CTU priorities above student needs. CPS' budget presentation balances the 2026 budget with the following measures: The district will continue to receive 56% of all property revenues paid by city residents and business while the city will provide the district with almost $1.1 billion in additional subsidies. This includes at least $557 million in the dedicated teacher pension city property tax levy, $379 million in TIF property tax windfall and almost $100 million in debt service on school district capital bonds. The district's budget materials understate a significant increase in property tax revenues. While the district claims deficit progress, its own projections show future budget holes growing — even assuming the property levy is raised to its legal cap limit each year. To her credit, the CEO has proposed hundreds of millions of cuts, but the larger question remains: How will CPS resolve future budget shortfalls? The oft-repeated claim — CPS needs $1 billion more in state funding for adequacy — is simply not supported by facts. CPS spends $30,000 per student, more than the state average, but delivers poorer results. Despite cuts, staff levels in the new budget are 16% higher than in 2019, while student enrollment has dropped 8.5%. The proposed staffing ratio is now one position per seven students — a troubling inefficiency. Meanwhile, the district spends $100 million yearly on 20 near empty schools and wants to spend $1 billion on capital improvements. Despite the 20 schools averaging one employee per four students, just one in 10 kids read at grade level, and in several, it's zero. At the same time the campaign to close public charter schools or convert to CTU member district schools will drive up costs of those schools. On the academic side the proposed $10.2 billion budget will further reduce standards and accountability that will deny poor families alternatives. Meanwhile, CPS continues to shift away from student-based budgeting in favor of the CTU-backed 'Sustainable Community School Model,' which prioritizes not enrollment but perceived needs regardless of outcomes. The district is set to increase its current 20 'community schools' to 70 under this model despite the existing such schools lagging the district average by most measures including academic proficiency and attendance. King is doing her best under enormous pressure, but record-sized union contracts and inefficient CTU-driven policies continue to drive up costs and degrade both the quantity and quality of educational choices. The budget sustains CTU priorities at the expense of needed reforms, deeper efficiencies and, ultimately, the interests of Chicago's students.
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Editorial: Why is CPS treating charter and private schools like liquor stores?
Chicago Public Schools is selling off 21 school properties, hoping the sales will result in a nice windfall of cash and reduced maintenance costs in the long run. This board applauds such sensible decision-making, which should be completely uncontroversial. Except that this is Chicago, and so even something as seemingly commonplace as selling an unused school building comes with a touch of the absurd. And here's the catch. All of the CPS properties come with deed restrictions prohibiting their use for selling liquor or tobacco — or reopening them as charter schools, Chalkbeat Chicago reported. That's like selling a candy factory and banning the new owners from making chocolate — the structures were designed for education and should remain so, especially if the district wants to preserve their historic character. If CPS were to create a warning label for this trio, it would read something like: May cause lung cancer, cirrhosis and literacy. This is absurd. Of course, CPS' restrictions on the use of these 21 school properties doesn't exist in isolation — there is plenty of other context that applies to what's going on. For one, many of the buildings on the market today were shuttered by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who in 2013 approved the closure of 50 public schools, a decision that rankles many to this day. The city held onto many of these properties for decades, costing millions in maintenance fees for vacant buildings. Getting these properties off the books is a good thing, but it's also worth noting that sales that have already gone through are not raking in massive amounts of money. The old Alexander Von Humboldt School sold in 2015 for $3.1 million, little more than what buyers might pay for an upscale single-family home in nearby Wicker Park or Bucktown. Also, the district has imposed a freeze on new charter schools as part of its 2019-2024 labor agreement with the Chicago Teachers Union, giving traditional public schools — and the CTU — a monopoly over the city's education system. This agreement prohibited the authorization of new charter schools and restricted enrollment growth within existing ones, effectively halting charter expansion through June 2024. The most recent agreement between CPS and CTU gives the union even more power over charters, extending the freeze, imposing enrollment caps on charters and adding requirements for charter operators to remain neutral during unionization efforts, facilitating easier organization of charter school staff by the CTU. In short: CTU-driven restrictions are aimed at slowly killing the city's charter school options. It's also important to remember that far fewer children attend CPS today. Enrollment has dropped by more than 70,000 students since 2014, with only a modest recent bump in the past couple of years likely driven by an influx of migrant children. The Civic Federation reported that CPS has space for roughly 450,000 elementary and high school students, but only 306,000 are enrolled — leaving about 144,000 (32%) seats unused. It also found that 58% of CPS school buildings are underutilized. Clearly, there's a facilities issue playing out in the district. Rather than treating this as an opportunity to innovate or diversify educational offerings that may attract more students, CPS has doubled down on restrictions — hoarding vacant buildings while stifling the very charter schools that could help serve evolving community needs. It gets worse. Block Club reported Wednesday that private schools also were blocked from buying these schools, although CPS real estate director Steve Stults seemed to suggest in the story that CPS might loosen that restriction in the event, say, a Montessori school showed interest. We have some advice for CPS. Explicitly get rid of any such outrageous restriction right now. That way, there is more of a chance of these school buildings remaining, well, schools. Surely that's a win-win for any Chicago community. The influence of the CTU over district decisions — especially on limiting school choice — can't be overstated. CPS isn't simply protecting traditional public schools; it's protecting a labor monopoly at the expense of students who might thrive in alternative models. And while these buildings are in various states of disrepair, many could still serve students and communities if CPS prioritized public good over bureaucratic control. Ultimately, restrictions on vacant CPS property sales are part of a broader problem, and that's education officials' open hostility toward alternative education models. CPS leadership often claims to support equity and student-centered policy. But actions such as deed restrictions, charter caps and building lockouts send the opposite message. Educational ideology, not student need, is steering the ship. Charter schools are not liquor stores or smoke shops. They are public schools, funded by taxpayers and accountable to public standards. Treating them as a civic hazard reflects political bias, not educated reasoning. Submit a letter, of no more than 400 words, to the editor here or email letters@
Chicago Tribune
14-05-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Editorial: Why is CPS treating charter and private schools like liquor stores?
