CPS Facing Massive Cuts, Increase in Class Size
Schools may have to trim $700 million
CPS will vote on a list of proposed school closures today.
Much like Governor Quinn and leaders of the Chicago Transit Authority, Chicago Schools CEO Ron Huberman is talking through a doomsday budget scenario.
If CPS is forced to cut $700 million from its upcoming budget, Huberman warns that class sizes will explode to 37-students per teacher, non-varsity sports programs will be cut and administrators will lose their jobs, according to the Sun-Times.
That’s not all: hundreds of teachers could be laid off, gifted programs could be shut down and early childhood education would go kaput, the report states.
Huberman briefed a group of CPS principals on the plan, and the Sun-Times collected a PowerPoint presentation from that meeting.
The cuts would also affect the Chicago Teachers Union, which is due a 4-percent raise this year.
Union spokeswoman Rosemaria Genova told the paper her constituents aren’t happy about how they’re hearing about the emergency plan.
"If this is a negotiating ploy, there will be no negotiations in the press,'' Genova said to the Sun-Times."I can't begin to speculate what Mr. Huberman's objective was in terms of briefing principals . . . For a man who is promoting a 'culture of calm,' this is not the way to do it.”
Posted Tuesday, Mar 16, 2010 - 10:03 AM CST
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