Violence in Chicago and economic stalemate in capitol dominated 2016

Rahm Emanuel

As 2016 comes to a close, let’s take a look at some of the top political stories for Chicago, and Illinois. If there ever was a year for pivotal events, then this  was one of them; from City Hall to police headquarters, from the State House to the governor’s office,there was never a time when news events took the road less travelled.

Number One: The continued fallout of the Laquan MCDonald dash cam video from 2015 led to the fall of State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez in the general election, and the election of Kim Foxx, former chief of staff for Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle. Alvarez had been accused of withholding the tape (showing the black teenager shot 16 times by a white policeman) during last year's re-election of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and being less concerned with outcome than process, said voters; and by this they meant justice. She had also been sued by the two reporters that broke the story of obfuscation, and possibly collusion, between her office and that of the mayor's. Aded to that were continued calls for the resignation of Rahm Emanuel. To stem the tide, after a U.S. Department. of Justice civil rights investigation for the CPD, Emanuel called for over 970 new police, but critics say the full effect, after training might not be seen for over a year. There is also no clear cut path to how the increase will be paid for. The city also paid out $5.5 million in reparations, decades later, to black men tortured by Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge.

Number Two: the increasing crime in Chicago, homicides topped 700 for the year, the first time in nearly 20 years; in November alone, the total was 77, the worst for that month, since there were 78 in 1994. While restricted to mainly two areas, and certain neighborhoods, the perception of the city as violence plagued, has not abated. Earlier this month Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson denied the claim that the city was out of control. He said, “The truth of the matter is Chicago is not out of control. There’s certain parts of the city that we have to address the violence.” He also said that there need to be harsher penalties for repeat gun offenders. Meanwhile Mayor Emanuel has stated that all residents must come together to help solve the problem.

Number Three:The Task Force on Police Accountability released a scathing report on police: “A 200-page report on police accountability found that 74 percent of people shot by Chicago police over the last eight years were black, prompting the leader of the city’s task force to call the revelations "a day of reckoning for all of us." It also said that police must acknowledge their racism when it also said “The department must acknowledge its sad history and present conditions, which lave left people totally alienated from the police, and afraid for their physical and emotional safety.”

Eddie Johnson

Number Four:  Mayor Emanuel had the 2017 Chicago budget passed unanimously by what many are seeing as a rubber stamp by the city council, redolent of former mayor, Richard M. Daley. The core of the budget contains two of the highest property taxes Chicago has ever seen, coupled with a shipload of regressive taxes that critics say will do nothing in the long run to solve the city’s financial problems, mostly due to having to meet mandated pension payments. Recent reports also say that Emanuel is preparing a run against challengers for the next general election to the tune of $1.5 million. Last year, he was challenged in a runoff, a historic first for a Chicago mayor.

Number Five: Both Moody’s and Standard and Poor’s gave the state’s bond ratings two levels above junk status due to the lack of a budget from Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democratic state legislature, whose powerful head Mike Madigan has made head-butting, grandstanding, and plain old standoffs a new gold standard. Illinois’ unpaid bills could hit $14 billion in 2017. Much of that is due to the “rollback of a 2011 temporary income tax increase that’s resulted in revenue dropping by several billion dollars the last two years,” noted the Chicago Tribune. Rauner’s insistence on changing tort law for worker’s compensation coupled with union busting measures, to agree on a budget, in this bluest of blue states, has led to a stalemate between he and the Democratic legislature.

Number Six: No claim for transparency can be made by Emanuel as a lawsuit by a watchdog group, prompted a lawsuit and the release of emails from his private email domain. In an odd legal twist there is no ruling on the legality of his using the private account, leaving a troublesome ambiguity. In another departure from such cases Emanuel’s lawyers made the decision which emails to release, and not, as customary, a judge. Much of what was released was smaller than was sought by the Better Government Association which brought the suit. During his first mayoral campaign Emanuel said that he would create, “the most open, accountable and transparent government that the city of Chicago has ever seen.”

Number Seven: Uniform pot laws came to the state courtesy of Rep. Kelly Cassidy who long thought the patchwork of laws were unfair, and treated some people,especially minorities unequally. The result was House approval of Senate Bill 2228.

