Logan Square families rally against the cuts... More than 250 people join alderman and community leaders in denouncing Chicago Public Schools 'School Based Budgeting' and its impact on local schools....
According to Chicago Teachers Union organizer Marty Ritter there were about "200 people in attendance at the rally at Logan Square and people are still coming in" when the rally was beginning at 9:30 a.m. on July 28, 2015, at the Logan Square monument at the corner of Milwaukee and Kedzie in Chicago. The event was organized primarily by the Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA), with support from other groups, including CTU members who live in the community.
Logan Square families rallied in the bright sun on July 28, 2015, to protest the latest round of school cuts at schools in their community. Substance photo by Jean Schwab.The LSNA press release announcing the event was detailed:
�Logan Square United for Strong Schools and Strong Communities�
MEDIA ADVISORY FOR TODAY -- TUESDAY, JULY 28TH AT 9:30AM
CONTACT: Bridget Murphy 520-429-1544; Iyabo Anifowoshe 773-727-6648; Leticia Barrera 773-727-9941
300 Neighborhood Students, Parents, and Teachers to Demand TIF Surplus for Schools & CHA Cash Reserves for Fair Housing
�My 8 year-old son was learning to play the flute, but now I don�t know if he can continue,� says Maria Gutierrez, parent and Local School Council (LSC) member at Monroe Elementary in Logan Square. �Music is a necessary part of education. You learn new ways of thinking, and it can help you get college scholarships. But we may have to cut a music position.�
In the Chicago Board of Education�s latest round of budget cuts, Monroe is set to lose $490,054. The Logan Square Neighborhood Association�s (LSNA) 10 partner schools may collectively see $4.7 million in cuts next year. These massive cuts are the result of systemic underfunding of neighborhood schools and enrollment declines due to rapid gentrification displacing low- and moderate-income families. Logan Square leaders say Mayor Emanuel could help both neighborhood schools and affordable housing by tapping surplus funds that have been kept off-limits.
Maria and her sons will join 300 parents, students, and teachers on Tuesday, July 28th at 9:30am at the Logan Square monument for the �Logan Square Rally for Neighborhood Schools.� The demand has two parts: that the Mayor release more TIF surplus for schools, and that the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) invest its $440 cash reserves in producing scattered-site housing to stabilize communities and schools in gentrifying communities such as Logan Square and Avondale.
Alderman Carlos Rosa (35th Ward), Alderman Joe Moreno (1st Ward), and Alderman Milly Santiago (31st Ward) are confirmed to join the rally. All area aldermen are invited.
Last year all Logan Square elementary schools increased their CPS ratings or stayed at Level 1, but sustaining that kind of growth requires stability and adequate resources. These budget cuts have left principals and local school councils scrambling to submit budgets that protect school programs they have poured their hearts and souls into for years.
�What�s happening our neighborhood right now feels like a double hit,� says Jennifer Velazquez, Kelvyn Park High School graduate and local school council member. �Our school budgets are getting chopped at the same time families are struggling to stay in their community. The working class is being targeted.�
When the Chicago Board of Education announced the school budget cuts, they lay the blame solely on Springfield. Logan Square Neighborhood Association supports a graduated state income tax and other progressive revenue-generating reforms. In addition, LSNA supports actions that the City has immediate power to take: the release of additional TIF surplus funds (53% of which would go back to schools) and the investment of CHA�s $440 million in cash reserves in building and preserving affordable housing.
What is the impact of budget cuts on Logan Square�s schools? Some examples include:
� Kelvyn Park High School will lose $1.7 million worth of positions and programs. �Some of our tutoring programs will be cut; we won�t have money for field trips; our transportation budget for our sports teams will be gone. A number of programs will have to be eliminated. This is on top of the impact it will have on staffing,� reports Hector Gonzalez, Kelvyn Park teacher and LSC member.
� Monroe Elementary will lose the position of music teacher and band director. The school is hoping to replace funding for that position if actual enrollment numbers are higher than projected.
� Darwin Elementary can allocate only $3,000 (approximately $6 per student) to school supplies � down from the typical $40,000 per year.
� Across Logan Square schools, many positions vacated by retirements and voluntary departures will not be refilled.
Schools may have submitted their budgets last week, but many LSC�s are not giving up hope.
The Monroe LSC is confident that the projected enrollment decline of 49 students turns out to be a bad calculation. If so, they will be able to re-hire a band teacher position a month or so after school starts.
�It�s so important for children to have the opportunity to learn an instrument in school,� says Maria Gutierrez. �It was at Monroe where my oldest son learned to play the french horn. Now he�s the second student in his high school ever to play the french horn. And now he�s learning to sing, he�s continuing forward.�
Who: 300 Parents, Teachers, and Students; Ald. Carlos Rosa; Ald. Joe Moreno; and Ald. Milly Santiago. (All area aldermen invited.) Organized by Logan Square Neighborhood Association, Chicago Teachers Union, and Raise Your Hand.
What: Logan Square Rally to Support Our Neighborhood Schools, calling on the Mayor to release more TIF surplus for schools AND for the CHA to invest its cash reserves in housing production to stabilize our community. Event will include music and art.
