Education
CPS Students Return for 1st Day of Classes as District Continues Working to Close Budget Gap
(PeopleImages / iStock)
Chicago Public Schools students returned to their classrooms Monday for the start of the new academic year, as district officials continue working to finalize a budget proposal to close a $734 million funding gap.
Monday marked the first day of classes for hundreds of thousands of K-12 students citywide beginning the 2025-26 school year.
“Even after 32 years serving Chicago’s children, the first day of school is magical,” interim CPS CEO Macquline King said in a statement. “There’s nothing like the energy of students racing through the halls, faces lit up with excitement. It’s a powerful reminder that our work matters as we prepare the next generation of great thinkers and collaborative problem solvers.”
The school year will run through June 4, 2026, and includes weeklong breaks in November and March and a two-week winter break between December and January.
King on Monday joined Mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago Teachers Union officials on visits to Courtenay Language Arts Center and Austin College and Career Academy High School to welcome students back to class.
“This morning, school bells are ringing out across Chicago, calling our young people to a year of learning, new friendships, growth and limitless possibility,” Johnson said in a statement. “Our teachers are ready, our classrooms are ready, and the entire city is behind our scholars every step of the way.”
CPS said it is beginning this year with its lowest number of vacancies in recent history for teachers and education support personnel, and for the first time in more than a decade, a majority of the district’s new teachers are Black or Hispanic — matching the largest demographics of CPS students.
Following a year of contentious negotiations, CTU teachers are beginning this school year with a new contract in place, but the district has yet to finalize a balanced budget as it attempts to close a massive shortfall without making cuts in the classroom.
CPS leaders last week released their latest budget proposal, which banks on additional TIF funding and cuts to developmental and central office staff. The district also intends to push a $175 million municipal pension payment onto the city, unless CPS obtains enough TIF or state funding to offset that cost.
That proposal faced pushback from the partially elected Board of Education, which must finalize the district’s budget by the end of the month.
A majority of the board’s 21 members penned a letter to King last week calling for “critical” changes to that proposal, including CPS taking out a loan so it can pick up that pension payment on its own — something that Johnson has pushed for.
District officials are wary of doing so, as a loan could seriously hamper future finances. But board members said it would be “difficult” for them to support the current budget proposal without that change.
CPS is holding a pair of public hearings on its budget proposal Tuesday, and the board is scheduled to vote on the spending plan at its monthly meeting Aug. 28.
