The Chicago Tribune

CPS seeks higher taxes in nearly $6 billion budget

By Joel Hood and Noreen Ahmed-Ullah Tribune reporters 4:23 PM CDT, August 5, 2011 Chicago Public Schools new financial team unveiled a $5.91 billion budget for 2012 that eliminates a record $712 million budget gap by raising property taxes to the maximum levels allowed by law, making deep cuts to the central office and middle management, scaling back police patrol on school campuses, re-drawing bus routes, and likely scores of layoffs in schools. The tally includes nearly $87 million in cuts to teaching positions, mentoring programs for at-risk students, bilingual education, literacy initiatives, extra-curricular math, science and technology clubs and other afterschool programs, and reduces academic services for some of the

districts lowest-performing students.

As if the tax hike and the litany of cuts werent enough, officials said Friday they will also have to drain the districts reserve fund by $241 million. These are painful, said CPS Chief Administrative Officer Tim Cawley. You dont get $87 million (in cuts) out of a school district without people feeling it. The precise number of jobs lost is not yet known. CPS officials have maintained theyre keeping class sizes intact, but they announced earlier this summer plans to cut 1,000 teachers from the payrolls in 2012. The proposed budget calls for the elimination of perhaps as many as 300 additional teaching positions from under-enrolled schools. However, Cawley said, many of those teachers will likely be rehired by schools that have higher enrollments or be retained by principals spending money from their discretionary funds. Cawley estimated that CPS will raise about $150 million by increasing taxes on Chicago homeowners. This includes tax revenue from the Public Buildings Commission, which CPS has been eligible to collect in previous years but has not, Cawley said. In the last two years, officials said, CPS had the option to raise property taxes to the maximum level estimated at an additional $84 a year on a home assessed at $250,000 but chose not to. Those days are gone, Cawley said, and raising taxes is the only way for the district to stave off more severe cuts to staff and services. District officials had said they were considering raising taxes to the cap level in late June. The proposed budget, which still requires approval from the districts newly appointed Board of Education, does not include funding for longer school days or a longer school year, which Mayor Rahm Emanuel has championed. But it will continue to fund a pilot program at 15 area schools, Cawley said. jhood@tribune.com nahmed@tribune.com Copyright 2011, Chicago Tribune