Chicago City Council Lacks Transparency About Key Issues That Impact Residents in Public Meetings

Despite Chicago City Council meetings being open to the public to observe and for public comment, much of what impacts residents the most goes on behind closed doors, with only limited time for public comments

Photo byScreen Capture/Youtube Video [Creator]

CHICAGO - During the Chicago City Council Committee on Education and Child Development meeting this week, there were many residents, representatives of organizations and even Aldermen who spoke out very strongly on the need for better childcare in the city of Chicago.

During the public comment portion of the meeting residents made several important points. Parents and childcare providers remarked that childcare is equally important for everyone whether they're in the suburbs or the city, yet no where is there enough funding for parents to be able to afford high quality childcare outside the school system. With the high turnover rate and low pay, only some areas have quality childcare and all have co-pays that still make it impossible for parents to cover. Childcare workers remarked that they deserve a living wage as they aren't babysitters, they are educators and must to besuch.

There were several people who focused on the difference in funding for community childcare organizations vs. CPS childcare. It was stated that there are 72K childcare slots in Chicago, with 55K of those in childcare centers, and only 17K slots at CPS. Yet community care programs are alloted only 27% of $371M block grant. They asked the council to increase the amount that is alloted to them to at least $45%.

An altercation broke out at the end of the public comments section as there were many people who wanted to speak but that portion of the meeting was limited to 30 minutes. The chair had to call a recess as thing got out of control, such that the sargent of arms and security needed to clear the chamber to allow the meeting to reconvene.

Representatives from the SEIU testified that quality childcare supports child development and increases parents ability to establish stable economic environment. High turnover/understaffing causes parents to leave jobs they love and need. They stated that over 40% of families looking for childcare can't find it which leads to a negative impact $4.9 billion each year from loss of workers or decrease in productivity. They believe childcare is a right, should be provided like K-12 ed provided.

The SEIU representatives said that more programs are needed but few are willing to do the work for the wages that are paid. Childcare jobs among lowest paid in city. Hi turnover forces centers to close. Need more programs but not many willing to do work at wages.

Ald. Irving asked what is the difference between where we are today and where we need to be? SEIU replied current wages are around $17 - $18 an hour and need to start at a bottom rate of $25 hour but for there to be true parity with what CPS providers are paid the amount would need to be much higher.

The representative stated that a licensed 1st year teacher at CPS starts at $65k compared to $50k for a licensed teacher at a childcare facility. She added it was a choice between working from 9am-3pm (CPS) vs. 7am - 6pm (childcare facility), working 9 months a year (CPS) vs 12 months a year (childcare facility) and earning on average 20K more a year working for CPS. She said there is clearly no competition.

Yet while everyone who spoke agreed that there needs to be a far greater amount of money allocated for childcare in Chicago, that it was a critical investment in the future, that it affected all areas of our society, when it came to discusssing the amount that was being asked for, both the representatives from SIEU and the Alderman stopped short of disclosing that information.

Ald. Yancy started to ask what amount was needed to make things more equal between community organizations and CPS but the reply was that they shouldn't discuss it in public and Ald Yancy said he also didn't want to negotiate the amount in public so the amount being requested from the budged was not disclosed yet it was also clear that that was an ongoing discussion that was being held in private.

While City Council Meetings are held publicly and arangements made so that residents who can't attend in person can livestream them, it often seems that much of the information that residents want to know and feel they have the right to know is often discussed behind closed doors. In this case, it is negotiations over what can only be a extremely large amount of money considering the numbers quoted and the fact that community healthcare workers want equal pay and benefits to those who work for CPS.

This would mean at a minimum doubling their pay, adding benefits, paying overtime for the extra hours they work and add an amount that would equal an additional three months pay for existing workers, while also being given the money to establish many more programs and hiring many more staff.

The budget deficit for Chicago has already risen to almost $1 billion for 2025, and there are numerous other requests for money that are still coming in to the council as there always are. Residents know that they will ultimately be responsible for shouldering at least some of that amount and they want to know what the total amount is and how the City intends to generate it before finding bills in their mailboxes.