At the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Board of Education’s monthly board meeting in October, the CPS Office of Finance updated the Board on the District’s current financial status and the FY2025 budget forecast. The District is expecting to see a $391 million budget shortfall next fiscal year once the remaining $300 million of federal COVID relief dollars are spent. The District has received a…
The Federation urges the District to develop a long-term financial plan as costs continue to rise and a financial cliff looms. Click here to visit the report landing page.CHICAGO – In an analysis released today, the Civic Federation expressed significant concerns about the long-term viability of Chicago Public Schools’ finances. While the District’s $9.8 billion FY2024 budget is stable due…
Click here to read the full report.Click here to read the press release for this analysis.SUMMARYThe Civic Federation continues to have significant reservations about the long-term viability of the District's finances. The CPS budget of $9.8 billion for the coming year is stable due to a combination of federal COVID-19 relief funds and local tax sources, including a property tax increase to the…
With the upcoming implementation of an elected school board to oversee Chicago Public Schools, the governance of CPS will be separated from the City of Chicago. The 21-member elected school board, set to replace the existing seven-member board appointed by the Chicago mayor, will be phased in beginning in 2025, with the fully elected board in place beginning in 2027. The separation raises…
This blog post examines the Chicago Public Schools’ contributions to the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund in the FY2023 budget and the funding status of the Pension Fund based on financial health indicators. Additional descriptive information about teachers’ pension benefits and history can be found in past budget analyses.[1] Members of the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund Certified CPS teachers…
The Civic Federation recently released its analysis of the Chicago Public Schools proposed FY2023 budget. The Federation opposed the budget because the District has not provided sufficient justification for raising its property tax to the maximum amount allowed under the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL) at a time when taxpayers already face serious economic strains and when CPS has…
CPS student enrollment has been declining annually for the past two decades. In a recent analysis of the Chicago Public Schools proposed FY2023 budget, the Civic Federation highlighted this trend. Specifically, the Federation pointed to an enrollment decline of 18.1% over the last decade, from the 2012-2013 (FY2013) school year to the 2021-2022 (FY2022) school year. School funding at CPS is…
Click here to read the full report (PDF). Click here to read the press release for this analysis. SUMMARY The Civic Federation opposes the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) proposed budget of $9.5 billion for FY2023 because the District has not provided sufficient justification for raising its property tax to the maximum amount of 5% allowed under the Property Tax Extension Limitation Law (PTELL)…
CPS enrollment has been declining steadily for at least the past decade while personnel spending has increased dramatically. In a recent analysis of the Chicago Public Schools proposed FY2022 budget, the Civic Federation raised concerns over this ongoing trend. The Federation specifically pointed to a 13% increase in the District’s operating budget, which is primarily due to an influx of $2.6…
Click here to read the full report (PDF). Click here to read the press release for this analysis. SUMMARY The Civic Federation supports the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) proposed budget of $9.3 billion for FY2022 because it is balanced and supported by federal COVID-19 relief funding. CPS, along with all other state and local government agencies in the United States, has for the past year…
