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The purpose of
last Thursday's "practice" vote in the nation's third-largest
city was to test the process of collecting the vote and teacher
sentiment as negotiations with school officials continue, the
union said. The results of the vote were released on Monday.
The district, which serves about 400,000 students at more than
600 schools, faces a $1.1 billion structural deficit and
thousands of possible teacher layoffs after Christmas.
A spokeswoman for the union was not immediately available for
comment on the vote.
Under state law, at least 75 percent of union members must
approve a strike. Union vice president Jesse Sharkey said last
week it was too early to say when and if the teachers would
strike, but they needed to be prepared.
The school system's former chief executive, Barbara
Byrd-Bennett, pleaded guilty last month to a fraud charge
related to the awarding of a no-bid contract to her former
employer, infuriating parents and teachers who had already seen
budget cutbacks.
The Chicago Public Schools' recently approved $5.7 billion
budget counts on $480 million in aid from the state of Illinois
it has not received. If the money does not come, thousands of
teachers could be laid off.
The last strike was in 2012, the district's first in 25 years.
(Reporting by Mary Wisniewski; Editing by Sam Holmes)
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