Education
CPS Principals Can Soon Start Spending for Next School Year Under New Measure as District May Push Back Full Budget Further
(WTTW News)
While Chicago Public Schools officials continue finalizing the district’s annual budget, education leaders have approved a measure allowing school principals to begin spending their funds.
The Board of Education on Thursday unanimously approved a resolution that will grant school leaders the ability to start spending their funding allocations when the 2025 fiscal year begins next month — even as the full district budget has not yet been finished.
“I want to ensure our CPS community — especially our principals — that this shift in timing will not impact their ability to put staff and resources in place for the new school year,” CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said during the board’s monthly meeting Thursday.
The resolution states that “in order to allow the orderly and efficient operation of the system for the benefit of the school children, it is appropriate for the Board to authorize expenditures prior to the adoption of the fiscal year 2025 annual school budget.”
According to the resolution, principals can begin spending their FY25 funding beginning July 5.
CPS initially planned to publish its full budget earlier this month, but instead pushed that release back in order to “collaborate with CPS stakeholders and do further diligence.” The district then said it planned to present its spending plan to the board in July, but the resolution approved Thursday now states the budget is “slated to be presented at the July or August Board Meeting.”
Martinez himself said Thursday the district is planning to share its budget “later this summer.”
CPS is facing a nearly $400 million budget shortfall as federal COVID-19 dollars run out. The district this year has also done away with student-based budgeting and moved to a new funding model which it says will guarantee a certain level of resources to all schools.
Last month, CPS published individual school budgets, noting at that time that while the district hadn’t seen any “disproportionate” impact on specific types of schools, resources for some schools would be “tighter” in the next academic year.
“There’s no denying that CPS is facing a challenging financial outlook,” Martinez said, “but I remain confident that when our 2025 budget is complete, the overall level of funding provided to schools will be maintained or likely increase in what we experience compared to the last school year.”
