Posted on 08/10/2015 12:24:17 PM PDT by BradtotheBone
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Chicago Public Schools on Monday began notifying nearly 1,500 teachers and support staff who are being fired amid a previously announced, $200 million budget cut and a shift in student enrollment.
The announcement came as CPS released its $5.7 billion 2016 budget, which includes a historic $1.1 billion budget deficit driven by rapidly rising pension payments.
The layoff notices will affect 479 teachers and 1,012 other staff members, out of more than 41,500 employees, according to the school system.
CPS officials said 99 percent of the teacher cuts are due to shifting student enrollment. It expects to have about 1,450 teaching vacancies to fill before the school year and impacted teachers can apply for those openings, officials added.
The spending plan also includes about $500 million in pension savings that have yet to be enacted by the Illinois legislature. School officials said that if lawmakers do not reach a resolution on pensions, CPS will close the funding gap with additional cuts or more borrowing.
Last month, the Chicago Board of Education approved the sale of up to $1.16 billion of bonds for the cash-strapped system.
Speaking to reporters, CPS Chief Executive Officer Forrest Claypool pointed to higher test scores and graduation rates in the city's school system, which serves 400,000 students.
"Yet all that hard-earned progress is threatened by a budget crisis that can be solved if our leaders come together," he said on Monday.
Fitch Ratings downgraded its view of Chicago Board of Education general obligation bonds on July 27 by one notch to BB+ from BBB-, reflecting the lack of progress over the school budget gap.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Their jobs will be replaced by security personnel
the solution issimple...... call back the retired teachers or no pension pay
deficit driven by rapidly rising pension payments....
Maybe they could auction off some of the drugs and weapons they’ve seized on school premises..
Probably bring in quite a few million.
Their employee to student ratio is fewer than ten students per employee.
All that matters is that they don’t have any pension cuts.
Fo da chillin’?
No, fo da retired union hacks sitting ‘round on their a*sses.
What is Rham Emmanuel doing to this city? 1500 teachers?
Maybe they can blame Scott Walker.
When conservatives do it, it’s evil. When libs do it, it’s necessary.
Another shining example that Socialism - the art of spending other people’s money - doesn’t work.
As with the federal government, AND the State governments,
“You put in one, and i put in two, and when you retire, you have three!’
Most of the retirement funds have been heavily tied to European markets, which as you have heard, are doing just so fine and dandy this year.
My wife just retried from a school district in Texas after teaching science for 27 years. She would go back for the kids but the administrators are the reason she left. Why would any retired teacher risk life, limb, and financial security to be bossed around by the 'fad of the month' club?
With hundreds of thousands of veteran teachers added to the pension rolls every year, this is the only way it can play out.
They are missing thousands of students whose parents sacrifice to send them to private school or choose to home school.
The kids don’t go to school anyway, do they?
And for those who do and actually want to learn, at least they won’t be indoctrinated.
Now, this “is for the children!”
“Yeah, shifting to the Chicago cemeteries.”
If any one of those “running” Chicago had a shred of decency, the’d off themselves, starting with Ram Emanuel!
“Last month, the Chicago Board of Education approved the sale of up to $1.16 billion of bonds for the cash-strapped system.”
Otherwise known as pi$$ing into the wind!
But, but who will teach Howard Zinn’s “history?”
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