Back to School: CPS Offers Money to Schools with Longer Days

By Samantha Abernethy in News on Sep 6, 2011 7:40PM

In an effort to bypass union pressure, Chicago Public Schools is offering financial rewards to those schools that adopt its proposed longer school day with an extra 90 minutes of instruction time.

Each school that adopts the schedule in September would receive $150,000, and each of its teachers would receive a lump sum of $1,250. That'd be about a 2 percent pay raise for teachers, similar to the proposal that the Chicago Teachers Union rejected on the grounds that a 2 percent increase in pay is not sufficient for a 29 percent increase in work.

If a school adopts the schedule in January, it will receive $75,000, and each teacher will receive $800. A majority of the teachers would have to vote to approve any schedule change.

Over the weekend, three schools already decided to extend the day. Skinner North Elementary and STEM Magnet Academy decided to start the new schedule immediately, and Genevieve Melody Elementary will change its schedule in January. Mayor Emanuel was quick to praise the schools' decisions, and he visited all three schools to greet students on their first day back. CTU was quick to call shenanigans. From the CTU blog:

CTU contends that the Board has coerced principals to force this waiver vote on their staff. We have heard of gifts being offered as bribes to teachers and other concessions if they vote for a longer school day.

What has happened at Skinner and Melody schools is unfortunate. CTU is negotiating for a better school day for our students—one that includes a rich and broad curriculum that provides them with a world class education. Today’s vote is not only a violation of past practices, but it is an unacceptable way to implement a longer school day.

It's been one money struggle after another between CPS and CTU since Emanuel took office. Even with layoffs and a property tax hike, CPS said it could not afford to give teachers a 4 percent cost of living wage. It did, however, give its executives a pay raise. This is the first year since 1994 that teachers did not receive a raise. As seen in the chart at right (click to enlarge) from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Illinois cut funding to schools this year more than any other state in the country.