Tammy Duckworth

Number Eight: Tammy Duckworth elected to the U.S. Senate defeating Republican Mark Kirk for the 8th Congressional District in Illinois, and after a bruising national elections with Republicans in control of both the White House and the Congress. Her victory gives both Senate seats to Democrats, one bright spot for a defeated party.

U.S. lawsuit has national implication for LGBT employment rights

Kim Hively

 When the Supreme Court struck down the state bans against same-sex marriage, last year, many observers, amidst the hurrahs and cheers, assumed that the gay and lesbian community had hit the final frontier in their struggle for civil rights. Yet, wiser heads had deemed that while the United States had come of age, in this area of human rights, there was much more work to be done, to secure full rights for that community.

Almost forgotten last week, with speculation about the cabinet of President-elect Donald J. Trump, was the Wednesday hearing of the whole court of the Chicago based Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, in one of the most salient cases, in fact, what could best be the last test case against LGBT employment discrimination.

The federal lawsuit, at hand, is Hively v. Ivy Tech, where a lesbian part-time adjunct faculty member, named Kim Hively, taught at a South Bend, Ind. community college, Ivy Tech, where she  had repeatedly tried for a full-time promotion, and was repeatedly rejected; despite concurrently earning a master's degree. She claims that she was rejected because she was gay; then the school, did not schedule her to teach any classes, thus in effect, firing her.

In a statement given to the South Bend Tribune, college spokesman, Jeff Fanter, said: “Ivy Tech Community College rejects discrimination of all types, and in fact explicitly prohibits, employment discrimination based upon a person’s sexual orientation. In 2014, Kimberly Hively alleged that she was not promoted due to her sexual orientation. Ivy Tech takes such a claim very seriously and steadfastly denies Hively’s allegations.”

At the heart of the case is whether Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 says that there can be no discrimination in the workplace based on sex. Yet, that definition has never been expanded to include sexual orientation, with a series of earlier decisions.

As Slate noted in its coverage,”Title VII has, from the start, included a ban on discrimination “because of sex.” In 1989’s Price Waterhouse v. Hopkins, the Supreme Court defined sex discrimination to include sex stereotyping—mistreating employees because they fail to comply with gender norms. Since then, a number of courts have held that this expansive definition of sex discrimination may also encompass anti-gay discrimination.”

To cloud the judicial waters, “In 2015’s Baldwin v. Foxx, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission declared that sexual orientation discrimination is sex discrimination under Title VII.”

Representing Hively is Greg Nevins, director of the Workplace Fairness Program at Lambda Legal, who has noted in numerous media interviews the importance of seeing this as landmark case, As he told the South Bend paper: "You can't fail to promote a woman for doing the exact same thing a man could do," meaning dating a woman, the attorney said by telephone after the hearing. "They understand the argument," Nevins said. "A few years ago, this argument wasn't getting much currency."

WIth the current climate of uncertainty, vulnerable groups, such as gay people, in advance of the incoming Trump administration, have wondered if their past gains would be compromised. In an interview with the Chicago Reader, Nevins said: “The federal appellate courts have not agreed with that interpretation with respect to sexual orientation. With gender identity there's actually a lot of overlap—there are two federal circuits that have ruled in employment cases and two others that have ruled in other [cases] under other federal statutes that sex discrimination includes discrimination against transgender individuals.”

Greg Nivens

While the timeline for a decision, is anyone’s guess, the decision could affect the entire country.  Nevins did say that with the incoming Trump decision, there might be a blowback, but trusts in judicial thoughtfulness, when he notes, ”I guess the real question is: Are they thoughtful? If they're thoughtful judges who follow the law, then I wouldn't be worried about it. If they were ideologues with a record of railing against things from a political standpoint and not from a carefully reasoned judicial standpoint, obviously we would be concerned,” he told the Reader.

During the oral arguments, of the eleven judges there was evidence of that when Judge Diane Wood said,  after Nevins’ opening statement: “Isn’t there a stereotype built into” all anti-gay discrimination”, and, furthermore, “That if you’re biologically female, then you must be attracted to men?”

