CPS presents FY27 $9.88B budget, outlines $297.6M remaining gap and contingency measures

Acting chief budget officer Zogo and colleagues presented the Chicago Public Schools’ proposed FY27 budget on July 20, totaling $9.88 billion across capital, debt and operating funds and reflecting a mix of local property taxes, state evidence-based funding and federal grants.

Zogo said the district began with a $732.5 million deficit and achieved $434.9 million in reductions — $330 million of that structural — leaving a remaining $297.6 million gap. To close the balance the proposal relies on increased assumed TIF surplus (totaling $200 million), five districtwide furlough days on non-instructional days beginning in January, and a district midyear spending freeze with additional contractual savings estimated at about $112 million.

The proposed operating budget totals $8.48 billion, with personnel costs representing nearly 63 percent of spending. Zogo said school budgets rise by about $143 million compared with FY26 driven largely by annual salary increases, while overall school-based positions are projected to decrease by roughly 1 percent. He highlighted increased special education staffing (about +950 positions, largely paraprofessionals), expanded cluster classrooms and transportation for students with disabilities.

Zogo framed the furloughs and midyear freezes as measures of last resort intended to create time to pursue additional revenues; if new funds are secured the district's goal is to roll back those measures and protect instructional time. He concluded that an approved FY27 budget and tax levy are prerequisites for lenders to provide tax anticipation note (TANs) financing, warning that without new FY27 TAN authority the district risks not making payroll in September.