The truth is, I want what teachers want

Every dollar that can be spent supporting kids is being spent. Nothing is being held back.

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Chicago Public Schools CEO Janice Jackson speaks about the Chicago Teachers Union strike during a press conference on Monday.

“This labor contract is not a magic pill that will fix our issues overnight,” writes Janice Jackson, CEO of the Chicago Public Schools. “But I promise you this. We will fix it and we will fix it together.”

Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times

As we approach the seventh school day of teachers out of their classrooms, away from students, and not doing what they love, I want to make sure families and educators know my values and see where I’m coming from.

In the heated rhetoric of labor negotiations, it’s important that we not lose sight of the incredible progress we have made together as a district.

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In 2000, when I was a brand-new teacher making $36,000 a year, only 47 percent of CPS students graduated from high school — that number is now close to 80 percent. Nearly half of our graduates are now leaving high school with a college or career credential, and last year’s graduating class earned almost $1.5 billion in scholarship offers. Let’s acknowledge what we — students, parents, principals, and teachers—have achieved.

Let’s also acknowledge that this academic progress isn’t promised and is easily jeopardized if not treated with care.

In the past decade, while our students have outpaced their peers nationally, according to Stanford’s Center for Education Policy Analysis, the district has struggled with ballooning costs and revenue that didn’t keep up for many years. It isn’t an exaggeration to say we were on the brink of insolvency a little more than two years ago.

But thanks to the historic education funding reform that parents, families, educators and our elected officials fought for, the state directed more than $700 million to fund and stabilize the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund — the single largest expense that we have outside of paying teachers their well-earned salaries.

And before anyone attempts to call teachers greedy, let me be the first to say I’m proud our teachers are well compensated. In fact, our current offer will invest approximately $500 million to raise the average teacher’s salary to nearly $100,000, give our lowest-wage workers, such as bus aides and custodians, double-digit raises, and provide critical support staff such as clerks, nurses, and teacher assistants raises of 38% over five years.

But our offer will do more than provide needed pay raises to our staff. It will provide additional support staff with a focus on equity. We’ve put forward offers, in writing, that will provide a full-time nurse and a social worker for every school, every day. High-need schools will be the first to get these critical support staff along with an additional position — be it a restorative justice coordinator, librarian, additional counselor, homeless services coordinator, or another role of their choice — to support their students.

We’ve also added a significant investment to hire more teachers and teacher assistants to address overcrowded classrooms because every student deserves time one-on-one with their teachers.

The truth is, I want what teachers want. Every dollar that can be spent supporting kids is being spent. Nothing is being held back.

The district’s entire annual budget is $7.7 billion dollars, and we’re borrowing another $1.5 billion dollars to keep ourselves afloat. To put it another way, the district is a family that earns $77,000 a year and we’re putting another $15,000 on the credit card this year. We’re going to fix that, but do it in a way that’s fair and responsible for all involved.

The district has invested hundreds of millions of dollars to expand universal Pre-K and academic programming such as International Baccalaureate, hire hundreds of additional nurses and social workers, invest in equity grants to support schools with low and declining enrollment and other district priorities that protect our student’s academic progress with a special focus on communities on the South and West Sides. Our investments are tied to our values. 

And my values have not changed from my days as a member of the Chicago Teachers Union. I know firsthand how much our teachers care about their students. I respect the passion that I have seen on the picket lines. Keep fighting for our students.

This labor contract is not a magic pill that will fix our issues overnight. But I promise you this. We will fix it and we will fix it together. It will not happen in the next few days, weeks, nor years, but this work will get done.

You have a partner in me, our principals, our parents and Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Janice K. Jackson is CEO of the Chicago Public Schools.

Send letters to: letters@suntimes.com.

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