A group of Chicago aldermen proposed a package of ordinances Wednesday to generate revenue for the city's cash-strapped public schools.
The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) district has a $300 million budget gap, and schools are reportedly facing a 7 percent funding cut in the upcoming academic year.
"We've received some money from the state, but it's just not enough," Ald. Roderick Sawyer (6th) said at a press conference before the council meeting with fellow aldermen, the Chicago Teachers Union and other education advocates.
"We need to find more progressive and more viable solutions to increase revenue so that all of our schools can be adequately financed, so that we can give quality teachers an opportunity to teach in our schools," he continued. "When I had a conversation with a principal yesterday, she was perplexed that she could not hire a 20-plus year veteran school teacher because she could not afford it. That's not right."
Individual Chicago public school budgets for the upcoming academic year were released Wednesday to principals, and they contain "no new per-pupil funding cuts," according to the district.
The Illinois State Board of Education found that the Chicago Public Schools district does not meet the requirements for a state takeover, according to documents published on its website.
Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool rallied with pastors and community leaders Tuesday morning against Gov. Bruce Rauner's proposed education cuts targeting the district.
A group of Chicago aldermen proposed a package of ordinances Wednesday to generate revenue for the city's cash-strapped public schools.