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Chicago Public Colleges will get $193 million extra in tax income than was included in this yr’s $10.2 billion funds after the Metropolis Council handed its personal funds Saturday, declaring a $1 billion surplus Saturday from metropolis tax increment financing districts.
However the extra {dollars} won’t lead to a windfall for lecture rooms as the college system continues to regulate spending, remove vacant positions, and account for elevated curiosity funds on debt.
The TIF surplus quantity is unchanged from what Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson proposed in October. By regulation, CPS will get a bit over half of any TIF surplus declared by town. Metropolis funds paperwork launched in October mentioned the college district would get $552.4 million, which is $193 million greater than the $379 million the college board budgeted to get from these particular taxing districts, often known as TIF.
Johnson mentioned Tuesday he wouldn’t signal the funds plan, however he wouldn’t veto it both. Which means it’ll robotically go into impact at first of 2026.
That is the second yr in a row Johnson confronted a major funds battle with the Metropolis Council. This yr, dozens of aldermen introduced an alternate funds after voting down Johnson’s in late November. Dealing with an end-of- the- yr deadline, the different funds plan handed Saturday by a vote of 30-18.
Throughout a press convention at Metropolis Corridor on Tuesday, Johnson expressed robust opposition to some components of the choice funds’s plan, significantly a transfer to unload debt owed to town. Whereas he considers some components of the funds “morally bankrupt,” he applauded different components, together with the TIF surplus.
“We added the most important TIF surplus within the historical past of town to go to our faculties, our parks, our libraries,” he mentioned. “These investments create areas for our younger individuals to develop and thrive and preserve our metropolis protected.”
A coalition of faculty board members aligned with Johnson put out a press release after the Metropolis Council vote that thanked aldermen for not altering the TIF surplus however criticized them for not supporting the mayor’s proposed company head tax.
A big chunk of the extra cash — $175 million — is anticipated to return to town as a reimbursement fee to cowl a portion of municipal pension prices for CPS non-teaching employees retirements.
That leaves roughly $18 million for the college district to make use of.
Nevertheless, the district’s funds authorized in August required officers to establish an extra $50 million in cuts. A CPS spokesperson mentioned in current weeks the district eradicated 69 vacant positions from 19 central and citywide departments, prolonged an ongoing hiring freeze on the central workplace , lower some skilled growth for academics, and made extra cuts to central workplace bills, saving about $34.4 million.
The district additionally mentioned it discovered financial savings elsewhere, together with by means of its Summer season Bridge program which was supplied at fewer faculties this yr, in accordance with the spokesperson. The district estimated it saved $15.6 million by means of these and different measures.
No worker was laid off, and there are not any deliberate cuts to “student-facing” packages for the second semester, one other spokesperson mentioned.
Different sudden bills have come up because the district handed its funds in August.
In September, the federal authorities lower thousands and thousands in magnet college grants citing CPS’s range initiatives, which left an $8 million sudden gap on this yr’s funds.
And final week, WBEZ reported Chicago Public Colleges is spending $23 million greater than ordinary to cowl curiosity funds on loans it routinely takes out to cowl payroll and different bills whereas ready for Prepare dinner County to ship tax income to authorities our bodies.
Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.
Reema Amin is a reporter protecting Chicago Public Colleges. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.
