Following a press conference held on Tuesday before the first of two finance committee meetings this week, CTU educators and families will distribute flyers to county residents ahead of making public comment outside the Cook County board on Wednesday.
They will point to the $5 billion Governor Pritzker and the General Assembly owe Illinois’ students, the $400M Treasurer Pappas has collected but not distributed to CPS, and the exclusion of Chicago Public Schools from a no-interest loan program created by the Board to mitigate damaging delays as bills that have come due and actions that need to be taken.
The Cook County Board’s handling of property taxes that fund public education and other services has forced districts to take on short-term loans with costly interest for money that they are already owed but is not being delivered in a timely manner. For underfunded school districts dealing with inadequate budgets from the state and cuts to federal revenues, borrowing is a costly necessity to bridge gaps in funding. But the unprecedented delays by the County over this last year has created needless additional burden that robs students of libraries, sports programs and special education services. As a result, money already designated by taxpayers and meant for classrooms is instead being spent on payments to banks during the gaps caused by the County’s delays.
Last year, the Board’s delay in property tax distribution was reported to cost Chicago Public Schools $220,000 per day in interest over the six month gap – the equivalent of at least two teaching positions lost per day – and cost other schools districts, community colleges, and libraries at least $120 million in additional borrowing costs and expenses.
Participants will continue sharing three demands:
- The County Board has a bridge program that already aids suburban districts within the County but has inexplicably left out Chicago from its implementation. End the arbitrary exclusion of Chicago Public Schools.
- Treasurer Pappas release $400 million in funds that have been collected but are being withheld from the school districts at a time when they are trying to pass their budgets
- The County pass a resolution and actively demand the Governor and General Assembly for a special session that makes Illinois’ students a mega project the way Springfield has responded to the owners of the Bears and big tech.
