Chicago Public Schools officials had an opportunity to enact serious reforms addressing the district’s dire financial condition, but they instead opted to further burden Chicago taxpayers without offering any change.
Until CPS passes necessary spending and pension reforms, giving any additional money to the system will only reward officials’ mismanagement and reckless behavior.
Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan’s insistence that Chicago Public Schools receive more than its fair share of state education funding is putting any stopgap budget deal at risk.
Illinois government-worker unions demand pay that outstrips that of Illinois private-sector workers and propose numerous tax hikes to fund their contract demands.
Creating new special service areas for the sole benefit of Chicago Public Schools would mean hitting homeowners with an additional $100 million in taxes.
The Illinois Educational Labor Relations Board determined there is enough evidence of the illegality of CTU’s April 1 walkout for CPS to pursue a court order to prevent CTU from waging any similar strikes.
The union’s one-day strike is an illegal, aggressive political power play, and its attempt to coerce its members to participate violates its own constitution. Here’s a breakdown of the timeline, the law and the political statement the union is making.
Karen Lewis, whose six-figure salary comes from teachers’ union dues, expects rank-and-file teachers to forgo part of their salaries to participate in a one-day strike.