UPDATE 2-No school for Chicago kids on Thursday amid teachers' strike ahead of deal deadline

Chicago Public Schools, the third-largest system in the United States, canceled Thursday classes for 361,000 students, ahead of a strike deadline set by the teachers who are locked in protracted labor negotiations. The district said Chicago public school buildings will be staffed by district officials and open during the day for students who need a place to go. Breakfast and lunch will be served. All after-school activities will be canceled, including sports, tutoring and field trips.

Chicago Teachers Union leaders informed the Chicago Public Schools bargaining team that they will recommend a strike should proceed on Thursday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said during a morning news conference. "We have tried to remain optimistic that through good faith negotiations and hard work, we could reach a deal and advert a strike," she said. "The deal that we put on the table is the best in the Chicago Teachers Union history."

Stacy Davis Gates, Chicago Teachers Union vice president, accused Lightfoot of "moving the goalposts" in negotiations. "If she cannot land a deal with teachers for public schools in Chicago then you have to question her ability to get work done in this city," she told reporters.

Davis Gates said the mayor's strategy was to take back "everything" the union won in previous contracts and offer it back with percentages. "The offer is let me copy what is already in the contract, let me paste it to a new sheet of paper and let me say that this is a worthy contract proposal," she said.

In addition to wage increases, the union is demanding more funding to ease overcrowded classrooms and hire more support staff, two perennial issues plaguing the school district. The district bargaining team has offered 80 proposed changes to the last contract on issues requested by the union, including placing additional support for oversized classes, enforceable targets on class sizes and adding more support staff across the district, Lightfoot said.

"At every turn, we bent over backward to meet the union's needs," she said. The mayor said the union's demands would cost the district an additional $2.5 billion annually.

Chicago Public School finances "are still recovering from the brink of insolvency and we do not have unlimited funds," Lightfoot said. The district's credit ratings remain at the junk level, although they have improved in the wake of a revised state-wide school funding formula that boosted revenue for operations and pension payments.

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