By Steve Gunn
EAGnews.org

CHICAGO  – As one newspaper put it, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is “giving away the farm” in an effort to appease the teachers union and end the week-old strike.

But the mayor’s overly generous offer was still not enough to appease the union.

MORE NEWS: Know These Before Moving From Cyprus To The UK

Now Emanuel is threatening to go to court to get an injunction to force teachers back to work. We think he should stop threatening and seek the injunction as quickly as possible. And if any teachers ignore a court order to end the strike, they should be fired immediately.

Late last week rumors surfaced that a deal had been struck to end the Chicago Teachers Union strike. Then details about the tentative contract started to surface.

Emanuel, in an obvious effort to end the strike quickly and avoid a pre-election breach within the Democratic Party, reportedly gave ground on the most important issue of all – teacher evaluations. While he initially insisted that student test scores comprise 50 percent of teacher evaluations, the Huffington Post says the mayor is now willing to live with the state-imposed minimum weight of 30 percent.

So much for the idea of getting rid of bad teachers.

Emanuel has also reportedly caved on the idea of merit pay for outstanding teachers, and his insistence that building principals be allowed to hire the best candidates for teaching positions, rather than automatically calling back laid off teachers, according to the Huffington Post.

The mayor and his bargaining team are also reportedly offering teachers a three percent raise in the first year under a new contract, and two percent raises each of the next two years. That sounds pretty expensive for a school district rapidly approaching a $1 billion budget deficit.

MORE NEWS: How to prepare for face-to-face classes

One might expect all of the concessions offered by the city to be enough for the teachers, considering the financial condition of the school district.

Lewis was quoted as saying the tentative contact is “based on what the board has. We all know that the board doesn’t have a lot of money standing around to do what would make us all happy. It is the deal we have.”

Or so Lewis thought. The CTU House of Delegates met Sunday afternoon and rejected the proposed deal, with some members accusing union President Karen Lewis and her fellow negotiators of “selling out.”

The House of Delegates will reportedly meet again Tuesday to consider the same proposal. But there’s no reason to believe members will be any more agreeable than they were over the weekend.

What in the world do these people want?

Actually, we’ve reached the point where that question should be irrelevant. An exasperated Emanuel responded to the rejection of the tentative contract by threatening to get a court injunction to end the strike.

“I will not stand by while the children of Chicago are played as pawns in an internal dispute within a union,” the mayor was quoted as saying.

Emanuel would be well within his legal rights to seek legal assistance. Senate Bill 7, signed by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn in 2011, essentially says Chicago teachers only have the right to strike over salary. It’s clear that the two sides have pretty much concluded that discussion. Other issues, like the weight of teacher evaluations, are keeping schools closed.

That’s against the law. A judge should order the teachers back to work today, and give Emanuel the green light to start replacing those who fail to comply.

Public schools exist for students, and the kids should be in the classroom, period. If the union teachers don’t want to instruct them, the city must find a group of educators who are willing to take on the task.