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"Desperate" Chicago Schools Need Half Billion To Avoid Mass Layoffs, Partial Shutdown

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Last month, we noted with some incredulity that Illinois is now paying lottery winners in IOUs. Long story short, the state’s inability to pass a budget means big winners will have to wait on their prize money, a ridiculous situation which prompted one Illinoisan to remind state officials that “if we owed the state money, they’d come take it and they don’t care whether we have a roof over our head; our budget wouldn’t be a factor.” State Rep. Jack Franks agreed, noting that the “government is committing fraud on the taxpayers.”

The lottery debacle is just the latest example of Illinois’ deepening fiscal crisis which was catapulted into the national spotlight in May when a state Supreme Court decision that struck down a pension reform bid prompted Moody’s to cut the city of Chicago into junk territory. Since then, the media has been awash with tales of the labyrinthine, incestuous character of the state’s various state and local governments and the deplorable condition of the state’s pension system. 

The fallout from the budget crisis is far-reaching in the state with the latest example being Chicago’s public school system (the third-largest in the country), which opened this week with a budget shortfall of nearly a half billion dollars. Here’s WSJ with the story:

Chicago Public Schools—with 394,000 students and nearly 21,000 teachers—has closed more than half of a projected $1.1 billion shortfall through cuts, borrowing and other means, but is looking to the state to come up with the rest. The school board warns of deep cuts later this year if Illinois, which faces its own fiscal crisis, doesn’t deliver an additional $480 million in the coming months, representing roughly 8% of annual district spending.

 

“It is like the board is a desperate gambler at the end of their run,” said Jesse Sharkey, vice president of the Chicago Teachers Union, in a recent speech.

 

“We are really now at a point where further cuts would reach deep into the classroom,” said Forrest Claypool, who was named chief executive of the city schools in July.

 

Since 2011, the school board has made nearly $1 billion in cuts—including $200 million this year that involved eliminating 1,400 positions, mostly through layoffs. Enrollment declines, due to shifting demographics and Chicago’s shrinking population, have led to school closings, including nearly 50 elementary schools in 2013 alone.

 

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has clashed with the teachers union, which went on strike three years ago and is currently without a contract. Another strike isn’t out of the question as the two sides are wrestling over the district’s effort to get teachers to pay more of their pension costs.

 

A group of parents, educators and activists with the support of union leaders launched a hunger strike Aug. 17 in a push to reopen a closed high school in a historically black neighborhood on the city’s South Side. The group argues the board concentrates money in Chicago’s wealthy, predominantly white neighborhoods. Hispanic and black students make up a vast majority of enrollment in city schools, and more than 85% of students are considered economically disadvantaged.

 


 

“There is a priorities crisis,” said Jitu Brown, a community organizer and parent who is participating in the hunger strike.

Of course one problem is a sharp increase in pension costs thanks to a “holiday” the board decided to take from 2011 through 2014:

The district’s pension costs have more than doubled in recent years after the board took a partial “holiday” for three years from paying the amount needed to put the retirement system on a path to long-term solvency.

And all the classic options - raising taxes, taking on new debt to payoff the old debt, etc. - have apparently been exhausted:

At first, the board drained reserves and paid off old debt with new, but those options are running out. The district also is raising property taxes as much as it can under a state cap. At the same time, Mr. Emanuel is weighing a much larger increase to confront the city government’s own pension problems, but that wouldn’t go to the schools.

Which means asking the ineffectual state legislature for $480 million, but thanks to gridlock in Springfield, there are no assurances that aid is forthcoming and that, in turn, means that once it's all said and done, the third largest school system in the country will be forced to layoff thousands and implement what amounts to a partial shutdown. 

Senate President John Cullerton, a Chicago Democrat who sponsored the legislation, said without it the schools would see the layoffs of 3,000 teachers, increased class sizes and a shortened academic year. “We have to resolve this,” he said.

Yes, this has to be resolved and because we want to help, we suggest Governor Bruce Rauner not do things like squander hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money on celebrity budget gurus like Donna Arduin, who, until she was dismissed two Fridays ago for not being very guru-ish when it came to Illinois' budget, was making $30,000 a month or, more than half of what a Chicago public school teacher makes in a year. 

 

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Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:25 | 6523178 Meat Hammer
Meat Hammer's picture

Stop calling them schools.  They are daycare centers.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:27 | 6523183 Haus-Targaryen
Haus-Targaryen's picture

Wait -- the South Side of Chicago is willing to Hunger Strike themselves until they get a cool $500 Million?  

Oh please Barry -- stay out of this one.  

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:29 | 6523201 Looney
Looney's picture

Just wondering… How many “broken windows” would it take to bring Chicago back to prosperity?

