When Chicago Public Schools passed its $9.96 billion budget on Thursday night, several board members made a high-stakes gamble: that state lawmakers will deliver $150 million in additional funding.

The Chicago Teachers Union and its board allies argued that CPS is chronically underfunded by the state, and that the amended 2026-27 spending plan would restore hundreds of positions lost to layoffs and shield classrooms from cuts.

But CPS leaders, including CEO Macquline King, issued a sharp warning. Building a budget around uncertain money could deter lenders, officials said, threatening the district’s ability to secure short-term borrowing and make payroll. And, if the funding fails to materialize, schools across the district could face even deeper cuts.

“We are still working through what this decision by the board means for CPS, legally and financially,” King said in a letter to families Friday. “At this point, we do not know if this will impact the opening of schools on Aug. 24.”

The entire Board of Education has expressed support for lobbying for additional state money. CPS is funded at just 73% under the state’s own evidence-based funding formula, which aims to steer revenue to the neediest districts in Illinois. But while there’s broad agreement that the district needs more funding, there’s far less consensus over how to get it.

CTU and allied board members say the amended budget is a pressure tactic designed to force state lawmakers to act. Several legislators, including embattled Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, said they’ll work to pass a supplemental funding bill — though it remains unclear where that money will come from in the state’s budget.

“There’s no revenue currently for what they’ve described,” Gov. JB Pritzker told reporters Friday.

Pritzker pointedly and repeatedly kept pressure on Welch, describing the additional state money as “revenue that’s expected that the speaker is planning to have a plan for, but we don’t know exactly how.”

Any changes to the state’s spending plan would require a two-thirds supermajority in both chambers of the General Assembly. In theory, Democrats have the numbers to pass such a measure, but finding the political will — and the dollars — to fund it may prove to be a big hurdle.

“You have to be sympathetic to these calls, right? They’re saying, ‘What are you doing? You’re playing politics, when this is the ticket for these kids,’” said Ralph Martire, executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability. “It’s the right thing from a policy standpoint, from a morality standpoint … but it’s so hard to do politically.”

A tough sell in Springfield

With the regular session over, lawmakers have two avenues to appropriate state funding. The first would be a special session, which can be convened by Pritzker or a joint proclamation by the presiding officers of both chambers of the General Assembly.

The second option is the General Assembly’s annual fall veto session, a six-day stretch where lawmakers can consider vetoes, unresolved legislation and, at times, new bills. But CPS officials say that even if new funding is allocated in November, the money may not reach the district in time to cover this year’s costs.

If lawmakers do act, another question remains: Where will the dollars come from?

Several progressive revenue proposals were floated during the spring session, including a stalled constitutional amendment dubbed the “millionaire’s tax.” But none gained enough support to move forward.

As it stands, the state budget offers few answers: Springfield faces its own financial constraints after closing a $2 billion deficit this year.

“When you talk to legislators about increasing education funding, what they will often say is, ‘OK, what do you want me to cut from higher ed? What do you want me to cut from early childhood?’” said Hal Woods, chief of policy at Kids First Chicago.

Many advocates have argued that any push for money for CPS should consider the needs of the entire state. In all, 532 school districts — or nearly two-thirds of all districts in Illinois — receive less than 90% of their adequacy targets under the state’s funding formula.

“There are 35 House members from Chicago, but 118 House members total, and you need 60 votes to pass a bill,” said Jessica Handy, executive director of Stand for Illinois Children. “Chicago is deeply underfunded, but it’s not the most underfunded district.”

‘We inherited this’

In the tense, hourslong meeting Thursday, the amended budget drew fierce opposition from board members not aligned with the teachers union. But members backed by CTU hold the majority, largely because Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former CTU organizer, appointed half the board.

CTU leaders argue the amended spending plan is one of the district’s few levers to pressure the state to fulfill a 2017 commitment to fully fund public schools within a decade.

“The problem is that CPS and some of the other board members fail to understand their role as advocates,” CTU officials wrote to members in an email after the vote. “It is on us to advocate for the education our students, who come from all backgrounds with individual needs, deserve.”

Several board members said there is growing momentum in Springfield for more money, pointing to Welch’s backing and commitments from other lawmakers. They expressed confidence that legislative leaders could rally enough support, particularly if they are forced to confront a reality of deeper cuts to the nation’s fourth-largest school district.

Appointed board Vice President Angel Velez contended that if the funding doesn’t materialize, “then it is on the state to take responsibility for that.”

He and other board members decried the layoffs of more than 700 teachers, 800 school-based support staffers and other programmatic cuts as “unacceptable.”

“We told Springfield, ‘This is the bill that you owe us,’” said Velez, who represents District 9A on the South Side. “It’s not on us as board members. We inherited this.”

