South Side Democrats Blast Illinois Republicans' CPS Takeover Plan

Illinois’s state lawmakers sounded off on Gov. Bruce Rauner and GOP allies’ proposal for the state to take over the ailing Chicago Public Schools by offering bankruptcy protection.

CPS is facing a $500 million budget hole and without state help, massive layoffs could occur in the city’s public school system as the Chicago Teachers Union negotiates a new contract.

Under a plan floated by Illinois Republicans, the Illinois Board of Education would be allowed to remove the Chicago School Board and then appoint an independent board to delve into the school system’s finances. If necessary, CPS would be offered bankruptcy protection, under which teachers union contracts would be voided.

Illinois House Republican Leader Jim Durkin (R-Western Springs) said during a press conference on Wednesday that state lawmakers would be throwing CPS “a lifeline.”

Before the Democrat-controlled Illinois General Assembly would even get a chance to consider such a proposal, House Speaker Mike Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton would need to permit the plan to reach the floor for a vote -- an option that does not seem likely.

Rauner also took several swipes at his former ally Mayor Rahm Emanuel at a Red Cross blood drive at Union Station, blaming CPS’ half-billion dollar budget hole on the mayor’s lack of leadership.

“I believe if we get involved we can take on the teacher’s union,” Rauner said. “The mayor’s afraid of the teacher’s union and caved in four-and-a-half years ago during the [teachers] strike.”

Emanuel has stated unequivocally that he is against such a measure, blaming the state’s funding formula and pension laws for the city’s public school system’s continued money woes.

Other state democrats launched criticism that Rauner’s proposed takeover is a subterfuge from his inability to pass a state budget.

Democrat Sen. Bill Cunningham, whose 18th District represents the southwest suburbs and the city neighborhoods of Mt. Greenwood, Beverly, Morgan Park and Auburn-Gresham, issued a statement that saying that a state takeover and forced bankruptcy “won’t help our teachers.”

“We need to be working with them to get them the resources they need. Not trying to undermine their work and economic stability,” Cunningham said.

Another South Side Democrat Sen. Jacqueline Y. Collins -- whose 16th District includes portions of the city’s Auburn-Gresham, Chicago Lawn, West Englewood and West Chatham neighborhoods -- compared CPS’ $500 million budget shortfall “roughly equal” to the additional resources the city’s public schools would receive from the state if the funding formula and pension law treated CPS the same as every other Illinois school district.

She suggested that the governor work with the General Assembly to negotiate a balanced budget first.

“The governor has vetoed the budget we passed, starving after-school programs, youth anti-violence initiatives and assistance to homeless families of the resources Chicago’s at-risk children need to stay in school and succeed. Now he and his legislative leaders propose a takeover of CPS by the State Board of Education, an agency already struggling to fulfill its current mission without a budget and ill-equipped to manage the nation’s third largest school district. They propose a bankruptcy declaration for CPS – a legal maneuver that has exacted a punishing human toll in Detroit and Flint.”

During the unveiling of Illinois Republicans’ proposed CPS takeover plan, Rep. Ron Sandack said it wasn’t a “bailout.”

“It’s not a bailout … to restructure debt to look at contracts and renegotiate them to make them more favorable to taxpayers,” the Downers Grove Republican said.