Chicago Public Schools officials say they will not furlough staff for five days in the upcoming school year to save money, and to keep the budget balanced the district is now counting on the city to send it even more money from special taxing districts.
At the moment, the budget still calls for more than 1,500 layoffs and a midyear spending freeze that would essentially preclude schools from replacing staff who leave after January.
The school board will consider approving the budget at its Thursday meeting. The last-minute change comes as district officials insist they need the board to pass the budget soon.
Board members technically have until Aug. 30 to sign off on a spending plan, but district officials say they need a balanced budget in place before then to secure a short-term loan. Without that loan, district officials say they won’t be able to make payroll in September.
Chicago Public Schools CEO and Supt. Macquline King said she decided to make the change after holding budget hearings and listening to other feedback. She also indicated that she wanted to improve the chances that the budget would be approved Thursday.
“We have worked to listen to as many CPS voices as possible,” she said in a written statement. “It became clear that to alleviate any potential stressors or possible disruption to the start of the school year, we needed to update the proposed budget.”
The reversal comes just one day after SEIU Local 73, the union that represents 16,000 support staff, demanded CPS abandon the idea of canceling work days. SEIU leaders said the resulting pay cut would hurt its members, who already make some of the lowest salaries in the school district.
The furloughs would have been on days set aside for training or report card pickup when students are not supposed to be in attendance. But the idea faced intense pushback from unions representing school staff.
After CPS took the furloughs off the table, Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates said in a written statement the change was evidence that CPS presented a “first draft” budget “without doing their homework.”
She still wants to see more changes. To balance the budget, the district laid off 760 teachers and more than 800 classroom aides. Davis Gates said instead of cutting those positions, the school district should count on the state to provide more money and then pressure state lawmakers to make that a reality.
“What is on the table is a very rough draft that would cause permanent harm to Chicago’s children,” Davis Gates said.
School district officials and board members, however, are in a dicey predicament. They want to pressure the city, county and state to provide money that they think is owed to the school district, but they also need to pass a budget that depends on revenue that will likely come through.
It is unclear whether CPS is safe to bank on the city being able to pull more money out of its special taxing districts, known as tax increment financing districts. As the city prepares its budget in the fall, it assesses whether there is money in those TIFs that isn’t committed to economic development projects that could be distributed to taxing bodies, like CPS.
The school district was already counting on getting $200 million from TIFs in its initial budget proposal, which CPS officials called a “conservative” figure. Now it’s expecting to get $285 million.
Officials noted that for years, CPS counted on about $100 million from TIFs, but in recent years it has gotten far more. For the last two years, Mayor Brandon Johnson has pulled out a record amount, and last year, the roughly $500 million CPS got in TIF surplus funds was crucial in helping to balance the district’s budget.
But it’s unclear if these TIFs are depleted after two years of pulling record amounts from them. City officials have not revealed how much they think is available but have said they do not think they can provide as much as last year.
Johnson did not automatically reject the idea of sending CPS $285 million in TIF surplus funds, but he said he has to work with City Council members to make sure they “understand the assignment.”
In the past, Council members have balked at depleting special taxing districts because it means less money for planned projects in the neighborhoods they represent.
Johnson also stressed that using TIF surplus funds is not a good way to balance the school district’s budget.
“I just want to be emphatically clear: As much as I’ve done my part to fulfill the promise of public education, the state of Illinois has to do its part, as well,” he said.
WBEZ reporter Mariah Woelfel contributed reporting.