Building on that statement, Nevins pointed to the Baldwin case of sex stereotyping, and if it could play a role in discrimination, then why not sexual orientation?  While cautiously optimistic regarding the case, Nevins does not rule out the possibility of taking, if rejected, the case to the United States Supreme Court.

Betty Tsamis, a Chicago based employment rights attorney, who has been both advocate, and attorney on cases involving LGBT rights, told me, in an emailed statement, “Gay and lesbian employees in Illinois already have protection against job discrimination through the Illinois Human Rights Act. But this is not sufficient and federal law provides for more uniformity and a wider array of damages.”

Nivens concurs when he emphasizes that “Judges shouldn’t ignore the plain meaning of a statute just because Congress is not sure what when it wants the statute to mean.”

Betty Tsamis

Tsamis predicts that,  “If Hively's appeal is granted she will either have to proceed at trial and win, or settle her case prior to trial. A win for Hively will extend protection to gay and lesbian employees in Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. Notwithstanding, the 7th Circuit will issue an opinion making clear whether or not the 7th Circuit believes that federal law enjoins adverse job action because of sexual orientation.”

Chicago is not broke, says public interest defender Tom Tresser

Tom Tresser

 Chicago’s latest budget, resting as it does on a variety of regressive taxes, and increased property taxes might have made Mayor Rahm Emanuel happy, yet for many there is more than simply dodging the bullet on pension payment backlogs and higher taxes than the 2017 budget does. For so long, and for so many, the mantra, has been that the city was broke, and beyond repair.

But others wanted to take a creative and imaginative approach to city finances, infrastructure and financing. Leading the pack is Tom Tresser who has brought together a collection of opinions into one slim volume titled, “Chicago is Not Broke”, an analysis of why and how things went wrong, but also prescriptions for how it can, and should get better for all residents. I spoke with him in a rollicking, anecdote filled, and impassioned interview; one that had me in thrall with his commitment, and vision for a better Chicago.

First on the table was the 2017 budget that was recently, and unanimously passed by the City Council, which pleased the mayor to no end. While Tresser ruefully acknowledges the ability of the mayor to pass a budget with no dissents, he feels that “it really supports 5 or 6 wards; 45 out of 50 are not doing that great. Look at the  unemployment figures among African American youth; and look at the 160 schools where there is no library, or no librarian, that is not investing wisely.”
For many progressives and community leaders, especially those on a grassroots level, the election of Donald Trump has caused concern if there will be continued support, for the more vulnerable members of society, and Tresser too is concerned, whether there can be “justice and equity” for civic projects.

Tresser stresses that “in the civic imagination, we’re broke, but we have no ideas to solve our problems,and we tend to run around like hamsters.” And, one of the things that makes him angry is that all too often Chicago has been hellbent on “creating debt to enrich the insider that [in turn] enriches the bankers, but not for the rest of us.”

The book is divided into five sections; the first is an introduction to the budgetary process by local economist Ralph Martire,and an overview of the Chicago budget.and an examination of some of the steps that can be taken.  In the second, section, there is an examination of the cost of corruption -- since Chicago is frequently cited as one of the most corrupt cities in the nation.

Martire’s detailed breakdown of the city budget is must reading for everyone concerned about city finances. For the 2.7 million residents it reads like a Rosetta stone for the series of documents that make up the entirety of the budget, and one whose complexity, can make such an examination daunting.

Looking at what are essentially six separate budgets, Martire acknowledges that there is “no one element a citizen can review to analyze the city’s budget,” and asserts that this complexity hinders transparency. Not included in the $9.32 billion budget, for 2016, were amounts for Chicago Public Schools, the police department, the Chicago Housing Authority, the CTA, and the city’s community college system; with amounts ranging from $ 5.7 billion to $696 million.

He leaves the readers with one salient point:  the budget is essentially a political document, and “rarely highlights controversial decisions.”

Dick Simpson, former aldermen, and now political professor at University of Illinois at Chicago, and coauthor Thomas J. Gradel, notes that  corruption costs [the city] about $500 million a year,” say Tresser and also cites, as an example, the enormous cost to the city of the Barbara Byrd Bennett debacle where she was charged, as Chicago School Board Superintendent, with ripping off Chicago Public Schools for over $2.3 million in kickbacks to her former employer, in exchange for a $2 million bribe from them.

