Below is an op-ed from the Suntimes. And below that are my comments.
No way around CPS teacher pay freeze
Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman on Thursday painted the grimmest financial picture the Chicago schools have ever seen.
The budget deficit could top $900 million, a hole so big that Huberman says he needs major concessions from teachers -- a move that could easily lead to a teachers' strike if the unions refuse to play ball.
We're not alerting parents to cause a panic or to bash beleaguered teachers.
We're alerting parents now, when there's still time, to try to resolve this crisis and avoid a strike.
The best hope is for the Chicago teachers to accept a wage freeze.
Huberman can't say that out loud. On Thursday, he simply laid out the sorry facts of the deficit, saying concessions are one piece of a multi-part solution. He's courting the unions now, giving them a chance to pick their poison, hoping they'll offer up cost-saving ideas.
But it is nearly impossible to see a way out of this mess -- or a teachers' strike -- without a wage freeze.
The Chicago Teachers Union contract locks in 4 percent raises through 2012 -- really about 5.5 percent with experience and higher degrees added in. Eliminating that raise in 2011 saves $135 million.
Undoubtedly, the union will balk at a wage freeze. Already, Union President Marilyn Stewart has rejected altering the union contract.
In turn, Huberman won't budge, arguing he has no cash to spare -- and he won't be lying.
Then what? Months of stalemate.
In fatter years, CPS would avert a strike by caving. This year, CPS does not have the dollars to give.
CTU has no choice but to seriously consider the wage freeze. Not because teachers don't deserve a raise. Not because teachers should pay for poor planning and mismanagement by CPS over the years.
But because we see no alternative.
CPS' massive budget deficit, Huberman says, is driven by three biggies: a $138 million drop in tax revenue, $135 million in increased salary costs and, most significantly, a $280 million increase in its pension bill.
Dealing with that pension bill is part two of Huberman's strategy for reining in the deficit.
Between 2009 and 2011, the cost of pensions jumps from $178 million to $587 million to comply with a formula set by state law. Huberman is lobbying Springfield to drop that bill by $300 million. He's also, wisely, pushing to correct a funding formula that unfairly favors the pension fund for non-Chicago teachers over the CTU's pension fund.
The union will resist on reducing the pension payment, though CPS could use their help. The union blames CPS for creating the problem -- for decades, a portion of property tax dollars was dedicated to CTU's pension, but CPS ended that in 1995. The union has a good point. The pension fund lost out on between $1.5 and $2 billion in payments over a decade. But CPS must deal with today, not the past.
Huberman also wants more money from Springfield, which almost certainly won't happen, and plans on deep cuts in central office and school programs. This is on top of 1,000 layoffs and vacant position closures expected this school year. CPS needs to be transparent about these cuts, which it hasn't been so far, to assure the public that real cuts are taking place.
Wages for non-union CPS staff are already frozen, and they'll take 15 unpaid days this year.
No one wants to deny hard-working teachers a raise.
But we see no other way.
Without union concessions -- one of CPS' only guaranteed ways to save money -- CPS is looking at devastating cuts in every corner of the school system.
Ron Huberman isn't crying wolf.
It's time for big concessions now -- rather than face massive disruption in the schools and an ugly and fruitless strike down the road.
FREEZE THE FREEZE
Freeze the fireworks for a year.
Re-negotiate the parking meter fiasco to at least get a percentage of the revenues.
Freeze the festivals for a year.
Freeze park programs for a year.
Freeze turnaround school program for a year.
Reduce CPS non-union pay positions--administrative, board--to the maximum amount that the most veteran teacher makes.
Freeze the greenery of the medians for a year.
Close schools on snow days and reduce salt use.
Freeze the guns-for-cash program.
Freeze the traffic directors program for a year.
Freeze the Universal Breakfast Program for a year.
Make an Olympic effort to have the world's best school system.
