Submitted by arlenegloria on Sat, 04/10/2010 - 22:45

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The Chicago Public Schools are broke. Teachers have been asked to share the pain. Coaches have been asked to work for free. Bigger class sizes have been threatened. So why are CEO Ron Huberman and other top bureaucrats taking raises?

By Ben Jarovsky

In the past few weeks, Chicago Public Schools CEO Ron Huberman has called on parents, teachers, students, central office bureaucrats, and ordinary taxpayers to do their part to help the district erase a $900 million budget deficit: Teachers should forgo promised pay hikes. Students must do without sophomore sports. Coaches should be willing to coach for free. Class sizes are likely to swell. Taxpayers should expect higher bills.

And what about the CPS administration? They've already done their bit, according to Huberman. "Over the past year, we have worked to close the budget deficit by focusing on Central Office and Citywide departments," he recently wrote in a memo to schools employees. "These cuts were very difficult, but our primary goal was to minimize direct impact on schools."

Last week Mayor Daley weighed in, admonishing teachers to enter the "real world" and forgo their 4 percent raises. "Government has to diet," Daley told reporters on March 22. "You have to be able to cut back and start sharing the loss that people have."

Wow—that sounds like decisive leadership. But having spent the

Please visit Chicago Reader to read more:

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/cps-cutbacks-budget-crisis-layoffs-ron-huberman/Content?oid=1604461