CHICAGO – Chicago Public Schools must become a leader in demanding specific pension reforms from Illinois state legislators if the district is to avoid massive annual budget shortfalls, a recent analysis concludes.

“They need the legislature to act. We also point out that they have not led on pension reform. The Chicago Public School district has not articulated on what they want on pension reform or what would be reasonable,” Laurence Msall, president of the Civic Federation, told the Chicago Sun-Times.

The Federation, a nonpartisan watchdog group, recently released a lengthy report on CPS’ proposed budget for this school year, and it was similar to last year’s report.

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Despite “painful reductions including layoffs and school consolidations, the state’s inaction on pension reform has plunged the district into even deeper financial crisis,” the Sun-Times quoted from the Federation report.

The Federation also stressed the need for CPS “to come up with their own plan” to address its pension problems, the newspaper reports.

“CPS’ $6.6 billion budget for the current fiscal year that started July 1 slashed total classroom spending by $68 million, cut another $112 million in spending, raised property taxes to the maximum allowed, and for the second year in a row, tapped into another $700 million in one-time reserves to close a $977 million deficit, mostly from the pension obligations,” according to the Sun-Times.

The school board is expected to vote on the budget Wednesday.

The only way out of the mess seems to be to reduce benefits for employees and retirees, but that requires the help or cooperation of the Chicago Teachers Union and the legislature.

The fact that CTU leaders view the pension issue as a “revenue problem,” should be a very clear sign that the kind of union concessions necessary to sustain the system won’t come voluntarily.

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The union wants to explore “TIF reform” and “closing corporate loopholes,” but the reality is the root of the problem will persist without more significant changes, like benefit reductions, raising the retirement age and slashing automatic annual raises for teachers, as the Federation points out.