Krugman? Krugman? Kru…  ;-)

Looney

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:33 | 6523226 Manthong
Manthong's picture

Just hit “Baby Dick” Daley up for some of that kick-back fortune he has stashed in his Michigan lakefront compound.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:36 | 6523241 Headbanger
Headbanger's picture

Looks like the one on the right could use a hunger strike..

Or two.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:42 | 6523277 knukles
knukles's picture

              Where's Mrs O'Leary's cow when you need her?

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:46 | 6523300 JungleCat
JungleCat's picture

"Chicago" and "Detroit" both have 7 letters in them.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:47 | 6523306 pods
pods's picture

My money is on the two on the right!

Wait, errr, lady on the right.

pods

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 15:04 | 6523423 Latina Lover
Latina Lover's picture

The Chicago Schools should declare War on Washington and join Russia.  That will likely get Washingtons attention.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 15:17 | 6523481 nuubee
nuubee's picture

Wasn't Obama involved in Chicago politics?

hrm... seem's like we have a prognostication tool for America's future.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 16:17 | 6523774 TruxtonSpangler
TruxtonSpangler's picture

Chicago is the poster child for charter schools. The end game is privatized for profit government schools. Get the best kids into charter schools and defund public schools, thus driving ALL kids to charter schools. Its the next evolution in the for profit prison system, they are just vertically integrating. All is going according to plan.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 16:30 | 6523829 jcaz
jcaz's picture

Oh wow, and I thought we could keep paying high school natural science teachers $125K+ forever.... 

Better call your union rep and up your salary demands-  the Chicago way.....

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 17:37 | 6524047 logicalman
logicalman's picture

Without all the illegal and immoral wars the US loves so much and the amount of money stolen by banksters, there would be enough money for gold plated desks and chairs.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 19:13 | 6524391 all-priced-in
all-priced-in's picture

Who did Chicago go to war with?

 

This is a local problem caused by promising unions too much - fuck them - make them solve it on their own - no federal money should be used.

 

 

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 19:26 | 6524431 Save_America1st
Save_America1st's picture

So no Plunge Protection Teams in place to save failing pension funds, huh?  Hmm....

Go figure...

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 19:45 | 6524513 SeattleBruce
SeattleBruce's picture

Yeah, according to Cheney, and every democrat everywhere, debt doesn't matter.  Until it does.  Yeah, we knew that wasn't true..

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 20:02 | 6524591 J S Bach
J S Bach's picture

Let the third world masses now populating the schools pay the bill.  And good riddance to yet another once-great American city.  (I know this is impossible, I just like to state it - to annoy all of the alturistic idiots who continue down the suicidal path.)

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 20:21 | 6524636 TN Jed
TN Jed's picture

Unrelated but when I'm reading ZH on mobile this is the part of the comment chain where it looks like I'm reading a book printed on a toothpick.  WTF  What an outdated and horrible way to run a comment section in a mobile age.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 22:13 | 6525086 mademesmile
mademesmile's picture

It
looks
just
like
a
book
printed
on
a
toothpick.
That
is
a
hilarious
and
accurate
description!

Wed, 09/09/2015 - 01:42 | 6525559 buzzkillb
buzzkillb's picture

On a tablet, if you have ads or even adblock on, half of those above words are chopped off with the huge sidebar of blank space.

Wed, 09/09/2015 - 08:47 | 6526053 BarkingCat
BarkingCat's picture

Turn off you JavaScript - it fixes a lot of problems caused by the ads. The big downside is that anytime you up/down arrow someone the page gets refreshed and does not put you back to that comment.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 20:28 | 6524667 Son of Loki
Son of Loki's picture

Cut the tax incentives to keep popping them out would be a good first step.

Thu, 09/10/2015 - 09:54 | 6530841 Kobe Beef
Kobe Beef's picture

Mandatory Sterilization before receiving any Public Welfare.

Kobe Beef for Reichsmarshall 2020!

End Cash for Bastards!!!

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 19:45 | 6524517 TongueStun
TongueStun's picture

Both parties are just the same, right guys? I mean the republicans have done the same things to da bik citees write?

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 21:19 | 6524839 MisterMousePotato
MisterMousePotato's picture

"We are really now at a point where further cuts would reach deep into the classroom ... ."

Hilarious.

Do the math, and you discover that they spend $15,228 per student. Twenty kids in a class, that's $304,569 per classroom. Thirty kids (how I was educated), and we're talking $456,853.

Half a million fucking dollars. Per fucking classroom.

Give me a fucking break.

At the end of one's public school education, most, if not all, would've been better served if we'd just saved up the money and gave it to 'em. $15,228 x 12 = $182,741.

