Chicago Public Schools tightens staffing in school budgets amid massive deficit

“Sign up for Chalkbeat Chicago’s free daily newsletter to keep up with the latest news on Chicago Public Schools. Chicago Public Schools will likely steer less money overall to its campuses for the 2026-27 school year, though it will cap educator layoffs at each school and significantly boost special education funding, district leaders said Tuesday. At an embargoed press briefing, officials declined to spell out the amount by which school budgets might shrink overall or the number of teachers and staff positions on the chopping block. They said these numbers are in flux as principals who received their budgets today have roughly a month to appeal their allocations — and as CPS leaders press state lawmakers and the city for more funding. But in a memo to school board members, Emila Zoko, the acting chief budget officer, estimated school budget shifts would result in about $96 million in savings. The district crafted school budgets during its most financially uncertain spring since before the pandemic, when it is facing a deficit officials now estimate at more than $730 million. For years, CPS poured federal COVID relief dollars and additional state funding into its schools, opening almost 10,000 new positions since 2019 even as enrollment dropped by 45,000 students. But with almost $3 billion in pandemic aid now expired and only a modest state funding boost for the coming school year, the district must grapple with intractable realities, leaders said. All schools will still staff a minimum of 10 teachers, but the district is increasing by one student the student-teacher ratios it uses to allocate additional educators. For some campuses, that would mean fewer teachers, though no elementary school will lose more than four educators and no high school more than six. The district will also no longer staff assistant principals at schools with fewer than 250 students — a move the CPS principals union estimated will result in about 120 lost positions and vowed to fight in a letter to members. The district had committed to staffing an assistant principal in every school when it shifted to a new school budgeting approach in 2023 meant to deemphasize enrollment and better support high-needs schools — goals district leaders stressed they continue to uphold. But that formula’s minimum staffing requirements are becoming more challenging in a cash-strapped district with both enormous schools and a growing number of tiny ones . But district officials said the district will hire more special education teachers and support staff as the number of students with disabilities continues to increase. It will also add 60 new cluster classrooms — for students with more significant disabilities — across the city. “Despite all the challenges, we’ve created a budget that successfully meets the moment we are in,” said CPS CEO Macquline King. Illinois has increased the amount of funding it steers to CPS by roughly $1 billion in recent years. But according to the state’s own calculation of “adequate” funding, CPS remains about $1.6 billion short. The district budgeted with a deficit estimate of $732 million, which assumes CPS will not chip in to a city pension fund covering its support staff as Mayor Brandon Johnson has insisted in recent years. It also assumes an influx of $100 million from a special tax fund for development, or just a fifth of a record amount CPS received last year — a decrease some local experts consider unlikely. District leaders stressed the district is also contending with a major rise in expenditures, driven by upkeep for aging school buildings, labor contract costs, and servicing CPS’s massive debt. Last year, the district mostly held school funding steady in its $10.2 billion budget , even as it made $272 million in reductions to its central administration and departments. It also shrunk the number of custodians , crossing guards, and cafeteria workers in a bid to keep the impact of its cost-cutting away from the classroom. Officials said Tuesday that they are planning to trim centralized expenses and support positions once again. But they clearly signaled there will also likely be cuts to teaching and student support staff, including possible reductions to the number of academic interventionists and instructional coaches — two types of positions CPS embraced to speed up post-pandemic recovery. “Very much like last year, everything is on the table,” King said. Principals have until June 9 to appeal their staffing allocations and finalize their budgets. Then later in the summer, the district will unveil its overall budget, which includes centralized expenses, pension, and debt service costs in addition to the campus budgets. The school board must vote on that districtwide budget by Aug. 29 at the latest. Officials said CPS will also hold community engagement sessions on the school budget in the coming weeks. District and Chicago Teachers Union leaders are lobbying state lawmakers for more state funding. The demise earlier this spring of a millionaire’s tax proposal in Springfield that would have brought $400 million more for CPS dimmed some hopes for additional dollars. But the union and others argue all is not lost. In fact, the school board is slated to vote on a resolution this month calling on the state Legislature and the governor to give the district more resources. Lawmakers and Gov. JB Pritzker have signaled that amid major pressures on the state’s own budget, they’re unlikely to send more help to CPS. “We continue our conversations with lawmakers to make sure they understand what our students need and what’s at stake,” King said. She said that the additional educators and support staff CPS hired since 2019 were a wise investment, noting the district has bounced back academically post-COVID faster than others: “The progress of our students is evidence that our additional staff did a tremendous job.” In a statement, Chicago Teachers Union Vice President Jackson Potter blamed the district’s budget predicament squarely on state legislators and Pritzker. “There is wealth in Illinois,” Potter said in the statement, “and there are solutions on the table in Springfield to fully fund our schools, make the ultra-rich and large corporations pay their fair share.” Chalkbeat Chicago reporter Reema Amin contributed to this report. Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org .

Summary generated from the RSS feed of Chalkbeat Philadelphia. All article rights belong to the original publisher. Click through to read the full piece on www.chalkbeat.org/philadelphia.