Chicago

Enough on teacher salaries. How much do teachers union bosses make?

By Paul Kersey
09/12/2012
Striking Chicago teachers have at times echoed the themes of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Hostility toward big corporations that benefit from tax breaks and other giveaways (real and imagined) has been a recurring theme.  Yesterday CTU President Karen Lewis told a rally “I’m not afraid to say that we care about our children and we...

Chicago Teachers Union demands huge raise on top of million-dollar pensions

By Jonathan Ingram
09/11/2012
Chicago teachers are striking. You may recall that they were demanding a 30 percent raise earlier this year, which would have spiked the average teacher’s salary to nearly six figures. But nobody seems to be talking about what this will do to a pension system already in trouble. Chicago teachers’ pension fund is woefully underfunded. According to new...

TAGS: CPS: Chicago Public Schools, CTU: Chicago Teachers Union, pensions

Cheat Sheet: Chicago Public Schools

By Benjamin VanMetre
09/11/2012
    Cut through the rhetoric. Here are the facts. CPS Revenues and Expenditures Total revenues: $5,534,664,416 (source Ilearn/ISBE) Total local revenues: $2,508,887,449 (source Ilearn/ISBE) Total state revenues: $1,906,809,466 (source Ilearn/ISBE) Total federal revenues: $1,118,976,501 (source Ilearn/ISBE) Total expenditures 2011: $5,680,099,797 (source Ilearn/ISBE) Chicago public schools will drain their cash reserves this year and will face a $1 billion shortfall during the...

Chicago public school teachers are overpaid

By Chris Andriesen
09/11/2012
by Lawrence J. McQuillan, PhD  Chief Economist The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) is on strike to get, among other things, more pay. They originally asked for a 30 percent pay raise. The current offer on the table is a 16 percent pay hike over four years. They don’t deserve a penny increase. In fact, they deserve a...

John Tillman’s statement regarding Chicago Teachers Union strike

09/10/2012
Now that Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis has announced that CTU will strike Monday morning, it is very clear: Children are not the top priority for teachers who belong to the Chicago Teachers Union. The two things that matter most to these teachers are money and avoiding accountability for poor performance. Lewis and the...

Chicago Teachers Union: Unknown Unknowns

By Paul Kersey
09/10/2012
Believe it or not, late Friday afternoon the scuttlebutt was that the Chicago Public Schools and Chicago Teachers Union were close to agreeing on a contract.  Progress was the word of the day well into Sunday.  And we all know how all that turned out. Rumors, about how close the sides are to reaching an...

Two inconvenient facts for CTU: More pay, fewer hours

By Ted Dabrowski
09/10/2012
Many facts are important to understanding the strike and the demands of the Chicago Teachers Union. Here are just two of them: 1. Chicago teachers are already the highest paid in the nation when compared to the 10 largest school districts in the country, according to the National Council on Teacher Quality. The salary data below cuts...

Union demands ignore extent of Chicago’s pension crisis

By Jonathan Ingram
09/10/2012
So, the Chicago Teachers Union is on strike. You may remember that they were demanding a 30 percent raise earlier this year and that they rejected a package that included a 16 percent raise. The union’s demands would spike the average teacher’s salary to nearly six-figures, and that’s before you tally up the generous benefits they get on...