The end result was more monies lost to the nation’s third largest school district, and also a huge loss of confidence. Most importantly he notes that “Political corruption in Chicago is extensive and persistent,” but so are the “tax dollars, in lives ruined or lost and in the loss and faith in government.”

While this may not be news to many city residents, and observers, the costs for other scandals, when tallied, add up to even more: $500 million per year, with the Jon Burge monies at $100 million and counting, and from the past, $100 million in 10 years, for the Hired Truck scandal.

As Simpson states, “All these forms of graft and corruption, large and small add up. To paraphrase U.S. Senator Everett Dirksen, a million stolen there and a million stolen there, and sooner or later it adds up to real money.”

Next up, says Tresser, is Jackson Potter with high finance, some would say hijinks, of toxic interest swaps from the hands of former Chicago Board of Trade, CEO, David Vitale, to deal with abandoning old-school budgetary practices. As he told the Chicago Tribune, a fix was needed and with that in mind, he suggested a new method that, would trade one liability for another, or “whatever the market would bear in return for cash up front.”

The end result was that the school district would pay a fixed interest rate, and in return the banks would pay a variable interest rate to bondholders, a move that Vitale felt would save the district a lot of money. But, it was a gamble that didn’t bargain with the collapse of the global market, in 2008, and “the CPS could not longer cover the interest on their bonds for the swap.”

Unfortunately, banks have not been held accountable, and the loss of $582 million, spent on payments, could have “filled the entire $480 million budget deficit and avoid devastating classroom cuts that include 5,000 teacher layoffs and cuts to special education.”

Perhaps no story of 2016 got more media attention than that of the Laquan McDonald case; and those of the by now, infamous, and tragic, shots that killed the black teenager, as he was walking away from police. The aftermath, the suppression of the dash cam video, the alleged  collusion between the mayor’s office and that of former Cook County State's Attorney, Anita Alvarez, who received a punishing defeat at the hands of Kim Foxx  in the primary leading to the municipal election.

For Tresser the cost of this police abuse, and the lies of police officers, again hits the cost of corruption, this time “the nearly $600 million in settlement to the victims families for wrongful convictions and paying Jon Burge’s bills, for consistent patterns of abuse; what does it take to move beyond these patterns of abuse?”, says Tresser.

The amounts spent have proven to be a never ending loop of payments that could have been used citywide for a variety of debts, and costs.in social and human capital, for the aleintatin of communties - especially those of color, in asking for protection, and seeking redress of police abuse.

But, the kicker, the standout problem of Chicago finances, for Tresser, is that of TIFs Tax Increment Financing  - a program designed to freeze taxes in poor areas, for a specific period,and then use those monies to build resources, both commercial and community, in low income, often blighted, neighborhoods.

As with so many things that look good on paper, ,the practice soon became one that enriched posh neighborhoods, for such building as the posh French Market, in the West Loop, hardly a blighted area, and a cash cow for investors and construction companies.

They also, as Tresser notes, became a slush fund for Chicago mayors, that they could dip into as needed. As he claims,”there are 164 TIF districts with $1.4 billion, and one of my goals is to educate the public on what is a TIF.” He  feels that the average citizen needs to know where they are, and all politics being local, that this information is vital. He held a grassroots meeting this past February, at the Chopin Theater, in the 27th Ward and there was record attendance.

Some numbers: a diversion of $7 billion in taxes to questionable projects that are “off the books,” so to speak, and $850 million to the city’s business district, the Loop, and not to blighted sections, as designed. It’s important as Tresser notes, that “TIF dollars are gifts, not loans.”

He has also begun the TIF Illumination Project to address the issues of what can be done, if anything to renegotiate some of these deals, identify the profits and maybe change the “process of bonding” for “capital costs, such as infrastructure or city buildings.”

These are but some of the most salient chapters of “Chicago Is Not Broke”, for a copy of the book, go to the book's website,  or through Amazon, for a Kindle version only, and select local bookstores in Chicago..