Now that's the way you stimulate an economy, Ben.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 21:41 | 6524953 Thenardier
Thenardier's picture

fabulous post mmp, agree, and btw, call them teachers anf not the pc fuckin' educators!

Wed, 09/09/2015 - 02:40 | 6525603 WOAR
WOAR's picture

Fuck, really. I would be super educated with 15k a year.

I could be doing biopsies on cats with that kind of money. With anesthetics. And sterilized equipment.

Fuck, I could own tools and do whatever the hell I wanted with that kind of money. Just give the kids the money and they can buy their own lathes, and drill presses, and make all of their own shit after that!

We have the knowledge. We have the technology. CNC EVERYTHING.

Thu, 09/10/2015 - 10:14 | 6530918 Kobe Beef
Kobe Beef's picture

Dude. South side of Chicago. Anchor babies. Dindu tax rebates. Marxist Goodthinker teachers. These are "vibrant" classrooms. You're assuming a level of motivation and intelligence that isn't there.

They spend half a million per classroom, and yet half don't even fucking graduate. The half that does is still functionally illiterate. Sunk costs & Cloward-Piven, ho!

I'd give Boeing half a million per op in my "Cluster Bombs for Chicago" Initiative.

Kobe Beef for Reichsmarshall 2020! 

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 22:59 | 6525220 FreedomGuy
FreedomGuy's picture

Are they only underfunded in war years? How much of the Chicago budget goes to the military?

Dipshit.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 21:42 | 6524963 HolyfieldsOtherEar
HolyfieldsOtherEar's picture

"Sorry, kids, no money for chalk anymore, you'll have to come to the front of the class and write your answer in your own blood. It was either that or my six-figure pension, and you know how that one rolls. Any questions?"

Wed, 09/09/2015 - 07:59 | 6525892 Wolfbay
Wolfbay's picture

If only governments would raise taxes just enough to cover expenses and fund retirements without accounting BS. The revolution would begin immediately.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 17:53 | 6524113 azusgm
azusgm's picture

Our local charter 8-12 early college high school runs on the average daily attendance allotment from the state. It gets no funding from local property taxes. In this case, the charter school is living on about 1/3 of the annual revenue per student that the local public school district burns through. The public school district gives up the state allotment, but gets to keep the local tax money. It is actually enriched when a student opts out for the charter school. Same story with the local private church-affiliated schools except the state gets to keep the attendance allotment.

Shed no tears for the poor public school districts. They are fiefdoms with overpaid administrators.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 20:45 | 6524719 Tijuana Donkey Show
Tijuana Donkey Show's picture

You are correct. I work in EDU, and sell to K12 and colleges. Charter schools and adaptive learning are the future. The problem in schools is "power distance." Chicago is a huge district, and no local to policy work really happens. Charters stay close to the community. Breaking Chicago into a large amount of smaller districts would help too. People can scream, but inner city schools need different policy than suburbs. It's still cheaper to educate a child than imprison an adult. 

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 20:52 | 6524740 TruxtonSpangler
TruxtonSpangler's picture

Donkey - this is precisely why it cant be let to happen. Think of all that lost GDP!

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 20:50 | 6524735 rbg81
rbg81's picture

Honestly, I'm sick of pretending that these kids are learning anything anyway.  Just buy them some TVs, Nikes and gold chain.  They'll be much happier.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 15:15 | 6523482 TeamDepends
TeamDepends's picture

What exactly do these communist organizers do again?

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 15:40 | 6523600 Arnold
Arnold's picture

Stimulate hormone flow.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 17:17 | 6523972 Rodent Free Corps
Rodent Free Corps's picture

Turn good food into shit.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 19:00 | 6524344 Pickleton
Pickleton's picture

But but but, I thought Chicago is a libtardian utopia.    Surely they have money galore, everyone's wealthy and they don't have a fucking ridiculous murder rate.

 

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 20:14 | 6524610 Cruel Aid
Cruel Aid's picture

The mantra is that it wont work unless they control the entire system.

It gives them a beautiful excuse going forward.

Its only utopia when it is pure communism.

Well utopia for the great leaders that is

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 23:01 | 6525227 FreedomGuy
FreedomGuy's picture

They just need to raise the minimum wage to $125/hr and set taxes at 100%. Then there will be prosperity and schools will be properly funded. Oh, and eliminate the Chicago defense budget. 

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:47 | 6523308 knukles
knukles's picture

Actually, who really cares anymore?  Just another one of many fresh corpses in a Sudanese sun, rotting away, attracting maggots ....

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:59 | 6523385 Handful of Dust
Handful of Dust's picture

Send all the thugs and parasites, school administrators and their students from Detroit and Chicago to Germany and Sweden while they are being so open hearted. Do not miss a good opportunity.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 20:46 | 6524723 Tijuana Donkey Show
Tijuana Donkey Show's picture

I say send all of them, minus the students (they are still young and innocent) to Syria. They already love shooting people, we need to get them work.

