Citing Deficit, Board Denies Teachers Pay Raise

Pleading poverty, the newly-seated Chicago Board of Education voted Wednesday to rescind a scheduled 4 percent raise for Chicago Public Schools teachers that would have cost almost $100 million.

The board’s unanimous decision came after it revealed that the CPS budget deficit — which it said is now $712 million — includes millions of dollars in previously undisclosed costs.

The yearly raises are part of the Chicago Teachers Union contract, which is in its final year, but they are only enacted if the board agrees the district can afford them. The raises have been approved each year since the current contract began in 2007.

Board president David Vitale said teacher layoffs could still occur despite the vote. The CTU and other unions whose contractual raises were affected have until 11:59 p.m. Monday to ask to re-open part of their contracts in order to negotiate around the raises.

Before the board voted, CPS Chief Operating Officer Tim Cawley presented an updated budget estimate, which pegged the district’s deficit at $712 million — $8 million less than the figure the administration has been citing for months. The revised estimate takes into account almost $75 million in federal funds that the district previously said had been used. The Chicago News Cooperative reported Tuesday that CPS had not spent the money and still had it available.

The updated deficit projection also includes $70 million CPS plans to pay the Chicago Police Department for in-school support over the last four years, substantially more than the amount set in the agreement between the two agencies. Police currently serve 96 high schools at a cost of roughly $8 million per year. Cawley said the district has “not been close to compensating them adequately.”

Although teachers may not receive their 4 percent raises, district officials said roughly 74 percent of teachers will still get other raises based on length of service and education level. CPS has allotted $35 million for those pay hikes, known as step and lane increases.

CTU president Karen Lewis called the district’s figure for the number of teachers set to get those raises “ridiculous.”

The average salary of a CPS teacher is $69,000. Alicia Winckler, the district’s Chief of Human Capital, said Chicago teachers’ pay ranks either “1st or 2nd” among the country’s 10 largest urban school districts. Lewis disputed those statistics and cited a recent Sun-Times analysis that ranked average salaries of CPS elementary school teachers 38th highest among Illinois districts, while average salaries of high school teachers ranked 71st.

“The city did not get into this financial mess by overpaying teachers and paraprofessionals,” Lewis said before the vote. “This is your first vote. You can turn this ship around.”

Mayor Rahm Emanuel praised the board’s action and pre-emptively thanked the teachers for their sacrifice.

“I commend the Board for their courage in facing the hard-truth of a $712 million deficit,” Emanuel said in a statement. “I appreciate their vigilance in minimizing cuts to our children’s classrooms and their commitment to ensuring the public schools are accountable to Chicago’s taxpayers. In addition, I want to thank the dedicated teachers and administrators who will make the sacrifice in the interest of improving our children’s education.”