Chicago Teachers Union and thousands of supporters heading to Springfield in support of progressive income tax and additional funding for schools... Teachers across the city laugh at the biased report of the 'Fact Finder' and the nonsense being preached by CPS's two 'EduChiefs'...
Three weeks before the massive lobbying in Springfield, on April 1, 2016, on busy Stony Island Ave. on Chicago's South Side, picketers in front of Hyde Park High School received support from bus drivers, truckers and other drivers who honked and waved as they drove by during the Chicago
Teachers Union's one-day strike. Substance photo by
David R. Stone
As thousands of Chicago Teachers Union members and supporters prepare for a day in the Illinois state capital, even normally conservative pundits were beginning to realize that both city and state solutions are necessary to fully fund Illinois public schools and other public services. It might be that the era of mindless "Atlas Shrugged" lunacy, personified in Illinois by Governor Bruce Rauner (and in adjacent states by the likes of Scott Walker and Rick Snyder) is ending.
We may know sooner than many (including this reporter) thought. Meanwhile, a close look at the official nonsense coming out of City Hall, CPS leaders, and the "Fact Finder" in recent days shows that the two narratives about Chicago's priorities are not about to end this week. On the one hand, Chicago's mayor has proposed an obscene borrowing ($1.2 billion) to fund the vanity project of the Lucas Museum still pushing for lakefront land. On that same silly hand, Chicago's latest "education executives" have brought out another example of how the BIG LIE never goes out of fashion among authoritarians.
First, the "Fact Finder".
As many critics have noticed after reading the report, the supposedly "independent" Fact Finder, a wealthy suburban lawyer, basically copied and pasted CPS talking points into his version of reality. As soon as the leaders of the CTU had publicly rejected the report, CPS officials, joined by some others, began attacking the union and the city's public school teachers for being what they call "unreasonable."
"Unreasonable" in this case means refusing to accept any longer the austerity claim and the austerity agenda of neoliberalism.
Second, the latest CPS message to parents and other citizens. It's worth reprinting in full [as we do below] because Forrest Claypool and Janice Jackson are as clueless as any two appointed education leaders have ever been (and that's saying a lot given the past half century in Chicago). But please read the message Claypool sent to parents on April 19, 2016, noting that there are a couple of lies, and one enormous omission, all in a few paragraphs (with one really silly typo at the very end).
The lies?
"Amazing progress." If you've followed the claims by the expensive propagandists paid by CPS over the past 21 years (since mayoral control began and the mayor got the power to appoint both the "Chief Executive Officer" and the members of the school board via the "Amendatory Act" of 1995), these claims of "unprecedented", "amazing", or "outstanding" improvements and "gains" have been issued, on average, about once a year -- without every begin challenged by Chicago's corporate media hacks and editorialist. You might say that Claypool's claims of something "unprecedented" are really "precedented" -- but neither Claypool, his "Chief Education Officer," the school board (with the exception of one member who keeps her mouth shut about such things), or the propaganda department are about to submit these claims to either factual or historical examination.
Equally stunning is the repeat of the claims that (a) CPS is facing a "billion dollar deficit" and (b) all the solutions to that "deficit" must come from "Springfield." As readers of Substance know, every "deficit" claimed by CPS over the past quarter century has been the result of what a former Board of Education Secretary revealed to Substance as the manipulation of Magic Numbers. A projected budget is the result of the projection of expected revenues and expenses. CPS officials, in collusion usually with the owners and editors of the Chicago Tribune, began in the 1990s to create "deficits" by simply overestimating expenses and underestimating revenues -- and they have been getting away with it ever since. So they haven't ever stopped.
And even even though the first "billion dollar deficit" was claimed officially by Huberman, when he was CEO of CPS, there has yet to be any examination of how long those claims will be allowed to continue without challenge. Readers may note that Huberman's time at the top (following his career at the Chicago Police Department) was a long time ago from the time of Forrest Claypool (who came to CPS with expertise at the top of the Chicago Transit Authority and his recent time as "Chief of Staff" to Mayor Rahm Emanuel). For historical accuracy's sake, here is the list of recent CPS CEOs (going back to Huberman, who was appointed by Mayor Richard M. Daley):
-- Ron Huberman
-- Terry Mazany
-- Jean-Claude Brizard
-- Barbara Byrd Bennett
-- Forrest Claypool
And yet when all the criticisms of CPS are made by Wall Street or Chicago's corporate media, no mention is made of the sabotage of the top of CPS administration by this version of what Substance has long called "management musical chairs."
Since Claypool's expensive appointment by Mayor Rahm Emanuel in July 2015, his versions of reality have been, as we would say were he a special needs child in a classroom, "challenging". But of course, Claypool wouldn't understand that comparison, since he has never taught in a Chicago classroom, never administered a Chicago public school, and chose to send his own family to private schools.
CLAYPOOL AND JACKSON SENT A MESSAGE TO PARENTS ON APRIL 19, ON THE EVE OF THE BIG LOBBYING DAY... [Disclosure: I received the following because I am a Chicago public school parent, with one son in O.A. Thorp elementary school and another in 9th grade at Whitney Young high school]...
April 19, 2016
Dear George,
At a time when the Chicago Public Schools are seeing record progress -- in attendance, grades, and graduation rates -- we also face record financial woes.
By now you've heard and read many reports about CPS' challenges this year - our financial crisis, and the choices we've had to make to keep our doors open. Today, we're taking a new kind of action for CPS, and we wanted to make sure you are able to help spread the word.
This morning, our school, community, and faith leaders stood up to launch a grassroots effort to raise awareness about our funding disparity - and to demand equality from our lawmakers.
The numbers tell a clear story:
Chicago students make up 20 percent of the enrollment in Illinois public schools. Chicagoans contribute 20 percent of the income tax revenue used to fund public education. Yet our children receive just 15 percent of the education funding from Springfield.
The missing 5 percent is $500 million this year alone--enough to save our schools.
This year, that means CPS received $.74 cents per student from the state, compared to the $1.00 per student received by every other district in the state. And with the release of Governor Rauner's budget last week, which includes a cut of $74 million to CPS, while increasing funding for already wealthy districts, it's clear more action is needed.
The quality of a child's education shouldn't be determined by their zip code, but that is what this funding approach does. It cannot stand any longer.
CPS is facing a $1 billion budget deficit next year, and without funding reform, our schools face devastating cuts.
We need all members of our community to make their voices heard. Tell your state senators and representatives to vote NO on Governor Rauner’s budget on any education budget that does not reform our state’s broken funding system.
I hope you'll spread the word by sharing on Facebook (by clicking here) and Twitter (by clicking here). You can also send your friends and family to cps.edu/equality, where you can easily call, email, or use social media to connect with your elected representatives.
Thank you for your continued support of our schools.
Sincerely,
Forrest Claypool, Chief Executive Officer
Janice K. Jackson, Ed.D, Chief Education Office [sic]
