Education
No Immediate Breakthrough on Teachers’ Contract After Johnson Calls CPS CEO, CTU President to City Hall
(WTTW News)
A hastily scheduled meeting Wednesday afternoon at City Hall between Mayor Brandon Johnson, Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez and Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates failed to immediately result in an agreement to resolve the high-stakes negotiations.
The meeting, which lasted approximately 2-1/2 hours, took place 24 hours before the Chicago Board of Education is set to decide whether to make a $175 million pension payment and how to pay for new contracts with the unions representing teachers and principals.
After the meeting, Johnson told reporters “we are so close to landing a deal” and suggested an agreement could be reached late Wednesday or early Thursday with “less than $10 million” and “handful of teachers” preventing an agreement.
There is no reason for CTU to call a strike vote, which would allow teachers to walk off the job 10 days later, Johnson said.
“The goal of this meeting was to open up the conversation to look for potential compromise or compromises, to avert a work stoppage, to keep kids in the classrooms, keep parents at work, and of course, to keep our educators in our schools,” Johnson said.
“None of these issues that they need to settle will be worth the consequence of six, seven days or how many ever days out of school,” Johnson said.
The high-profile meeting is the first public indication of Johnson’s direct involvement in contract negotiations between CPS and CTU. Johnson is a former middle school teacher and organizer for the CTU who rose to prominence during the 2012 strike during former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s time in office.
Martinez told WTTW News in January that he had not spoken to the mayor since the summer, before Martinez said he refused Johnson’s request to resign.
Neither Martinez nor Davis Gates appeared alongside Johnson at a brief news conference after the meeting. The two have been at odds for months, with Davis Gates repeatedly saying that Martinez was responsible for the lack of a contract agreement.
Johnson, Martinez and Davis Gates were joined by Board of Education President Sean Harden, Chief Financial Officer Jill Jaworski and Ald. Jason Ervin (28th Ward), the chair of the Budget Committee.
The meeting participants did not discuss Thursday’s scheduled board vote, or how CPS should pay for employee pensions and labor costs, Johnson said.
Johnson has repeatedly pressed school district officials to borrow money to cover those costs, while Martinez has called the proposal backed by the mayor “exorbitant” and fiscally irresponsible.
The final act of the CPS Board made up of members appointed by Johnson was to fire Martinez without cause, leaving him in office until June.
Despite the deep breach between the two men, both Johnson and Martinez have ruled out layoffs, cuts or furloughs to CPS operations. CPS cannot raise property taxes high enough or quickly enough to cover the gap, leaving borrowing or cuts the only options.
If the CPS board refuses to reimburse the city for making the required payment into the pension fund that includes 23,166 employees of CPS who are not teachers, the city could be forced to dip into its reserves to ensure that it can close the books on the 2024 fiscal year no later than March 30.
Fourteen of the 21 board members must vote to approve the budget amendment.
A board-commissioned report by Baker Tilly, a financial advisory firm, released Tuesday found that it “could be difficult without significant disruption to students” for CPS to make enough cuts to staunch the tide of red ink.
One of the major sticking points preventing a deal between CPS and CTU involves the amount of time elementary school teachers have to plan and prepare while on the clock.
The last offer from CPS leaders would give teachers 10 minutes of additional prep time, while the union is insisting on 20 more minutes of prep time, after reducing its initial demand of 30 more minutes.
Negotiators have also failed to reach an agreement on teacher evaluations and pay increases for tenured teachers.
Johnson told reporters Tuesday he supported the union’s call for more paid preparation time for teachers.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
