Rauner comments on April Fool’s Day Teachers Strike

A press release from Governor Bruce Rauner:

Statement on Chicago Teachers Union Strike

CHICAGO – Governor Bruce Rauner issued the following statement on the Chicago Teachers Union strike:

“It’s shameful that Chicago’s children are the victims in this raw display of political power.

“Walking out on kids in the classroom, leaving parents in the lurch and thumbing their nose at taxpayers — it’s the height of arrogance from those we’ve entrusted with our children’s futures.

“By breaking the law in Chicago and forcing passage of a bad law in Springfield, powerful bosses are proving they have an unfair advantage over Illinois families.

“When we lose the balance between taxpayers and special interests, property taxes go up and the quality of education goes down.

“I stand ready to work with members of the General Assembly to pass a budget that increases state support for all Illinois schools alongside much-needed reforms that put taxpayers back in control of their local governments and school districts.

“If local control reforms had already been enacted, CPS negotiations likely would have been concluded by now, a strike would have been averted and taxpayers and children would have been protected.

“Let’s pass real reforms to give the families of Illinois a better future.


Comments

Rauner comments on April Fool’s Day Teachers Strike — 20 Comments

  1. I hope that this proves to be a defining moment for taxpayers fighting the political machines who have run this state into the ground.

    While I sympathize with teachers, students and parents I know that lots of money goes to schools but most of that money is used to pay pensions.

    Change the state constitution, fix the pension crisis.

    Save Illinois. Stand your ground Governor Rauner

  2. Public sector union executives (highly paid) yet again put on display their weapon:

    The children!

    It takes a special kind of person to use a child as a weapon!

  3. Chechen terrorists attack children.

    Pedophiles prey on children.

    Teachers Unions victimize children.

    All of them serve their own selfish short sighted anti social anti cultural ends.

    These strikes are not the actions of people concerned with the well being of America, Illinois or children.

    These strikes are the actions of entitled sociopathic demagogues who will use anything or anyone at hand to further their disturbed dystopian vision never once thinking about their personal welfare when that inevitable reality comes to fruition by and through their own actions.

    Should they continue to advocate for the destruction of the very culture and society which keeps them safe from people disinclined to subscribe to their anti social views they will most assuredly find themselves beggared for support when they are held to account for their actions.

  4. Ms. Schofield will be picketing along side the teachers in an effort to pay back that generous campaign contribution.

  5. If it’s ‘about the children’ then get your ass back in the classroom.

    Now that we all know it’s bull, what are we going to do about it?

    Start locally by disarming the unions!

  6. It’s about fair funding of schools.

    These democratic and republican politicians have for decades underfunded Chicago because of the high minority population.

    It is not the teachers’ fault that politicians promised pensions, collected teacher contributions and taxes and spent it unwisely in other places because they were too cowardly to ask for tax raises.

    Now LIVE WITH IT>

  7. Something seems askew.

    The older I get – the more I agree with Pries.

    Have you mellowed or have I become totally senile?

  8. There is fair funding for schools in the Chicagoland area.

    The state contribution to pensions and probably other items are not counted as education funding.

    Another in the long line of deceptions by teacher unions and others, some of which are unwitting parrots.

  9. Chicago gets money the rest of the state does not get for education.

    The Chicago funding formula for education is different than the rest of the state.

    So although the state does not contribute directly to Chicago teacher pensions, the state does provide extra funding for Chicago public schools that is in a different bucket than public education funding for the rest of the state.

    The Senate Republicans released a paper about that a few years ago.

  10. Chechen terrorists attack children.

    Pedophiles prey on children.

    Teachers Unions victimize children.

    Wow… seriously?

    Some of ya’ll are unbelievable.

  11. I beg to differ.

    State education budgets are (or were when I was looking at them) divided into three parts:

    k-12

    universities

    pensions

    The problem is that, at the urging of teacher unions, legislators put the pension money into State Aid to Education so teachers salaries could be increased…which resulted in teacher pensions going higher.

