Emanuel's publicity stunts on budget
Macho mayor's 'Skin in the game' Wall Street metaphor leaves teachers scratching heads... Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announces 'cuts in bureaucracy' while cutting busing for children and cleaning of schools as corporate media survivors dutifully take notes
Chicago teachers, parents and students who thought that trying to decipher the rambling musings of former Mayor Richard M. Daley and his various "Chief Executive Officer" mumblings about what was good for the schools got a breath of hot air on June 2 when Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the new leadership of Chicago Public Schools tried to pull off what amounts to a virtual Alice in Wonderland version of reality with an announcement about "cutting bureaucracy" that won't cut any bureaucracy.
While an unnamed CPS student looks on (far left), Mayor Rahm Emanuel (third from left) announces cuts in the "bureaucracy" of the nation's third largest school system while the schools Chief Executive Officer Jean-Claude Brizard (top hat) share breakfast for children during a media event on June 2, 2001, or at some point in recent Chicago history.
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Here is what happened:
Following a widely publicized rumor that Emanuel and Brizard would appear at a downtown public school early on June 2 for a media event, CPS officials hinted that at least one major part of the event would be an announcement that Brizard, like all of his predecessors, was going to "reduce administrative bloat" and "cut bureaucracy." Since Daley took over the city's public schools in 1995, not a year has gone by when they mayor or his appointees, at just about this time in the annual media cycle, has announced that bureaucracy would be cut. By the early 21st Century, if anyone had believed all the versions of the story line, CPS had cut the bureaucracy in the school systems by anywhere from five to twenty percent every year for more than 15 years.
In other words, Daley had wiped out "bureaucracy" by the he replaced Paul Vallas, his first unqualified white guy "Chief Executive Officer.", with Arne Duncan (who was even more unqualified to lead a school system than Vallas, a miracle that most Chicagoans would not have believed possible) as CEO. And that, for those who still care about chronology and historical fact, was on July 1, 2001. Duncan became the head of the nation's third largest school system, based exclusively on mayoral patronage. Arne Duncan's total experience in "teaching" had been some volunteer work in his Mom's after school thingy at Jackie Robinson Elementary School. According to Duncan's subsequent biographical elaborations, that really inspired Arne to want to be a teacher, or at least to go into "education." But, as the world now knows, Arne never became an actual Chicago classroom teachers, instead choosing to play basketball in Australia for a couple of years before returning to Chicago and, when he finally chose a career in education, starting at the top thanks to Daley and a bunch of university, Hyde Park and foundation clout he had been carefully assembling.
But that's a digression. Fact is, every year the chief of Chicago's schools announces, at about this time, another "bureaucracy" cut. Paul Vallas not only cut "bureaucracy" (according the Vallas and the scribes who transcribed his words without further fact checking), but he "blew up" the symbol of CPS bureaucracy by moving the "bureaucracy" from the old U.S. government complex at 1819 W. Pershing Road to the old Commonwealth Edison building at 125 S. Clark St. While a couple of cynics suggested that the real reasons for the downtown move were twofold — a favor to Com Ed (which had an antiquated building it was trying to unload) and being closer to City Hall (where the political patronage was flowing) and the city's major corporate entities (which would be dictating "school reform"). Vallas told the press the problem was "bureaucracy" and Pershing Road and that once he eliminated Pershing Road things would be so much better.
Vallas even said that he would like to blow up the Pershing Road complex, but that he would get a teacher to push the plunger on the dynamite charges (one of those unexamined Hollywood metaphors that goes unexamined in this town). Despite the major hoopla surrounding the first announcement by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Schools Chief Executive Officer Jean-Claude Brizard that CPS was beginning its budget process by cutting more than $70 million from "central office" (or, in Mayor Emanuel's words, "bureaucracy"), the actual content of the mayor's June 2, 2011 announcement was outlined in the press release distributed by CPS on June 2. Apparently, for now in 2011, "bureaucracy includes the people who push brooms to clean the schools and "debt." At the most, less than $20 million in the cuts announced will come from administrative costs.
Rahm Emanuel’s $75M CPS cuts mean longer rides, dirtier schools
Asked if she was prepared to put some “skin in the game,” CTU President Karen Lewis said, “I don’t even know what that means. To me, it’s rhetoric.”
Lewis later released a statement noting that the $75 million in cuts merely returns CPS to the “status quo” after the $77 million in state budget cuts. The fact that so much money could be cut from administration and bureaucracy “underscores the need for more transparency” in school spending, she said.
http://www.suntimes.com/...
Chicago Public Schools to cut central office's budget by $75 million
Emanuel called on Springfield to help CPS by paying the district money it owes from last year. The state still owes it about $267 million.
But while Emanuel called on district staff — including teachers — to be prepared "to have some skin in the game as we make tough decisions," he did not address CPS executive salaries, including Brizard's. Brizard's contract has yet to be finalized, but he's working under a $250,000 a year starting salary — $20,000 more than Huberman — until the end of this month.