Wed, 09/09/2015 - 07:37 | 6525857 N2OJoe
N2OJoe's picture

Young maybe but innocent? I've seen the population of a Trenton school and if Chicago's even a shadow of that, then dem brudda's would do just fine in Syria.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 21:09 | 6524795 Ace006
Ace006's picture

I like innovative thinkers.  Good job.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 16:10 | 6523741 ShakaZulu
ShakaZulu's picture

As does the word that describes most their citizens.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 21:08 | 6524791 Ace006
Ace006's picture

Dat funny!

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 19:46 | 6524518 A Nanny Moose
A Nanny Moose's picture

Indeed. Let it burn!!!!

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:44 | 6523289 Arnold
Arnold's picture

Sell the excess fat as whale oil first.

let me set up an app. I could earn a Ferrrari!

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 19:52 | 6524547 A Nanny Moose
A Nanny Moose's picture

^^THIS^^

I think I cracked a rib laughing so hard. The irony being that Proggys forget about JD Rockefeller having saved the whales.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:45 | 6523293 JungleCat
JungleCat's picture

Gov is all-seing and all-solving...:-)

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 16:14 | 6523760 msmith9962
msmith9962's picture

Proud member of the clean plate club.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 19:48 | 6524529 A Nanny Moose
A Nanny Moose's picture

They might start eating the children they are "protecting"

Don't get me started.

Wed, 09/09/2015 - 02:59 | 6525619 Nobody For President
Nobody For President's picture

I hated to vote you up from 69, but I did.

You know it is politically incorrect to mention this. Fat Pride, and all that shit

Solution to this district funding problem: Home Schooling!

Yeah, I've done it, and yeah, it requires work on the part of the parents, or should I say parent(s). My wife and I (she's gone now damnit) homeschooled our son for a year and our daughter for a year at different times for different reasons, and we all benefited from it. But it does take a real effort, (i.e. it is a lot of work for the parents), which means it would not work for most of the FSA.

Shut the fucking district down! The Policeman and Fireman and former teachers and administrators who have their bloated pensions can stick with their "I've got mine, Fuck You" attitude, and the fundamentally corrupt state legs and supreme court can finally see the results of their actions. Everybody has to give on this, and nobody is going to - the results are predictable, and will not be pretty.

And I was a volunteer firefighter for over 20 years, and got jack plus shit for pension for it, and that's fine. Yeah, the public servants, using the term losely, deserve a decent pension they can live on, but most of us know how the unions and their votes have corrupted the system beyond belief. It dishonors so many that served, but they have talked themselves into the "I deserve it" belief system.

Fuckers. You forgot why you served, for those of you who ever got it, and were not in it for a short career and a fat pension. Chicago deserves to crash and burn, and it will, soon.

 

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:36 | 6523242 RafterManFMJ
RafterManFMJ's picture

We don' need no mutherfuckin' water, let dat motherfucker burn!

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 15:01 | 6523404 drendebe10
drendebe10's picture

Just use the money going to the gubmint workers pension to pay the bills..... 

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 16:33 | 6523830 Chuck Walla
Chuck Walla's picture

“government is committing fraud on the taxpayers.”

For about a hundred years or more. Who could be surprised at this?

Tiny Dancer is working hard to make sure his pals get theirs while everybody else can just suck it.  Last year, I think 9 Fingers had a billion in TIF money. Well, fuck those obligations, he had to find ways to payoff those who will finance his presidential run.   Cops, Firemen, Teachers? What have you done for me lately?  "You vote as you are told and I am still running it." 

People are shocked that gang bangers back and own Aldermen. What gang owns Rahmmy?


 

FORWARD PEOPLE'S PARADISE!

Sweet Home Chicago

What a bunch of pathetic suckers.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 17:38 | 6524053 logicalman
logicalman's picture

It's not fraud, it's extortion.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 23:08 | 6525257 FreedomGuy
FreedomGuy's picture

Exactly right. Any time there is a budget shortfall the first thing that goes are any useful parts of government. Cops, teachers and half the clerks at DMV get fired so you feel the pain. No administrators take a pay cut or get laid off. 

One year at my fairly large company we were offered the choice of taking a 5% pay cut or layoffs (with severance). There were also layoffs. This does not happen in government. They should suffer the economic realities like the private sector. Everyone gets a 5% pay cut, or you have to contribute more to your own pension or no raises for five years, etc. 

My preference would be to see no extra money and let them keep laying off people until no schools are open, yet they have a $4 billion dollar budget with all schools closed and no teachers. Then the fraud and graft should become pretty apparent. 

