Sign up for Chalkbeat Chicago’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the latest news on Chicago Public Schools.
Chicago Public Schools’ budget for the 2025-26 school year, normally released in June, is delayed until at least late July, prompting uncertainty and anxiety for principals and schools — and potentially setting them up for cuts right before the fall.
The district’s new fiscal year starts on July 1 and schools received their budgets for the coming school year in May, based on the assumption that the district would have just a $229 million deficit to close. Those school-level budgets were mostly flat, district officials said, though some schools already experienced some cuts.
But those plans assumed the school district would receive an additional $300 million in new revenue that did not materialize from the state and has not yet come from the city. Those projections also assume that the district will not reimburse the city $175 million to make a part of a city pension payment that covers some school staff — the source of a bitter fight last school year that partially led to the ousting of former CPS CEO Pedro Martinez.
The district is more likely looking at a $529 million deficit — which could grow for numerous reasons, including if the school board decides this year to pick up part of the city’s pension payment. The Trump administration has also threatened to withhold federal funds from districts such as Chicago that have stuck with efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Martinez’ departure and the appointment of interim CEO Macquline King earlier this month put the work of finalizing the budget on hold until the district’s new leader can put her stamp on the plan, including potentially revisiting the idea of high-cost borrowing to balance the budget that Martinez had rejected as fiscally irresponsible.
Mike Sitkowski, the district’s budget director, told the Chicago Board of Education earlier this month that he expects a districtwide budget to be presented for approval in July or August. State law requires the board to adopt an annual budget no later than 60 days after the beginning of the fiscal year.
A resolution on Thursday’s school board meeting agenda would authorize expenditures through Aug. 29, 2025 or until a budget is adopted. The school year is set to start on Aug. 18.
The mounting unknowns have left school and parent leaders warning their school communities that cuts could be coming.
“The biggest thing is this anxiety of having to communicate to parents, to my staff, with this idea of, ‘This is not for sure,’” said one elementary school principal, who spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to speak with the press. “You are all going on summer break feeling good about your jobs, but if we come back and have to make cuts at the school level, that’s what’s going to be devastating.”
That principal said her school’s proposed budget is largely the same as last year. But any future cuts could mean the school would lose at least two teaching positions and some discretionary funding, which could mean losing a tutoring program.
Another possibility: The district could again consider a high-cost, short-term loan that Mayor Brandon Johnson championed last summer. Back then, Martinez strongly opposed adding to CPS’s substantial and costly debt, and a school board of mostly Johnson appointees backed him. Now, that decision would fall to King, who came from the mayor’s office, and a board on which mayoral appointees and members elected with help from Johnson allies at the Chicago Teachers Union enjoy a solid majority.
At a speech at the City Club of Chicago this week, union President Stacy Davis Gates invoked the loan, referring to it as a way to “make the district’s structural deficit more manageable.” She insisted local leaders shouldn’t look at balancing the budget as a “math problem” but as a showcase of their values and support for students.
But a coalition of seven elected board members remains opposed to borrowing, said member Che “Rhymefest” Smith. Smith said these members want the city to continue making the full pension payment and give CPS more unused tax revenue from special Tax Increment Financing districts, which exist to capture tax money that can spur development in a hyperlocal area.
Smith said he hopes board members who were appointed by Johnson after they ran unsuccessfully will stand with his group. In a Chalkbeat/Chicago Sun-Times questionnaire, member Karen Zaccor said a loan “sounds like a terrible idea,” but she would consider it as one of a limited number of bad options to address the deficit. Member Anusha Thotakura said in that questionnaire she is against short-term, high-cost borrowing, calling it a bid to “pay for today’s student’s benefits and learning at the expense of tomorrow’s students.”
This week, Thotakura told Chalkbeat she would “oppose borrowing generally as a quick fix” to a structural deficit the district will confront year after year without additional revenue. But she also said board members might have to weigh that option against potentially painful staff or program cuts. Her hope is that the district can find inefficiencies or other savings that protect the student experience.
Whatever the path forward, Smith said he understands the budget uncertainty creates anxiety for school leaders and educators: “We got a new school year coming, and our administrators and teachers deserve to know what our allocations are going to be.”
Schools wrestle with the budget unknowns
Staff and families at Foreman High School in Portage Park are feeling that uncertainty. The school’s proposed budget includes several cuts, including fewer Special Education Classroom Assistant positions, general education teachers, and about 6% less in discretionary funding compared to last school year, according to Jessica Keirns, the chair of the Local School Council, and the principal’s budget presentation. The LSC ultimately voted against the proposed budget, she said.
Foreman won’t offer AP English next year and will cut a section of a forensics course. Officials there also appealed the proposed cuts to special education positions.
Keirns said she doesn’t think Foreman families are fully aware that more cuts could be coming. The district’s precarious budget situation feels “scary,” especially if federal funding doesn’t come through, she said. Keirns is frustrated that neither the state nor the city have found ways to provide more funding to CPS.
For Foreman, cuts to staff means students are losing familiar faces who help make the school feel like a close-knit community.
“For so many of these students, school is the most stable place they have in their lives,” she said. “These budget cuts are interrupting that.”
Kat Cree, a special education teacher at Wells Community Academy High School in West Town, said for now, Wells is slated to lose two full-time special education teachers, or one-third of that group of teachers.
Several people have told Chalkbeat their schools are seeing cuts to special education staff. In a statement, Chicago Public Schools said its spending on special education positions will increase this coming school year over last year’s $1.3 billion, even before factoring in employee raises. The district will add 120 new case managers and 100 new clinicians in keeping with its new teachers union contract, the statement said.
The statement said the district “implemented significant changes” to how it allocates Special Education Classroom Assistants, reducing the number of those positions assigned at the start of the year to existing cluster programs, which serve students with more severe disabilities. The district will continue to “front load” more SECA positions for newly created cluster programs to ensure “a strong start.” It did not explain how SECA positions are being impacted at schools without cluster programs.
The impact on students will depend on their needs, Cree said. For example, a student with autism, who needs routine and a quieter classroom in every subject, might feel “completely thrown off,” especially if they lose access to a co-teacher they can turn to in more than one subject. But students who have dyslexia and struggle with reading “may ultimately squeak by” if they at least have help from a co-teacher in English class and get some online help, Cree said.
“Some students may ultimately be OK, and for some it’s gonna be devastating because no two students with disabilities are completely alike,” Cree said.
Cree, who uses they/them pronouns, said the school said staff would be notified July 7 if they’ll be staying at the school or be laid off.
“We’re finishing out the school year and nobody really knows if they’re gonna be working here next year,” Cree said.
Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.
Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.
