Chicago Public School cuts will include shorter high school day

The Chicago Sun-Times reports:

A hefty payment to the CPS teachers’ pension fund has forced Mayor Rahm Emanuel to make cuts that he called “untenable and unconscionable” in a news conference Wednesday afternoon.

The day after making the $634 million pension payment, Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools CEO Jesse Ruiz held a news conference to offer some details about the impact it will have on students.

Those changes will include starting high school 45 minutes earlier — and ending it 45 minutes later.

Also being curtailed: elementary school sports and 5,300 coaching stipends. And $18 million will be saved by cutting network offices and teacher development programs.

Teachers also could take another financial hit by paying more toward their pensions. They are supposed to contribute 9 percent of their salary, but for some time now, under a deal negotiated in past contract talks, they have paid just 2 percent

The great moment of government schools!