The Chicago Sun Times Maximum property tax hike sought for Chicago public schools

BY ROSALIND ROSSI Education Reporter rrossi@suntimes.com Last Modified: Aug 9, 2011 03:57PM Chicago property taxes that fund schools would be raised to the maximum allowed by law for the first time in four years costing the average homeowner an extra $84 a year under a proposed Chicago Public School budget released Friday. To fill a $712 million deficit, the first budget outlined by Mayor Rahm Emanuels new school team would hike property taxes by $150.3 million, cut spending by $320.7 million, and use $241 million in reserve dollars to keep the system in the black. Faced with rising costs and the evaporation of one-time federal dollars, the budget marks the second year in a row that CPS plans to spend more than it takes in, a pattern experts call unsustainable. And, CPS officials concede, even grimmer days await three years from now, when a pension contribution waiver expires and the systems pension tab will skyrocket. Under the $5.9 billion spending plan, teachers and other union workers will lose a scheduled four percent cost-of-living increase worth $100 million, although three-quarters of teachers should get a raise of 1 percent to 5 percent for other reasons, officials said. High schools are expected to give up 140 of a total 200 police officers, receiving $25,000 in cash for every cop they agree to forgo a fraction of what CPS now pays for each officer.

Thousands of kids could lose after-school clubs in math, science and technology. Seven schools with struggling would-be freshmen are losing funding for extra staff. Even elite college prep high schools will lose money for some
positions. Central office and middle-level management also will take a hit, although CPS officials and a consultant are still in the process of identifying how they will achieve $107 million in planned trims in those areas. But based on a month of work so far, said CPS Chief Administrative Officer Tim Cawley, officials believe theres lots of overlapping responsibilities between departments that are ripe for the budget axe. Hundreds of layoffs are expected, but CPS had no specifics on Friday. Officials said at least 400 schools can avoid staff or program cuts by using discretionary money they have yet to spend.
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The good news for parents is the spending plan will not raise class size in most schools, as was threatened last year. It manages to add 6,000 more all-day kindergarten spots and 2,300 new magnet ones. Lise Valentine of the Civic Federation said she thinks most taxpayers will understand the need to raise property taxes to the max, adding an average of $84 in taxes to a typical Chicago home worth $250,000. I think they can understand the prioritization of class size and of trying to keep as many teachers as they can, Valentine said. [Former Mayor] Daley wouldnt be able to get away with that [kind of tax hike], said Barbara Radner of DePaul Universitys Center for Urban Education. But Emanuel is so early in his reign, and had such a mandate, I think hes the one person who can carry this off. However, in some ways, Radner said, the spending plan is going in the wrong direction. Despite Emanuels public lobbying for a longer school day and year, the budget trims money for afterschool clubs and reduces by half the money allocated to community schools that offer after-school programs to both students and community members. In addition, it provides no additional money to pay for a longer school day or year. Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis said the budgets $87 million in school programming cuts will be bad for kids. In particular, she predicted that the elimination of a cushion of one or two extra positions for those schools that lose more enrollment than expected will lead to more split classes in elementary schools and fewer class choices in high schools.

The budget seemed to favor charter schools often touted by Emanuel over neighborhood schools, a troubling picture, Lewis said. CPS officials say charter
schools took a four percent cut in funding last year, and to cut deeper this year would mean carving into core programs, rather than just the supplemental ones that are getting trimmed in neighborhood schools. Public hearings on the budget are scheduled Aug. 10, 11 and 12, and school board members will vote on the spending plan Aug. 24. Copyright 2011 Sun-Times Media, LLC