As Chicago Public Schools budget deadline looms, interim chief resisting controversial $300 million loan

CBS News

3 days ago

Classes start in less than a week for Chicago Public Schools students, and in less than a day, the district will unveil its budget proposal for the upcoming school year.
While the Chicago Board of Education is not required to approve a budget for the 2025-26 school year until Aug. 28, it's unusual for CPS to start the school year without a spending plan already in place.
Despite the district facing a $734 million budget shortfall, the district's interim CEO is resisting a controversial $300 million loan that her predecessor, Pedro Martinez, also refused to back, leading to his ouster this spring.
"I don't think that I've had a long runway to begin with," Chicago Public Schools interim CEO Macquline King said on Tuesday.
But liftoff is required in less than a day for King, who has been on the job for just two months. Her budget plan needs to offer solutions to the district's $734 million deficit, and must be formally unveiled by Wednesday.
"This is not something that we can, a decision that we can make within an hour, within two hours. We will go to the very last minute to ensure that we get the best possible budget for our students," she said.
King said she's feeling "very queasy and anxious" about the budget, adding with a smile, "these questions don't help."
One question that's still up in the air: will she green-light a $300 million high-interest short-term loan Mayor Brandon Johnson has been seeking?
King's predecessor Pedro Martinez was a firm no on the loan. That helped lead to his ouster.
Sources said King, Johnson's hand-picked interim CEO for the school district, also is pushing back on that proposed loan.
The mayor was pressed on that issue Tuesday during his weekly press briefing, as CBS News Chicago political reporter Chris Tye noted "that short-term loan has been the focal point of so much consternation."
"It's actually been the focal point for a couple of people," Johnson said.
If the loan doesn't happen, Johnson said, "We're either going to cut or invest. Those are our options right now."
In closed-door meetings at City Hall on Tuesday, CPS leaders, Chicago Teachers Union officials, alderpeople, and state lawmakers met to try and hammer out a way forward with less than a day to go.
"We have to have everything on the table. Of course, as a parent and as a former public school teacher, I don't want any cuts in the classroom," Johnson said.
In addition to the loan the mayor is seeking, King also reportedly is resisting pressure to reimburse the city for a $175 million pension payment for nonteacher employees.
Legally, the city is required to make that pension payment, not CPS. The district began reimbursing the city for the cost under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, but didn't make the payment last year, and Martinez was fired, in part, for refusing to reimburse the city for the pension payment.
Other options on the table for CPS to balance its budget are deeper spending cuts, or convincing state lawmakers to provide inventive new ways to boost revenue for the district.