Brizard called his salary "small" when compared to other large city school districts.
"I purposely did not push for a higher salary knowing the deficit faced by the district," he said.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...
CPS to Cut $75M
Brizard’s temporary contract includes a $250,000 salary, $20,000 more than his full-time predecessor, Ron Huberman. When asked if he would agree to a smaller salary, Brizard said, “Compared to other cities, my salary is actually quite small.”
Cuts to the custodial staff, vehicle fleet and equipment budget for non-teachers will also be made.
CPS Chief Operating Officer Tim Cawley said under-utilized spaces at schools would no longer be cleaned daily, which will allow the private custodial services contracted by CPS to reduce staff.
Bus rides to and from school could also get longer if routes are eliminated as a result of the transportation budget cuts, though Cawley said he hopes to avoid that.
“Every child is precious and every dollar is precious,” Emanuel said.
http://www.chicagonewscoop.org/...
Brizard Vague on CPS Budget Cuts
Errica Smith, a local school council member for Dunn Elementary School in the South Side Roseland neighborhood, said she often feels disenfranchised and disrespected as a parent and noticed that, “principals and educators tend to talk down to parents.” But she is holding out hope for the new CPS leadership.
“[Brizard] sounds like he has a lot to say, but actions speak louder than words,” Smith said.
http://www.chicagonewscoop.org/...
In this undated photo, Chicago Schools Chief Executive Officer Jean-Claude Brizard (top) explains to a CPS student (lower left) how $44 million in bonds, a longer school bus ride, and less cleaning in the schools can equal "cuts in the bureaucracy" at a June 2, 2011 Chicago Public Schools press conference.
CPS begins budget cuts
Administrators announce $75M in cuts to bureaucracy
Documents circulated by the previous school administration showed that they were considering pushing for an $80 million property tax hike to help reduce the deficit and pay for the teachers’ contractually-mandated 4 percent raise. The board must vote to honor the teachers’ raise on or before June 15.
Chicago Teachers Union president Karen Lewis said in a statement Thursday that the savings merely offset the state’s recent cuts to CPS funding.
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CPS principals given budgets; 4 percent teacher raises not included
The good news in Brizard’s e-mail was that he said school budgets included no increase in class size, no trims to full-day kindergarten despite state cutbacks, and no cuts to existing anti-violence positions created under former Schools CEO Ron Huberman’s “culture of calm” program.
However, up to 100 “supplemental” teaching positions and 50 “supplemental” non-teaching positions were trimmed, yielding $10.6 million in savings, spokeswoman Carroll said.
The positions were all “outside the core curriculum” of reading, math, science and social studies, she said. Asked if that meant art, music and physical education positions were axed, Carroll said the cuts would “vary from school to school” and added that if schools, somehow, could find the money to cover the positions they might not be cut at all.
Meanwhile, CTU teachers planned
“grade-ins’’ Saturday at two city parks and a Starbucks coffee to show the public that they work more than their seven scheduled hours per weekday. CPS teachers will be grading papers on non-school hours -- part of a new national phenomenon of “grade-ins’’ by teachers frustrated by what they say are mounting attacks on them.
http://www.suntimes.com/...
CPS PRESS RELEASE JUNE 2, 2011 BELOW HERE
Mayor Emanuel and CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard announce savings of $75 million to FY2012 CPS budget ... Savings to come by trimming administrative and non-classroom spending June 2, 2011
This morning, Mayor Emanuel and CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard announced savings of $75 million to the Chicago Public Schools by trimming administrative and non-classroom spending from the upcoming FY12 budget.
“In tackling the CPS budget deficit, we will begin by cutting bureaucracy so that we can focus our resources on supporting students and teachers,” said Mayor Emanuel. “This plan will reduce the Central Office budget and scale back on planned spending, keeping cuts as far away from the classroom as possible.”
“We will continually search for efficiencies that let us put more resources toward the education of our children,” said CPS CEO Jean-Claude Brizard. “I am determined to route every dollar I can to classrooms. We are starting that process today by having the Central Office do its part.”
The plan will achieve $75 million in savings in the following ways:
-- Implement reductions to Central Office departments: $16 million
-- Close vacant Central Office positions and those that will become vacant due to retirements and resignations; limited layoffs. -- Reduce Central Office contractual services and delay office equipment upgrades.
-- Minimize debt servicing costs: $44 million. Scale back planned FY 2012 bond issuances for capital projects, lowering debt servicing costs.
-- Decrease reliance on privatized custodial services: $7.3 million
-- Reduce unutilized space in under-enrolled schools to decrease need for private custodial services.
-- Increase efficiency of utilities, waste management, and cleaning staff: $1.1 million
-- Partner with ComEd to turn off all non-emergency lights during certain summer periods when school is not in session. -- Re-bid waste management contract. Cut overtime hours of Central Office cleaning staff.
