Chicago Public Schools leaders say board must pass budget to make September payroll

Kate Armanini, Chicago Tribune on Jul 20, 2026

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Despite skepticism from some board members, Chicago Public Schools leaders said Monday that the district’s $9.88 billion budget must be passed this month or it risks missing payroll for its 45,000 employees.

If the budget isn’t approved, “the immediate consequence … is we wouldn’t be able to make payroll in September,” CPS CEO Macquline King told the Tribune in an interview. “If we’re not able to make payroll, then it ultimately disrupts services for our students.”

The Board of Education is slated to vote on the district’s 2026-27 budget July 30, one month before the state-mandated deadline.

The district laid off more than 700 teachers as it unveiled its spending plan last week. CPS also plans to implement a spending freeze beginning in January and convert five paid professional development days into furloughs if more funding doesn’t materialize from the city or state.

While the Chicago Teachers Union called on the board to reject the proposal at Monday’s budget hearing, CPS leaders stressed delaying the vote isn’t an option because the district needs an approved spending plan to secure short-term borrowing.

The district relies on short-term loans called tax anticipation notes, or TANs, to manage cash flow between property tax payments. Property tax delays from Cook County have only deepened the district’s reliance on borrowing.

Still, several board members pressed CPS leaders to outline a more concrete strategy for securing more state or other outside revenue.

Under the state’s Evidence-Based Funding formula, the district is funded at just 73% of its adequacy target. CTU and CTU-aligned board members have urged state lawmakers to convene a special session to approve more funding.

“I feel very pressured to make this decision next week,” said elected board member Jitu Brown, representing District 5A on the West Side. “Because while it’s presented to us as equitable and minimum impact to the classroom, what we’re hearing on the ground from elementary and from high schools is that it’s anything but that.”

A steady stream of teachers and school staff, many clad in red CTU shirts, called on the school board to reverse the cuts to their campuses during public comment.

“I’m not 100% understanding how we can have so many teachers, particularly special education teachers, here talking about cuts … then we say that this is the budget centered on student needs,” said board member Debby Pope, appointed to represent District 2B on the North Side. “There’s something that doesn’t compute to me.”

District leaders, meanwhile, have defended the cuts as a necessary step to plug the district’s massive deficit, which stands at $732 million. Furloughs are a last resort, King said, and if implemented, they would fall on non-instructional days to limit disruption to students.

Each furlough day would save the district $17 million. But eliminating five days from teachers’ schedules would cut about 2% of their pay, effectively halving their contractual raises.

“We really would love to avert them,” King said. “We don’t want to have to implement those days as we receive additional funds. We would pull back one, two or all. Hopefully all, because ultimately we see professional development equally as important as in any other day of the school year.”

King said the district is still exploring other revenue options, including additional funding from Tax Increment Financing districts and participation in Cook County’s interest-free loan program. The program could help CPS avoid some costs related to late property tax revenue and rely less on costly short-term loans, but county officials are still weighing whether to allow CPS to participate.

CPS last year paid $43 million in interest on short-term loans used to cover the delayed property tax payments, King noted.

“That’s $43 million dollars that could be directed to our classrooms. That would be three furloughs that we would potentially be able to avoid,” she said. “So I believe we’re at least warranted the discussion to be able to participate.”

The district’s finances have been under pressure for years amid rising costs, aging buildings and more than $9 billion in long-term debt.

Before the meeting, CTU held a rally outside of the district’s downtown offices. Dozens of members raised handmade signs to passing cars as they chanted on the sidewalk.

“Chicago students, educators, and school communities are being forced to bear the cost of a crisis they did not create,” CTU recording secretary Vicki Kurzydlo said. “Our demands are simple: no cuts, no furloughs.”

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