Non-teaching employee pensions payment, School-based budgeting, Federal relief funds
Good Morning everyone, I’m going to be covering @ChiPubSchools Board of Education meeting today for @CHIdocumenters, make sure to follow along or join the meeting here:
https://www.youtube.com/c/ChiPubSchools/videos
10:32 AM May 25, 2022 CDT
At the last meeting covered by @annabelrocha93, the board went over financials and their Climate Action Plan, which aims to reduce electric consumption 30% and natural gas 20% by 2025, and greenhouse emissions 45% and diverge waste 80% by 2030
https://www.axios.com/local/chicago/2022/04/25/chicago-climate-action-plan-lori-lightfoot
Regarding budgeting, CEO Martinez had said CPS schools hadn’t been requesting more funds to complete educational requirements
After being grilled though, $24 million more was restored to the budget
https://chicago.suntimes.com/education/2022/5/19/23131113/cps-special-education-cuts-public-schools-budgets-equity-pedro-martinez-city-council
On a somber note, Vice President Revuluri begins the meeting with a statement on behalf of the board in mourning the children and faculty of the Uvalde, Texas school shooting yesterday as well as the victims lost in Buffalo, NY just 10 days before https://t.co/D3GZsA7tyr
The board congratulated Isabel Marroquin, Honorary Student Board Member, for graduating with honors and enrolling at Colombia University in NY.
Lincoln Park HS Principal Steinmiller shares her achievements, saying, “If you spend two minutes, you know why she was here.” https://t.co/Slilf6WQMn
Continuing on with Honoring Excelling, the board is celebrating the districts 58 newest board certified teachers. https://t.co/298EUL11O2
Hillary Muñoz, a new special education teacher, says, “Being cognizant of my decision making process and anchoring my choices in sound research is now as natural to me as breathing.”
Beginning board remarks, multiple members shared remarks personally mourning the students of Uvalde.
Chief Education Officer Martinez says, “We are very small community when it comes to education and when something happens in any school across the country it stirs all of us.”
He also shares that according to recent rankings five CPS schools are ranked as some of the best learning environments in the country:
- Jones College Prep
- Lane Tech
- Northside College Prep
- Whitney Young
- Walter Payton
This upcoming school year is also the first year where joint classrooms will reportedly no longer be necessary district wide
There are no committee updates this month, which moves us along to the public participation segment of todays meeting
Starting off is @SharkeyCTU1 of the Chicago’s Teacher Union, who brings attention to CPS budget cuts
“I have been in a whole series of schools in the last several weeks. I want to highlight three things I learned through these schools. There’s one category of cuts that’s coming from specials, [like] art, music, libraries,” Shirley says. https://t.co/zKuL86nxmk
“And then finally, the mechanism of student based budgeting…“What’s happening right now is we’re distributing hysterity in our schools that hurt a whole number of our school, and frankly the money is there.” https://t.co/EJpq6Xpl1Q
In response to arguing against giving such high amount of pension payments, President Del Valle says, “We want to ensure that their pension fund is in good shape, and its not in good shape now, but we have to work towards making it.” https://t.co/qe7IGzgg7c
Sharkey affirms Del Valle’s connection of the school board’s responsibility over the pension, but redirects that the importance behind his statements is on putting an emphasis on funding schools through and through regardless of any caveats that may come up.
Echoing Sharkey, Chris Baehrend, CTU Charter Division Chair says, “CPS is not appropriately distributing funds to schools to avoid budget cuts, but it also seems like charter schools are not receiving funds… multiple charter operators have signals they intend to make layoffs.”
Several speakers have been advocating for their schools against budget cuts, with a high number coming from the South/West sides, especially North Lawndale, but all have been cut off due to time after Sharkey, including students
Public participation is concluded at 1:40pm, jumping straight into presentations
Presenting the FY23 Budget, Chief Education Officer Chkoumbova says enrollment decreases play a role in the budget https://t.co/WJQpWqar5p
$130 million have been reallocated directly to schools with the following issues being prioritized
“This is investment is despite the enrollment decrease of 10,000 students we experienced just in the last school year,” says Chkoumbova. https://t.co/7J2LqOr9dL
Chkoumbova says, “we are continuing with the tutor core program… we are expending the investments in wraparound supports for students in the form of additional counselors, nurses and social workers.”
The board once again is saying that despite faculty, staff, organizers, parents, and students themselves saying their schools need additional funding, schools aren’t coming to the board to say they don’t have funds to complete the goals that the board just presented. https://t.co/Ly3qHWIQHJ
Going over details of the budget, Chief Budget Officer Heather Wendell shares this breakdown of the additional $130m https://t.co/qOKxJmFORP
President Del Valle says his ongoing focus is on maintaining transparency in order to make the transition as smooth as possible once the elected school board starts taking charge after 2025, in order to avoid shutting down schools the way they were in the past
Going off of that, CEO Pedro Martinez emphasizes that a big part of the budget debate comes from a lack of funding from the state https://t.co/2UdhZO7zPh
Moving on to voting on public agenda items,
Item RS 3-5 pass
Items PR 1-15 are passed
Item EX4 receives a nay from member Todd-Breland and member Luisiana Meléndez due to having already been approved by the city’s budget but is passed with a 3-2 vote
EX6 is passed with 3 yay’s, a May by member Todd-Breland, and an abstention by member Dwayne Truss
Moving on to discussing PR6, member Todd-Breland reiterated her frustration with contracting for-profits for charter charters, which she previously expressed with EX6 https://t.co/hOnkrzIll2
PR6 is passed identical as EX6, with 3 yay, 1 nay and an abstention
Items AR 2-8 are passed unanimously
The board has now moved to closed session @ 4:26pm and will reconvene shortly
The meeting has reconvened from their private session at 5:13pm,
With the board back,
items EX 9-11 are passed and adapted unanimously
Executive session items:
RS-12 is passed unanimously
Item RS-13 is passed with 4 yay’s and one abstention
RS- 14 is passed unanimously
