Warren Rallies With Chicago Teachers as Education Plan Unveiled
Warren Rallies With Chicago Teachers as Education Plan Unveiled
(Bloomberg) -- Senator Elizabeth Warren, a leading Democratic presidential candidate, stopped by a Chicago Teachers Union rally on Tuesday, a day after she unveiled her $800 billion education plan as bargaining with the school district stalled.
Warren told a cheering crowd of teachers, parents and children at a southwest side elementary school that she had come to show support for educators, including those earning the lowest wages and all those who work with children. A day earlier, she announced her proposal to reshape the U.S. public education system and disclosed that her signature wealth tax will pay for school and child-care initiatives.
“Everyone in America should support you in this strike,” Warren said Tuesday. “You don’t just fight for yourselves, you fight for the children of this city and the children of this country.”
Warren struck a chord with the crowd as the union, which went on strike on Oct. 17, has repeatedly demanded not just pay raises but also better working and learning conditions, including more nurses, librarians and counselors. Teachers are also asking the Chicago Public Schools and Mayor Lori Lightfoot for assistance on social issues such as student homelessness. Because of the walkout, more than 300,000 students missed class on Tuesday for the fourth straight school day.
“I believe it is time in America to make a new investment in public education,” said Warren, a former teacher who said she stands with the Chicago Teachers Union and SEIU Local 73, which represents support staff like security guards. “Today, I am here because the eyes of this nation are upon you. They have turned to Chicago for you to lead the way.”
The teachers union has been calling on the district and Lightfoot to invest more money to limit class sizes, add more resources for sports, and raise wage floors for the lowest-paid workers, including special education classroom assistants. The teachers union has rejected the district’s offer of a 16% raise over five years.
The contract talks stalled Monday over items including inadequate staffing proposals and ways to ensure the contract promises will be enforced. Over the weekend, the union had reported progress on several points such as services for homeless students, contract language specifying the work of counselors, and teacher-student ratios for preschoolers. But the union wants the district to agree to language enforcing those items.
“There should be a sense of urgency all the way around,” Lightfoot told reporters on Tuesday. The union is asking for more resources, but she and Janice Jackson, chief executive officer of the school district, “have to be responsible fiduciaries of taxpayer dollars.”
“There is a finite amount of money,” she said.
A letter that Lightfoot addressed to CTU president Jesse Sharkey on Monday appeared to be among the factors changing the tone of negotiations. Lightfoot, who has expressed concern that the talks aren’t moving fast enough, has said there is no more money than what’s already been proposed.
Sharkey said Monday unless there is a change “we are not likely seeing a quick settlement to the current strike.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Shruti Date Singh in Chicago at ssingh28@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Elizabeth Campbell at ecampbell14@bloomberg.net, Michael B. Marois
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