Featuring snapshots of the condition of West Side Schools

School Pictures

Education Town Hall Meeting 2 School Finance and Budget Saturday, November 23, 2013

Acknowledgements
Blocks Together

Carey Tercentenary AME Church

Lawndale Alliance UIC Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement West Siders Against All School Closings Raise Your Hand Austin Weekly News

What We Will Cover

School Funding CPS budget Local School budgets TIFs

Background

Background
Citing a need to close a looming billion dollar deficit and to correct a utilization crisis, the Chicago Board of Education voted to close 49 public schools and 1 high school program in June 2013. The West Side took a significant hit.
23 of 49 schools are on the West Side of Chicago, representing 47% of all school closures in 2013. The West Side is home to 17% of all schools in Chicago

Background
Over the last six months since the vote, a number of community members have expressed concern, and have repeatedly asked CPS questions regarding the impact of school closures as it relates to local school budgets, the allocation of Safe Passage funding, school utilization and class sizes. As of the date of this presentation, CPS has not complied with any requests for information. They have refused to meet with grassroots stakeholders and have not provided information in response to requests for information under the Freedom of Information Act.

Purpose
The purpose of this presentation is to review publicly available financial information and begin a dialogue with our neighbors, CPS , our elected officials and other stakeholders in hopes of developing community-based solutions to improve our schools.

Budget Overview

CPS Budgeted Revenues and Expenditures FY 2014

General Operating Funds Local State Revenue Federal Fund Balance Other Financing Revenue Total Others Salary Benefits Contracts Expenditures Commodities Equipment Transportation Contingencies Expenditures Total 2,419,647,597 1,621,465,578 908,352,249 642,808,552 5,592,273,976 0 2,561,325,520 1,251,008,727 1,101,273,272 257,035,106 37,564,891 111,776,198 272,290,262 5,592,273,976 Debt-Service Funds Capital Funds FY 2014 Approved Budget

206,017,103 182,920,000 2,808,584,700 195,881,267 25,864,300 1,843,211,145 24,504,972 932,857,221 118,813,349 761,621,901 300,000,000 300,000,000 545,216,691 508,784,300 6,646,274,967 0 1,249,947 2,562,575,467 378,693 1,251,387,420 9,018,932 0 1,110,292,204 257,035,106 347,480,268 385,045,159 111,776,198 604,135,710 0 876,425,972 613,154,642 349,108,908 6,554,537,526

CPS Expenditures
Account Group Salary Benefits Contracts Contingencies Commodities Transportation Equipment Others Grand Total FY 2013 FY 2013 FY 2014 Approved Amended Expenditures as of Budget Budget 6/30/2013 2,655,690,797 2,706,843,165 2,561,325,520 899,548,125 883,051,361 1,251,008,727 982,520,005 1,032,015,998 1,101,273,272 178,807,287 938,066 272,290,262 346,211,422 298,430,939 257,035,106 121,608,512 109,945,899 111,776,198 47,835,583 67,251,463 37,564,891 0 6,236 0 5,232,221,731 5,098,483,127 5,592,273,976

FYE 2013 Surplus $ 133,738,603.71 Increase FY 2014 Over FY 2013 (Budgeted) $ 360,052,245.00 % Increase FY 2014 Over FY 2013 (Budgeted) 6.9% Decrease FY 2014 Vs FY 2013 Budgeted Salary $ (94,365,277.00) % Decrease FY 2014 Vs FY 2013 Budgeted Salary -3.6% Decrease FY 2014 Vs FY 2013 Budgeted Positions (2,014.6) % Decrease FY 2014 Vs FY 2013 Budgeted Positions -4.9%

Contrary to news reports projecting billion dollar deficits for FY 2013 and FY 2014, CPS ended FY 2013 with a surplus of $133.7 million.

Central Office
Contrary to media reports of reductions in the Central Office budget, expenses actually increased by $58.8 million, with an increase of 26 positions between FY 2013 and FY 2014.

Winners
Corporate Accounting Budget increased from $6.1 M to $48.9 M ($42.8 M increase) Information & Technology Budget increased from $26.8 M to ($17,150,970 increase) Strategic School Support Services Budget increased from $1M to $14.8 M ($13.7 M increase)

Losers
Youth Development and Positive Behavior Supports Budget decreased from $15.6 M to $3.3 M ($12.2 M decrease) Educational Tools & Technologies Budget decreased from $9.6 M to $2.8 M($6.8 M decrease) Talent Office Budget decreased from $27.4 M to $20.8M($6.6 M decrease)

School Level Budgets By School Type

FY 2013 Ending Budget School Type Public Schools Turnaround Schools (Public) Subtotal Public Charter Schools Total FY 2014 Approved Budget 2,792,841,017 125,220,768 2,918,061,785 $ 511,078,376 3,429,140,161 $ Budget Difference of FY14 - FY13 %

3,048,651,116 139,395,644 3,188,046,760 475,556,655 3,663,603,415

(255,810,099) -8% (14,174,876) -10% (269,984,975) -8% 35,521,721 7% (234,463,254) -6%

Under the new per pupil budgeting formula, public schools, including turnarounds, lost a total of $269.9 million, while charters gained $35.5 million. This translates into an 8% reduction for public schools and a 7% increase for charters. The combined effect for all schools is a 6% reduction.

