As dad and mom get able to ship their kids again to high school in August, Chicago Public Colleges officers are attempting to determine easy methods to fill a large deficit and go into the college 12 months with a balanced funds, as legally required.
It’s a fraught second as CPS grapples with a number of challenges bearing down on the district, making a money crunch and a funds shortfall of $734 million.
District officers say they already anticipate to save lots of about $165 million after shedding some central workplace workers and crossing guards this summer season and discovering different “operational efficiencies.” However past that “low-hanging fruit,” as Chief Funds Officer Mike Sitkowski known as it, leaders are nonetheless looking for $569 million in both financial savings or income.
That’s earlier than any cuts in federal funding that might come from President Donald Trump’s administration.
CPS will face a good larger deficit of just about $1 billion subsequent 12 months and extra funds gaps for years to return, Sitkowski mentioned in a current presentation.
He instructed board members that structural adjustments, reminiscent of slicing prices or discovering new income sources, would assist CPS each this 12 months and long run.
“One-time actions is not going to assist us eat into a few of these huge figures,” he mentioned.
Former faculty board member and UIC affiliate historical past professor Elizabeth Todd-Breland mentioned state funding in Illinois has traditionally been decrease than in different states. Right here, faculties have been largely supported by native property taxes, which allowed richer communities to raised fund their faculties.
“That is manufactured inequality,” she mentioned at a current neighborhood assembly. “We’re on the endpoint of generations of choices.”
The district’s present funds disaster is, partially, the results of that historical past, and in addition some newer elements.
Workers
Staffing faculties is the most costly funds merchandise. And people prices have solely gone up.
For many years, CPS had approach too few workers for the variety of college students it served. That’s very true when factoring within the excessive variety of kids who come from low-income households, have particular wants or are studying English — children who want additional assist.
Take social employees: The Nationwide Affiliation of Social Staff recommends one for each 250 college students. However within the 2017-2018 faculty 12 months, there was one social employee for each 1,400 CPS college students.
That modified in 2019, when CPS began beefing up staffing.
Illinois lawmakers had lastly authorized a brand new approach of distributing cash to colleges that got here with a promise to extend state funding over time. A lecturers’ strike additionally led CPS officers to agree to rent extra workers, together with a nurse and social employee for each faculty.
Then $2.8 billion in federal COVID reduction cash got here rolling in to comply with. CPS leaders and board members made the essential choice to make use of it to pay for extra workers. State knowledge reveals CPS used greater than 50% of its pandemic funding on salaries, in comparison with a mean of 33% in different districts.
As of final September, CPS had 7,000 extra staff on the books than it did in September 2019.
There are extra custodians and constructing engineers, in addition to lecturers and assistants.
There are additionally 200 extra social employees — lowering the ratio to about one for each 500 college students — and 1,100 extra common lecturers, some whose focus is to assist struggling learners.
CPS officers and specialists have argued the extra staffing is required to proceed a powerful post-pandemic educational restoration. However these additions — plus raises for current workers — led the district to spend $826 million extra on salaries than it did six years in the past.
Numerous new hires have additionally been made to assist college students who obtain particular schooling providers, together with 1,100 extra particular schooling lecturers and virtually 3,000 extra particular schooling classroom assistants.
Whilst total scholar enrollment has shrunk, the variety of college students requiring particular schooling providers has gone up, from 14.6% in 2019 to 16.4% in 2025. Sitkowski mentioned CPS is spending $450 million extra on particular schooling now than six years in the past whereas federal and state assist has stayed about the identical, creating a niche.
Buildings and Transportation
Transporting college students to a college that may meet their wants has additionally confirmed expensive — and troublesome.
CPS largely sends yellow faculty buses for college kids with disabilities, as legally required, although it’s also offering restricted bus service to elementary faculty college students who go to magnet or selective enrollment faculties. A nationwide driver scarcity after the pandemic led 1000’s of youngsters to lose providers.
And but, CPS spent $160 million on scholar transportation in 2024, up from $120 million. Increased wages meant to entice new drivers have performed a component.
One other weight on CPS’ funds is constructing upkeep and restore. CPS buildings are, on common, 85 years previous. A facility evaluation accomplished in 2023 discovered $14 billion in wanted repairs — $3 billion of that are thought-about essential. The college district doesn’t have any approach by itself to lift cash to make these repairs, so it borrows cash to make fixes, however by no means sufficient to make a dent within the lengthy record of what’s wanted.
Issues like boilers and roofs typically don’t get changed in CPS, so extra workers is required simply to maintain issues limping alongside. The district is paying $100 million extra in annual upkeep than it did in 2019, Sitkowski mentioned.
Pensions and Debt cost
Hundreds of thousands of {dollars} get siphoned away from the college district’s funds earlier than it may be spent on present college students and schooling. Why? Debt and pensions.
Many of those prices are the legacy of a long time of insufficient state funding and inequitable insurance policies — and mayors refusing to handle these head on.
CPS has lengthy taken short-term loans to handle money circulate and long-term loans to restore and construct faculties, in addition to to climate different monetary crises.
Final 12 months, CPS paid $817 million in debt service funds for long-term loans and one other $9 million of curiosity on short-term loans. That cash may cowl the deficit.
One other weight is pension prices. CPS must contribute greater than $600 million for lecturers’ pensions subsequent 12 months, an quantity that has grown by $100 million a 12 months since 2023, Sitkowski mentioned.
No different faculty district within the state has to make use of cash that ought to go to college students to contribute to the lecturers pensions. The state covers 97% of the employer contribution to the statewide instructor pension system, however solely 35% of CPS’. This can be a historic inequity rooted in the truth that CPS lecturers have their very own pension fund.
On prime of this, non-teaching workers in CPS are a part of the town’s municipal pension fund. Up till 2020, the town coated all the employer contribution. Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot requested CPS to begin contributing and Mayor Brandon Johnson has continued that custom. This 12 months, the town desires $175 million from CPS and that expense is included within the deficit calculation.
