As the initial excitement of a new school year fades and the library carpets slowly get dirtier, there is trouble on the horizon. With tension building between CPS and the CTU (Chicago Teachers Union) and no formal deal on the table, for the second time in four years a teachers strike seems imminent. The question remains: how did the communication issues between the two sides reach a breaking point?
To examine this complicated topic, we have to first look at the big picture finances. Put simply, Illinois is broke. The state has accrued around 700 million dollars worth of debt by not paying into the teachers’ pension fund over the course of the last 5 years. That problem worsens due to the fact that the state isn’t allowed to declare bankruptcy on that debt or decrease the annual amount contributed to the pension fund (supposed to be about an annual 3% increase). With an ever-growing amount of money owed and no concrete solution in place, Illinois’ legislature has looked around for potential answers in the form of budgetary cuts. Cue the CPS Board of Education.
Faced with an expiring contract and pressure from the state to lower operating costs, the Board proposed an eleventh hour deal to the CTU: a 7% pay cut and an agreement from the teachers to pay into their own pensions. For one CPS elementary school teacher, that was a slap in the face. “Not many places seem to value teachers,” she said, “It’s a different time and it seems like more and more teachers are being blamed for the pitfalls in the system.” With the Board and CTU still far from reaching a compromise, the teachers have returned to work under last year’s contract. Like duct tape over a hole in a pipe, it’ll hold, but for how long remains to be seen.
That implicit tension has some teachers worried about the looming strike. “It was a little different last time,” the elementary school teacher remarked, “People had more time to plan and get their finances in order.” With a 90 day notice required before a work stoppage, the earliest CPS could see a strike would be in January. In order to avoid that outcome, the Board and the CTU need to assuage concerns about issues that are bigger than finances.“ Teachers aren’t trusted with their expertise especially when decisions are being made about students,” our anonymous source told us, “Decisions...are being made by people who have never taught, let alone stepped foot in a classroom.” This dispute is clearly deep rooted and far-reaching, and no easy solution is in sight. Want to get the conversation started? Invite the teachers to the table.
