Local School Councils Want AG Madigan To Audit Chicago Public Schools Finances
By Chuck Sudo in News on Jun 18, 2013 5:40PM
Local school council members from a dozen Chicago Public Schools locations have called on Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to audit the school district’s finances in the wake of proposed budget cuts for their schools and asked that the closings of 50 schools be reversed, saying the closings will not save CPS any money.
The Sun-Times reports the LSC members signed the letter in front of CPS headquarters Monday morning, and then shredded copies of the proposed budgets for their respective schools. They’re asking Madigan “get to the root of the educational malpractice the district is currently engaged in.” Jeanette Taylor, a member of local school councils at Jackie Robinson High School and Mollison elementary school, said members of LSCs have been essentially asked by CPS to “basically fire veteran teachers and choose who stays and who goes.” COS defers local school budgets to principals, who make the decisions on how to implement them and who to retain based on recommendations by LSC members. The schools watchdog group Raise Your Hand released a sampling of proposed cuts at some schools Monday. They are, as follows:
Amundsen HS - $780,000
Audubon - $400,000
Beasley - $550,000
Belding - $400,000
Bell - $750,000
Burr - $365,853
Darwin - $723,700
Gage Park HS - $1,000,000
Gale - $500,000
Goethe - $265,000
Grimes Fleming - $458,000
Foreman HS - $1,700,000
Jamieson - $290,000
Kennedy HS - $2,150,000
Kozminsky - $250,000
Lane Tech - $2,000,000
Lincoln Park HS - $1,060,000
Mather - $1,200,000
Mitchell - $788,000
Murphy - $700,000
Pritzker - $186,000
Ray - $400,000
Roosevelt HS - $1,100,000
Suder - $750,000
Sutherland - $253,000
Raise Your Hand Director Wendy Katten said, “We need a long-term sustainable solution at the state level but parents refuse to accept these cuts now while the city is simultaneously handing out property tax money for projects like a $55 million DePaul stadium,, $5 million relocation gift to Vienna Beef to move locations, etc." She called for the city to declare a TIF surplus on unallocated TIF funds to make up for any shortfall that they can’t recover from a potential pension reform savings.
CPS already releases an annual audit of its finances. Spokeswoman Becky Carroll told the Sun-Times they're “using every available resource to keep cuts as far away from the classroom as possible." Last week Mayor Emanuel wouldn't rule out the possibility of having CPS increase its property tax levy for a third consecutive year to help close a $1 billion budget deficit and has had members of the School Board lobbying lawmakers in Springfield to remove the cap on the amount they can raise the levy.