LOGAN SQUARE — In the latest round of Chicago Public Schools budget cuts, Avondale-Logandale Elementary School fared better than other public schools on the surface, losing just one teacher.
But teachers and parents say that doesn't give a full picture: Continued cuts means the neighborhood school, 3212 W. George St., has no arts or after-school programming and little money for school and cleaning supplies.
"My feeling is they're trying to get rid of public education," said Alma Hotton, a pre-kindergarten teacher of 19 years, who was among dozens of parents, teachers and staff marching for a fair contract outside of the elementary school Thursday afternoon.
"There is money. They're just refusing to use money for our schools. There is money for buildings, city developments, for more police officers .... which are important, I agree ... but we are important, too. So much of the violence happening in the city is a result of not having enough teachers in the classrooms or schools for students to attend."
Parent Marisol Abilez has two kids, ages six and seven, enrolled at the school.
Abilez said she works part-time cleaning houses and spends the rest of her time helping out at the school by working as a teacher's aide, for which she doesn't get paid by CPS.
"Teachers need more help. There's 32 students for one teacher," Abilez said.
The Logan Square march is one of many similar protests happening across the city ahead of a possible teachers strike next week.
A strike would be the third CPS work stoppage under Mayor Rahm Emanuel, after the 2012 strike and the one-day April 1 walkout.
Chicago Public Schools student enrollment dropped by 3.5 percent this year compared with last, according to information provided by the district. As a result, 140 teachers and 109 members of schools' support staffs were laid off, district officials said Monday.
The $5.4 billion CPS budget, adopted in August, relies on a contract proposal rejected by the union in February that would raise teachers' pay but require them to contribute more to their pensions.
The four-year CPS contract proposal — based on a report compiled by an independent fact finder — includes an 8.75 percent increase in teachers' wages and a cap on new charter schools. It also offers "steps and lanes," automatic bumps in teacher pay that kick in with seniority and experience.
But the offer also includes the so-called "pension pickup," which would require teachers to contribute 9.4 percent of their salaries to their own pension fund.
Teachers union President Karen Lewis has said any labor deal that works out to a pay cut for teachers — as union officials contend the CPS contract proposal does — is unacceptable.
The union argues the mayor has millions of dollars in excess Tax Increment Finance (TIF) funds that could be used toward public schools.
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