What does Chicago Teachers' Union want?
Normally, I don't read socialistic and/or communist publications. Blame it on my background, but there's something about reading those texts that inspires (at best) forceful eye-rolling and (at worst) outright discomfort. If you write something that seems to be taking talking points out of Soviet-era propaganda books that filled my elementary school library, you're going to make my eyes glaze over and I'm not going to pay attention to anything you say.
I was temped to do the same thing with an article from the Socialist Worker that came across my Twitter feed. It talked about the current negotiations between Chicago Public Schools district and Chicago Teachers Union. If you may recall, the previous negotiations, which took place in 2012, broke down, leading to a strike. Given that CTU was one of the major backers of Jesus "Chuy" Garcia's candidacy, nobody expects the negotiations to be easy.
Scene from the 2012 CTU teachers' strike
Like I said - I just kind of barely glanced over the article until I came across this bit.
CPS refuses to budge on CTU's demands to improve conditions for both teachers and students, including a library in every school; vermin removal and air quality control; restorative justice coordinators to replace harsh disciplinary measures; expansion of extracurricular activities; a shift from expensive Teach for America placement programs to "grow your own" trainings that allow school clerks and aides to become teachers; and strengthened rights for laid-off members.
This may be the most ambitious CTU proposal in recent history. It goes a step beyond some of the non-salary related demands made last time around (which included art and cultural programs in all schools).
These aren't the only issues at stake. At the moment, the biggest stumbling block involves the way CPS handles pension contributions. To try to make a complicated story short, back in the 1980s, the school district made a deal with CTU - the teachers wouldn't get the raise, but the district would cover a cover part of the teachers' contributions to the pension funds directly out of its own pocket. While the district wound up giving teachers raises during the last contract negotiations, it still partially covers the teachers' share of the pensions.
Right now, CPS is saying that it's not going to give any raises (because there's no money for that), and they want the teachers to cover more of their share of the pension contributions. CPS, meanwhile, argues that it has no money to make raises or maintain current level of pension contributions. CTU retorted that, since they aren't getting a raise, this amounts to a pay cut. They've also argued that CPS needs to clean up its own wasteful spending before asking the teachers to take a pay cut, pointed to a high-interest financing deal that wound up making the district's debt worse, as well as the deal to privatize janitorial services that were supposed to save money wound up saving nothing because it went so over budget (while the schools literally got filthier).
As I've written before, CPS has never been in a deeper financial hole - and that's affecting even the best schools in the entire district. Since I wrote that post, I attended one more meeting, and the situation only got more depressing - Payton's principal estimates that he would have to fire 11 teachers and staffers. Given how much the prep school cut already, this is an understandably frightening thought.
For the past few years, CPS schools have been caught in an unfortunate Catch 20/20. The entire district has a bad reputation. Overcoming it is possible - if there is money to improve the building, improve programs and hire good teachers. We've seen it with Taft High School, Lake View High School, Kenwood Academy... Even Seen High School, my neighborhood high school, has made some progress with what little money it had. But as the district struggled with budget issues, school funding keeps on getting cut. Which means that even the best schools in the district have to cut corners.
Payton principal said point-blank that there is no way he can make cuts without effecting quality of education. And if that happens with Payton, what does this say about the financial situation at schools like Taft, Kenwood, Morgan Park High School, etc?
If the quality of education declines, less people are going to want to send their kids to those schools. The funding will drop, which would force schools to cut more... You get the idea.
A lot of CTU suggestions outlined in the Socialist Worker would make schools better. They would ensure that less students would drop out, that more students would have a chance to fix their mistakes. But all of those suggestions require money. Money CPS doesn't have. Even if you somehow magically fix its financial inefficiencies and corruption-riddled contracts, the pension debt isn't going to go away.
So what the hell are we supposed to do?
Finally, so long as we're on the topic, I should mention one thing. During the last strike, I was out on the Near North Side, covering it for the Skyline newspaper. While the teachers were determined to make their voices heard, all of them told me that they wanted the strike to end as soon as possible. For some, I suspect, it was about money (teachers don't get paid for the days they're on strike), but most were genuinely frustrated that the whole thing threw off their lesson plans, which hurt their students' learning process.