2017 Chicago budget pleases Mayor Emanuel, but tax increase may cause further population decrease

Last week’s unanimous vote on the 2017 Chicago city budget pleased Mayor Rahm Emanuel to no end. Wreathed in smiles, he said, of the $8.2 billion budget, "You can say Chicago tomorrow is better because of the work you have done over the last five years," Emanuel told aldermen.

With the 48-0 vote, the $8.2 billion package is a heady combination of many things, but mostly dependent on things that were previously passed, such as four years of property tax hikes. Next year, City Hall property taxes, will go up by $109 million, following this year's $318 million increase. The money is earmarked for police and firefighter pension funds; raided in previous years when money was scarce,  or underfunded for the benefits promised during more robust years.

Emanuel’s unenviable task was to put much of this debt to rest, in whatever way that he could, and the property tax increases seem to have been his solution. Yet, as many aldermen noted, coming back, hat in hand for future increases is not entirely out out of the picture. As The Chicago Tribune noted, “That won't be the end of the pension-related property tax increases. Total property tax increases of $106 million for the police and fire pension funds are slated for 2018 and 2019.”

Add to that another line item: “Chicago Public Schools property taxes will increase by $245 million in 2017, with most of that money going into the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund,” and the die is cast for even more hikes..

A significant chunk of the budget are a host of, what economists define as regressive taxes..A leading example is that ”Emanuel's budget includes a new 7-cent fee for each store-provided disposable bag, designed to raise about $13 million next year. It replaces a city ban on plastic bags that was deemed largely ineffective. People can avoid paying that tax by bringing reusable bags to the store,” noted the Tribune.

But, there is more much more - here is the breakdown:

• New parking meters, with 460 in the Loop and surrounding business district and 225 in neighborhoods. The $5.4 million raised by the new meters would partly offset the $12 million the city estimates it will pay to Chicago Parking Meters LLC for meters that are out of service.

• Parking rates at O'Hare International and Midway airports would rise, with the daily fee going up by as much as $12.25 under a complex system that varies by the type of lot used. The proceeds will be plowed back into city airport improvements and operations.
• A new so-called surge pricing to $4, from $2, at 820 parking meters near Wrigley Field, starting two hours prior to a game or event.
• Drivers also would pay to use “commercial loading zones with hourly parking rates set at $14 downtown and in two nearby wards. Once fully in place, the administration expects to collect $13 million to $18 million a year.”
• 545 new cops to be added in 2017; and $36 million over three years spent on expanding teenage mentoring programs.
• $994 in property tax hikes for City Hall and CPS. That's based on a $250,000 home.
• $50.40 for the 911 phone tax passed in 2014; based on a total of three phone lines, cell or land.
• $355 from water and sewer fees doubled from 2011.
• $134 from the water and sewer tax passed in September. That's for metered service. Those lacking meters can expect to pay $229.
• $25 from a 2011 city vehicle sticker hike. The increase was $10 per car and $15 for SUVs.
• $19.40 from a cable tax hike approved in 2014, based on an $80 monthly bill.
• $114 a year for garbage pickup approved in 2015: on $9.50 per unit a month for a single-family home.

Even the 2016 City budget had a lot of these types of taxes, including the property tax increases. When I interviewed David Fernandez, a New York based public finance attorney with Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney last year, for my now defunct Examiner column, he said in an emailed statement, ”Perhaps it is time for Chicago to look back at NYC in the ‘70’s and find a way to create its own Municipal Assistance Corporation.  The restructuring of debt within the constraints placed by the courts and utilizing creative ways to provide access to the markets while preserving both the requirements of the existing obligations and the reserves being held by the City are going to be paramount in allowing Chicago to avoid the drastic measures of increased property taxes.”  Prescient words, yet the deed was done.

Also, culprit as the New York Times has noted, “Improvements in the housing market aren’t yet offering significant relief,” and, “on average, collections of local property-tax revenue trail changes in home prices by three years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.”

Regressive taxes are a weak way to shore up city finances, most economists feel, including municipal tax lawyers, and they take more not only from from lower income people, but also are easy enough to get around, and eventually will offer substantially less revenue.

