The recent “discovery” of a $120 million surplus in the Chicago Board of Education budget should not have “stunned” any budget committee member. We who work in the school system know quite well that the school system “saved” millions by taking its bureaucratic sweet time replacing the thousands of teachers and staff who retired last August.
Although last year’s school year was delayed a week to fill the thousands of vacancies created by the August retirees, no action was taken at that time by anyone at the Chicago Board of Education. In fact, a directive was given out at that time proclaiming a “hiring freeze” until the teachers contract had been put in place.
Those who work in the schools, as opposed to those at Pershing Road, bore the brunt of the extra workload caused by the subsequent year-long teaching personnel shortage. Although they were the principal causes of it, Argie Johnson and the rest of the bureaucracy were unaware of the problem because they do not have to deal with the consequences of their actions on a daily basis.