During the last Payton Local School Council meeting I attended, the teacher on the LSC said that he didn't want a strike. I believe him. And I suspect that a lot of the teachers feel the same way.
But that does not mean they won't strike if they feel they have no other choice.
I was temped to do the same thing with an article from the Socialist Worker that came across my Twitter feed. It talked about the current negotiations between Chicago Public Schools district and Chicago Teachers Union. If you may recall, the previous negotiations, which took place in 2012, broke down, leading to a strike. Given that CTU was one of the major backers of Jesus "Chuy" Garcia's candidacy, nobody expects the negotiations to be easy.
Scene from the 2012 CTU teachers' strike
Like I said - I just kind of barely glanced over the article until I came across this bit.
CPS refuses to budge on CTU's demands to improve conditions for both teachers and students, including a library in every school; vermin removal and air quality control; restorative justice coordinators to replace harsh disciplinary measures; expansion of extracurricular activities; a shift from expensive Teach for America placement programs to "grow your own" trainings that allow school clerks and aides to become teachers; and strengthened rights for laid-off members.
This may be the most ambitious CTU proposal in recent history. It goes a step beyond some of the non-salary related demands made last time around (which included art and cultural programs in all schools).
These aren't the only issues at stake. At the moment, the biggest stumbling block involves the way CPS handles pension contributions. To try to make a complicated story short, back in the 1980s, the school district made a deal with CTU - the teachers wouldn't get the raise, but the district would cover a cover part of the teachers' contributions to the pension funds directly out of its own pocket. While the district wound up giving teachers raises during the last contract negotiations, it still partially covers the teachers' share of the pensions.
Right now, CPS is saying that it's not going to give any raises (because there's no money for that), and they want the teachers to cover more of their share of the pension contributions. CPS, meanwhile, argues that it has no money to make raises or maintain current level of pension contributions. CTU retorted that, since they aren't getting a raise, this amounts to a pay cut. They've also argued that CPS needs to clean up its own wasteful spending before asking the teachers to take a pay cut, pointed to a high-interest financing deal that wound up making the district's debt worse, as well as the deal to privatize janitorial services that were supposed to save money wound up saving nothing because it went so over budget (while the schools literally got filthier).
As I've written before, CPS has never been in a deeper financial hole - and that's affecting even the best schools in the entire district. Since I wrote that post, I attended one more meeting, and the situation only got more depressing - Payton's principal estimates that he would have to fire 11 teachers and staffers. Given how much the prep school cut already, this is an understandably frightening thought.
For the past few years, CPS schools have been caught in an unfortunate Catch 20/20. The entire district has a bad reputation. Overcoming it is possible - if there is money to improve the building, improve programs and hire good teachers. We've seen it with Taft High School, Lake View High School, Kenwood Academy... Even Seen High School, my neighborhood high school, has made some progress with what little money it had. But as the district struggled with budget issues, school funding keeps on getting cut. Which means that even the best schools in the district have to cut corners.
Payton principal said point-blank that there is no way he can make cuts without effecting quality of education. And if that happens with Payton, what does this say about the financial situation at schools like Taft, Kenwood, Morgan Park High School, etc?
If the quality of education declines, less people are going to want to send their kids to those schools. The funding will drop, which would force schools to cut more... You get the idea.
A lot of CTU suggestions outlined in the Socialist Worker would make schools better. They would ensure that less students would drop out, that more students would have a chance to fix their mistakes. But all of those suggestions require money. Money CPS doesn't have. Even if you somehow magically fix its financial inefficiencies and corruption-riddled contracts, the pension debt isn't going to go away.
So what the hell are we supposed to do?
Finally, so long as we're on the topic, I should mention one thing. During the last strike, I was out on the Near North Side, covering it for the Skyline newspaper. While the teachers were determined to make their voices heard, all of them told me that they wanted the strike to end as soon as possible. For some, I suspect, it was about money (teachers don't get paid for the days they're on strike), but most were genuinely frustrated that the whole thing threw off their lesson plans, which hurt their students' learning process.
During the last Payton Local School Council meeting I attended, the teacher on the LSC said that he didn't want a strike. I believe him. And I suspect that a lot of the teachers feel the same way.
But that does not mean they won't strike if they feel they have no other choice.