More than 2,000 Chicago teachers and staff face layoffs

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NBC Chicago – More than 2,100 Chicago Public Schools employees could be laid off Friday morning, bringing the total number of pink slips to 3,000 in two months.

CPS officials said Thursday they will notify 1,036 teachers and 1,077 non-teachers of the layoffs.

“As a former principal and teacher, I share the frustration felt by many of our principals, teachers, and parents about the difficult decisions our schools are being forced to make because of the historic $1 billion deficit facing our district,” schools chief Barbara Byrd-Bennett said. “Driven by the lack of reform in Springfield, the pension crisis has arrived at our schools.”

Chicago Teachers President Karen Lewis called the cuts “unnecessary and shameful for a system that prides itself on providing a high-quality education for our students” and said they will have a direct impact on the district’s quality of education.

Of those cut, 262 are support staff and food service employees from closing schools, 1,723 are teachers and support staff cut by budgetary decisions from school principals, and 123 are teachers impacted by changes in enrollment at CPS schools.

Chicago Public Schools attributes the cuts to the district’s $1 billion deficit and said the lack of pension reform in Springfield has “brought this crisis to our schools’ doorsteps.”

“We’re not able to cut our way out of this crisis,” CPS spokeswoman Becky Carroll said. “Our revenues are simply not keeping in line with our spending increases.”

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