Education
CPS Board to Vote on School Budget Thursday, But Questions Remain About Filling $734M Shortfall
Video: Joining “Chicago Tonight” are Chicago Board of Education members Angel Gutierrez and Jennifer Custer. (Produced by Shelby Hawkins)
Chicago Public Schools is set to finalize its fiscal year 2026 budget this week, but questions remain about how the cash-strapped school district intends to plug a $734 million shortfall.
The Board of Education will vote on the district’s spending plan at its monthly meeting Thursday — just one day before a state deadline for that spending plan to be in place.
CPS officials unveiled their budget proposal at a previous board meeting earlier this month, but a majority of the partially elected school board expressed concerns about how the district intends to balance its budget.
The district’s proposed spending plan relies on non-classroom cuts, additional TIF dollars and pushing a $175 million municipal pension payment onto the city — unless CPS can obtain enough outside funding to cover that cost — in order to close the $734 million budget gap.
Some board members lauded the district for keeping those cuts out of city schools.
“I think the budget we’ve been presented protects kids, protects classrooms and protects the financial future of the district,” Jennifer Custer, an elected board member, said on “Chicago Tonight” on Tuesday. “I think those that oppose this budget are really threatening to potentially shut down the district but also they’re threatening the financial well-being of the district in years to come.”
But others have criticized the plan for banking on unconfirmed TIF funding and dodging the pension payment. They believe that failing to enact those changes could lead to midyear cuts in schools.
“We’re dreaming here,” Emma Lozano, a board member appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson, said at a meeting earlier this month. “That’s not the way things work and I’m hoping there’s another budget report that’s going to add the (pension) payment because I don’t see how this is gonna work.”
Eleven board members penned a letter to interim CPS CEO Macquline King saying it would be “difficult” for them to support the current proposal without the district taking out a loan to cover the cost of the pension payment — something Johnson has repeatedly pushed for.
But King and other CPS leaders have resisted that push, saying it would lead to a “downward spiral” of credit downgrades, higher interest rates and steeper cuts to staff, programs and services.
In a letter to families this week, King said the CPS proposal will fully protect individual school budgets and eliminate the risk of cuts to classrooms, both now and later in the school year.
She added that CPS will only pursue borrowing “that provides current or future savings” to the district for capital investments and will “provide stability for the future by reducing budget deficits in future years.”
The district’s chief budget officer, Mike Sitkowski, told board members this month that if CPS were to take out a $200 million loan this year, it would cost CPS an additional $107 million to pay that back, putting further strain on future finances.
According to King, she has repeatedly heard from community members who have called on CPS to work with state and local partners to identify new sources of revenue to support CPS schools.
“I wholeheartedly endorse this call to action,” she wrote in an open letter, “because while the structural reductions made in the FY2026 budget will improve our District’s financial outlook moving forward, more revenue is needed to secure long-term financial stability for CPS.”
City, CPS and Chicago Teachers Union leaders have repeatedly pushed state officials to come up with the additional funding they say the district is owed under Illinois’ funding formula, but Gov. JB Pritzker last week stated bluntly that would not be happening this year.
“There is not extra money laying around in Springfield,” he said, putting the blame instead on massive federal cuts made by the Trump administration.
The board meeting is scheduled for 3 p.m. Thursday.
