For the second time, as mayor of Chicago, Rahm Emanuel faces the very real possibility of another Chicago Teachers Union strike --- the previous one, in 2012, earning him not only the enmity of his well-established opponents, but also an expansion of them. This time around, Emanuel, battle-scarred by overdue pension payments and a city budget awash in red ink, and high crime, is in no mood to play the bad guy.
Now, he has placed the blame on the teachers, but has also reached out to parents to protest the supposed greedy, non-compliant, and self-serving teachers, and that he cares about the kids. It’s a gamble City Hall sources say that he must do, to try and prevent him from being further mired in negative publicity, and calculated, his advisers say, to keep him above the fray, as he grapples with other pressing problems. Statements such as “strike of choice” and “totally unnecessary,” play to the core of his intended audience, parents.
For many residents this concern rings hollow, after the by now, historic closings of 50 schools, in predominantly black neighborhoods that forced many children to walk, in anticipation, through drug-infested neighborhoods; which Emanuel was forced to acknowledge with the hiring of a civilian watch force to guide them safely, to and from school.
Education, especially public education has been politicized as an outsized football to be used, or misused, as the occasion demands, and for Chicago, which has the nation’s third largest school system with 396,641 students, the problem becomes enlarged as the district with a junk-bond rating, and facing a debt of over $1.1 billion, is in serious financial distress. So much so that Republican Governor Bruce Rauner said that bankruptcy was not off the chart, although these charges were later refuted by education experts.
Adding more fuel to the fire in contract negotiations, are over 40 alderman, members of Emanuel’s city council, presumably loyal, who have demanded that the city use its Tax Increment Finance funds, not already committed, (where taxes are frozen for a specific period of time, with anything beyond going into a designated fund, and at the mayor’s disposal) to be used to shore up the ailing district. There are currently 146 of these areas, but some reports give a higher figure of 151. Changes to redirect these monies to CPS would require a change in city law
“Ald. George Cardenas, 12th, has led efforts in the City Council to push Emanuel to use TIF money to help shore up the CPS bank account. Cardenas said he met late last week in Emanuel's office with CTU representatives and the mayor's top aides in a bid to hash out an agreement on using surplus from TIF funds to prevent a walkout, reported the Chicago Tribune.
"We want to avoid a strike, of course, and a (TIF) surplus could give a win to everyone. I want to find a win-win," Cardenas said. "The mayor can claim a victory on avoiding a strike, the CTU can claim victory on the finances of the (school) district and we can all move forward."
In addition, five Illinois State Reps have lent their support to this idea, and addressed their concern, in a letter to Emanuel, where they urged him “to support Chicago Public Education Revitalization Ordinance, which would release necessary TIF surplus funds of $460 million for 2016.”
Those that signed were Ann M. Williams (11th), Barbara Flynn Currie (25th), Will Guzzardi (39th), Sara Feigenholtz (6th) and Jamie Andrade (40th).
Emanuel has countered that the District already has received monies in the past and that in any event it would not be enough, and how could future demands be met, and that their proposal is not a long-term solution. His spokesperson Molly Poppe has said that $32.5 million dollars in surplus is helping teachers and existing school budgets. Yet, critics note that if that were so, then why would principals have to scrape for the current budget cycle, to meet minimum standards?
Eager to turn the tide of public opinion to the teachers, the CTU is just as eager to return the favor back to money. "The settlement hinges on money coming from a development slush fund into the public school system," CTU Vice President Jesse Sharkey said last week. "That's what the settlement hinges on. It's about the money."
Contract negotiations also hinge on teacher layoffs -- with another round of 250 -- less than two days ago, (due to lowered enrollment), budget cuts, pension cut payments, the loss of “step and lane” increases and increasing healthcare costs, and longer school days. Of utmost concern for the CTU is the loss of the 7 percent pension contribution by CPS, which chief Forrest Claypool says is no longer affordable, and which the union says is actually a pay cut, which CPS denies, even as it says that there will be a 13 percent raise.
Donna Kiel, director of De Paul University’s Office of Innovative Professional Learning said, on that school’s news website: “I’m not sure (strikes) are the best solution, that’s for sure,” Kiel said. “But I think given the current situation, I don’t know what other recourse Chicago teachers have (…) last time it was all about the teacher evaluation system and job security, and now it’s all about just being able to exist.”
Some object to the use of TIF monies saying that the loss of revenue, from the surplus would be a decrease in road work, construction, and development of vacant properties, to name but a few. They also point out the newly opened Whole Foods in the Englewood neighborhood, one of the poorest and most dangerous neighborhoods in the city, as the good that TIFs can do.
Critics counter that the funds have been grossly misused, over the years, especially by former mayor, Richard M. Daley, for such trifles as the posh French Market; but Emanuel has also continued in that direction with plans for a hotel and a basketball arena for De Paul University, near the convention center..
The ideological divide between public perception of teachers and the public may be the greatest hurdle, particularly in a large metropolitan area, where teachers have to be teacher as well as counselor, social worker. Parent, and in some schools purchasing agent. And, then they have to counter the oft quoted, and dreaded statement, “those that can’t, teach,” which says a lot about how the profession is viewed by some residents, and the none too subtle message that the mayor is hinging his argument on: that they don’t as a group, really deserve more than he is willing to give.
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