When: Tuesday, July 28th 9:30 a.m.
Where: Logan Square Monument, 2600 N. Milwaukee Ave. (Rain Location: Comfort Station, 2579 N. Milwaukee Ave.)
Facebook Event Page: https://www.facebook.com/events/1606660802926439/
DNA INFO CHICAGO REPORTED EXTENSIVELY ON THE RALLY, ELABORATING ON ALDERMAN ROSA'S COMMENTS...
Protesters Demand CPS, Mayor Halt Cuts, Ask 'Rich to Pay Their Fair Share'
By Paul Biasco | July 28, 2015 12:41pm | Updated on July 29, 2015 8:29am
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Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35) speaks at a rally to prevent funding cuts to neighborhood schools at the Illinois Centennial Monument in Logan Square Tuesday morning. Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa (35) speaks at a rally to prevent funding cuts to neighborhood schools at the Illinois Centennial Monument in Logan Square Tuesday morning. View Full Caption DNAinfo/Paul Biasco
LOGAN SQUARE � Ald. Carlos Ramirez-Rosa is calling on the mayor to declare a TIF surplus to spare Chicago's neighborhood schools from another round of budget cuts.
Ramirez-Rosa spoke at a rally in Logan Square Tuesday morning where community members representing 10 neighborhood schools that are set to lose more than $4 million in funding demanded those cuts be reversed.
"Our families and our children have paid enough," the alderman said. "It's time for the rich to pay their fair share."
Of 11 neighborhood Logan Square schools, 10 are set to face spending cuts.
To prevent those cuts Ramirez-Rosa and a number of community representatives from those schools are asking Mayor Rahm Emanuel to declare a surplus in the city's tax increment financing fund and to use that money to go directly to neighborhood schools.
Paul Biasco � DNAinfo Reporter
Should the mayor use TIF funds to prevent budget cuts at neighborhood schools?
VOICE YOUR OPINION ON NHSQ!
�There are districts throughout this city where the property tax dollars that should be going to our schools are siphoned off and used as handouts to big corporations and big businesses," Ramirez-Rosa said. "I think that�s wrong.�
Ramirez-Rosa was joined by Ald. Milly Santiago (31st) Tuesday morning, who also called on the mayor to use excess TIF funds as a stopgap.
"This is completely unacceptable," she said. "If there's money for charter schools, there has to be money for our local schools."
Protesters rally to save neighborhood schools from funding cuts in Logan Square Tuesday morning. [DNAinfo/Paul Biasco]
The hardest hit Logan Square school, Kelvyn Park High School, will lose $1.69 million for the 2015-2016 school year.
Those cuts will impact tutoring programs, field trips, transportation for sports teams and require the elimination of some programs and teaching positions, said Hector Gonzalez, a Kelvyn Park teacher and LSC member.
At Darwin Elementary, funding for school supplies will be cut from the typical $40,000 to $3,000, which is approximately $6 for every student.
Other schools such as Monroe Elementary are losing a music teacher and band director.
Alondra Gonzalez, a soon-to-be sophomore at Kelvin Park, attended Tuesday's rally to help save programs at her school that will be cut.
"I'm fighting for me as well as my classmates and friends," she said.
Gonzalez said for some classmates Kelvin Park was the only CPS school they were accepted to and that cutting more programs and tutoring would have a extemely negative impact.
"How are they going to be able to move on in life?" she said. "They are going to be out in the street doing who knows what."
The spending cuts, which were announced by Chicago Public Schools July 13, are due to systemwide cuts but also enrollment declines in the schools which are funded on a student-based budgeting system.
That means schools receive a per-pupil amount for every student enrolled.
Gentrification in the neighborhood displacing low and moderate income families has resulted in lower enrollment at neighborhood schools making the cuts more severe, according to the Logan Square Neighborhood Association.
Local leaders are demanding the Chicago Housing Authority invest its cash reserves into scattered-site housing throughout Logan Square, Avondale and surrounding areas to stabilizing communities.
The housing authority has $440 million in cash reserves.
�Our school budgets are getting chopped at the same time families are struggling to stay in their community," said Jennifer Velazquez, a Kelvyn Park High School graduate and local school council member. "The working class is being targeted.�
Kelvyn Park is projected to see a drop of about 125 students in the 2015-2016 schools year. The school's budget was already slashed by 27 percent in 2013.
Ald. Ramirez-Rosa pointed to the significant loss of housing at the Lathrop Homes site, which contains 925 low-rise units on 30 acres.
Only a fraction of those homes are occupied and the plans to redevelop the site with mixed-income housing have dragged on for years.
"I want to make sure if we are losing any units of affordable housing that they are replaced one-for-one and that they have a home here in my area of Logan Square," Ramirez-Rosa said.
By: Margaret Wilson
School Cuts
I'm pleased that communities like Logan Square are getting involved. I AGREE THAT IF THERE IS MONEY TO FUND CHARTER SCHOOLS THERE HAS TO BE MONEY TO FUND PUBLIC SCHOOLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SPED students are the ones who suffer the most because most Charter Schools have nothing in place to serve their needs.