Chicago Public Schools is selling off 21 school properties, hoping the sales will result in a nice windfall of cash and reduced maintenance costs in the long run. This board applauds such sensible decision-making, which should be completely uncontroversial. Except that this is Chicago, and so even something as seemingly commonplace as selling an unused school building comes with a touch of the absurd. And here's the catch. All of the CPS properties come with deed restrictions prohibiting their use for selling liquor or tobacco — or reopening them as charter schools, Chalkbeat Chicago reported. That's like selling a candy factory and banning the new owners from making chocolate — the structures were designed for education and should remain so, especially if the district wants to preserve their historic character. If CPS were to create a warning label for this trio, it would read something like: May cause lung cancer, cirrhosis and literacy. This is absurd. Of course, CPS' restrictions on the use of these 21 school properties doesn't exist in isolation — there is plenty of other context that applies to what's going on. For one, many of the buildings on the market today were shuttered by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who in 2013 approved the closure of 50 public schools, a decision that rankles many to this day. The city held onto many of these properties for decades, costing millions in maintenance fees for vacant buildings. Getting these properties off the books is a good thing, but it's also worth noting that sales that have already gone through are not raking in massive amounts of money. The old Alexander Von Humboldt School sold in 2015 for $3.1 million, little more than what buyers might pay for an upscale single-family home in nearby Wicker Park or Bucktown. Also, the district has imposed a freeze on new charter schools as part of its 2019-2024 labor agreement with the Chicago Teachers Union, giving traditional public schools — and the CTU — a monopoly over the city's education system. This agreement prohibited the authorization of new charter schools and restricted enrollment growth within existing ones, effectively halting charter expansion through June 2024. The most recent agreement between CPS and CTU gives the union even more power over charters, extending the freeze, imposing enrollment caps on charters and adding requirements for charter operators to remain neutral during unionization efforts, facilitating easier organization of charter school staff by the CTU. In short: CTU-driven restrictions are aimed at slowly killing the city's charter school options. It's also important to remember that far fewer children attend CPS today. Enrollment has dropped by more than 70,000 students since 2014, with only a modest recent bump in the past couple of years likely driven by an influx of migrant children. The Civic Federation reported that CPS has space for roughly 450,000 elementary and high school students, but only 306,000 are enrolled — leaving about 144,000 (32%) seats unused. It also found that 58% of CPS school buildings are underutilized. Clearly, there's a facilities issue playing out in the district. Rather than treating this as an opportunity to innovate or diversify educational offerings that may attract more students, CPS has doubled down on restrictions — hoarding vacant buildings while stifling the very charter schools that could help serve evolving community needs. It gets worse. Block Club reported Wednesday that private schools also were blocked from buying these schools, although CPS real estate director Steve Stults seemed to suggest in the story that CPS might loosen that restriction in the event, say, a Montessori school showed interest. We have some advice for CPS. Explicitly get rid of any such outrageous restriction right now. That way, there is more of a chance of these school buildings remaining, well, schools. Surely that's a win-win for any Chicago community. The influence of the CTU over district decisions — especially on limiting school choice — can't be overstated. CPS isn't simply protecting traditional public schools; it's protecting a labor monopoly at the expense of students who might thrive in alternative models. And while these buildings are in various states of disrepair, many could still serve students and communities if CPS prioritized public good over bureaucratic control. Ultimately, restrictions on vacant CPS property sales are part of a broader problem, and that's education officials' open hostility toward alternative education models. CPS leadership often claims to support equity and student-centered policy. But actions such as deed restrictions, charter caps and building lockouts send the opposite message. Educational ideology, not student need, is steering the ship. Charter schools are not liquor stores or smoke shops. They are public schools, funded by taxpayers and accountable to public standards. Treating them as a civic hazard reflects political bias, not educated reasoning.
