Passage of a CPS budget is likely to hinge on how school board members answer that question.
With books, binders and backpacks, the Chicago Teachers Union is gearing up for a weekend school supply giveaway. Chicago Public Schools students return to classes Monday as the school board weighs the pros and cons of a balanced budget presented by CPS Wednesday. The hang up is over a municipal pension payment.
"The pension payment that's being passed around are for the lowest wage earners in the Chicago public schools," CTU President Stacy Davis Gates said. "I think it's offensive and it's insulting. It has to be paid. Our job as the union is to push them to pay."
CPS included the payment in its budget only if the district gets more money from the city and state. If not, CPS says the district will face cuts to the classroom. Currently, the proposed budget does not include any cuts.
READ MORE | CPS presents balanced budget that does not include classroom cuts or taking out loan
The pension fund includes CPS and city employees. State law requires the city to pay for it, but the city faces it own budget deficit.
"This is about disentanglement," said Ald. Jason Ervin, Chicago City Council Budget Committee Chairman. "The school district wants to be on its own. The state wants the school district to be on its own, but at the same time, wants to still saddle us with their debt. That's not fair to the citizens of the city of Chicago."
In 2027, CPS will no longer be controlled by the mayor.
Ald. Ervin, Mayor Brandon Johnson and his appointed school board members support CPS picking up the payment, but CPS, including the mayor's handpicked interim CEO Macquline King, will not take out short term, high interest loan to pay for it.
"The prior CPS CEO, Pedro Martinez, as well as the mayor's hand picked board came to the same conclusion about a year ago, and that CEO was fired, and the school board resigned en masse," 34th Ward Ald. Bill Conway said. So you thought there was a plan here going forward? "
Ald. Conway blames the mayor for allowing the controversy over the pension payment to become an issue again. Davis Gates blames the state for not fully funding CPS.
"I think the state of Illinois should be sending the money that they owe the Chicago public schools so it's not a hot potato between the district and the city," Davis Gates said.