Chicago is about to enter an entirely new political era.
For the first time in the city’s history, Chicago voters will elect the entire Chicago Board of Education. On November 3, voters will choose representatives for the 20 geographic seats and elect a School Board President citywide. The new 21-member board takes office January 15, 2027, with members elected to four-year terms.
This is historic.
But before the new board has even been elected, the current board may have handed it its first political crisis.
On July 30, the Chicago Board of Education made either a masterful political move—or an extraordinarily dangerous one.
Time will tell.
The board approved an approximately $10 billion CPS budget that assumes an additional $150 million from the State of Illinois—money that has not yet been appropriated. The amended budget was approved 11–7 after a contentious meeting. It was designed, in part, to avoid hundreds of layoffs that had been contemplated under the administration’s original budget proposal.
Think about that.
Chicago Public Schools has essentially written a $150 million check against money it does not yet have. Will the check bounce or will an angel come forth?
In plain language, it is like telling your landlord:
“I don’t have the rent this month, but don’t worry. I’m getting a new job.”
Maybe you get the job.
Maybe you don’t.
But the rent is still due.
That is Chicago’s newest politic.
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The $150 Million Gamble…
The current board is betting that Springfield will come to the rescue.
Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch has publicly said he is committed to seeking additional funding for CPS during the legislature’s veto session. But a commitment is not an appropriation. The veto session does not begin until after the November election, and legislation taking immediate effect would face a significant hurdle: a three-fifths vote in both chambers.
So this is not simply a school budget anymore.
It is a political grenade rolling toward Springfield.
And standing in its path is Governor J.B. Pritzker.
Pritzker is on the November 3 ballot seeking another term as governor. He is also widely discussed as a possible future presidential contender.
Pritzker has said Illinois should do more for education, while also emphasizing his belief in balanced budgets. Meanwhile, CPS remains funded at only about 73 percent of adequacy under Illinois’ evidence-based funding formula.
That puts the governor in a political box.
If Springfield produces the money, Mayor Brandon Johnson and the current School Board can say their gamble worked.
If Springfield does not produce the money, who gets blamed?
J.B. Pritzker?
Mayor Brandon Johnson?
Speaker Chris Welch?
The School Board?
The Chicago Teachers Union?
Or the newly elected School Board that walks through the door January 15 and discovers somebody else has already spent money that never arrived?
Welcome to Your “Inherited Budget”
Welcome to Your “Inherited Budget“…
That may be the cruelest irony of Chicago’s grand experiment with an elected School Board.
We have spent years debating whether Chicagoans should elect the people who govern their schools rather than allowing the mayor to appoint them.
Finally, democracy arrives.
And what might democracy inherit?
A headache.
The new board will not begin with a clean financial sheet. It will inherit decisions made before its members ever take their seats.
Illinois law provides that the elected president and the new board take office January 15, 2027.
They will inherit the budget.
They will inherit the debt.
They will inherit the politics.
And if the $150 million does not materialize, they may inherit the consequences.
That is not exactly a welcome basket.
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Who Becomes the Hero?
This is where Chicago politics gets interesting.
We are waiting for a hero.
Will it be Governor Pritzker?
Will it be Speaker Welch, who has put his leadership behind finding additional money?
Will Mayor Johnson find another solution?
Will the new School Board arrive with a completely different philosophy about CPS finances?
Will taxpayers be asked for still more?
Or will someone finally confront the larger question that Chicago keeps dancing around?
Is the way Illinois finances public education fundamentally inadequate for a school system like Chicago’s?
That is the conversation that should be happening.
Because you cannot keep solving structural problems with political Band-Aids.
And you certainly cannot build a responsible budget around money you hope somebody else will give you later.
Children Are Not A Budget Line Item…
The most troubling part of this debate is what happens if the numbers fail.
CPS officials warned that relying upon uncertain state revenue could produce serious financial consequences during the school year. The district’s original proposal sought to close a massive deficit through cuts and other revenue, including eliminating positions. The amended board budget instead restores positions while betting on the additional state money.
Behind every one of those numbers is a classroom.
A teacher.
A counselor.
A principal.
A school employee.
And ultimately, the most important person of them all, a child.
This cannot become another political chess game where adults move the pieces and children absorb the consequences.
Chicago wanted an elected School Board because voters demanded accountability.
Well, accountability is coming.
Twenty-one elected officials will soon have to answer directly to Chicago voters.
Inherited Budget
But before they arrive, the current board has placed a mighty large package on their desks.
It is marked: “Inherited Budget”
Inside is a $150 million question.
Maybe Springfield answers it.
Maybe Speaker Welch delivers.
Maybe Governor Pritzker finds a solution.
Maybe Mayor Johnson finds another source of revenue.
Or maybe the new School Board discovers that its first official act of democracy is cleaning up somebody else’s financial mess.
The current School Board has rolled the dice.
Now Chicago waits to see who pays when they land.
