During the past week, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez has written three times to parents, staff and students, and in each letter, he has promised that he will not close any schools while at the helm of CPS, even as he acknowledged compiling a list of schools that could be closed as part of an effort to compile a five-year strategic plan.

A spokesperson for Mayor Brandon Johnson declined to comment on whether he had asked CPS CEO Pedro Martinez to resign, citing the mayor’s policy of not commenting on personnel matters. A spokesperson for Martinez declined to comment.

The move was announced Monday by Annette Guzman, the city’s budget director, and comes as city leaders stare down a $222.9 million deficit this year and a projected $982 million shortfall in the 2025 fiscal year.

“There are sacrifices that will be made,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said.

In all, Chicago owes $37.2 billion to its four employee pension funds representing police officers, firefighters, municipal employees and laborers, according to the 2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report.

As the mayor ramps up work on his second budget proposal, a newly formed Chicago City Council subcommittee is set to meet at noon Wednesday to start examining the dozens of proposals to increase the amount of money officials have on hand to spend starting in 2025.

In all, Chicago spent $202 million on a host of programs including affordable housing, mental health, violence prevention, youth job programs and help for unhoused Chicagoans through March 31, records show.

“This has been a situation that has gotten increasingly out of control,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said about the massive bills for police overtime. “The superintendent and I, we both agree on that.”

The Chicago Police Department spent $293 million on overtime last year, 40% more than in 2022 and nearly three times the $100 million earmarked for police overtime set by the Chicago City Council as part of the city’s 2023 budget, according to data obtained by WTTW News.

“I’m going to spend all that money, I can assure you of that,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said.

Chicago spent less than $160 million on a host of programs including affordable housing, mental health, violence prevention, youth job programs and help for unhoused Chicagoans through Dec. 31, 2023, according to reports to the federal government.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first budget, which took effect Monday, includes no new taxes, fees or service cuts. Johnson now must make good on his promise to use the city’s $16.7 billion spending plan as a down payment on investments in working-class Chicagoans.

The budget, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2024, includes no new taxes, fees or service cuts, making it much easier for alderpeople to back the plan touted by Mayor Brandon Johnson as a down payment on promises to invest in working-class Chicagoans.

The newly created Department of Reentry would have a budget of $5 million and four employees charged with helping formerly incarcerated individuals in Chicago get what “they need to thrive in this city,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first spending plan eliminates a $538 million shortfall and prioritizes new investments in affordable housing, mental health services and environmental justice.

Even though the Chicago Police Department has exceeded its overtime budget in each of the past five years, the City Council is once again poised to set aside just $100 million to cover the department’s overtime bill in the 2024 budget.