Chicago Board of Education set to vote on 2025 CPS budget
CHICAGO (CBS) — The Board of Education will vote on Thursday on the 2025 budget, with Chicago Public Schools hoping to close a large budget gap. However, the Chicago Teachers Union is planning to rally against it.
CPS is proposing to close a $500 million budget gap, which the board says it has a plan to fill. The plan includes cutting main office staff, restructuring long-standing debt, and eliminating at least 300 Chicago Teachers Union positions.
The school district is counting on those vacant positions to cut $220 million from the spending plan.
The district says it found the savings by examining natural attrition — that is, staff turnover — and calculating the time it takes to hire and staff positions.
CTU has been highly critical about the budget, rallying outside of Board of Education meetings.
The budget move comes even after their endorsed candidate, Brandon Johnson, won the mayoral election and appointed an entirely new board in 2023.
The union says the cuts and unfilled vacancies will impact the districts' most vulnerable students on the city's South and West Sides.
As the school board prepares to vote on the budget, the CTU plans to rally outside ahead of the meaning.
They'll also call for the board to rally for state and federal funding instead of making those staff cuts.
