Chicago’s newly constituted Board of Education voted unanimously Wednesday to authorize up to $1.2 billion in long-term bonds so the district can pay for ongoing capital projects, fees on past borrowing and some costs of refinancing old debt.
That’s on top of the $1.1 billion the board approved last month in short-term lines of credit — and it won’t stave off about $200 million in cuts and 1,000-plus layoffs the district already announced.
Ginger Ostro, CPS’ chief financial officer, said the $1.2 billion would consist of about $600 million to pay for ongoing capital projects. It also includes about $250 million to replace variable rate debt with fixed rates and to pay swap termination fees, and an additional $100 million to refinance old debt, she said.
Actual bond sales will need further approval in coming months, Ostro said.
Last week, CPS released individual school budgets totaling about $2.6 billion. While per-pupil allotment held steady from last year, CPS ended a past practice of letting schools keep money if enrollment dips below estimates.
Further cuts are coming, outgoing Interim CEO Jesse Ruiz said, if Springfield doesn’t provide $500 million in pension help.
General Counsel James Bebley and interim CEO of the Chicago Public Schools Jesse Ruiz at the Chicago Board of Education meeting at Chicago Public Schools HQ, 42 W. Madison. Wednesday, July 22, 2015 (Brian Jackson/For the Chicago Sun-Times)
Supporters from both district-run and charter schools lamented the fiscal woes already hitting their schools. Charter parents and principals lined up to beg CPS to give them their entire quarterly payments due this month so they can open on time. They’ve received just 15 percent so far with no sign of when the rest is coming.
Teachers and even a CPS principal asked the district to halt the cuts, which they said hurt students. And, in light of the budget crisis, they asked for a halt on opening new charter schools, which siphon students away from existing schools.
Opening new schools “makes no sense at time when there’s no money,” Steinmetz College Prep High School teacher Renato Roldan said. “How could you possibly have millions of dollars to build anything new?”
The board also approved the hiring of several six-figure district leaders. On Monday, Forrest Claypool, the mayor’s chief of staff, will become the district’s seventh CEO since 2009 at $250,000 a year. That’s the same salary paid to Barbara Byrd-Bennett, who resigned following a federal investigation. Longtime educator Denise Little will be paid $180,000 in a new post called senior adviser, and the new chief education officer, Janice Jackson, will be paid $190,000, the same as the last person to hold that position in 2012. Also approved: Two $151,131-a-year network chiefs; a facilities chief; Paul Osland, at $165,000; and a budget director, Michael Moss, at $140,000, according to CPS.
Forrest Claypool shakes hands with Phillip Hardiman in the Chicago Board of Education chambers at Chicago Public Schools HQ, 42 W. Madison. Wednesday, July 22, 2015 (Brian Jackson/For the Chicago Sun-Times)
All five present board members also approved the sale of three more empty schools that were closed in 2013, for a total of $8.5 million. Von Humboldt, 2620 West Hirsch St., will be sold to IFF Von Humboldt LLC for $3.1 million and will become a community center. Overton Elementary, at 221 E. 49th St. and 4935 S. Indiana Ave., will be sold to Washington Park Development group for $325,000. It will include counseling or mentoring programs, career training programs, housing, retail or manufacturing space. Near North, 739 N. Ada St, was sold for $5.1 million to Svigos Asset Management, developers who already bought the former Peabody school.
President David Vitale — appointed in 2011 at the start of Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration — presided over his last meeting Wednesday. He voted to approve his replacement, Frank Clark, who headed the school closing commission and has a charter school named for him. Dominique Turner-Jones, Mark Furlong and the Rev. Michael Garanzini, who was absent, also began their terms. They replaced Henry Bienen, Carlos Azcoitia and Deborah Quazzo. And former CPS principal Gail Ward returned for her second meeting, replacing Andrea Zopp. Ruiz, the board’s vice president, won’t regain voting powers until August.