Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis is pondering a 2015 mayoral run against Rahm Emanuel.

“I’m a little sick of the mayor and I don’t see anyone stepping up,” Lewis said Thursday, reported the Chicago Sun-Times. “I am seriously thinking about it.”

Former Chicago 9th Ward Alderman Robert Shaw has announced plans for a 2015 mayoral bid, while Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle says she's running for re-election, but hasn't fully ruled out a mayoral run.

News that Lewis is "seriously thinking" about challenging Emanuel came the same day the Chicago Public Schools announced it will layoff 1,150 employees, including 550 teachers, due to declining enrollment. 

Lewis issued this statement earlier on Thursday in response to the school district's announcement of layoffs:

The decision by the mayor and his handpicked Board of Education to lay off 1,150 teachers and school support staff  today in yet another brutal attack on public education in Chicago is bitterly disappointing and an example of the continued destruction and decimation of neighborhood schools. In a little over a year, CPS student-based budgeting has led to the removal of close to 5,000 teachers, teacher assistants, librarians, paraprofessionals and school-related personnel (PSRPs), technology coordinators and instructional aides from classrooms as severe cuts cause principals to make the difficult decisions that the district cannot. This loss of teachers and staff will directly impact the quality of instruction offered in our schools, and is unnecessary and shameful for a district that claims to provide a high-quality education for its students. 

With this latest round of layoffs— the fourth time in the past five years in which we have seen summer layoffs in excess of 1,000—and the hundreds of positions lost at the three schools slated for turnaround this year, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his Board continue their war on our educators by doing nothing to salvage school budgets other than forcing principals to terminate valued teachers and staff. 

Of the 1,150 layoffs announced today, 550 are teachers and 600 are Educational Support Personnel (ESP). Approximately 250 of these ESPs are Chicago Teachers Union PSRPs. The layoffs stem from the low level of per-pupil funding which CPS Central Office set for schools, meaning that all over the city, principals are being forced, for example, to choose between keeping a veteran teacher and keeping a program library. Current budgets are so low that schools can’t keep both. 

While the district claims that most of the cuts are due to drops in enrollment, there are an ever-increasing number of charter schools siphoning students out of public schools and contributing to a system of dysfunction and instability that leads parents to seek other options for their children. The situation serves to underscore the unacceptably low level of funding that Chicago’s neighborhood schools receive, as every time teachers and other staff are cut, it is harder for schools to serve communities, and the teachers who remain have to shoulder more and more of the burden. 

This decision further demonstrates the disdain for public education and the lack of leadership and vision for the city from our mayor and his handpicked Board. Do we want “Star Wars” museums or public, neighborhood schools? Do we want presidential libraries or librarians for every child?