If you listened to Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool, Gov. Bruce Rauner’s "Trumpian" tactics are to blame for the latest round of chaotic budget cuts at CPS.
I find it strange that Claypool referred to the Illinois governor as "Trumpian" because Donald Trump’s primary tactics are to create chaos and crisis while engaging in finger-pointing. And I know of no one in Chicago who better epitomizes the tactics of manufactured chaos and crisis accompanied by finger-pointing than Claypool. The latest manifestation of that chaos: the $46 million CPS "spending freeze" — cuts — he announced Monday.
While Rauner deserves his share of the blame for the state’s failure to rescue our students from this perilous circumstance, it is not Rauner’s mismanagement that brought us to this crisis. That responsibility lies with Claypool, his recent predecessors, the Chicago Board of Education — and Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who appointed them all. They’ve had six years to get CPS out of this situation, yet they continue to create financial chaos year after year and point the finger at Springfield for failing to rescue Chicago’s children from the chaos they’ve created.
Unfortunately, CPS’ track record of fiscal recklessness has given Rauner the ammunition he needs to justify his neglect of Chicago’s students. We need to take that ammunition away from Rauner.
Toward that end, we must enact an educational funding package that gives struggling districts around the state — including CPS — the funds they need for their students, while at the same time imposing financial transparency requirements and legal restrictions that severely limit CPS’ ability to waste and misuse those funds.
For example, in January CPS proposed more than $500 million in spending on privatized facilities management, and just before that put forth a plan to borrow as much as $840 million while refusing to tell the public what it planned to spend the money on until after the bonds went to market. Any aid to CPS must include strict transparency and spending limitations. This is how we reign in and circumvent the blame game Claypool and Rauner have been playing at the expense of our schools, our educators and the children and families they serve.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel says Gov. Bruce Rauner ‘bailed on’ Chicago children
Mayor Rahm Emanuel speaks to the media regarding a veto of $215 million in state pension funding for CPS by Gov. Bruce Rauner during a news conference at Curie Metropolitan High School on Dec. 2, 2016, in Archer Heights. (Alyssa Pointer/Chicago Tribune)
Mayor Rahm Emanuel speaks to the media regarding a veto of $215 million in state pension funding for CPS by Gov. Bruce Rauner during a news conference at Curie Metropolitan High School on Dec. 2, 2016, in Archer Heights. (Alyssa Pointer/Chicago Tribune)
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Inaction in Springfield is no excuse for inaction in Chicago. If Emanuel is going to insist that the state dedicate significantly more revenue to Chicago schools, then he needs to insist that our city do the same. Occasional infusions of tax increment financing in response to the demands of educators and parents is not enough. Our schools need consistent and reliable revenue.
As a result, a state funding package should be conditioned on the city of Chicago coming through with revenue solutions of its own, such as reinstating a corporate head tax, as about a dozen Chicago aldermen proposed in July. This revenue could be raised by the city and transferred to CPS. If some in the business community don’t like that solution then they should propose an alternative that compels them to contribute their fair share to the revenue streams that fund our schools. Otherwise, the mayor needs to inject himself with a dose of political courage and do what needs to be done. If he won’t, we need to develop a state funding proposal that makes city revenue solutions a condition of state aid.
City Hall needs to practice what it preaches to the state and fund our children’s education. Should the city continue to neglect its schools, then we need state intervention that conditions increased state funding on increased city funding. That intervention should include spending and transparency requirements that take away Rauner’s excuse for neglecting CPS and its students.
Troy LaRaviere is president of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association.
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