They could lead to even greater, or dramatic turns. Resident, even corporate entities could simply leave Chicago. For the former if the above taxes are added up, then a mythical “owner of a $250,000 home can expect to pay about $348 in additional property taxes next year. Throw in the $53 in estimated new water and sewer taxes for the typical homeowner, total additional taxes next year would come to about $400” calculated the Tribune.

"More money. That's all the city wants, more money. More money. They don't fix the streets, they don't fix anything else. And they give us more taxes," said Melanie Pizano to ABC7 reporters.

Still others defend these taxes --- "These are the same people who want their garbage picked up and their graffiti removed and their trees trimmed. We have to pay for them," said Alderman Ricardo Munoz (22nd Ward).

With population growth abated, fleeing residents is not an unrealistic prospect with the increased taxes. Earlier this year, reports showed U.S. growth a little less than one percent in  2015. And, while many cities saw declines, “the biggest loser in the latest demographic analysis is the city of Chicago. Of all the metropolitan areas that lost population in the last year, it lost the most—more than the greater Los Angeles area, more than Boston, more than Minneapolis.” cited a blogster at Reason.com.

While the amount lost was smaller - in thousands compared to millions of residents - “The City of Chicago itself lost 6,263 residents. Nevertheless, the Chicago Tribune notes that this is the first decline in population for the city since 1990.

“By almost every metric, Illinois' population is sharply declining, largely because residents are fleeing the state. The Tribune surveyed dozens of former residents who've left within the last five years, and each offered their own list of reasons for doing so. Common reasons include high taxes, the state budget stalemate, crime, the unemployment rate and the weather.

”Studies from 2013 also saw trouble on the horizon when Steven Greenhut noted, "Chicago has high taxes and punitive regulations, large and bureaucratic government, and surly public-sector unions.

With the election of Donald Trump the presidency, and a tax plan that has faced its fair share of criticism, as well as uncertainty, and that promises “made during the campaign were big but vague,” as Tribune columnist Gail Marksjarvis noted. And, certainly his tax plan might make Chicago residency even less attractive with most planned savings going to high earners and in one example, “a single parent earning $75,000 would face a tax increase of $2,440.”

“But the depth of the city's problems is mind-boggling, and the results of a fiscal disaster there will be far more spectacular than bankruptcy in more obviously decrepit cities. Noted Greenhut.

“Chicago's metropolitan statistical area, defined by the U.S. Census Bureau, includes the city and suburbs and extends into Wisconsin and Indiana.The Chicago area lost an estimated 6,263 residents in 2015 — the greatest loss of any metropolitan area in the country. That puts the region's population at 9.5 million.,” reported the Tribune.

Normally departures can be offset by birth and migration -- but that has also lessened and many residents are leaving Chicago for southern states such as Texas and Arizona, where they face less taxes and political battles like that between Gov. Bruce Rauner and Speaker of the House, Michael Madigan.

A firewall, of sorts, for population control, is supposed to be Mexican and especially newly arrived Mexicans, but that has slowed to a trickle; and with the election of Donald Trump as president, might show even more, if he builds the proposed wall between the two countries; but, is also affected by a rapidly aging U.S. Mexican population.

As the Tribune notes, “More than any other city, Chicago has depended on Mexican immigrants to balance the sluggish growth of its native-born population, said Rob Paral, a Chicago-based demographer who advises nonprofits and community groups. During the 1990s, immigration accounted for most of Chicago's population growth. The number of Mexican immigrants rose by 117,000 in Chicago that decade, according to data gathered by Paral's firm, Rob Paral and Associates.”

There are things that can be done in coming years to mitigate the further exodus of residents from the state, said Michael Lucci, of the Illinois Policy Institute. He recommends refocusing on manufacturing jobs in the state and curbing property taxes.

"We're never gonna have Colorado's mountains or California's beaches," he said. "But we have historically had an attractive business and job market. The problem is that we don't have that anymore."

Late in the election,Trump perhaps wanting to be more compatible with House Republicans, Trump wants to lessen itemized deductions on Schedule A of both individual and married filers,  and with increased standard deductions of $30,000 for joint filers and $15,000 for singles, “how many will want to file for mortgage interest or property tax write-offs, as they do today,” noted nationally syndicated real estate columnist Kenneth Harney, thus decreasing the incentive to own homes, in even a moderate market like Chicago.