  12. Let me repeat,

    State education budgets are (or were when I was looking at them) divided into three parts:

    k-12

    universities

    pensions

    The problem is that, at the urging of teacher unions, legislators put the pension money into State Aid to Education so teachers salaries could be increased…which resulted in teacher pensions going higher.

  13. The study is called, School Funding in Illinois, an Examination, by Illinois Senate Republican Caucus.

    The Chicago Public Schools has a pension pickup of some of the teacher contribution to the Chicago Teacher Pension Fund also.

  14. Chicago SD 299 does not have a revenue problem, it has a massive SPENDING problem.

    Per ISBE, Chicago-299’s Operational Spending per Student was $15,120.

    Here are the some other district spending rates:

    Cary-26 $10,006

    Crystal Lake-47 $10,267

    Woodstock-200 $12,548

    Lake Zurich-95 $12,291

    Schaumburg-54 $13,278

    Barrington-220 $16,178

    Given its massive size advantage over every other district in the State, Chicago-299 should see tremendous expense leverage due to economies of scale.

    Instead, its spending 50% more per pupil than my district, Cary-26.

    In fact, its spending at a rate equivalent to the richest districts in the State like Barrington, Lake Forest, and Hinsdale.

  15. Re: Semper Fi comment:

    “Start locally by disarming the unions!”

    The County Board voted against the Prevailing wage Law resolution last year.

    The County Board voted in favor of a resolution to support the ‘Rauner Agenda’.

    Result?

    Local 150 Operating Engineers sued the County.

    You, the taxpayer will pay the legal expense of that lawsuit.

    Based on similar lawsuits, you, The Taxpayer will fork over at least $100,000 in legal fees.

    It is also most likely that Jack Franks’ initiative to have the IMRF lackey (my opinion) appear in front of the County Board relative to ‘investigating’ the number of hours County Board members work for constituents was driven by Local 150 and other union supporters.

    If you want the Rauner agenda to succeed, you need to vocalize your support at County Board meetings.

  16. Coffey – you can’t really compare 299 with 26, 47, or 54.

    Comparing k-8 districts with k-12 districts is comparing apples and oranges.

  17. The operational spending per student does not include the state contribution to the TRS teacher and administrator pension fund for school districts outside of Chicago.

  18. This post had me looking at other school districts.

    Harvard D-50 had a total enrollment of 2,502 for 2013-14 and showed expenditures of $32,717,962 which is equivalent to $13,076.72 per pupil.

    What really caught my attention was the number displayed for the year 2014-15 for their high school under the heading: READY FOR NEXT LEVEL:

    An astounding 3.6 percent!

    I also noticed that a Richard Crosby is on the School Board.

    Is this the same Richard Crosby who is married to Jacklyn Crosby who retired as Superintendent of Cary Ccsd 26?

    With this info, I decided to check the pensions being issued by Harvard D-50. http://www.openthebooks.com/search/?PensionCode=23

    Between Richard and Jacklyn, in 2014 they received a pension totaling:

    $244,837.32.

    Checking further I discovered that the total pension payout for Harvard D-50 for 2014 was $4,927,995.96.

    The total pension payout for 2014 for Cary Ccsd 26 was $7,645,480.20.

    Not much longer and retirees from these school systems will be receiving more in pension dollars than we spend on active teachers and administrators.

    To quote an Agenda 21 term, this is unsustainable!!

  19. Politicians have approached budgets with the philosophy of

    “So What, it’s not my money”

    for so long they don’t know how to function without giving our money away.

    Small businesses are crushed under the weight of regulation and taxation.

    And these sniveling communists complain they don’t have enough.

    I say let the CPS system go bankrupt.

    Then the CPS teachers will learn exactly what we the people experience when we can make ends meet.

    The upside to a CPS failure is that the bankruptcy code can be used to right size the pensions.

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