CHICAGO – Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool said plans announced Tuesday to cut $100 million from the budget “is something I’d hoped to avoid at all costs.”

Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis called it an “act of war,” the Chicago Sun-Times reports.

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“Due to their attack, we have no choice but to express outrage at this latest act of war by rallying against CPS and the bankers who are siphoning off millions from our schools,” Lewis said at a press conference yesterday.

Lewis said the union is pulling $700,000 from its Bank of America account, which it plans to close as a snub to “bankers” who are allegedly profiting off of CPS’ dire financial situation, NBC Chicago reports.

The school district faces a $1 billion budget shortfall after years of chronic money problems, and CPS officials have remained largely fixed on a bailout from state lawmakers. CPS and the CTU, meanwhile, are negotiating a new teachers contract, and the union rejected of the district’s latest offer Monday.

Before dueling press conferences Tuesday, CPS sent the union a letter stating intentions to stop paying teachers’ share of their pension contributions, and to issue layoffs and other cuts to save $100 million, the Sun-Times reports.

The same day, Gov. Bruce Rauner reiterated his plans for the state to take over the troubled school district, the Chicagoist reports.

“The state’s going to be ready to step in and take action,” he said. “I asked our administration. I believe it’s coming. I believe a state takeover is appropriate.”

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Aldertrack tweeted responses to Rauner from both Claypool and Lewis.

“’That’s ridiculous,’ Claypool says of Rauner saying state can take over CPS. (General Assembly) would have to pass legislation, it’s a non-starter, he says,” the political newsletter posted to Twitter.

“’He doesn’t have a budget, what is he going to take us over with? @KarenLewisCTU sys of Gov. Rauner’s remarks bout state take over of CPS,” Aldertrack tweeted.

CTU members in December voted overwhelmingly to support a teachers strike if CTU leadership deems necessary, but a walkout cannot occur under state law until mid-May, the Sun-Times reports.

Lewis said that if CPS officials implement any of the cuts outlined in the letter this week, the union will file an unfair labor practices complaint with the Educational Labor Relations Board. She said a strike could occur before May if that board – which is controlled by Rauner appointees – rules in the union’s favor in a current complaint.

In the meantime, CTU will put on a grand spectacle in front of the Bank of America building Thursday with a 4:30 p.m. rally.

The Sun-Times detailed the CPS contract offer rejected by the union:

The deal offered by CPS last week included a promise of raises, no layoffs and a cap on charter school expansion in exchange for union members paying all of their pension costs. Union leaders said the pledges were empty because a state board could overrule the Chicago Board of Education if it blocked a charter school application, and the district also wanted to offer buyouts in hopes of getting up to 1,500 teachers to retire.

Union leaders last week said the proposal was a “serious offer,” which seemed to indicate they were on board with most of terms. But the union’s Big Bargaining Team, a group of 40 union members that includes teachers, social workers and other school staffers, unanimously voted down the deal Monday.