Chicago at its height of corruption can be seen as Ron Huberman CEO of Chicago Public Schools announces a $1 Billion dollar deficit firing tenured teachers, cutting after school programs, canceling sophomore sports and cutting pension payments. What he doesn't tell people is that secretly he is having selective entry job fairs and over 700 job positings on out of state private websites.
Mr. Ron Huberman, CEO of the Chicago Public Schools announced February 25, 2010, a $1 billion deficit and the need for massive job cuts, furlough days, program cuts, salary freezes and "tight hiring restrictions." Then on March 4, 2010 Illinois State Superintendent Christopher Koch told lawmakers that the state’s 12-billion dollar budget deficit will likely force local schools to lay off thousands of teachers, administrators, and other workers.
Over 700 jobs have been found to be posted on out-of-state websites advertising hundreds of positions in the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). Reminiscent of the exposure of the ‘Invitation Only’ job fair planned for July 31, 2009, that a teacher uncovered during the July 2009 Board of Education meeting. The uncovering of the hundreds of advertised jobs came from a tip from a reassigned teacher that was attending the Lake County teacher fair and happened to talk to a student teacher in CPS.
A reassigned teacher sent an email, "I was talking to a CPS student teacher this morning. There is a job fair on April 10. She said that as a student teacher she received a pass to let her in early. If this is true, shouldn't displaced and reassigned teachers het the same priority admission[sic]?"
After getting this tip the Internet was searched for job fairs, open positions, recruitment events and any other postings that were related to the Chicago Public Schools and job opportunities. The first place that was searched were the CPS sites that might have information regarding job opportunities. Neither the main CPS website http://www.cps.edu nor the Chicago Public Schools Department of Human Resources http://www.cps-humanresources.org yielded any information on any upcoming career fairs. There was and still is no mention of these career fairs or events anywhere in any CPS website or communication. After finding nothing on any Chicago based website for job fairs multiple search variables were plugged into common search engines to see of there was anything out on the internet that would yield information on any up job fairs in April and May of this year, still there was no finding of any postings of up coming CPS Job Fairs.
What was uncovered through an extensive Internet search was hundreds of hidden CPS jobs advertised on two Internet sites. EducationAmerica.net http://www.educationamerica.net based out of Austin, Texas and K12Jobs.Com http://k12jobs.com a privately held company with headquarters based, Royal Palm Beach, Florida. Both websites had an extensive login procedure that did not allow any open searching of its databases without first imputing personal information, educational background, resume and cover letter.
655 City Jobs posted on a private out of state website based out of Austin, Texas
After gaining access into the EducationAmerica.net website and searching for Chicago Public Schools there is the message "There are 7 postings with 655 jobs listed." The jobs include(parentheses indicate number of positions): Bilingual Education Teachers (250), Science Teachers (75), Counselors(10), Reading Specialists(50), Physical Education Teachers(20), Special Education Teachers(150), and Math Teachers(100).
92 city jobs posted on a private website based out of Florida website
Again after spending time uploading private information and documents to gain access, on K12Jobs.Com jobs listed 11 postings with 92 positions available: English Teachers(10), Bilingual Education(10), Special Education Assistant(1), Special Education Teachers(10), Science Teachers(10), Math Teachers(10), Speech Language Pathologists(10), School Social Worker(10), School Psychologist(1), Occupational Therapists(10), and Physical Therapists(10).
Displaced CPS teacher Antoinette Barnes has filed a federal class action lawsuit charging age discrimination she displays her letter to principals during the secret July 31, 2009 CPS Job Fair, which was exposed and opened up by teacher activists.
Barnes v CPS
Northern District of Illinois Eastern Division (10-CV-00020)
Although the Board conducts job fairs, applicants under forty (40), many of whom are from "alternative" teaching programs, are permitted early entrance to job fairs. When plaintiffs and other older teachers are granted access to the job fairs, the younger teachers are on their way out of the fair. Younger applicants are given different colored wristbands from the older applicants and the resumes of the younger applicants are stamping a different colored ink from the resumes of the older applicants.(p. 5, January 4, 2010)
The timing of finding these hidden advertised positions could not be stranger than fiction. First, there was the announcement of the billion dollar deficit and the need for job cuts on February 25, 2010. The 655 jobs on EducationAmerica.net were posted on the very same day February 25, 2010.
to read more.......http://www.substancenews.net/...
Some Facts on this Scam 1 Billion Dollar Deficit
the lies
Gov. Pat Quinn won't discuss his proposal for fixing the state's massive deficit until Wednesday, a top Quinn aide told the Associated Press Monday that the state can expect 17,000 teachers to lose their jobs...
On March 4, 2010 Illinois State Superintendent Christopher Koch told lawmakers that the state’s 12-billion dollar budget deficit will likely force local schools to lay off thousands of teachers, administrators, and other workers.
Chicago Public Schools is facing a deficit of up to $1 billion next year that can be reduced only through a combination of pension reform, union concessions and job cuts, schools chief Ron Huberman said Thursday.
To balance this year's budget, the district trimmed millions in programs, laid off 536 employees and mandated six furlough days for nonunion staff.
Huberman announced Thursday another three weeks of furlough days and 500 more layoffs for nonunion staff to better position the district for next year's deficit and the impending teacher negotiations. Though the estimated $25 million in cuts were not necessary to balance the budget this year, officials said they showed fiscal responsibility.
