Students and teachers in Chicago headed back to the classroom after the Chicago Teachers Union, and the nation's third-largest school district, averted a strike with a late-night tentative contract agreement. The union had been prepared to hit the picket lines this morning for what would have been the second major Chicago Public Schools strike since 2012.
But just before the midnight deadline, the union and CPS reached a deal. The deal still needs to be approved by the union's House of Delegates and its full membership, a process that could take weeks. The four-year proposal includes cost-of-living increases in the third and fourth year.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and union President Karen Lewis both said they are relieved that the district's nearly 400,000 students will be in class today.
A spokesman for Mayor Rahm Emanuel says Chicago will divert money from special taxing districts to public schools as part of the deal with the city's teachers union.
Spokesman Adam Collins says the city has a $175 million surplus from its tax increment financing, or TIF, funds and that roughly half, about $88 million, will go to Chicago Public Schools. It isn't clear how much the new four-year contract with teachers will cost the city overall.
Members of the Chicago's City Council are wondering how the city will pay for the last three years of the four-year tentative agreement. Aldermen point out that once the surplus is used, it is gone. And while TIFs are replenished, there is no guarantee they will generate a surplus.
Alderman Pat Dowell says she doesn't expect there will be TIF money available next year, meaning that the union and the school district are going to have to find another way to finance the agreement.
