Let’s make one thing perfectly clear, Mayor Lori Lightfoot is not responsible for the current strike by the Chicago Teachers Union and the Service Employees Union. The mayor accepted and enhanced the union-management agreed upon contract arbitrator’s generous recommendations, presenting a contract offer that would see average teacher pay increase by 24 percent and average pay for teacher aids, nurses and school clerks increase by an even greater percent. Chicago Public School teachers and support staff would be among the highest paid in the nation. The mayor has offered similar pay hikes and other generous financial incentives to SEIU employees. The proposal demands no substantive financial concessions, includes over 80 changes to the collective bargaining agreement requested by the CTU, embraces a moratorium on new charter schools and on privatization and through the CPS budget, makes a down payment on the mayor’s long-term commitment to further reduce class sizes and add support staff. So what’s the problem?



The teachers strike is in part a union leadership power play to demonstrate to the mayor who's boss and to draw national attention on the CTU leadership by making what they characterize as social-justice demands. In reality, however, with the exception of a demand that the city do something to address the affordable housing crisis for students (an issue best addressed by the City Council), the impasse is centered around union insistence on a shorter contract demanding that the teachers receive in three years what Lightfoot offered in five, while putting the union in the position to further squeeze the mayor in her re-election year. The impasse is also about forcing the city to guarantee the hiring of thousands of new teachers and school support staff. The problem with this approach is it hurts poor children and their families and builds a labor agreement that could drive the district back into a financial crisis forcing another round of major tax increases or future school budget cuts.



While hiring more teachers to reduce class size and increasing supplemental staffing are worthy objectives, demanding that these new positions be imbedded in the contract takes away what little financial flexibility the mayor has in a district that has been in financial crisis for almost 15 years and whose budget is heavily dependent on unpredictable state funding.



What happens if the state’s budget—which is dependent on continued robust economic growth, unreliable new casino revenues, unproven new revenue sources like sports betting and cannabis sales and voter approval of a constitutional amendment allowing for a progressive income tax increase—does not realize the revenue needed to sustain a dramatic increase in program spending and fully fund the new school aid formula? This doesn’t even factor in the continued growth in the state’s long-term pension obligations that the state has yet to address. If the state is forced to freeze or even cut spending, will teachers agree to postpone their pay and automatic step increases to avoid layoffs and further school closings?



The strike also reflects a lack of understanding of CPS history. The district lost over 140,000 students since enrollment peaked in 1979 and 76,000 just since 2004. While demographics are a factor, a bigger one is the lack of stability and continuity. Feast-or-famine budgets, union-management tension, uncertainty over whether schools will open on time all contribute to the slide in enrollment. It’s no coincidence the only period of prolonged enrollment growth, between 1995 and 2001, which saw enrollment increase by over 30,000 students, was also a long period of financial stability, labor peace and real union/management collaboration. When student enrollment drops, you lose state and federal funding. This may well be why Lightfoot is pushing for a five-year contract instead of three.



Rank-and-file teachers have much to be angry about: former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s poorly planned school closings, irresponsible and costly privatization, the failure to prioritize the district's needier schools and the general mismanagement and numerous scandals during his tenure. However, Lightfoot is not Emanuel, and despite the city’s other serious financial challenges and real uncertainty as to the long-term financial health of the State, the mayor has offered the teachers a generous, if not affordable, long-term contract and has made a real commitment to address other non-contract issues at a pace that school and city finances will permit.

Paul Vallas is a onetime Chicago mayoral candidate and former Chicago Public Schools CEO.