North Side Officials Propose Solution to CPS Budget Cuts

North Side officials believe they have the solution to the budget problems facing neighborhood schools.

Those schools thought the dark cloud had passed after escaping the CPS chopping block that named 49 schools for closure in the fall. But after principals were handed budgets for the 2013-2014 school year—some with cuts topping $1 million—parents and teachers started calling their local representatives.

“For the first time, (parents) are considering whether staying in the city is the best option for their families,” Rep. Ann Williams (D-11th) said.

After attending an Audubon Elementary School LSC meeting in Roscoe Village, Williams said she was shocked at the $700,000 budget reduction.

"I couldn't believe what I was hearing items of the cuts that the principal was trying to budget for," she said.

In Lakeview, Blaine LSC members rejected their proposed budget, which included a $610,000 cut. Art and music would be the hardest programs hit, Williams said, with eight teachers being displaced throughout the school.

"We were asked to have a longer day for our children but now we're looking at sort of an empty day without music and gym and reading intervention and math intervention and this is really hard for our school…” Burley Elementary School parent Andee Harris said. “Our school cannot function without those teachers."

Williams joined Ald. Ameya Pawar (47th), Rep Greg Harris (D-13th), Cook County Commisioner John Fridtchey (D-12th) and parents from local schools at City Hall Monday to advocate for improvements at all levels of government.

Officials are proposing a two-pronged solution for schools. 

In the short term, declare surplus tax increment finance and give the funds to CPS, and in the long term, fix the structural problems at the state level.

Easier said than done.

Chicago aldermen have 10 weeks to pass an ordinance giving TIF funding to classrooms. How much funding depends on the extent of budget cuts facing each school, Ward 47 Ald. Ameya Pawar said.

The TIF funding, typically reserved for economic development, would get money into the classrooms for the coming school year. The practice isn’t uncommon; in 2010, Mayor Richard M. Daley reserved $90 million in TIF funding for CPS.

If the city council approves the funding, more fixes will need to happen at the state level.

Harris, who has three schools closing in his district, said both the pension system and the way Illinois distributes education funding need to be revamped.

But change doesn’t come easy, with the Illinois House of Representatives, Senate and Governor all having to agree to change.

“Looking at the diversity of our state, let alone the diversity of our city, that’s just not easy to do,” Williams said.