CPS budget now includes rehiring teachers, cutting some program funding

Thanks to an anticipated $106 million in federal funds the Chicago Public Schools not only plans to rehire teachers but also will not zero out its reserve fund.

Thanks to an anticipated $106 million in federal funds the Chicago Public Schools not only plans to rehire teachers but also will not zero out its reserve fund. At its Aug. 25 meeting the Chicago School Board approved a $6.4 billion budget, which is $400 million higher than last year. The district’s 2011 budget is greater than the city of Chicago’s $6.3 billion budget for 2010. “The only changes to our budget we presented to the school board last week is how we plan to replenish the reserve fund, maintain high school class sizes and rehiring of teachers,” Diana Ferguson, chief financial officer for CPS, told the Defender. “But all other changes remain intact.” At last week’s school board meeting the public schools CEO Ron Huberman said the district hopes to restore up to 1,300 teaching jobs by Sept. 7, including those high school teachers who lost their jobs due to proposed class size increases. About 2,000 teaching jobs had been lost since January, according to CPS officials who added that teachers with satisfactory performance would be rehired. “We want the best and brightest teachers in our classrooms,” Huberman said. At Defender press time, Ferguson said the district had not determined how much money it plans to use from the reserve fund or how many teachers it plans to rehire. Teacher displacement has been a hot button issue since the beginning of the year when layoff notices began going out. The Chicago Teachers Union contends that 1,322 teachers have lost their jobs this year alone, and many of those teachers were tenured. “Parents and students should be outraged that CPS clearly targeted tenured teachers.  Without tenured teachers, students are at increased risk,” Karen Lewis, president of the CTU, said in a written statement. “Tenured teachers enforce class size limits, safety and student discipline matters. Tenured teachers review the school’s budget to ensure the money goes to students in the classroom.” Other budget cuts include reducing charter school funding by 6 percent for a savings of $15 million, a $6 million savings from CPS employees taking 21 furlough days and a $2 million savings from reducing supplemental security to schools. The district had projected a $30 million savings from increasing high school class sizes to 33 from 31, but Ferguson said class sizes would not be increased this year due to the additional federal funding. Last month President Barack Obama signed the $26.1 billion Education and Medicaid Act, which allocated $10 billion to school districts nationwide, in part to help fund teaching positions. Previously, Huberman told the Defender that the district would replenish its reserve fund once it received $236 million owed by the state. Huberman explained that other cuts to the budget would go forward. “We would not have to make painful cuts if the state would simply pay its bills on time,” he said. Among those cuts is the district’s newly created Culture of Calm program, designed as a safe passage initiative, which was cut by $20 million over two years. The district will now spend $40 million over two years instead of $60 million to help erase a $370 million deficit. A savings of $24 million would have come from reductions in bilingual programs but Ferguson said the district is now looking to minimize those reductions. Another $16 million in savings would come from cuts in enrichment and after school programs and programming for magnet schools. And a $10 million savings comes from cuts to transportation. Copyright 2010 Chicago Defender

(Defender/Worsom Robinson)

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