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Unions and teachers urge Chicago school board to reject furloughs, warn of harm to special education
Summary
Union leaders, teachers and parents told the Chicago Board of Education on July 20 that proposed furlough days and staff cuts would damage special education services and classroom supports, urging the board to seek city and state revenue instead of reducing staff.
Union leaders, classroom teachers and parents pressed the Chicago Board of Education during the July 20 FY27 budget hearing to reject proposed furlough days and staff reductions that they said would harm students, especially those receiving special education services.
"We do not accept cuts. We do not accept furloughs," Dr. Diane Castro, financial secretary of the Chicago Teachers Union and a bilingual preschool teacher, told the board. Castro described being furloughed previously and said removing educators would leave students without trusted advocates and critical services.
Tremaine Reeves, executive vice president of SEIU Local 73, told the board the union is "firmly against any furlough days" and urged the city to match prior TIF funding so CPS employees would not face pay cuts. "This would mean that no CPS employee would have to go through enduring any type of furlough days or pay cut," Reeves said.
Multiple classroom teachers recounted direct impacts. "We are setting our children up for failure the moment they walk through the door looking for success," said Hazel Prentice, a 5th-grade teacher at Hanson Park Elementary, who called for fully funding and staffing schools. Margaret White, who said she lost her 8th-grade position at Hanson Park, urged the board to vote down a budget that "abandons students by laying off devoted teachers like me."
Nelson Giroux of the Chicago Public Education Fund asked the board to preserve school-level budgets and local autonomy, noting the district's recent experience closing large gaps in prior years without new long-term operational borrowing.
Speakers repeatedly called on the board to press the city and state for additional revenue and to pursue legal or legislative remedies. The public comments concluded before the administration began the FY27 budget presentation.
