By Greg Bishop/Illinois Radio Network
CHICAGO – The fight between Chicago Public Schools and the teachers’ union could end up affecting every taxpayer in Chicago big time, according to a research associated with the Heritage Foundation.
Not long after authorizing a strike, Chicago teachers rejected an offer that CPS CEO Forrest Claypool said would have given teachers’ a raise, among other concessions.
“It would have prevented teachers from being laid off due to a lack of funding,” Claypool said. “It would have provided more autonomy for teachers and it would have restricted charter school expansion.”
However, among other demands, the union wants a shift of tax increment funding, or money used to encourage developers to build in blighted areas, to schools and for lawmakers in Springfield to pass a transaction tax.
Mary Clare Reim, a research associate with the Heritage Foundation, said reports the deal could cost taxpayers a billion dollars will rattle some cages.
“I think when people hear that number,” Reim said, “they will start to understand that this will mean a significant difference for every person living in Chicago.”
Meanwhile Claypool said the move is on to make cuts.
“We’ll have to cut $1 million from school budgets in order to help decrease our deficit,” Claypool said.
Reim said the high cost of education tied in with projected deficits makes things very gloomy.
“All this coupled together looks at a dire economic straits in Chicago,” Reim said.
Governor Bruce Rauner said earlier this week that if Chicago’s mayor can’t strike a deal with teachers, then his administration, through a state board overseeing the district, can. Leading Democrats doubt a measure to have a state takeover of CPS is going anywhere.
