Chicago Teachers Union, CPS leaders lobby Springfield lawmakers for more funding
CHICAGO — Dozens of Chicago teachers ventured to Springfield on Wednesday to lobby state lawmakers for more funding, but their demands were met with skepticism from both sides of the aisle with a key budget deadline fewer than two weeks away.
The Chicago Teachers Union worked with Chicago Public Schools to get educators a paid day off. They departed by bus from CTU headquarters Wednesday morning.
The CTU was one of a number of groups that went to Springfield to build support for their requests as the legislative session, set to end May 24, winds down. State lawmakers face a May 31 deadline to approve a budget for the coming fiscal year.
The CTU was in Springfield lobbying for $1 billion it says the state owes the City of Chicago.
“We are struggling to serve our children adequately,” teacher Eric Waller said in a press conference.
A statement from the CTU released Wednesday read, in part: “For decades, classrooms throughout this state have been underfunded, forcing educators to do more with less as the state has failed to fully fund CPS and every school district in Illinois.
“… Gov. Pritzker and lawmakers must honor their commitments to Chicago students by prioritizing the full funding our schools deserve in this year’s budget.”
The Springfield request comes as CPS and the CTU begin contract negotiations. Teachers want a 9% annual pay increase, plus a higher salary floor for paraprofessionals, more dual-language programs and sports and fine-arts programs for every school.
The two sides say they are standing together to fight for their fair share of the state’s education funding.
CPS says it’s grateful for the increase in funding in this year’s budget but that it still falls short, pointing to inequities in the state’s own evidence-based formula. Mayor Brandon Johnson was in Springfield last week to lobby for more than $1 billion in state funding.
The mayor discussed that trip when WGN sat down with Johnson on Monday to reflect on his first year in office.
“Look at the $1.1 billion that Springfield owes the City of Chicago,” Johnson said in the interview. “That’s not my number. That’s the number based upon the algorithm that Springfield calculated.”
The CTU, CPS and the mayor, however, could have a tough sell ahead of them after Gov. JB Pritzker recently told agency leaders to prepare for budget cuts.
RELATED: CTA lags comparable cities in ridership recovery, staffing shortage remains a ‘crisis’
Republican lawmakers greeted the CTU in Springfield on Wednesday with a morning press conference, expressing displeasure over the union’s funding push and teachers being out of the classroom on a school day to go to Springfield.
“For the mayor, and now his minions in the Chicago Teachers Union, to come down here, try to bully lawmakers into more money they claim they are being short-changed, is absolutely outrageous,” Illinois Sen. Don DeWitt (R-Elgin) said.
“The mayor of Chicago and CTU teachers who traveled to the capital appear tone-deaf to the fiscal realities we are dealing with here,” Illinois Sen. Keith Lewis (R-Carol Stream) said.
Despite declining enrollment, CPS has received a 14% increase in state funding since 2019, or about $1,542 per student, according to the governor’s office.
Lawmakers who don’t represent Chicago point out that when you consider the state’s evidence-based funding formula and the special arrangement for Chicago teacher pensions, CPS is funded better than other school districts throughout Illinois.
Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to WGN-TV.
