The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

CPS Has Tens of Millions for Bank of America

Jan 18, 2016

Chicago Public Schools CEO Forrest Claypool tells teachers the only way to avoid layoffs is to accept a cut in pay. He says there’s no money. Not true! The Board has money to pay tens of millions of dollars to banks like Bank of America for toxic financial deals.

During the financial bubble of the 2000s, business people working for CPS pushed the district to arrange swap deals on variable rate loans–arrangements similar to the crazy financing in real estate that cheated people out of their houses when the economy collapsed.

Same thing with the schools: the school board was locked into paying high rates to the banks–a big gift to these banks, when interest rates were plummeting. Bank of America has already taken 60 million dollars in extra interest, they stand to make 40 million more by the end of the loan.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel says nothing can be done about this rip-off–“there’s this thing called a contract.” B.S.–they wrote the contract with the purpose of feeding the banks, rather than funding Chicago students’ education. That was the intention from the beginning!