Taking a harder look at CPS's new paternity leave
Is the announcement a red herring
Jubilation was the order of the day last week when the trinity of Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, Chicago Public Schools Superintendent Pedro Martinez, and Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis-Gates announced a new policy that will grant all CPS employees 12 weeks of maternity leave-the same amount City of Chicago employees currently enjoy. The key is the new policy offers paid time for the 12 weeks, unlike the Federal Family Medical Leave Act. That legislation also grants 12 weeks but it is unpaid.
It was a monumental moment for the Chicago Teachers Union as it was able to move City Hall off of the standstill that occurred with Johnson’s predecessor.
However, Johnson, Martinez and Davis-Gates either omitted or simply forgot to mention a key piece of the pie-it can’t go into effect until voted on by the Chicago Board of Education.
None of the nine-member board was appointed by Johnson, so at this stage it is not possible to determine how much support there is for a new policy estimated to run at least $10 million more than is currently budgeted.
Those members are: Miguel del Valle President
What do employees who are past child-bearing age or have no interest in adopting child get? It is a given that everyone does not want to have children-whether through childbirth or adoption.
CPS data tells us the most common age rane of the 29,000 employees is 20-30 years old-prime child-bearing age. Exacty 27 percent of the employees are 40 years or older, approximately 7.500 employees.
Last week’s announcement is another in Johnson’s modus operandi of giving voters the sizzle but not the steak. In this instance, the mayor and others laid out a new policy that has a passel of details still to be worked out. Yet, it was presented as though it was a done deal. As noted earlier, the finanl determiners of this new policy is the Chicago Board of Education. There would have been no harm in waiting until all details were available and the board was putting it up for a vote. A rejection of the paternity leave idea would be a huge blow to Johnson, and his ability to move forward -especially on CPS issues.
The paternal leave announcement easily comes across as a red herring-something big to distract attention from the city’s flawed asylum-seeker work, along with Chicago’s escalating violence. For a couple of days at least, they were not the focal point of what is happening at city hall. That gave Johnson a break from talking about them. However, after a rash of shootings this past weekend things will return to business as usual.
Although he hasn’t logged two months on the job yet, the mayor has made it a habit of presenting plans prior to them being fully baked. Right after Election Day he shared his plans for raising $800 million to underwrite his social service-focused agenda.
The mayor has suggested such an investment can improve the quality of life for Chicagoans, while simultaneously reducing crime. At the time, and since that announcement, Johnson has not shared that in order to levy the new taxes to raise the $800 million; most of the steps he is proposing require approval from the Illinois General Assembly or the Chicago City Council.
Johnson, Martinez and Davis-Gates during the announcement didn’t reveal whether CPS employees who never take this 12-week leave will receive some sort of additional benefit. Logic tells us that when an employee, especially a teacher, is off for an extended period someone must fill in. In Chicago and throughout Illinois, there is a shortage of substitute teachers. What happens when a CPS facility has more than one teacher out for paternity leave? Exactly one-third of CPS employees are between the ages of 20 and 30, according to CPS data, which also revealed about 67 percent of employees are female.
There was no reason for Johnson and the others to rush to provide the skeleton of a plan. It was not something widely discussed, or demanded recently. It was at least a year since CTU took up the matter with former Mayor Lori Lightfoot who deemed it something for contract negotiations-not a policy change. CPS has a $9.5 billion budget; but projections call for $628 million deficit. Martinez acknowledged the $10 millon cost of the new program, but failed to mention how it would be covered.