-- Reduce size of vehicle fleet: $5 million
-- Downsize and increase efficiency of school bus fleet while serving same number of students.
-- Reduce equipment budget for non-teaching staff: $1.2 million
-- Refrain from upgrading computers and software used by Central Office support staff. -- Close apprentice engineer program for non-CPS students: $520,000
-- Cease funding a 12-person engineering apprenticeship program for high school graduates.
-- Shrink roving custodial crew: $200,000
-- Reduce size of supplementary custodial staff used to augment school custodial staff.
SUN TIME ARTICLE BELOW HERE
Emanuel’s $75 million in cuts mean longer bus rides, dirtier schools
BY FRAN SPIELMAN City Hall Reporter fspielman@suntimes.com Jun 2, 2011 3:19PM
Chicago Public Schools students will have longer bus rides and schools that are half-empty will be dirtier — thanks to $75 million in “non-classroom” cuts ordered Thursday by Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s handpicked schools team.
With a $720 million deficit — and $77 million more in new budget cuts authorized by the Illinois General Assembly — the latest round of bureaucratic belt-tightening merely keeps the system “running in place,” as chief operating officer Tim Cawley put it.
But the cuts send a powerful message to two important players: the state, which owes CPS $300 million, and a Chicago Teachers Union that will be asked to make concessions to help eliminate the shortfall.
“Your hand is strengthened … by telling the state, ‘We are making the tough decisions and the smart decisions.’ When we go in and advocate, ‘We need you to pay your bills,’ they don’t just think it’s going into some big black hole in the bureaucracy,” the mayor said during a news conference at South Loop Elementary, 1212 S. Plymouth Court.
As for the teachers union, Emanuel said, “We inherited at the city a $600 million [operating] deficit. We’re gonna fix it. The schools? $720 [million]. ... We’ve got to make the tough calls, but everybody will have some skin in the game.”
Asked if she was prepared to put some “skin in the game,” CTU President Karen Lewis said, “I don’t even know what that means. To me, it’s rhetoric.”
Lewis later released a statement noting that the $75 million in cuts merely returns CPS to the “status quo” after the $77 million in state budget cuts. The fact that so much money could be cut from administration and bureaucracy “underscores the need for more transparency” in school spending, she said.
“The citizens of Chicago need to see every line of school spending — how much is spent, on what, and to whom. Then we can have a frank priority-setting session that addresses research-based education policy,” Lewis said.
Last month, in his first full day in office, Emanuel honored a campaign promise by ordering $75 million in cuts to former Mayor Richard M. Daley’s final city budget.
Now, newly-appointed Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard has matched his boss with school cuts that, he insists, will not impact the classroom, but will be felt by students who ride buses and those who attend half-empty schools.
“Just by lengthening some of the routes a little bit, we can save $5 million,” Cawley said of the bussing cuts. The rides would be five to 10 minutes longer, officials said.
“If some students have to ride a little bit longer on the bus, we’ll do it that way,’’ Cawley said. “I’m hoping that’s not the case. … I’m actually pretty confident we’re going to be able save that $5 million through negotiating better contracts with our bus operators.”
The $7.5 million in savings from custodial services will come primarily by cleaning only the utilized portion of half-empty schools. Another $200,000 will come from shrinking a custodial crew that supplements school cleaners.
“We have … whole floors that don’t have any children in them. We are paying outside custodians to clean those floors, clean those classrooms as if there are children in them every day. … We’re not gonna do that anymore,” Cawley said.
The biggest savings — $44 million — will come from shrinking bond issues for capital projects that will now be delayed.
Another $17.2 million in cuts will hit the central office, a target of virtually every school administration.
This round includes: 20 layoffs; elimination of 40 open or soon-to-be-vacant positions; cuts in contractual services; and delays in the purchase of office equipment and computer and software upgrades.
“My commitment is to keep cuts as far away from the classroom as possible,” Brizard said.
Emanuel added, “By cutting the bureaucracy first and preserving resources for the classroom, it makes a statement as powerful as the money about where you set the priorities. Every decision we’re gonna make is how to preserve the classroom for the children so they can learn.”
http://www.substancenews.net/...
6:41 PM PT: Chicago Public Schools boss tying his pay to ‘student achievement’
Sources said Brizard’s base salary is expected to remain at the $250,000 temporarily approved by the lame-duck school board.
But that salary could rise based on a host of factors ranging from test scores and parental participation to graduation and student drop-out rates.
Asked Thursday if he expects to be paid more if student test scores rise, Brizard said, “Not necessarily. … I can’t talk too much about it because it’s still being negotiated and finalized by the attorneys. That will be in the next few days. … You’ll get all the details. I promise you.”
Brizard refused to say whether the performance contract would include a housing allowance or expense account. Nor would he say whether he would be reimbursed for moving expenses.
Last month, the outgoing school board approved Brizard’s appointment for an initial base salary $20,000 higher than the annual salary paid to predecessor Ron Huberman.
http://www.suntimes.com/...