School Level Budgets By Network

Network FY 2013 Ending Budget FY 2014 Approved Budget 100,704,928 142,960,402 97,781,435 81,261,698 138,135,796 560,844,259 Budget Difference of FY14 - FY13 (20,671,094) (21,498,395) (12,355,385) (6,400,499) (5,727,254) (66,652,628) %

Fulton West Side High Schools Austin-North Lawndale Garfield-Humboldt Pilsen-Little Village Total

121,376,022 164,458,797 110,136,820 87,662,197 143,863,050 627,496,887

-17% -13% -11% -7% -4% -11%

Under the new per pupil budgeting formula, West Side Schools lost $66.7 million, or 11% on average. The former Fulton Network was hit the hardest, with a 17% reduction in total school budgets.

School Level Budgets Positions Lost

Network FY 2012 Ending Positions 1,455.0 1,964.4 1,258.0 980.0 1,548.0 7,205.4 FY 2013 FY 2014 Budgeted Approved Positions Positions 1,448.0 1,786.7 1,243.0 978.5 1,617.0 7,073.2 1,148.5 1,554.9 1,079.5 909.0 1,511.5 6,203.4 Positions Difference of FY14 FY13 (299.5) (231.8) (163.5) (69.5) (105.5) (869.80) %

Fulton West Side High Schools Austin-North Lawndale Garfield-Humboldt Pilsen-Little Village Total

-21% -13% -13% -7% -7% -12%

Under the new per pupil budgeting formula, West Side Schools lost 869.8 full-time equivalents (FTEs), or 12% of total staff. The former Fulton Network was hit the hardest, with a loss of 21% of its staff. At the same time, the public schools lost 3,323.6 positions, for a total reduction of 9% of staff. Lower staffing levels is reportedly leading to overcrowding in some schools.

TIFS

What is a TIF?
A TIF (Tax Increment Financing) district is an area within a city that, after much careful study by the city and expert consultants, is found to be blighted and without hope of attracting private investment without some governmental intervention.

Source: ABCs of Tax Increment Financing

How TIFs Work

TIFs capture money by devoting all new property taxes to redevelopment. That means that once a TIF is established, taxing bodies (the City of Chicago's general treasury, the Chicago Public Schools, the Chicago Park District, etc.) get no new revenue from the TIF. Their share of the property taxes is "frozen" at the level it was at just before the TIF was approved. The taxes on all the new property value in the TIF go into the TIF fund and are reinvested in that area. Over time, the TIF gets more tax revenue than the general funds of the taxing bodies from which the taxes were diverted when the TIF was created
Source: Cook County Clerk website

Example
Step 1. Base EAV Description Amount The total value of all $10,000,000 property in the TIF just before the TIF district was established. 2. Year One EAV The total property value of $11,000,000 the TIF one year after it was created. 3. Growth in EAV The difference between the $1,000,000 Base EAV and the current EAV. 4. Tax Rate The percentage of EAV 10% (property value) that goes to taxes. 5. Increment The growth in property 10% value multiplied by the tax rate - i.e., the new taxes that go to the TIF fund.

Source: Cook County Clerk website

Long Term Impact of TIFs

Source: Wikipedia

TIFS
There are currently 151 TIFs in the City of Chicago, 36 of which are on the West Side (City of Chicago website) Chicago collected approximately $457 million in TIF revenue for the 2012 tax year. (Cook County Clerk) Since 1986, $5.5 billion has been collected from Chicago TIFs. (Cook County Clerk) There is approximately $1.7 billion in the TIF fund and approximately $1.53 billion has been encumbered as of November 13, 2013 (WBEZ)

The city is reluctant to free up the estimated $180 million surplus.

They have identified a laundry list of other projects, including
$40 million- pay down bonds for the Modern School Across Chicago program $35.1 million-TIFs that have had no revenue or may have declining revenue $11 million-TIFs that have balances of less than $1 million $37 million - reserved for single-project TIFs and future obligations After these projects are earmarked, the City would have $49 million that have not been earmarked for a project.
Source: WBEZ

Notable West Side School-Related TIF-Funded Projects

Collins High School-$30 million TIF-backed revenue bond issue to cover renovations for Collins High School in 2006. In 2008, the City was prepared to demolish the gym for an Olympic velodrome. Douglas Park Athletic Field and Track Proposed $2 million to reimburse Park District for a field that has been completed and is used by AUSL-Collins Academy and the community Westinghouse High School-$100 million TIFbacked revenue bond issue to cover the construction of a new high school

What are you prepared to do to help improve schools? Tell us after the breakout

Follow Up:
This presentation and handouts will be posted to
The Lawndale Alliance blog, at http://lawndalealliance.blogspot.com Policy on the Ground blog, at http://policyontheground.net Scribd.com

Questions may be directed to Valerie F. Leonard at 773-521-3137 or valeriefleonard@msn.com