The Chicago Public School system (CPS) is currently in negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) about a possible contract extension after the current contract ends on June 30. Such disputes are not uncommon, but this is the first year that librarians in Chicago are officially part of talks with CTU. Although school librarians have been able to give input during contract negotiations in years past, they have not had formal representation on the negotiation committee until now. “It’s very flattering to hear the union chief and other representatives reference the importance of libraries,” says K.C. Boyd, a librarian at a Chicago high school for the past five years. The negotiations are the latest altercation in a strained relationship between the government and the union. Citing a deficit of more than $1 billion, CPS will not be offering union workers, including teachers and librarians, a contract extension that would have come with a pay raise of three percent. Instead, the administration of Mayor Rahm Emanuel is demanding that teachers, clinicians, and paraprofessionals take a seven percent pay cut and occasional increases in insurance premiums. CTU maintains that the financial deficit has been manufactured by the Emanuel administration. "This makes no sense—they are penny wise and pound foolish," CTU president Karen Lewis told the Chicago Tribune. “The District’s top priority is to ensure our students and teachers have the resources they need to succeed in the classroom,” responded CPS spokesman Bill McCaffrey in a statement, according to CBS Chicago. “The financial crises facing CPS is real—we face a budget deficit that exceeds $1.1 billion, while Illinois is second to last in education funding, and Chicago teachers and taxpayers are being shortchanged because of a broken pension system that forces Chicago residents to pay twice for teacher pensions.” While CTU and the librarians’ committee are working together in the talks, Megan Murray Cusick, CTU Librarians Committee chair and a school librarian, explained that the librarians also have specific demands of their own. “First and foremost, what we’re asking for is a school librarian in every Chicago public school,” Cusick says. “It shouldn’t come down to whether or not a school has fundraised; it should be standard.” Other demands are that librarians not be used as substitute teachers or be forced to teach additional course loads as their positions in schools get cut out due to lack of funds. Negotiations began in November 2014. With the contract deadline looming and a recent shift in gubernatorial leadership, “Everything is evolving and shifting as we speak, including a new state board of education superintendent,” Boyd says. “What we’re hearing is that we are just very far apart right now,” Cusick says. “We have not talked a lot about what it’s going to take to bridge that gap.” A CTU spokesperson had no comment on the negotiations. Some speculate that the budget crisis is retaliation for a seven-day CTU strike in 2012—and payback for the union’s support of Emanuel’s challenger, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, in a run-off election last year. Boyd and Cusick are focusing on where money might be found. “We would say there are places in the budget available to fully resource schools with librarians and the other professional students need to have a full-school experience,” Cusick says. “We need to take a look at the amount of money spent on testing, and positions at central office could be reduced or eliminated to get the money back into the schools. We should look at relationships with third parties.” The Emanuel administration stated that it is waiting to receive word from the neighboring town of Springfield before it releases next year’s budgets, which will affect the direction of the talks. For Cusick and Boyd, the next step is to get the word out. “We really need to involve other stakeholders in the conversations that we’re having, so reaching out to parent organizations and community groups and faith-based communities to talk to them about what we’re asking for in terms of our contract because it’s the only way to help the negotiations move [forward] and to have some of our other stakeholders express their interests,” Cusick said. “They have to know what’s being discussed.” Community organizations have been sponsoring forums around the city, where union and the district representatives have been invited to speak about where the negotiations stand and what the major issues are. Students are the main concern for Boyd and Cusick. “We know what kids need at the school level,” Cusick says. “What we have to focus on is what’s in the best interest of the kids.” Boyd adds that as librarians get squeezed out of positions or leave for higher-paying jobs, students pay the price. “At the end of the day, the kids lose out,” she says. “It’s a problem.”