School Board Amends Budget; CPS in "Uncharted Territory"

Last night, the Chicago Board of Education made an unprecedented decision: to reject Superintendent/CEO Macquline King's budget and tweak the revenue numbers upward. The board voted for a budget amendment that assumed an additional $150 million in state money.

That $150 million would be enough money to pay the salaries of the more than 1,000 people laid off in King's budget. But right now, no one knows whether the extra state money will really come through.

Some hopeful signs popped up this week: Illinois House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch pledged to support a supplemental school funding bill in the fall veto session, saying, "We've got two weeks in November when we can get it done, and you've got my support 110%." State Senate leader Don Harmon and 15 state legislators have also expressed support for more money for schools statewide.

A hotly debated question during discussion: whether tweaking the TIF surplus estimate was any more or less realistic than tweaking the revenue estimate for the state. TIF surplus, though variable from year to year, has a grounding in special taxing districts that generate funds, city policy on how to declare a surplus, and state law on how to distribute it. An assumption of increased state funds has no such evidence or precedent.

In a public letter to families after the vote, CPS leadership warned that the board's decision to approve a budget its financial leadership did not believe was balanced could result in dire consequences for the district, from the possibility of not making payroll in September to a mid-year crisis like that of 2017, when CPS budgeted expecting state funds that did not materialize. The shortfall forced the district into massive layoffs and high-interest borrowing.

During the meeting, it was clear the board's choice to amend the budget had caught district leadership flat-footed. When Board Member Jennifer Custer asked whether the decision to amend the operating budget would affect the capital budget for school construction and maintenance, Chief Operating Officer Charles Mayfield told her, "I can say there will be an impact, but right now we're in uncharted territory."

How They Voted, and Why

Board Rule had the opportunity to debrief the vote with a handful of board members late last night. "Our entire goal is to continue to push Springfield to give us what they owe us," said Board Vice President Ángel Vélez (9b). "We don't want to continue to have one-time fixes."

In his Chicago Tribune op-ed, published Wednesday, he wrote, "The harm we're being asked to sign off on should be a last resort, and I worry that it's being offered as a first choice."

Asked if the amended budget could be described as a game of chicken with Gov. Pritzker and the General Assembly, Vélez replied, "Oh, 100 percent!" Asked what happens if the state does not come up with the money, Vélez answered, "Then the state will own that."

Board Member Ed Bannon (1a) decided to vote for the amendment based on the nascent momentum from the General Assembly. "A lot of legislative support came forward with Speaker Welch and Don Harmon. Senator [Robert] Martwick spoke at the meeting today. We had a lot of legislators who signed on to this letter," he said. "We need to do something to address these structural deficits. Nothing has gotten Springfield to move. This actually has their attention."

Board Member Yesenia López (7b) was the lone abstention on the budget amendment and the final budget vote. "I did not see the amendment language until like two hours before we had to vote on it," she said. "I did not have enough time to review it."

López also questioned whether it was realistic to assume Springfield would provide supplemental funds for schools during the six-day fall veto session. Amending the state budget to provide funds to schools for the current fiscal year would require a three-fifths supermajority in both the House and Senate."Passing legislation is difficult, let alone in veto [session]," she said. "So that was my line of questioning: what's the plan? How are we going to secure this $150 million that I just learned about?"

Reporting from the folks at the state politics newsletter Capitol Fax suggests López's skepticism makes sense. In a recent subscribers-only item headlined "Welch Gets Ahead of His Caucus on CPS Funding," Rich and Isabel Miller interviewed some suburban and moderate Democrats about the prospect of supplemental funds being approved in the veto session. One "exurban Democrat" described the idea as "laughable."

Whatever else happens, the soon-to-be-hired chief lobbyist for CPS will certainly have their work cut out for them.

Summer Vacay Vibes

As many readers know, I spent most of July traveling through Asia with my daughter, who was competing in a geography quizbowl tournament in Thailand. We covered a lot of ground, visiting Hong Kong, Macau, Bangkok, Khao Lak (the site of the tournament, held in a beach town about an hour from Phuket), a post-tournament detour to Hyderabad, India, then back east to Singapore and Tokyo. Before we all get into back-to-school mode, I thought I'd share a couple of photos.