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 22:20 | 6525108 ZHrnh
ZHrnh's picture

What gang owns Rahmmy? Well, Daddy Nine-Fingers was a big gun in the irgun (apparently he liked blowing up buses) so that's easy. The same gang or tribe owns him as owns the Community Organizer, David Axelrod, Christine LaGarde. Chicago is still second city - second only to hymie-town. 


Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:35 | 6523233 Paveway IV
Paveway IV's picture

Simple - Import five million Syrians whose homes the U.S. has destroyed and charge them all a $100 immigrant tax. 

We made eight million homeless, but I'm guessing three million or so will want to stay in Europe, drown or be killed by U.S. al Nusra or ISIS forces before they make it out. 

Take THAT, Assad!

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 21:13 | 6524806 Ace006
Ace006's picture

Barry's war against Assad.  Has the Congress gotten around to declaring war on Syria yet?  Or do we bother about minor stuff like that any more?

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 18:22 | 6523271 Paveway IV
Paveway IV's picture

Better yet, export all Chicago children to Israel.

Israel gets three billion a year in free U.S. taxpayer money. Let them educate the children of Chicago - they can afford it.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 19:50 | 6524538 SeattleBruce
SeattleBruce's picture

"Just wondering… How many “broken windows” would it take to bring Chicago back to prosperity?

Krugman? Krugman? Kru…  ;-)"

Are there any unbroken windows in Chicago?  And I hear it gets pretty cold in Chicago come wintertime.  All those broken windows are going to be pretty darn inefficient and not very green, and they'll definitely have to keep breaking windows right through the cold of winter.  Mr. Krugman, I thought you were a good liberal - how do you reconcile THAT?!

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:30 | 6523203 KnuckleDragger-X
KnuckleDragger-X's picture

Socialism at its best and they are getting what they asked for.....

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 15:03 | 6523416 Handful of Dust
Handful of Dust's picture

I assume you are also against them getting those $26 million pensions?

 

Meet Neil Codell an Illinois educator with a $26 million state pension

Look for 'Codell, Neil C' -- 4th from the top of the list.  His estimated career pension is $26,661,604.  That's almost $27 million for a single administrator within just one local Illinois school system (Niles, to be exact).

 

http://dailybail.com/home/make-this-story-go-viral-you-thought-Californi...

 

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 15:33 | 6523556 willwork4food
willwork4food's picture

It's a great gig if you can get it.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 15:45 | 6523627 Arnold
Arnold's picture

We could use  an address and Social Security number prease.

 

 

--Peoples Republic Of China   PPT

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 16:21 | 6523795 willwork4food
willwork4food's picture

I used to live near Niles and good ol boy Neal's village of Highland Park. VERY EXCLUSIVE areas, North Shore Cook county. What they need is a good F-5 to go through the southside and clean up everything the natural way.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 19:55 | 6524557 Son of Loki
Son of Loki's picture

That's it! I'm breaking the news to Father Loki tomorrow; I am going to become a Chicago School Administrator instead of a neurosurgeon. Why should I be poor the rest of my life? I want a purple Escalade too.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 20:50 | 6524733 Tijuana Donkey Show
Tijuana Donkey Show's picture

Grape Escalade. It's grape, not purple. 

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 23:11 | 6525263 FreedomGuy
FreedomGuy's picture

That's plum crazy! (Challenger color)

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 19:59 | 6524574 A Nanny Moose
A Nanny Moose's picture

If only FDR had considered data loss, among the repercussions of having a centralized, and easily repeatable universal ID number. What lessons can be learned by the current crop of central planners? Will they even be learned?

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 23:13 | 6525271 FreedomGuy
FreedomGuy's picture

Excellent link, Dust. I had forgotten about the California one, too.

All the salaries and pensions of "public servants" (cough, cough, hack, hack!) should be made public. The leftists complain about CEO's, etc. but never their own. 

I do not have to support a CEO. His money comes from his company. I do get taxed, ever higher to forefully support the leaches in the government.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 15:56 | 6523682 Max Cynical
Max Cynical's picture

"Chicago Public Schools—with 394,000 students and nearly 21,000 teachers..."

Maybe there's only 21K teachers...how many other employees support Chicago Public Schools?

I'll guessing it's something close to a 1:1 employee to student ratio...i.e. 394K employees.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 18:17 | 6524185 Mr.BlingBling
Mr.BlingBling's picture

CPS has 41,579 employees, if you believe their stats.

http://cps.edu/About_CPS/At-a-glance/Pages/Stats_and_facts.aspx

 

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:33 | 6523205 Creepy A. Cracker
Creepy A. Cracker's picture

Thank you Dear Leader Obama and democrats running the city.  If the entire country could only benefit from your awesome laws and orders.

