Chicago Public Schools notified 356 teachers and about 600 more school support staffers that they would be laid off, as budget conflicts persist across the state of Illinois.
Officials for the school district said that the layoffs are connected to declining enrollment and the state's lack of a budget deal, the Chicago Sun-Times reports. Stacy Davis Gates of the Chicago Teachers Union blamed Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D.) as well as Gov. Bruce Rauner (R.) for the problem.
"Ultimately, the mayor has to stop waiting on a man who allowed the entire state to go without a budget for two years," Gates said. "If we're waiting on Bruce Rauner to figure out how to equitably fund CPS, it's not going to happen."
No Illinois public schools will receive state funding as long as the governor and General Assembly remain at odds. Rauner cast an amendatory veto on an education bill he deemed a "bailout" for Chicago schools last week, and the schools are not slated to receive their scheduled payment Thursday.
Schools chief Forrest Claypool announced that the Chicago Public Schools operating budget would not be released Monday as promised. The schools are required to have a budget by September 1, but their meeting on August 23 is being delayed.
"We are doing this to allow Springfield more time to resolve the statewide education funding crisis before we ask our board to vote on a budget," school spokesman Michael Passman said.
Teachers in Chicago are paid more than $78,000 on average, well above the city's median income, according to an analysis by the Daily Caller. Teachers' pensions have been a source of long-term financial worries for years.
The Chicago Teachers Union totaled the other layoffs at 362 classroom aides and 221 special education aides and security guards who are members of the SEIU. More layoffs may come in October, when a final enrollment count is taken.