Chicago Public Schools accuses teachers union of trying to tank district financially

Chicago Public Schools is criticizing the district’s teachers union for demands it says would create a $4 billion deficit by the 2029-2030 school year, including during a meeting between the district and the Chicago Teachers Union on Tuesday.

The Chicago Teachers Union made over 700 contract proposals to the school district, which included 9% salary increases and the hiring of additional staff, but district budget chief Mike Sitkowski said granting even just 52 of the proposals would spike the projected $509 million deficit for the next fiscal year to $3 billion and reach $4 billion by 2030.

“We believe our educators deserve fair raises, but we must acknowledge what is responsible and sustainable,” Sitkowski said, according to Chalkbeat Chicago. Even without the new proposals, the district is set to see deficits increase over the next five years.

To pay for the additional costs, the union recommended that the school district raise more money by increasing taxes and suing banks for what union officials say has been predatory lending involving the school district. The union also suggested trying to find more federal tax dollars and taxing tech companies for “profiting off our students’ and families’ private data.”

Squabbles over the union demands have continued for several months, when negotiations have hit a bit of a standstill, and comments from the district occurred at a public bargaining session on Tuesday focused on the financial realities of Chicago Public Schools.

Union officials did not directly address the costs of their proposals, with Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jackson Potter saying that mentioning the deficit “sends the message that you can’t meet any of our recommendations,” and President Stacy Davis Gates adding that “the price tag is opportunity for black children, immigrant children, and Latine children.”

“Come hell or high water, and I don’t give a damn who pay,” Davis Gates said of the contract proposals.

Deficit concerns in Chicago and around the country are highlighted by the fact that pandemic emergency relief funding, or ESSER funds, is running out this year, which will force school districts to return to their pre-pandemic funding levels. Many unions are trying to force a continuation of pandemic funding levels and are portraying a return to normal funding as budget cuts.

However, both the Chicago school district and the union have tried to get Illinois to cover costs over the $25 million it already gave, although Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D-IL) and statewide superintendent Tony Sanders have already shot down the idea of more funding.

As the Washington Examiner has reported, Chicago Public Schools has spent millions of dollars on a curriculum that attempts to undercut the advances of Western society, teaches children to become political activists and “decolonize,” and reinstates African griot “oral tradition,” sometimes in contravention of reading.

The union is also trying to push hard-left activism in its contract negotiations, such as by making climate-related demands, including using solar panels to power school buildings and purchasing a fleet of electric buses.