 

Oh, wait...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:34 | 6523238 Bananamerican
Bananamerican's picture

"the South Side of Chicago is willing to Hunger Strike themselves"

from the looks of some of those 'activists' it could be a loooong strike

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 20:02 | 6524590 A Nanny Moose
A Nanny Moose's picture

from where wil their insulin injections comes? Because boxes of chocolate flavored horseshit aren't really food anyway.

Wake me up when they A) don't eat the children and B) can subsist off water for moar than 24 hours.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 21:14 | 6524816 FreeNewEnergy
FreeNewEnergy's picture

I'm giving you a D on puntuation, but a super-secret handshake finger ring tootsie rool deluxe 20 quadzillion upvotes on the basic message. So, that's a six, overall.

Please read Marshall McLuhan, if ony because nobody does anymore. Or don't.

Illinois, default (already happened, re: lottery), Shemitah (why not?).

Personally, I don't think anything is going to happen in a large economic way this month.

I think of it as a slow grind. If you're either evil or a mobster (as depicted in Hollywood movies), or both, you appreciate the efficiency of the slow grind. Helps to be a sociopath, too, but that's not really something most ordinary people would put on their resumes.

Anyhow, great comment.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 23:14 | 6525275 FreedomGuy
FreedomGuy's picture

I like mobsters compared to government. The business model is more honest and open.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:38 | 6523257 BandGap
BandGap's picture

I work in Chicago. The schools are ~60% full, and this is after they closed quite a few a couple years ago. The "hunger strike" school is one that was closed, it is to be a charter school. What they should call it is a sanctuary school. Well meaning parents actually want a place for their kids to learn.

No one mentions that last Wednesday 10 people/kids/yoots were shot to death, coincidentally the first week school was back in session. A lot of this inner city schools are blended gang turf meeting places they want to keep separated to avoid total warfare. Black lives matter.

I went to Chicago Public schools. What we have here are not schools at all anymore.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:43 | 6523282 lordylord2
lordylord2's picture

"I went to Chicago Public schools. What we have here are not schools at all anymore."

This is racist.  They just need more funding.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:46 | 6523301 Meat Hammer
Meat Hammer's picture

Deficits are racist.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:49 | 6523313 pods
pods's picture

As are bullets, apparently.

pods

Thu, 09/10/2015 - 10:42 | 6531030 Kobe Beef
Kobe Beef's picture

Dey jus need mo money fo dem programs

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 15:14 | 6523469 ThroxxOfVron
ThroxxOfVron's picture

Total US statists/data/graphs of enrollment, demogrphics by graduation/drop-out, etc..:

http://www.census.gov/hhes/school/data/cps/historical/

 

Learning is fun!


Tue, 09/08/2015 - 18:01 | 6524139 azusgm
azusgm's picture

A link for the data-driven:

http://heyjackass.com/

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:43 | 6523281 Moe Howard
Moe Howard's picture

Can we show them the path to Germany?

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 15:47 | 6523316 Arnold
Arnold's picture

Iceland.

 

Iceland needs attitude after defaulting on their debt and all.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-09-06/11000-icelanders-offer-house-sy...

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 15:07 | 6523437 ZHrnh
ZHrnh's picture

Just go to the lakefront, head east.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 15:06 | 6523431 de3de8
de3de8's picture

From what I see in the picture some will last quite a long time on that hunger strike.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 15:13 | 6523471 Freddie
Freddie's picture

That fat white or somewhat semi-white woman on the right hand side of the picture needs to go on a hunger strike.  that repulsive black woman who runs the Chicago teacher's union is another fat tub of shit pig.

F Chicago and their corrupt unions.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 20:17 | 6524533 itstippy
itstippy's picture

Freddie, you're not being very considerate of that fat tub of shit pig's feelings.  Might I suggest some sensitivity group sessions?

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 19:01 | 6524349 TemporarySecurity
TemporarySecurity's picture

This is America, we won't see any effects of the hunger strick for at least a year.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 19:23 | 6524409 johnconnor
johnconnor's picture

By the looks of the female teacher on the photo, she is a prepper and has reserves to go on a hunger strike for months...

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 20:25 | 6524652 azusgm
azusgm's picture

...and no one can take it from her.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 20:47 | 6524726 Ward cleaver
Ward cleaver's picture

Hunger Strike? Short Cheetos and grape soda

Wed, 09/09/2015 - 10:26 | 6526392 Nue
Nue's picture

I can see the headline now.

