Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates adamantly defended the union’s teachers’ contract proposals in a press conference Monday, despite Chicago Public Schools facing significant financial headwinds because of the unaccounted-for costs of a controversial pension payment that covers non-teaching CPS staff.
That $175 million municipal pension payment, historically made by City Hall, was moved to CPS under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot. But in the middle of ongoing contract negotiations, Davis Gates deflected CPS’ responsibility for the payment back to the mayor — a former teacher and a close ally.
Mayor Brandon Johnson was working for the CTU when the teachers union criticized Lightfoot for the move. Despite that, facing a stretched-thin city budget this year, Johnson also asked CPS to take on the pension payment.
“This is not the fifth floor of Chicago City Hall. It’s not,” Davis Gates said. “You all make very wrong assumptions about the interconnectedness of these places.”
CPS will receive a record $311 million in surplus from tax-increment financing district funds this year, per Johnson’s budget passed in December.
TIF surplus is the amount collected in a special fund from the growth in property values within districts in the city and is allocated by aldermen based on need.
That extra money likely won’t cover both CTU’s proposed teachers’ contract asks and a $175 million pension payment to the city. There is only about $140 million to work with when all costs are accounted for, Pavlyn Jankov, CTU’s research director, said Monday. After Monday’s news briefing, the union did not respond to a request about the total cost of its proposals.
CPS did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment about the union’s assertions.
Still, Jankov insisted the TIF funds would be enough “bridge financing” to move the contract forward.
“You have a situation where the board can actually, now, if it weren’t for Pedro standing in the way, actually implement a budget that meets our contract demands for the short-term period,” said Jankov, referring to CPS CEO Pedro Martinez.
It’s unclear how long CTU expects the “bridge” to cover the costs of a new four-year contract.
Johnson and Martinez butted heads when the mayor proposed a high-interest loan to make the pension payment, which Martinez and others insisted would lead the district to financial ruin. Martinez’s refusal to take out the loan led in part to his pending ouster, as the current seven-member board moved to fire him without cause in late December.
Davis Gates stressed Monday that the pension payment and potential loan were not her responsibility. She said the amount of TIF money they were working with now would historically be able to push a contract across the finish line. The union has been bargaining for a new contract since April.
“The TIF was good for Rahm, it was good for Lori, how come it ain’t good for Brandon?” Davis Gates said. “Those two men can continue to figure that out. We are figuring out how to land a contract, a contract that already will reshape the way public education is meted out in the city of Chicago.”
In contract negotiations, the union and CPS are still ironing out differences on what they call “non-economic issues,” including what comprises a “school day” for teachers and students. Sticking points include planning time for teachers and standardized testing that union members argue disproportionately affects Black teachers in predominantly Black schools.
In recent bargaining updates, CTU members have pointed to research showing that the teacher evaluation program tied to student performance — called REACH — can turn teachers away from the profession. The union said its contract proposals would provide support to Black teachers and added that this is an issue the CTU is working on now through a teacher mentorship program.
The teacher administrator for the program, Cook County Commissioner Tara Stamps, said she was judged unfairly as a teacher under REACH.
“It did not matter how many prom dresses I had bought or luncheon outfits, or how many children I sat by while they lost a parent or a brother. It did not matter who I was and what I gave to my classroom,” Stamps said.
There is urgency to respond to the data by agreeing to the union’s contract proposal, Stamps said.
“They’re saying they’re OK with our babies not having what they deserve … by not pivoting in this moment to say we recognize that the way that this tool has been used is inappropriate,” she said. “And we are prepared to change that.”