Among the U.S.’ 50 largest school districts, CPS teachers’ pay ranks No. 1 for teachers with a bachelor’s degree and five years’ experience, No. 2 for first-year teachers with a bachelor’s degree, and No. 3 for first-year teachers with a master’s degree.
The district’s borrowing does take pressure off of the district’s immediate cash-flow problem. However, it does nothing to solve the CPS’ long-term financial crisis and its structural imbalances – in fact it only makes things worse.
The crisis threatens to burden taxpayers with massive, ever-escalating taxes to bail out a system that is not sustainable – government-worker pensions consume a fourth of the state’s budget.
Mere months after passing the largest tax hike in modern Chicago history, Mayor Rahm Emanuel vows to hit residents with even higher property-tax bills, this time to bail out pension mismanagement by Chicago Public Schools officials – behavior tacitly endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union.
Chicago teachers’ salaries are based on a complex and convoluted system that has provided teachers with annual pay increases well in excess of the 2.75 to 3 percent raises proposed by the district.
Amid CPS’ postponed $875 million bond sale, Chicagoans should question whether the district can fill its budget hole and whether Emanuel will stand up for Chicago taxpayers or give in to more teachers union demands.
CPS is broke. To preserve funding for the classroom and Chicago's children, and to keep CPS from going belly up, CPS officials must broker significant concessions from the union.
Chicago’s $1.15 billion projected budget gap is the latest in a decades-long string of structural deficits. Making Chicago’s high taxes worse is not the solution.