* WGN earlier this week…

The Agenda Review Committee for the Chicago School Board held a meeting Wednesday after Chicago Public Schools announced a plan this week to cut jobs and increase class sizes for the 2026-27 school year, citing a $732.5 million budget deficit as it closes out this school year.

In a letter sent to families and staff Monday, CPS leaders outlined what they describe as a major budget deficit caused by declining enrollment, rising operational costs and inadequate state and federal funding. […]

Stacy Davis Gates, head of the Chicago Teachers Union, is calling for the district to lobby Springfield, saying there are not enough job cuts to make up for a lack of state funding. The union said CPS is funded at 73% of what the state considers adequate. [….]

According to the Chicago Tribune, CPS leaders say losses will be capped at four teachers per elementary school and six teachers per high school. Additionally, more than 120 assistant principals could be cut, and significant cuts are also expected at the central office and in administrative departments.

* Mayor Johnson in the Sun-Times today…

Mayor Brandon Johnson on Thursday ruled out school closings to help the Chicago Public Schools dig out of a $732 million hole, and said it’s up to the Illinois General Assembly to approve progressive revenue measures he believes it will take to avoid classroom cuts. […]

Johnson used a record $1 billion tax increment surplus to bail out CPS and bankroll a new teacher’s contract in his third city budget. He told the Sun-Times and WBEZ that his hope for staving off threatened classroom cuts is for Gov. JB Pritzker and state lawmakers grappling with their own budget crisis to ride to the rescue with what he calls progressive revenue.

That’s a long shot at best with only two weeks to go in the spring session.

“The last I checked, the state of Illinois has a moral responsibility to ensure that the most vulnerable… are prioritized,” he said. “And so, whether it’s a digital ad tax, whether it’s a billionaire’s tax, there is still time in Springfield to ensure that our children are prioritized.”

* Rich has been warning about this inevitable problem for years. The Tribune lays it out…

Over the past several years, most schools saw stable or increased funding, buoyed by nearly $3 billion in federal pandemic relief aid. Since 2019, CPS has added 9,790 staff positions — even as enrollment fell by 45,000 students. […]

Now that pandemic aid has dried up, surging expenses are forcing the district to confront direct cuts to schools. Typically, school-level budgets are released between March and May to give principals and Local School Councils enough time to plan staffing and programming before classes start after summer break.

From Rich: They put temporary federal aid into their spending base. As you can plainly see, bad things happen when you do that. And, to be clear, this started before Johnson was elected.