‘ WHERE’SMR. CLAYPOOL?’
Angry aldermen demand answers on whether CPS will cut school year short
Chicago aldermen on Tuesday unleashed their anger at being left in the dark as time grows short to solve a financial crisis at the Chicago Public Schools that threatens to cut the school year three weeks short.
The City Council’s Finance Committee took no action on a long- stalled ordinance that would automatically forward to the schools surplus tax increment financing funds in any year when CPS is in financial distress.
Finance Chairman Edward M. Burke ( 14th) said the ordinance championed by Ald. George Cardenas ( 12th), chairman of the CityCouncil’s Hispanic Caucus, needs work before a final vote is taken.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who used $ 87.5 million in surplus TIF funds to stave off another teachers strike, is determined to stall a vote to avoid letting the Illinois General Assembly off the hook.
But, sensing the mounting frustration with the financial secrecy of Schools CEOForrest Claypool, Burke allowed a hearing on the issue to give aldermen someplace to go with their anger before they explode.
“People in this city need an answer. This is getting ridiculous. . . . Where’s Mr. Claypool? Where is the board? Andwhen arewe gonna get an answer about the future of our children?” said Ald. Scott Waguespack ( 32nd), one of the Chicago Teachers Union’s staunchest City Council allies.
Waguespack said he is “sick and tired of taking all the calls without being able to give an answer” to parents whowant to knowwhether the school year will be cut short.
“It’s just getting to the point of insanity where there is zero leadership from the people who are supposed to exhibit that leadership. What are we supposed to tell our kids and our parents? Wait another day? Wait another week? Wait until June 1 and let’s see if you’re lucky enough to have a parent who stays at home?” Waguespack said.
“If somebody from CPS, namely Mr. Claypool, would step up here once in a while— at least once a year — and tell us what’s going on, that might be a little more helpful. But we’ve gotten zippo fromthose guys.”
Ald. John Arena ( 45th) noted that Claypool’s threat to end the school year on June 1 has dramatic consequences in a city struggling with unrelenting gang violence and the bloodshed that it triggers.
“When CPS says the date that school will end is going to be three weeks earlier, that’s not just about our kids not getting the full year of education. That’s about public safety. That’s about . . . where these kids are going to be during the day. And not just during the school day. Our schools are sanctuaries and refuges after school, before school for many children in this city,” Arena said.
“We have to do this now. There is not time to wait because the date is coming. And our kids need this refuge or this summer will be a harder summer for families in this city than we all want to accept. That is the reality that we’re looking at here.”
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of a bill thatwould have provided $ 215 million in pension help, already built into the CPS budget, has prompted several rounds of budget cuts and furlough days.
CPS also has threatened to end the school year threeweeks early and dramatically reduce summer school if the pension help is not forthcoming in time for the broke school system to make a state- mandated $ 730 million payment to the ChicagoTeachers Pension Fund due on June 30.
“As a result ofGov. Rauner’s racially discriminatory funding system, our students have been shortchanged by $ 500 million this year,” CPS spokesman Michael Passman said in a statement ahead of a Wednesday court hearing on a lawsuit brought against the state by CPS. “The court set an expedited schedule, and we will provide families with clarity on the length of the school year after the court rules. CPS would not be facing these horrible choices if Gov. Rauner took action to ensure our students received the same state funding that predominately white school districts in the rest of Illinois receive.”
Illinois Secretary of Education Beth Purvis responded with a statement, saying Rauner created a bipartisan school funding commission to improve the state’s funding formula.
“Instead of pointing fingers and blaming decades of fiscal mismanagement on a governor who has been in office for two years, CPS should be urging legislators to pass a balanced budget that includes changes to our education system in Illinois that will better meet the needs of every student,” Purvis said.
Cardenas acknowledged that the TIF surplus ordinance was debated last year. The difference now is the sense of urgency.
“Some of you call it a song and dance. But we’re dancing again. . . . People want to be heard,” Cardenas said.
“Constituents want to let us know how they feel. For us to understand their circumstances and how they can’t plan in their own lives when it comes to their jobs, when it comes to child care. They can’t plan something as simple as just taking the day off because they don’t know if they’re gonna have to use those days later on. They can’t get sick because they may have to use a sick day as well when the need really arises.”
Earlier this month, Emanuel refused to saywhether hewas prepared to borrow money, raid tax- increment financing funds or raise taxes again to prevent the Chicago Public Schools from closing three weeks early.