Top 10 facts about the Chicago teachers strike

1. The average salary for a Chicago Public Schools teacher is $71,000, before benefits. Meanwhile, the median salary for a Chicagoan with a bachelor's degree is just $48,866. Chicago Teachers Union initially asked for a 30 percent raise, and has turned down a 16 percent raise.

2. Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis has said that charter schools are not "real schools." However, charter schools in Chicago are out-performing traditional public schools. When it comes to ACT scores, 9 out of 10 of the top-scoring, open-enrollment high schools in Chicago are charter schools.

3. Average pay for Chicago charter school teacher: $48,910. 

4. While teachers walk the picket lines today demanding more pay, they will exit the classroom at retirement with million-dollar pensions. The average starting pension of a career teacher who retired in 2011 is $77,496. Over the course of retirement, this teacher will collect more than $2.4 million in taxpayer-funded retirement benefits. 

5. Approximately 83 percent of Chicago Public Schools students live in poverty. 

6. Graduation rate in 2011 for neighborhood Chicago Public Schools: 54 percent. Graduation rate in 2011 for charter schools: 76 percent. 

7. At 5 hours 45 minutes, Chicago has the shortest school day of any major school system in the nation. Over the course of K-12, Chicago students would miss out on the equivalent of three years of classroom time when compared to a student in Houston public schools.

8. Chicago Public Schools plans to drain reserve funds during the 2012-13 school year just to stay afloat, and is planning to run a $1 billion deficit the following school year.

9. Average ACT exam score of Chicago Public Schools teachers: 19 out of a possible 36 points. 

10. College attendance: Only 33 percent of students who enter high school as freshman will attend college. Even fewer will graduate. 


EXPERTS AVAILABLE:
John Tillman, CEO of Illinois Policy Institute
Kristina Rasmussen, Executive Vice President

To read the analysis, visit: http://illinoispolicy.org/blog/blog.asp?ArticleSource=5041

The Illinois Policy Institute is a nonpartisan research and education organization dedicated to making our state a beacon for liberty and prosperity for all citizens. As a leading voice for economic liberty and government accountability, the Institute engages policy makers, opinion leaders and citizens on the state and local level by promoting free market principles and liberty-based public policy initiatives for a better Illinois. To learn more about the Institute or review our policy work, please visit: www.illinoispolicy.org.

-30-