Chicago offers to pause school closings after 2013 cuts CHICAGO (Reuters) - Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel said on Monday he wants a five-year moratorium on closing public schools after anticipated cuts in 2013, but the teachers union called his gesture a "sleight of hand." The third-largest school district in the United States, which was hit with a strike by public school teachers in September, was already facing a financial crisis that was made worse by granting pay rises to teachers. The school district forecasts a $1 billion deficit next year and is widely expected to try to balance its budget in part by closing public schools. The district said it can accommodate 500,000 students, but only about 400,000 are enrolled. Urban school districts around the country are grappling with the issue declining enrollment, including in Philadelphia, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Detroit, Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C., according to a study last year on school closings by the Pew Charitable Trust. The first Chicago teachers strike in 25 years drew national attention to the city's dispute over education reforms such as teacher evaluations. The teachers were given a pay rise as part of the strike settlement. Chicago teachers and some parents have complained that the school district has ignored their concerns. The offer of a five-year moratorium was seen as an attempt by Emanuel, who has championed education reform and has repeatedly clashed with the teachers union, to provide some stability to Chicago schools after closings in the coming year. The Chicago Tribune has reported that school district officials are considering closing up to 120 schools next year, or about 17 percent of the total. Byrd-Bennett told reporters on Monday that the district does not have a number under consideration. At the heart of the dispute over school closings is the expansion of charter schools, which are publicly funded, but mostly non unionized. "Today's announcement is nothing more than a sleight of hand," the Chicago Teachers Union said in a statement. How can the district cry 'under-utilization' as a justification for school closings while it simultaneously approves the opening of new charter campuses? The academic performance record of charter schools compared with community schools is mixed, according to national studies. The union said 88 percent of students affected by Chicago school closings or other actions in the past decade were African-American and most closed schools have been in poor neighborhoods. Editing by Greg McCune, Matthew Lewis and Andre Grenon