After months of attributing school closures to a looming $1 billion budget deficit, a Chicago Public Schools official admitted in federal court yesterday that the closures were not aimed at closing the fiscal gap, after all.
CPS budget director Ginger Ostro conceded when testifying at injunction hearings for two class action lawsuits against the Board of Education. The lawsuits claim CPS’s plan to shutter more than 40 public schools, one of the largest school closings initiatives in American history, is discriminatory and a violation of civil rights.
“It’s not primarily a budget-deficit initiative,” Ostro said on the stand.
Since announcing the closures late last year, CPS officials have cited a projected $1 billion deficit as an underlying reason for the controversial move, leading some to believe the goal was to close the gap.
But on the stand, Ostro said the aim was to better focus resources, in light of the deficit. CPS did not return requests for further explanation.
Meanwhile, the district is again citing the $1 billion deficit to support its layoff of more than 2,000 teachers and employees.
“Absent pension reform in Springfield, we have very few options available to us to close that gap, and that has resulted in bringing this crisis to the doorsteps of our schools,” a CPS spokesman told the Chicago Sun-Times.
But the Chicago Teachers has always been skeptical of the CPS’s budget crisis, saying it’s propagandized by a “press release budget.”
Karen Lewis, president of the teachers union, called the district layoffs and recent budget cuts a shameful attack on teachers.
Following a nine-day teachers strike last September, union members feared closures, layoffs an budget cuts would come as retaliation—a way to rattle the union by privatizing schools while making up for funds that were lost in agreements.
Parents are also skeptical of the deficit numbers and shifting reasons behind school closures.
Chicago Public Fools is a blog written by an anonymous South Side CPS parent. The blogger calls the deficit “mythical.”
“Tell me when the “$1B budget deficit” will begin to decrease. Did it decrease after closing 50 schools?” Chicago Public Fools tweeted. “Did the mythical CPS “$1B deficit” decrease after 600 layoffs?”
CPS laid off 855 employees in June as a result of school closures. Officials say the closures would save $43 million annually, but won’t bring significant savings until three years later. CPS also made $52 million in central office cuts, this year. Officials told Crain’s Chicago Business’ Greg Hinz that CPS would avoid mass layoffs by relying on these savings, budget cuts and on-time revenues.
But about 3,000 CPS employees have received pink slips since then.
Hinz said CPS parents and teachers may become even more skeptical of the $1 billion deficit claim if CPS suddenly manages to plug the hole so soon.
