Public Schools Address The Budget Shortfall
The Chicago Board of Education released their proposed budget for 2012 late last Friday afternoon, leaving little time for review and little time for anyone to comment or ask questions.
The budget consisted of many options to help close the $712 million budget gap faced by CPS.
In 2012, CPS will be working with a $5.11 billion operating budget, which increased by $163 million from 2011.
There will also be a $391 million appropriation set aside for capital expenditures and over $400 million for debt service.
According to the CPS Board President Jean-Claude Brizard, major cuts in the Central Office spending have helped close part of the deficit.
“Another $100 million was reduced when the Chicago Board of Education elected to eliminate the 4 percent pay increase for collective bargaining units because of the district’s financial state,” Brizard said in a released statement.
In December, the Chicago Board of Education asked the County Clerk’s Officer to raise property taxes.
The increase will add $84 million to the average tax bill received by Chicago residents.
According to the board, there will be over $150 million brought back into CPS to help save programs that students may need, that faced elimination.
The board says that they will use their stabilization fund in order to try and close the remaining $241 million gap that will still loom over CPS after the necessary actions are taken.
The board says using the fund will eliminate the need to “cut essential programs that could impact the academic success of students for years to come.”
The budget came with criticism from the Chicago Teacher’s Union.
“It is troubling that while they are firing teachers in neighborhood schools, the unelected and unaccountable school board decided to increase funding for charter schools and refused to renegotiate agreements with banks that take millions of dollars each year out of our schools,” said CTU President Karen Lewis.
Lewis referred to the one year property tax increase as a “Band-Aid approach” used to cover major problems facing CPS.
“The proposed property tax increase doesn’t begin to fix the massive funding inequities in our schools,” Lewis said. “The board should go back to the drawing board.
“Chicago’s children need more than a Band-Aid approach.”
The final budget will be presented to the Board of Education for a vote on Wednesday, Aug. 24.