An outlier in the decrease of residents has been the exodus of African Americans from Chicago, especially those with children seeking better schools and an escape from the violence which has reached a crisis stage in 2016 alone; with shootings and homicides, much of which affects their own communities.

The 2010 census reported a 17 percent drop in the city's black population over the previous decade. That number declined another an additional 4 percent through 2014, to 852,756. White people have left the state for years," Paral said. "But African-Americans? That's the one-two punch.”

Chicago teachers ratify agreement, but money problems still linger

Karen Lewis

In a 72-28 vote, 25,000 members of the Chicago Teachers Union voted on Tuesday to ratify the tentative agreement reached between them and Chicago Public Schools. While this was not a nailbiter, in the strictest sense of the word, there was some concern among those that were dissatisfied at the changes for special education students, might be able to rally a rejoinder and reject the agreement, valued at $8.9 billion, some say, over four years.

Cooler heads prevailed and in the end, there were benefits that saved the teachers, say some, from virtual extinction, professionally speaking; and the contention of the pension pick-up was solved with a two-tier system where long-term employees will continue to get the 7 percent paid by CPS, and newer teachers not.at all

This loss by  Mayor Rahm Emanuel and school CEO Forrest Claypool, a creation of both a “stay put” for current teachers and a “pick-up” for new hires, seemed simple enough. But, there could be problems later on. As was noted, at the time,” Perhaps more importantly, the two-tier system would set the precedent of a different structure for compensation for new employees, potentially giving the city a tool to drive a wedge into the union’s ranks in future negotiations.”

The district also agreed to obtain outside funding to pay for as many as 55 "community schools" — at an annual cost of at least $500,000 per school — while creating a task force to select those buildings and determine how they could include community health care, after-school activities and support for homeless or chronically truant students.

Losses were felt with a reduction in ratio of social workers to students, far less than the National Association Of Social Workers recommends. "That was one of the last things to be dropped," said Vice President Jesse Sharkey, who concedes, "Those things cost a lot of money."

“Preliminary results show 72.33 percent of CTU members voted to accept the agreement,” said CTU President Karen Lewis in a statement. “This has taken nearly two years to reach a fair contract settlement. Now educators can focus their full energies on their classrooms as we continue to fight for equity throughout the district. I want to commend the rank-and-file for their leadership, commitment and hard work over the course of several months. This contract goes a long way in protecting our profession and our classrooms.”

Statements from Claypool, have been exuberant, where he actually bragged that the new deal is saving the city money. But, not so fast, says Greg Hinz of Crain's Chicago business, where he noted: "The fact is that by 2019, CPS, by its own figures, will be spending another $110 million a year on teacher compensation and benefits. This in a system that can't afford what it has now. CPS's sales job came in a briefing today [Thursday] during which it borrowed a page from Emanuel's book of exaggeration and bragged that the new deal "will save CPS $400 million compared to the previous contract."

Now, he notes, that “compared to the one entered into in 2012, [it] is not as rich. There will be no cost-of-living pay hikes for two years (one of them already past), but they'll get 2 percent in fiscal 2018 and 2.5 percent in fiscal 2019. Beyond that, pay hikes for longevity and obtaining an advanced degree, known as a "step and lane" hike, will be reinstated immediately after a one-year hiatus. CPS argues that's better than the old contract. Had its terms merely been extended—including COLAs and step-and-lane hikes every year, CPS would be paying an additional $400 million more over four years.”

A matter of semantics or fuzzy math, say critics.

The School Board is next to vote its approval and also the now revised school budget; public hearings are also scheduled in advance of the decision. CPS officials are still mum on the pricetag, and the $8.9 billion is a guesstimate from inside observers.

This is spin at its best, and careful observers are also wondering about what happens next with the still $1 billion shortfall, and the constant borrowing to improve and maintain the physical plant. The current votes and the expected ones from the State, while celebratory, are premature, with a look long down the road of fiscal responsibility.