Chicago Board of Education votes to approve amended CPS budget with $150M additional state funding

The Chicago Board of Education voted Thursday to approve an amended Chicago Public Schools budget with additional funding from the state of Illinois.

The amended plan will now included $150 million in additional funds from Springfield.

The Chicago Teachers Union posted a response the budget approval on the CTU website.
This is a breaking news update. The following is from an earlier report. The video in the player above is from an earlier report.

The district said it would not be able to make payroll in September if the budget does not pass Thursday, but union leadership was fighting against it.

CPS lunchroom workers were among the dozens marching outside Chicago Public School Headquarters to protest as the board is expected to vote on a proposed nearly $10-billion spending plan.

"We are fighting for higher wages, more employee in the lunchroom, rights, respect. We are one of the lowest paid positions in CPS," Anise Balfour, CPS lunchroom cook said.

The district faces a more than $700-million budget deficit which it blames on in part to depleted pandemic relief funds, rising operational costs and lower student enrollment.

Critics of the proposed budget say any layoffs and cuts will gut school services and create crowded classrooms causing permanent harm to students.

"It is important that we understand that a society that does not invest in young people, betrays its young people," Jitu Brown, Board of Education District 5 member, said.

CPS CEO Dr. Macquiline King said the upcoming school year could be in jeopardy if a budget isn't approved writing in part in a lengthy emailed statement, "We are already on the knife's edge. If we do not pass a budget... based on realistic and actual revenue, we will be unable to access short-term financing, and we will fail to make our first round of payroll for the school year -- essentially shutting down the District as staff and students are supposed to be returning to the classroom.

And while school officials said they need an approved budget so they can make payroll in September payroll in September, the Chicago Teachers Union plans to fight the layoffs wants to amend the budget to start the school year fully staffed.

"Our school communities are being threatened from opening and operating fully because our governors tells us everything, but yes and then our school board is going to go in here and do an impossible task," Chicago Teachers Union president Stacy Davis Gates said.