Chicago school board approves amended CPS budget that restores planned job cuts

The Chicago Board of Education voted 11-7 on July 30 to reject the Chicago Public Schools administration’s proposed budget and approve an amended plan that restores jobs previously targeted for elimination.

The adopted budget, backed by the Chicago Teachers Union, sets a different staffing and fiscal course for CPS for the 2026-27 school year. But it also assumes the district will receive $150 million in additional Illinois funding that had not been identified as committed in available reporting.

A budget change with unresolved revenue

The board action is an adopted budget decision, not simply a proposal. It replaces the administration’s proposed plan and restores positions that would have been cut under that approach.

The available reporting did not specify how many jobs were restored or the categories of positions involved. It also did not establish that Illinois has approved, guaranteed or scheduled the additional $150 million assumed in the amended budget.

That distinction is central to the district’s financial outlook. CPS faces a projected budget gap of about $732 million, and the amended plan relies in part on state revenue that remains unresolved.

Joe Ferguson, president of the Civic Federation, criticized the board’s action as depending on speculative revenue, according to Axios Chicago. The concern is not that the funding has been denied; rather, the reported uncertainty is whether and when the assumed state money will become available.

What the vote means for CPS

The decision affects staffing and school operations across Chicago Public Schools during the 2026-27 school year. By restoring positions slated for elimination, the board changed the administration’s proposed staffing plan before that school year.

For students and staff, the immediate significance is that the approved plan preserves jobs that had been at risk under the rejected proposal. The available reporting does not identify the individual schools, employees or programs tied to those restored positions, so the school-level impact cannot yet be quantified from the approved source material.

The board’s vote also leaves a major implementation question for CPS and Illinois policymakers: whether the district will receive the $150 million in additional state support built into its budget. The packet does not identify a date for a state decision, a funding commitment or a subsequent board meeting on the issue.

CPS has previously described a formal budget process that includes Board of Education approval. In this instance, the board used that authority to adopt an alternative to the administration’s proposed budget. The next known financial development is the unresolved availability and timing of the assumed Illinois funding, rather than a confirmed new appropriation.