1993 News Briefs
February: Stephenson selection
The School Board selects a Chicago veteran, Richard Stephenson, for interim superintendent.
February: Board Plan
The board unveils its SAVE plan aimed at giving principals more control over their buildings and staffs, lengthening the school day and year and getting schools open on time with more state aid. The Legislature and unions generally reject the plan.
March: Union tug
In a first for a Chicago mayor, Mayor Daley calls for union give-backs on work rules and money; he also calls for more state aid.
August: Johnson appointment
Argie Johnson, a community school superintendent in New York City, becomes Chicago's fifth school superintendent in four years.
August: Budget rejection
The School Finance Authority rejects the board's budget as unbalanced. Under state law, Chicago schools cannot open until the Authority certifies that their budget is balanced.
August: Early retirement
Just weeks before Chicago schools are set to open, more than 2,200 of their teachers, 1,300 career service workers and 100 principals take early retirement under a new program offered by the Legislature.
September: Delays, chaos
Schools open a week late and are kept open by a series of court orders. High schools are in turmoil as they adapt to an 11th-hour agreement between the board and the teachers union to change high school class periods from 40 minutes to 50 minutes, a move that saves $18.4 million in job cuts made by attrition.
October: Teacher contract
The teachers union agrees to a contract that, for the first time, reduces benefits. Further, pay rates are frozen for two years. However, teachers will work and be paid for an extra week, beginning in 1994-95.
October: LSC election III
The third round of LSC elections draws 7,361 candidates and 131,798 voters.
November: Legislative "rescue"
The Legislature approves yet another borrowing package to keep Chicago schools open. In a first, it mandates a work-rule change that makes it easier for schools to obtain waivers of union contracts. It also creates an inspector general to weed out financial waste and corruption.
December: Budget approval
The year's marathon school financial crisis comes to an end as the School Finance Authority accepts the board's $2.7 billion budget.