"Food Stamp program runs suprise surplus in Illinois"

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:27 | 6523189 imbtween
imbtween's picture

The former chancellor of Chicago Schools, Arne Duncan, has been busy wrecking the schools at the national level. Nobody ever said he wasn't thoroughly destructive.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:31 | 6523211 Fukushima Fricassee
Fukushima Fricassee's picture

Yes and fuck them and all that work there.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:32 | 6523215 lordylord2
lordylord2's picture

Meat Hammer:

Stop calling them daycare centers.  They are indoctrination centers.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:34 | 6523231 Meat Hammer
Meat Hammer's picture

Fixed it for me. Thanks.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:45 | 6523294 SmedleyButlersGhost
SmedleyButlersGhost's picture

Can I weigh in with detention centers?

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:47 | 6523307 Meat Hammer
Meat Hammer's picture

Public schools = Daycare/Indoctrination/Detention Centers

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:53 | 6523341 Arnold
Arnold's picture

Really, are the teechers geting the same rate as the corrections officers?

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 23:16 | 6525282 FreedomGuy
FreedomGuy's picture

Better. Most corrections instittutions are probably private, now.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 15:00 | 6523388 lordylord2
lordylord2's picture

"Public schools = Daycare/Indoctrination/Detention Centers"

3 in 1?  And here I have always said that government wasn't efficient.  Guess I was wrong.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 21:20 | 6524842 FreeNewEnergy
FreeNewEnergy's picture

Retardation centers of exceptionalism?

Thu, 09/10/2015 - 10:43 | 6531038 Kobe Beef
Kobe Beef's picture

...for kids who cant read good and stuff.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:52 | 6523337 Mr. Bones
Mr. Bones's picture

Why not both?

<little-taco-girl.jpg>

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 15:04 | 6523421 drendebe10
drendebe10's picture

The plump chick is a community organizer?  Then she is a democrap candidate for the fudgepacker's job...

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 15:27 | 6523534 WillyGroper
WillyGroper's picture

Juvenile detention centers.

Next up, charter skools & communist core.

Wait til those praetorian guards get screwed out of their pensions.

Pass the popcorn please.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 16:50 | 6523898 MalteseFalcon
MalteseFalcon's picture

"Wait til those praetorian guards get screwed out of their pensions."

If it comes to that I expect those "praetorian guards" to start "passing the plate" among the mundanes.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 16:14 | 6523758 robobbob
robobbob's picture

you're being generous. i would call them indoctrination centers.

and actually, thats kind of what the architects of the system Dewey and the Rockefeller Foundation called them....indirectly of course

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 16:30 | 6523833 Kozakman
Kozakman's picture

Indoctrination centers.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 19:27 | 6524435 HardAssets
HardAssets's picture

Not 'schools'

Not 'daycare centers'

Theyre indoctrination & dumbing down centers.

People would celebrate their being closed down -

If They also hadnt been dumbed down & indoctrinated when they were kids.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 19:45 | 6524512 A Nanny Moose
A Nanny Moose's picture

Re-Edewkayshyn Centers.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 19:46 | 6524514 OC Sure
OC Sure's picture

 

 

"Stop calling them schools.  They are daycare centers."

 

Very close, but not quite.

 

A daycare center is typically a business that one voluntarily renders their after-tax dollars. 

 

Come on, MH! You know better! 


That is the best you got?

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 19:49 | 6524534 OC Sure
OC Sure's picture

 

 

Grrrr. My bad, but still appropriate.

...Did not see the posts above me until after the hammer hit my kneecap.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 20:03 | 6524593 sbenard
sbenard's picture

I was going to call them government indoctrination centers!

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:26 | 6523182 Nutflush60
Nutflush60's picture

Boy, if Scott Walker made these cuts, I could just imagine the outrage.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:27 | 6523185 davinci7_gis
davinci7_gis's picture

do away with teacher pensions and give them 401Ks like everyone else!

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:32 | 6523218 Bananamerican
Bananamerican's picture

hell, give them nothing like everyone else!

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 20:21 | 6524640 stormsailor
stormsailor's picture

you'll get nothing, and you'll LIKE it

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 23:17 | 6525286 FreedomGuy
FreedomGuy's picture

Could I get another bowl of that nothing?

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 23:17 | 6525287 FreedomGuy
FreedomGuy's picture

Could I get another bowl of that nothing?

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 21:43 | 6524967 SeekingNuNormal
SeekingNuNormal's picture

exactly, why would you pay someone to destroy what was once a decent society.  paying teachers is beyond me (well, there are a few exceptions of course)

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:40 | 6523269 twh99
twh99's picture

Did you notice that was the one conspicuous option they didn't mention?

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 15:14 | 6523478 Handful of Dust
Handful of Dust's picture

Good luck with the 401 idea. When they found out they had to actually contribute toward their own pension there would be mass riots. When the FSA gets free shit for years, it's difficult if not impossible to get them to work or to contribute a penny to their own existence.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 20:17 | 6524628 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

liquidate the pensions and throw all these fuckers all into SS

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:27 | 6523190 chrsn
chrsn's picture

The name of the game is bailout

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 16:00 | 6523676 Arnold
Arnold's picture

The Canadian Government has expressed interest in Chicago.

