(WBBM NEWSRADIO) — As the Chicago Teachers Union continues to push for hiring more librarians, the labor group hopes next week’s elections will help them.
One of CTU’s proposals for the teachers’ contract under current negotiations is a librarian at every school.
The union argues the district has cut or failed to fill some 370 full-time posts in the last 11 years.
Foreman High School Librarian Tara Donnelly says she and her colleagues help students improve reading scores and develop critical thinking skills.
“One must support funding librarian positions. If not, it is the same outcome as the book banning extremists. It is closing libraries and preventing library access," Donnelly said.
She calls cutting positions from 450 in 2013 to fewer than 80 today a form of censorship.
The union is encouraging residents to vote for school board candidates who support that increased spending.
One of those is community activist Jitu Brown, who is running in the fifth district.
He joined CTU members outside Tilton Elementary in West Garfield Park to give credit to his CPS library for helping foster his love for the written word when he was a kid.
“If I’m blessed enough to be on the school board, every school will have a library,” Brown said.
The district is facing a deficit of millions while Mayor Johnson prepares to oust current CEO Pedro Martinez as they disagree about a high-interest loan to pay for pensions and a new CTU contract.
Martinez and the current CPS leadership cut its way out of a half billion dollar budget deficit this year, but the district is projected to face similar shortfalls going forward.
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