CPS: Chicago Public Schools and teachers union close to contract deal after year of tough negotiations

Chicago Public Schools is close to a deal with the Chicago Teacher Union on an agreement, CEO Pedro Martinez told top staff in an email Thursday morning. "Please have an update ready for the full Board to be sent today once we can confirm that we have a tentative agreement with the details that were agreed upon last night," Martinez wrote. With various false starts, both sides have been working to bring negotiations to a close for almost a year. Any potential deal could still fall through. Pressure to settle a deal was heightened because of a budget gap caused by the looming costs of both the new teachers contract and an $175 million pension reimbursement to the city for non-teaching staff. CPS officials estimated most recently that the costs of the contract would come out to about $124 million, but that number hasn't been confirmed. School board President Sean Harden, who was appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson, delayed a vote on a budget amendment last Thursday that would have opened the door for a borrowing scenario to cover both costs proposed by Johnson's top aides. Martinez wrote in his email Thursday that he expected Harden to call a special board meeting Monday to push for borrowing, "stating it is needed to support negotiations." In his email, Martinez pushed back on that notion, saying "we need to be clear ... to our staff and families what the facts are." A budget amendment would need 14 votes from the partially elected, partially appointed school board to pass. There weren't enough votes to pass the budget amendment when it was postponed, and several board members told the Tribune Thursday morning their vote hadn't changed. "We only have a limited amount of dollars," said Angel Gutierrez, a board member from District 8. "There's no borrowing scenario that you would even consider given what the market is right now." CTU has had a rocky time getting the deal across the finish line despite shelling out enormous resources as the largest funder of Johnson's 2023 mayoral campaign. Critics have said the drawn-out process was a driving force for the mayor's plunge in popularity, given his ongoing loyalty to the progressive labor juggernaut where he once worked as an organizer.