What Really is Happening
Can we trust this announcement? No. This is a political announcement designed to build public support for attacking teachers. Though there is a recession, and we expect there to be some deficit, Huberman’s numbers are suspect.
* For the past eight years the BOE has projected a deficit in January or February only to show surpluses in the actual audited budget as presented in August.[iv] These discrepancies have averaged over $300 million each year.
* No transparency—the presentation that we have been shown is not a budget, does not reveal any of the underlying assumptions on which the projection has been based, and does not seem to add up to $900 million, in any case.[v]
* The percentage CPS spends on salaries has actually shrunk since 2004, while the amount of the reserve (fixed charges) has ballooned to over 8% of the budget. [vi] That’s right, we getting a smaller piece of the pie, but being blamed for the financial troubles.
What about our pension?
* The Chicago BOE is required by law to pay $307 million to the pension fund by June 30, 2010. This number will increase to over $500 million next year.
* While this may seem like a lot of money, we should remember that the BOE did not make any contributions to our pension fund between 1995 and 2005—as they diverted some $1.2 billion to their general operating budget. Had they invested this money, our pension would be 99% funded.[vii]
* The average Chicago teacher pension is $39,000 a year. We do not receive Social Security.
Can we expect help from the state? Are there any other revenue sources?
* The State of Illinois has a regressive tax structure and is facing a budget crisis of about $12 billion on a $26 billion budget. Although Huberman and CTU president Stewart are lobbying Springfield for more money, we are unlikely to get much help.[viii]
* In Chicago, Tax Increment Financing (TIF’s) drain about $250 million/year out of the schools budget. This money should be returned to the schools.[ix]
Where do we go from here?
* On Wednesday, February 24th the BOE voted, over our strenuous objections, to close three schools and fire the entire staff at five more. On Thursday, February 25th they told us that they need our cooperation to solve a billion-dollar-shortfall that’s been caused by their bad decisions.
* Show us some respect... and the books! In addition to ending the practice of ‘turning around’ schools, show us the books before we start any negotiations. In future years, let us write the budget.
from...Huberman’s $355 Million Lie
Huberman’s "Doomsday"
Huberman says he needs major union concessions to balance the budget this year, and that sets up a scenario in which the district will ask teachers to pick their poison: Agree not to fight pension changes, concede to larger class sizes or give up their 4 percent raises. Eliminating contractual raises would save about $169 million; increasing class sizes to 31 would mean a loss of 600 teaching positions and save only $40 million....
Before asking teachers to support pension relief or any other compromises, Potter wants the district to cut a number of controversial reform programs, such as the Office of School Turnarounds and Huberman’s signature performance management initiative. Such cuts could save the district upwards of $70 million, he estimates.
He also wants Huberman and Mayor Richard Daley to consider directing tax-increment financing revenues toward the deficit. (TIF funds are diverted from schools and other local taxing bodies to stimulate business development, but critics say the creation of TIF districts has contributed to budget problems facing the schools and the rest of the city.)
Off Track 2/25/10 By Ben Joravsky ... Huberman and his aides also might want to look at cutting back on contracts to outside vendors (about $696.6 million has been set aside for that) and trimming a few of the extraneous central office divisions, like the Office of Autonomy. I'm not sure who it's autonomous from—certainly not Huberman or Mayor Daley—but it has seven employees and an annual budget of $1.4 million. .... And then of course there are the ...TIF slush funds controlled by the mayor, which aren't itemized on property tax bills. Last year alone, the TIFs siphoned about $250 million in property tax dollars out of CPS's supposed share.
http://www.chicagoreader.com/...
Tribune on pension. "The pension's status is the result of many factors. A steep market decline, a large chunk of new retirees and years of the district making no contribution at all have left it about 74 percent funded. State law requires the pension to be funded at 90 percent, and the district is now facing steep payment increases to catch up." http://www.chicagotribune.com/...
Reform Caucus Jolts Chicago Teachers Union
CORE is ramping up its bid to jumpstart the leadership of the Chicago Teachers Union. The electoral campaign is intertwined with CORE’s effort to fight intensified waves of school closures and privatization and to reverse the erosion of teacher bargaining power that began when Mayor Richard Daley took over the schools in 1995. Since then he’s appointed the school board and banned the union from bargaining over class size, restructuring schemes, and charter school expansion.
No Child Left Behind Has Left US Schools with Legacy of "Institutionalized Fraud"
I think that with the proliferation of charter schools, the bottom-line issue is the survival of public education, because we’re going to see many, many more privatized schools and no transparency as to who’s running them, where the money is going, and everything being determined by test scores.
So the whole picture, I think—I just wish that people wouldn’t refer to this as reform...we’re talking about a principle that is antithetical to the fundamental idea of American education. The fundamental idea, which has been enshrined at least since the Brown decision of 1954, was equal educational opportunity...
Winds of change in US teacher unions
Now the action has shifted -- to Chicago and the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU). Labor Notes describes the emergence of CORE (Caucus of Rank and File Educators), which is mounting a challenge in the May election. Given the disarray in the union bureaucracy and community resistance to school closings, a struggle that CORE has supported, CORE seems to have a real chance to take the helm of the third largest teacher union.