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But local officials, including state Rep. Kam Buckner,
D-Chicago, blamed the payment issues, which led to a work
stoppage and the cancellation of some student games, on the
district’s Sports Executive Director Devon Morales.
Buckner introduced a resolution in the House calling on the
Illinois Auditor General’s office to conduct an audit of state
funds that go to the district for athletics.
“We found out that not just the referees weren't getting paid,
there were coaches that weren't getting paid, there were
athletic directors not getting their stipend,” Buckner said. “I
wanted to take a step back. I wanted to look at the program and
the system to see what they were doing with the dollars because
there seems to be some real questions about where spending is
happening where it's not happening.”
He said it was important that the problem be identified, as some
students missed out on crucial games and the public employees
not being paid could’ve been a violation of state law.
“We have a prompt payments act with the state government that if
there are public dollars involved, and somebody is doing work
and not getting paid, that's a violation of the law,” Buckner
said. “These students were not just missing out on education, on
their athletic experience, but many of them who are juniors and
seniors are in the running for scholarships. This is affecting
their recruiting process.”
The employees who didn’t initially receive paychecks mostly had
backpay settled after CPS released expedited funds to resolve
the issue.
The payment of sports officials isn’t the only funding concern
on the mind of lawmakers and top CPS officials, as the
district’s recently passed budget for the current school year
counts on $150 million that hasn't been allocated by the General
Assembly.
Some Chicago-area lawmakers hope to approve the additional
funding for the district during the coming fall veto session in
November and December.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker has multiple times been skeptical about the
state approving the additional funds, including in the WTTW
gubernatorial candidate forum Tuesday night.
“We raised funding for schools across the state in this last
budget, the one that we're in now, $300 million. Now, that's
important to remember because we're doing that every year
because we need to catch up in school funding,” Pritzker said.
“But we can't just magically come up with $150 million when one
school district or another asks for it.”
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