Now that Chicago Teachers Union members have ratified a new contract, CTU President Karen Lewis detailed what comes next for the union and Chicago Public Schools district.
“We will work with them to shore up their financial issues by promoting legislation that will adequately and equitably fund all of Illinois’ schools,” she said during a speech before the City Club of Chicago.
In discussing the vote results, Lewis said, “What I can tell you is that the level of distrust between the district, parents, educators and communities is still high, and will need a lot of work to repair these wounds.”
Chicago parents, aldermen and state lawmakers urged the city Friday to support a TIF surplus ordinance to help avert a potential teachers strike next week and alleviate school budget cuts.
The Chicago Teachers Union’s governing body approved an October 11 strike date Wednesday, putting the union one step closer toward its second walkout since 2012.
“If we cannot reach an agreement by then, we will withhold our labor,” CTU President Karen Lewis told reporters Wednesday evening after a special meeting of the union’s House of Delegates.
CTU and school district officials have yet to agree on a new labor contract to replace the one that expired in June 2015.
Five Chicago aldermen want to surplus funds from a tax increment financing, or TIF, district located in their wards and use the money to help “alleviate the budget crisis” at the cash-strapped Chicago Public Schools.
Progress Illinois provides highlights from Wednesday’s Chicago Board of Education meeting, during which the school district’s $5.4 billion budget was approved and TIF surplus supporters spoke out.
Chicago Public Schools officials heard familiar pleas for more school funding during a budget hearing Wednesday night in the South Loop.
CPS convened the 6 p.m. hearing to get public feedback on the district’s proposed $338 million capital budget for 2017. The hearing, held at the National Teachers Academy, was thinly attended and ended an hour early.
“I like the capital plan, but most people came here because they lost teachers at their school, they lost programs at their school,” Martin Ritter with the Chicago Teachers Union told CPS officials.
The Chicago Teachers Union’s governing body approved an October 11 strike date Wednesday, putting the union one step closer toward its second walkout since 2012. 