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Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson proposed a $16.6 billion city budget Thursday that allocates $552.4 million to Chicago Public Schools, significantly more than the $379 million the school board anticipated when it passed its own $10.2 billion budget in late August.
The additional money would allow CPS to avoid midyear cuts and fill gaps created by the Trump administration canceling millions in magnet school grants. It could also allow the school board to approve a pension reimbursement payment to the city, as outlined in the school district’s budget plan, but the city budget overview documents say that is not assumed in its 2026 plan.
“These funds will ensure that we are protecting our young people from the Trump administration’s attempts to dismantle and privatize our public education system, that we are protecting special education teachers, restoring funding for our Black Student Success Plan, and making sure our lowest-paid workers receive their pensions,” Johnson said in a speech to the City Council Thursday.
The city’s 2026 budget, which will need to be approved by at least 26 of 50 aldermen on the City Council before the end of the calendar year, declares a surplus of funds from special taxing districts, known as TIFs, aimed at spurring development in blighted areas.
Before the meeting, Johnson outlined highlights of his budget alongside supporters and allies, including school board members Michilla Blaise, a mayoral appointee, and Jitu Brown an elected member who is an ally of the mayor, both of whom represent the city’s west side, and Chicago Teachers Union president Stacy Davis Gates.
He said this year’s budget was “written long before I took office” and represents the work of “generations of organizers,” drawing on his own background and experience as a CTU organizer before he became mayor.
“Back then, it was about trying to protect and save one school even if it took a hunger strike,” Johnson said. “Now, this budget is about saving our entire education system.”
Blaise spoke in support of the budget and said a coalition of board members who voted down CPS’ spending plan in August because it was “balanced on paper, but not reality” pushed the mayor’s administration to deliver more money for CPS.
“This commitment prevents any midyear cuts and allows us to maintain stability in our classrooms,” Blaise said.
She also applauded the mayor for declaring a record TIF surplus to help CPS fill an $8 million hole created by the Trump administration’s decision to cut some magnet school grants over the district’s commitment to improve Black student achievement and protect the rights of LGBTQ students.
“This agreement is essentially Trump-proofing our budget,” Blaise said.
There are more than 100 TIF districts across Chicago collecting more than $1 billion in property tax revenue each year. Any amount of money not committed to development projects in those areas can be declared as “surplus” by the mayor and City Council. By law, CPS gets 52% of any TIF surplus and the city gets 24% with the remaining sent to other taxing bodies.
Johnson’s budget proposal does not rely on CPS making a pension reimbursement payment to the city, but school board members may still decide to do so. The district’s $10.2 billion budget included a statement that if additional revenue came through, the school board would consider reimbursing the city to cover a portion of the pensions of non-teaching staff covered by the city plan.
That pension reimbursement has been a source of conflict between the school board and city hall in recent years. Faced with ballooning payments and given that about half of the fund’s beneficiaries are CPS employees or retirees, former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration implemented an intergovernmental agreement with her appointed school board in 2020 to have CPS reimburse the city for an increasing portion of the required annual payment.
The cost-sharing irked the Chicago Teachers Union at the time, which lambasted Lightfoot for burdening the school system with the city’s financial obligations. But when CTU organizer and former teacher Johnson became mayor, he continued to push CPS for the reimbursement.
The Board of Education has not made a pension reimbursement payment to the city since early 2024 when it sent $175 million to cover part of the cost of the 2023 payment. Blaise told Chalkbeat Wednesday the school board may discuss a new intergovernmental agreement at its next meeting on Oct. 23.
Blaise said approving such an agreement would help alleviate concerns from alderpeople who want to “see something in writing” about how CPS will use the additional TIF surplus dollars.
In addition to the record TIF surplus, the Chicago city budget includes $7 million for increasing the pay of more than 3,000 early childhood workers at 86 programs run through the city’s Department of Family and Support Services and additional dollars for summer youth employment programs.
Johnson’s budget also includes a new, first-of-its-kind tax on social media companies. He noted the link between social media use and higher rates of depression, anxiety, and mental illness among young people, especially. “Just like we’ve taxed other addictive vices that are bad for our health, like nicotine and tobacco, it is far past time we treat social media companies the same way,” he said.
The tax would charge social media companies 50 cents per active user over 100,000 in Chicago and is estimated to generate $31 million to support mental health services, Johnson’s office said.
Reema Amin contributed reporting.
Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.
