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Unions and community speakers urge board to adopt budget that avoids layoffs and preserves arts programs
Summary
CTU, SEIU and other unions and numerous community speakers urged the board to pass the revised FY27 budget to avoid furloughs and protect school staff, highlighting potential harm to students and to arts programs like Chi Arts; union leaders described the stakes during pre-poll participation remarks.
Multiple union leaders and community advocates used their allotted time in public participation to press the board to approve a budget that spares staff and preserves programming. Stacy Davis Gates, president of the Chicago Teachers Union, said the community had spent the summer advocating for students and that the board should take the opportunity to protect staff and programs. “Difficult decisions cannot continue to be at the expense of opportunity for the children in this city,” she said.
SEIU Local 73 President Diane Palmer told the board that the revised budget presented to members included an additional $85 million in TIF surplus funds that removed the proposed furlough days for district workers, and urged a vote to pass the budget “exactly as it stands.” CTU charter division chair Jen Conant argued the board should amend the budget to prevent cuts that would dismantle arts programming at schools such as Chi Arts (often referenced in testimony as Shay/Chi Arts), noting that without an explicit one-year transition fund the conservatory-style programming could be imperiled.
Speakers from the Hyde Park and South Side communities — including students who testified about school peace rooms and community-led support — asked the board to hold principals and district leaders accountable for re-establishing supports and staffing. One student recounted organizing for a peace room after multiple student deaths and asked the board to help hold a local principal accountable for re-opening supports that students said provided emotional safety.
Community organizations and elected officials who testified later also pledged help pressing Springfield and the City of Chicago for additional revenue and emphasized the human cost of cuts to counselors, special education staff, and arts teachers. The combined public testimony framed the board’s budget vote as a near-term fiscal decision with immediate consequences for classrooms and supports.
