{"id":985907,"date":"2026-08-07T03:09:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T03:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/985907\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T03:09:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T03:09:14","slug":"cps-chief-says-schools-will-open-on-time-despite-budget-woes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/985907\/","title":{"rendered":"CPS chief says schools will open on time despite budget woes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chicago Public Schools leaders told families Thursday that classes will begin on schedule, but they gave few details about how the district might reverse layoffs after the board approved a budget that counts on $150 million in new state funding.<\/a><\/p>\n

CPS CEO Macquline King said last week she was unsure whether schools would start as planned. She warned the school board\u2019s revised $10.11 billion budget could make lenders less willing to provide short-term loans needed to cover payroll.<\/p>\n

But during a community webinar Thursday, King said officials \u201cfeel really comfortable and confident that school will open on time, with no interruptions.\u201d<\/p>\n

The $150 million budget amendment, passed by board members aligned with the Chicago Teachers Union, calls on the district to reverse the layoffs of 760 teachers and 800 school-based support staff<\/a> announced last month. That money also would cover a proposed midyear spending freeze, though it depends on the district securing the unconfirmed state aid.<\/p>\n

Principals, however, will not need to re-open their school budgets, a CPS spokesperson said. It\u2019s still unclear how or whether the district will add back laid-off positions.<\/p>\n

CTU sent a letter to district leaders Monday, obtained by the Tribune, asking for impact bargaining to \u201censure the prompt rescission of layoff notices\u201d issued to its members.<\/p>\n

The union and its allies argue the revised budget is a pressure tactic<\/a> to force Springfield to confront decades of underfunding of CPS. They also point to recent commitments from several lawmakers to lobby for more money, including Illinois House Speaker Emanuel \u201cChris\u201d Welch.\u201d The union also notes the district is only considered 73% fully funded under the state\u2019s own funding formula.<\/p>\n

The union criticized the district for saying the school calendar might be affected by the revised budget, telling members last week that CPS \u201csent an email to parents to warn that the sky is falling\u201d and \u201crepresenting bankers\u2019 interests over the interests of our school communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

But district leaders countered that the budget is not balanced under state law, and argued it could lead to midyear cuts if the money doesn\u2019t come through. Because lenders and credit rating agencies are skeptical of unconfirmed revenue, the move could lead to credit downgrades and higher borrowing costs, officials said.<\/p>\n

Getting additional funding from the state will be a steep hill to climb. Any supplemental funding bill would require a three-fifths supermajority in Springfield, and the money may not reach the district in time to affect this fiscal year.<\/p>\n

Emila Zoko, the district\u2019s acting chief budget officer, said at the webinar that the district will be leading a campaign to lobby Springfield and \u201cwill be keeping an extremely close eye on the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSecuring additional funding will be CPS\u2019 immediate priority in our discussions with lawmakers,\u201d Zoko said.<\/p>\n

Welch, who pledged to CTU members that he would fight for more money during an Illinois Federation of Teachers meeting last week, has yet to offer details on how he aims to secure additional funding \u2014 or where the money might come from.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe number $150 million never came up with me. I was talking in general, that I\u2019m gonna go to Springfield and do what I do and lead that fight,\u201d Welch told NBC Chicago in an interview.<\/p>\n

After the vote last week, the 11 CTU-aligned board members who voted in favor of the budget penned a letter to King, obtained by the Tribune, asking for her to meet with a small group of members to discuss \u201ca coordinated Springfield strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFinancial risks must be communicated responsibly, but always alongside the district\u2019s plan and the opportunity to build on recent momentum with Springfield leaders,\u201d they wrote.<\/p>\n

The seven members who opposed the budget amendment fired back, arguing in their own letter to King that such a meeting would \u201cintentionally limit board access to information.\u201d They instead asked her to call a special board meeting open to the public.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chicago Public Schools leaders told families Thursday that classes will begin on schedule, but they gave few details…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":985908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[13915,960,36515,16742,37072,70552,395470,5386,1818,302852],"class_list":["post-985907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-back-to-school","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-board-of-education","tag-chicago-public-schools","tag-chicago-schools","tag-cps-budget","tag-cps-ceo-macquline-king","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-school-budgets"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117052032103753629","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=985907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/985908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=985907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=985907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=985907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}