More funding, stalled adequacy

The budget amendment calls for $100 million in additional funding from the state’s evidence-based funding formula, or EBF, and another $50 million in mandated grants for programs such as special education and school transportation.

The EBF formula was enacted in 2017 to distribute state funding in a way that prioritizes higher-need school districts.

The formula set a district’s adequacy target based on factors like demographics, enrollment and student needs. It then calculates how much districts are expected to contribute to that target through local resources, such as property taxes. New state funding goes first to the district with the largest gap between what it needs and what it can afford.

Nearly a decade later, the formula has raised CPS’ general state funding from $814 million in 2017 to $1.76 billion in 2025.

But the district’s adequacy ratio — the share of its target funding it receives — has declined from 81% in 2024 to 73% this year. That’s due to rising student needs alongside lower projected revenue from personal property replacement taxes, which limits CPS’ local capacity to meet those needs.

The district has felt the strain more acutely in recent years after billions in federal pandemic relief dollars ran dry.

The law requires the state to add a minimum of $350 million in new funding to the formula each year — but that figure isn’t adjusted for inflation. To keep pace with rising costs, “we’d really need to bump up that amount to at least $500 (million) or $600 million a year,” said Martire of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability.

The 2017 legislation also set a goal reaching 90% adequacy statewide by 2027 — a target many advocates even then viewed as improbable, if not impossible. But state Rep. Will Davis, the bill’s chief sponsor in the House, said he always hoped Springfield would muster the political will.

“There are things that we can do. The question is, ‘Are we willing to sit down and have the tough conversations in order to make it happen?’” said Davis, a Chicago Democrat.

Others are more skeptical. It would take roughly $3 billion in additional funding to bring every district up to 90% adequacy, including nearly $1 billion for CPS alone.

“There’s a possibility that money can be found,” Joe Ferguson, president of the Civic Federation. “It’s almost an impossibility to assume that the politics will allow that money to be disbursed in the timeliness that CPS would need.”

A school district under strain

CPS has struggled for years with mounting financial challenges, with billions in debt, aging buildings and rising operating costs. Since 2019, the district has added nearly 10,000 positions and grown its budget by almost $4.3 billion, even as federal pandemic relief funding expired and enrollment has declined.

The district last relied on unconfirmed state revenue in 2017. At that time, legislation was pending that would have provided additional funding to CPS. The bills passed both chambers of the General Assembly, but in a surprise, but then-Gov. Bruce Rauner later vetoed it.

That led to midyear cuts, layoffs, furlough days and a string of crisis borrowing and credit downgrades that the district is still paying off today, officials said. CPS will spend $794 million paying off long-term debt this fiscal year, or 8% of its overall budget.

“We all agree that the state of Illinois can do better by our children, and CPS will continue working towards that goal,” King said. “But our school communities should not be burdened with this kind of uncertainty.

The budget also banks on $285 million in surplus revenue from tax increment financing districts, special taxing zones across the city. That’s down from last year, when the mayor declared a $1 billion surplus that generated a $576 million windfall for CPS. District leaders described the estimate as “conservative,” noting the city is also expected to rely on a TIF surplus to help balance its own budget.

But some board members questioned including revenue without a commitment from City Hall, arguing that the uncertainty around TIF funding justified seeking additional state support. The final TIF surplus won’t be finalized until the city approves its budget later in this year.

CTU has applied political pressure elsewhere to avert immediate cuts.

In recent weeks, the union turned its sights to Cook County, which is responsible for collecting and distributing property tax dollars. Troubles with its property tax system upgrade delayed some distributions from recent billing cycles at Treasurer Maria Pappas’ office while pushing this year’s cycle two months later.

While districts with more financial cushion will be able to make do during the latest bill gap, CPS’ cash flow problems have made the lag that much more dire. CTU successfully pressured Board President Toni Preckwinkle to consider CPS’ inclusion in a bridge loan program intended only for suburban districts. An agreement has not been reached yet.

The Illinois Federation of Teachers, led by CTU President Stacy Davis Gates, also filed suit against Pappas to force her to get bills out the door earlier and immediately distribute overdue funds.

The treasurer sent the district $33 million on Thursday and pledged more would come soon, but her office is at the mercy of others to get the bills out the door. “I got paper, I got envelopes, I’m ready to go,” Pappas said. She is waiting for final figures from the county clerk.

An all-but-declared Chicago mayoral candidate, Pappas suggested CTU’s support of Johnson is behind the lawsuit.

If the district had better managed its costs — including personnel — their push wouldn’t be necessary, she argued. “They have a spending problem, not a collection problem. … They’ve gotten $4.6 billion from me.”