Odd as it seems it would cost less to house their equivalent to felons there.

Tidy up the place a bit first and wire it, Just like home.

Detroit was too much of a cess pool for consideration.

Mexico is looking at Detroit as a penal colony, however.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:28 | 6523194 Tinky
Tinky's picture

Gives me fond memories of Harold Washington. Jane Byrne? Not so much.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:28 | 6523196 Meat Hammer
Meat Hammer's picture

As other people's money runs out, it's fun to watch the oh-so-altruistic takers battle each other.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 15:07 | 6523438 City_Of_Champyinz
City_Of_Champyinz's picture

Yes indeed, but the idiots that reside in Chicago will vote en masse for every corrupt Democrat candidate for every election just like they have for decade after decade in this one party, bankrupt, violent mess of a city run exclusively by the most virulent progressive leftists out there. 

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 15:10 | 6523454 drendebe10
drendebe10's picture

Q:  How many progressive liberal democraps does it take to change a light bulb?

A:  That's not funny and your a racist and gimme all your money cuz I know how to spend it better than you.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:28 | 6523198 Ms. Erable
Ms. Erable's picture

Let them burn. Chiraqui chilluns can't even learn to shoot straight in school, much less reading or writing.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:29 | 6523199 aliki
aliki's picture

lol – liberals were in disbelief when rahm emanuel went with his tail-between-his-legs, hat-in-hand to steve forbes for “help” on the budget issue

have to see the irony here: school teachers not very good at the “math” of their compensation structure

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:35 | 6523240 DontGive
DontGive's picture

Actually, it appears they are good at math.

1) Run up massive liabilities

2) Bailout

3) Rinse repeat

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 21:28 | 6524893 FreeNewEnergy
FreeNewEnergy's picture

That's not math.

That's theft.

Two different things. Amazingly, New York State has some very specific laws on just about everything.

Some parts of the state actually have functioning judicials districts.

So, like, it's not the end of the world (but it sure feels close) today. Kick back. Lower your blood pressure.

Chill.

And please don't even think about buying any silver.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:33 | 6523222 Fukushima Fricassee
Fukushima Fricassee's picture

Fuck these union communist greedy sons of bitches. They can go straight to Hell and that queer fucker Obama had better not bail them out.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:33 | 6523225 I Write Code
I Write Code's picture

Half a billion what, rubber ducks?

They have six billion bucks but can't get by?  Get the kids assembling smart phones after hours and maybe these schools can turn a profit for once.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:33 | 6523227 Salsa Verde
Salsa Verde's picture

The problem will never get better because the staff all feel entitled to spend unlimited amounts of taxpayer money.  You could give those morons $20 Trillion and they would still operate the district in a deficit.  Some people are simply so incompetent you can't even be in the same room with them; in Chicago, they put those people in charge of the schools.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:58 | 6523380 sleigher
sleigher's picture

All I can say is as I have grown older, I have discovered that these people tend to gravitate towards one another.  Makes it very easy to figure out where NOT to go.  

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 19:59 | 6524525 HardAssets
HardAssets's picture

These azz-hats are clueless.

When one of my nieces went on a week long field trip to D.C. while she was in high school, she caught the flu. The teacher wanted to take the girl into the emergency room, on the weekend. The price quoted for this was outrageous. Instead, her parents told her to rest in bed, drink plenty of fluids, and monitor her temperature. No emergency room for non emergencies. The girl did fine.

Of course, the teacher had never had to pay a cent for their own medical care. Spending the money that taxpayers provided was no concern to them. This person has nothing worthwhile to teach the young. 'Schools' are a major racket in this country, sucking up precious resources and dumbing down our kids. The 'schools' are a major force that has been used to destroy America, - for more than a century, and especially since the 1960s.

On a plus note, my niece was sick that whole week she was in D.C. She never got to visit all the expensive Masonic monuments to the lawyer/liar/politicians in the country. And her nose was too plugged up to smell the stench of that place.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 14:34 | 6523228 hotrod
hotrod's picture

I am sure thousands of 6 figure pensions has nothing to do with it.

Tue, 09/08/2015 - 15:34 | 6523568 you enjoy myself
you enjoy myself's picture

But ZH had to throw that little dig in at the end, pretending that Chicago teachers make $60K.  Yeah, maybe in your first three years.  But every single teacher (or cop, firefighter, water dept bureaucrat, etc) anywhere in the country who works to retirement is literally a millionaire (often multi) when you account for pensions and healthcare.

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