Chicago Public Schools faces $45M shortfall

Chicago Public Schools is projected to end the fiscal year on June 30 with a $45 million deficit, according to financial reports given to the Board of Education last week. (chicago.suntimes.com) (wbez.org) The reports show CPS is headed for a second straight year of spending more than it takes in. The district finished the 2024-25 school year with a $102 million operating deficit, its first audited deficit since 2017. (chicago.suntimes.com) (wbez.org) CPS said this year’s hole could still shrink before the books close, partly because the district is spending less grant money than expected. But it is also $118 million over budget on staffing, which officials tied to higher costs for employees who serve students with disabilities. (chicago.suntimes.com) (wbez.org) The shortfall lands as district leaders build the next budget, which officials previously expected would start with a $529 million deficit and now say could be larger. A CPS spokeswoman said the district faces “multiple and evolving economic pressures.” (chicago.suntimes.com) (wbez.org) One reason the pressure is surfacing now is that the federal pandemic aid that buffered school budgets is gone. CPS received $2.8 billion in emergency relief starting in 2020, and the last of that money ran out during the 2024-25 school year. (chicago.suntimes.com) (wbez.org) The district’s audit also found that CPS overestimated 2025 revenue from a state tax on business income, state aid and federal funding. It offset part of that miss by spending less on equipment, insurance and repairs and by raising facility rental fees. (chicago.suntimes.com) (wbez.org) At the federal level, a separate warning is hanging over special-education research. Disability Scoop reported on April 27 that congressionally required funding for special-education research could largely go unspent this year. (disabilityscoop.com) The Education Department’s fiscal 2026 budget request shows “Research in Special Education” at $0, down from $13.318 million in the 2024 final appropriation table. The same request would cut the Institute of Education Sciences overall to $261.3 million from $793.106 million, a 67.05% drop. (ed.gov 1) (ed.gov 2) Illinois, meanwhile, says its fiscal 2026 budget will continue evidence-based funding for public schools. That state support may help cushion districts, but it does not erase the local budget gaps now opening in Chicago. (budget.illinois.gov) (chicago.suntimes.com) For CPS, the immediate deadline is June 30, when this year’s books close. The bigger test comes after that, when the district has to turn a projected year-end deficit into a workable budget for the next school year. (chicago.suntimes.com) (wbez.org)