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.

Members of the African American Mayors Association are determined to stop President Donald Trump from burying accomplishments that they already felt were overlooked. And they’re using the administration’s unprecedented takeover in the nation’s capital as an opportunity to disprove his narrative.

The letter came after several board members voiced concerns about the district’s proposed spending plan, one CPS officials have pledged would keep any cuts out of the classroom.

The city’s One Summer Chicago program put 30,000 young people to work this year, providing jobs in transportation, health care, business and more.

“The choices we have are difficult ones,” CPS chief budget officer Mike Sitkowski told the Board of Education, “and it’s very difficult for us to be able to make cuts of this magnitude and keep the impact off of our schools.”

After touting Chicago's significant and sustained drop in crime, Mayor Brandon Johnson accused the president of “spreading misinformation.”

U.S. District Judge William Orrick agreed to allow Chicago and 33 other cities and counties, including Los Angeles, Denver, Boston and Baltimore, to join the lawsuit that claimed the Trump administration was unlawfully trying to force local officials to help federal immigration agents conduct deportation efforts.

Of 439 positions in the Chicago Police Department charged with implementing the consent decree, 207 positions, or 47%, were empty seven months into 2025, according to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by WTTW News. CPD officials failed to account for another 226 positions.

Walter Burnett, who represented parts of the West Side and the West Loop for 30 years on the Chicago City Council, retired July 31.

Kristi Noem, whose office oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), visited suburban Lombard on Friday to criticize Gov. JB Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, whom he claimed have “worked so hard to protect these dangerous criminals” through their refusal to cooperate with ICE officials.

Burnett represented parts of the West Side and the West Loop for 30 years on the Chicago City Council. He retired July 31.

A city analysis warned the bill “would increase the city’s pension liabilities by more than $11 billion” in the two funds that pay pensions to retired police officers and firefighters.

Launched in 2018, CPS based its SCS model around engaging academic curriculum, high-quality teaching, wrap-around supports, restorative justice discipline, parent engagement and inclusive school leadership.

“It’s on the table,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said Tuesday at a City Hall news conference. “Everything has to be on the table. Everything has to be on the table.”

Forcing Chicago and Illinois law enforcement officials to help federal agents conduct deportation operations is unconstitutional, U.S. District Judge Lindsay Jenkins ruled.

“I will not be proposing a property tax increase in my budget,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said Thursday. “I’m going to continue to work hard to find progressive revenue so that we can continue to make critical investments in transforming our city.”