Chicago – March 15, 2025
Several school board members requested Thursday that outside experts opine on Chicago Public Schools’ budget woes.
New school boards always take a while to learn and understand the ropes of a school district’s finances, but typically, guidance is provided by the district’s economic advisers, not outside assessors.
However, some members of the new 21-member hybrid school board pushed back on that norm during a hearing Thursday morning. Multiple board members asked for subject matter specialists to join them at a second budget hearing scheduled for Friday to provide guidance on how to cover the costs of an unsettled teachers contract and a municipal pension payment that Mayor Brandon Johnson has requested schools CEO Pedro Martinez pay the city back for.
CPS finalized its $9.9 billion budget for the 2025-26 school year in July without accounting for the pension payment or a new teachers contract. Now, just $139 million is available from the money CPS received from Chicago’s tax increment financing districts, funds around that are allocated by aldermen for special projects.
That is not enough money to cover the budget gap, according to Sitkowski’s presentation. Several top aides to Johnson estimate the gap to be about $240 million.
