Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates made the case Monday for the school district to borrow funds to address a $529 million budget deficit.
She cast the decision as one that would show whether the city will support its public schools by doing what’s necessary to avoid cuts or give in to what she sees as President Donald Trump’s mission to dismantle them.
“The budget and its choices manifest into real impact that our young people get to experience,” she said in an appearance at the City Club of Chicago. “So choices about the budget left students at Julian High School in 2025 without a math teacher for nearly a year, Clemente high school without a chemistry teacher. … Those are not occurrences. Those are choices.”
Davis Gates’ comments came just days after former Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez’s tenure came to an end. Martinez was fired without cause in December, but a provision in his contract allowed him to finish the school year.
Martinez was terminated, at least in part, because of his rebuke of the mayor’s suggestion that the school district take out a loan to cover last year’s deficit, as well as a controversial municipal pension payment. Martinez, speaking at the City Club last week, defended that decision, saying he stood up for what he thought was right.
But CPS’ latest budget deficit is even bigger than last year, and Martinez did not leave the school district with a viable plan for addressing it. At this point, the most viable alternative to borrowing would be making significant cuts to schools.
Martinez argued that the city should be giving CPS more money from tax increment financing districts, and the preliminary budget he presented this spring for next school year counts on $300 million in additional revenue from the city. But the mayor and City Council are facing a tight budget, too, and do not have plans to give CPS any extra money.
Monday also marked the start of interim CEO Macquline King’s first week on the job. She has not ruled out borrowing but told WBEZ that she first wants to take a deep dive into the budget to find efficiencies.
King comes from Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office, and the mayor holds the balance of power in the partly appointed, partly elected school board. Still, it is not clear that there would be enough votes to balance the budget by taking out such a significant loan. Many board members have opposed borrowing — even some appointed by the mayor or backed by the CTU in their elections.
The Civic Federation, a government finance watchdog, has suggested that the state may explore taking over CPS’ finances as it did in 1980. Back then, the School Finance Authority took out a loan for the school district and had a specific tax levy to pay it back. It also imposed some cuts.
Davis Gates said the mayor has only supported taking out a loan to manage the structural deficit in the short term without laying off school workers or cutting programs. She said the real long-term solution remains persuading the state Legislature and governor to provide adequate funding. According to the state’s own formula, CPS should be getting about $1.2 billion more each year.
CPS also is in danger of having federal funding stripped away. The U.S. Department of Education has launched two investigations into CPS, which is accused of violating Title IX by having a Black Student Success Plan and allowing transgender students to use bathrooms and locker rooms based on the gender they identify with.
Davis Gates, a former history teacher, talked about Reconstruction, the post-slavery period that focused on repairing and rebuilding the nation economically and politically but was then followed by a backlash that included lynchings and Jim Crow laws.
“Reconstruction was challenged by white supremacy, a premise that calls for the end of DEI and initiatives,” she said. “Reconstruction was hamstrung by elected leaders, political cowardice, a paralysis of leadership. … Who’s heard that before?”
Davis Gates said a vacuum of leadership is allowing Trump to implement Project 2025, which, in part, calls for the dismantling of public education, and that it is becoming part of “our lived reality.”
But Davis Gates said Chicago can be different by rejecting those national politics and instead embarking on its own reconstruction period.