Another year, another unbalanced budget from the CTU controlled school board that raises property taxes while doing nothing to improve neighborhood schools
Let’s be clear: Chicago Public Schools (CPS) budget was perilously balanced before the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) controlled school board restored over 1,000 positions schools CEO Dr. Macquline King had eliminated, counting on beleaguered House Speaker Pat Welch delivering another $150 million. Tragically absent from the budget discussions is the district’s abysmal academic performance, the absence of accountability, and the systematic degradation of public school choices.
Dr. King’s budget already included $111 million more from the state in non-guaranteed but hoped for Medicaid and healthcare rebates, alongside a yet-to-be-approved $285 million in city Tax Increment Financing (TIF) property tax revenues. This is precisely why her budget proposals included plans for a mid-year hiring freeze across the board, including classroom teachers, if the additional TIF revenues and state rebates did not materialize.
The reasons for CPS' financial crisis are not complicated. Constant strikes, work disruptions, and the steady reduction of quality public school choices have contributed to a significant decline in student enrollment and a corresponding loss of revenue. Meanwhile, dozens of near-empty schools continue to operate. The district has added a net 8,250 full-time positions since 2019 despite an 11 percent drop in enrollment — a surge initially funded by $2.8 billion in federal COVID relief funds. Now, the district faces a second consecutive $1.5 billion CTU contract with no clear mechanism to pay for it.
Keep in mind that according to the school district’s own operational data, this budget leaves the district with one full-time employee for every 6.9 students and more non-teaching staff (over 22,000) than teachers. This is a district that has seen its total budget grow by $4.2 billion to over $10 billion since 2019, yielding a 44 percent increase in per-pupil funding. The district will spend over $32,000 per student in the upcoming budget year.
It should not be lost on taxpayers that Mayor Brandon Johnson’s controlled school board has raised property taxes by another $300 million, bringing the total to $725 million in higher property taxes during Johnson's term in office. In addition, nearly $1 billion in property tax revenues from the TIF program has been redirected to the district during that same period. Current budget estimates hold that CPS will receive over $15,200 per pupil in local property tax revenues alone.
The mayor, CTU leaders, and their allies push the narrative that the district's financial distress and academic struggles stem entirely from the state's failure to fulfill its funding mandates under the Evidence-Based Funding (EBF) formula. A deeply misleading claim, this formula was the product of a powerful coalition named "Funding Illinois' Future," which consisted of school districts, civil rights organizations, and teachers' unions, with technical support provided by the Illinois State Board of Education.
Under the original legislation, the state is expected to add $300 million each year in new funding for PreK–12 schools, plus an additional $50 million for property tax relief grants awarded to certain high-tax districts. However, the formula is devoid of any accountability for academic performance. It steers nearly all new revenue toward high-poverty, low-enrollment, and poor-performing schools. This design is no surprise given the composition of the collaborative that drafted it.
Since the enactment of EBF, Illinois has moved from 18th to 8th nationwide in per-pupil spending. Governor JB Pritzker has added $3 billion to the formula and increased overall state K-12 education funding by $4 billion. According to analysis by Wirepoints, Illinois spends between 16 and 64 percent more per pupil than neighboring Midwest states. CPS specifically has received $527 million in additional state assistance under Pritzker — a 24 percent increase in state aid occurring despite an 11 percent enrollment decline.
For all the discourse surrounding equity, the state formula does nothing to prevent CPS from discriminating against tens of thousands of children from low-income households. Public charter schools serve the highest concentrations of minority and low-income students in the city, with 98 percent of their enrollment being Black and Latino and 87 percent coming from low-income families. Yet, public charter schools receive up to 38 percent less funding per pupil and minimal facility support compared to traditional district-managed schools.
In plain terms: The CTU-controlled majority on the school board exists to advance one primary objective: The CTU’s institutional agenda. That agenda centers on securing revenue for an unaffordable contract, protecting membership numbers, eliminating accountability for poor performance, and consolidating the CTU’s educational monopoly. The latter requires blocking low-income families from accessing charitable or tax-incentivized assistance to pay for private school alternatives when neighborhood schools are failing.
Consider the CTU-driven school board resolution opposing Illinois' participation in the federal Education Freedom Tax Credit. The program could generate hundreds of millions of dollars in scholarships for families — not only for private school tuition, but also for public school parents seeking assistance for tutoring, special education services, transportation, and learning materials. The CTU and its board allies would rather deny low-income public school families millions of dollars in supplemental aid than see a single dollar benefit families choosing a private school alternative.
Once upon a time, school performance mattered. Accountability for student outcomes was demanded. Providing low-income families with alternatives to failing neighborhood schools was viewed by many as a civil rights imperative. No longer. The underfunding narrative now dominates public discourse, reinforced by uncritical media coverage. Meanwhile, low-income families are voting with their feet: The largest student demographic exiting the system since 2000 has been Black families searching for higher-performing schools and safer neighborhoods.
There is a structural pathway out of the school system’s current financial quagmire that addresses fiscal imbalances while expanding quality school choices, but it requires goring two oxen: The central CPS bureaucracy, which resists the operational savings achievable through radical decentralization, and the CTU monopoly, which protects underperforming, near-empty schools and prevents principals and elected Local School Councils from adopting superior educational models. It will require the election of a school board not controlled by CTU to make that possible.
As for House Speaker Welch's pledge to lobby for more state funds for CPS, an incremental $150 million will not solve the underlying deficit. The Speaker’s pledge to push for more CPS funding comes amid scrutiny over handling of sexual harassment complaints including his own history of abuse and harassment. Expect Mayor Johnson to press for larger TIF surplus sweeps while district leadership imposes emergency hiring freezes — effectively punting an even larger financial deficit into next year.
