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Chicago Public Schools lays off 1,458 employees in latest move to close deficit

Kate Armanini and Nell Salzman, Chicago Tribune on

Published in News & Features

CHICAGO – Chicago Public Schools announced a second round of summer layoffs Friday, firing 1,458 employees in the latest effort to help close the district’s $734 million budget deficit.

The layoffs include 432 teachers – representing 1.8% of the teaching staff – including 132 special education teachers. Also impacted were 311 paraprofessionals — or classroom assistants — and school-related personnel, 33 security officers and 677 special education classroom assistants.

CPS evaluates staffing and resource allocation at the start of each school year. But this year’s release of school-level budgets, or the allocations of specific resources to schools, was pushed from June to July amid the district’s ongoing fiscal challenges.

Only 48 more employees were laid off this year than last, a 3.2% increase, the district said in a statement.

“These changes, while necessary to ensure effective allocation of resources, are approached with care and consideration,” the statement said. “We recognize that any staffing change can be difficult, and we are committed to supporting our valued employees through this process.”

In previous years, more than 80% of affected employees have been able to secure new employment within the CPS before the school year begins, the district said. CPS said it will hold “multiple hiring fairs this summer, in close coordination with our labor partners, to help affected employees connect with new opportunities within the District.”

Notably, more special education classroom assistants were fired than paraprofessionals. Special education classroom assistants, or SECAs, are similar to teachers assistants, but there is a slight variation in their job descriptions and they are represented by different unions. SECAs are represented by the Service Employees International Union Local 73, and the Chicago Teachers Union represents the paraprofessionals.

 

The district said special education staffing is based on the documented needs of students with disabilities.

The move comes two weeks after 161 employees were fired, including 87 crossing guards.

The district had also announced that 209 vacant positions would not be filled.

CPS officials have yet to approve a budget for the upcoming school year, which is due Aug. 29. The district’s budget plan released this spring relied on $300 million in funding from the city and state, which has yet to materialize.

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