Good morning. If everyone can kindly take your seats, we can begin the meeting. President Harden, before you begin today's meeting, I I would like to read a few announcements. Good morning. Welcome to the July 30th, 2026 board meeting. Before we start the
meeting, I would like to share a translation information, safety points, and announcements for the next meeting. We are pleased to offer real-time translation services for this meeting via translative live. Registered speakers and attendees can listen to the
meeting in over 200 languages. If you are attending in person, please visit v visit the translation table for a headset. If you are joining virtually, simply scan the QR code displayed in the corner of the live YouTube stream to access your preferred language.
Please note that the primary exit and entrance to the boardroom is the door which you used to enter this morning. If you're leaving the room, please use this door. The restrooms are outside the boardroom doors to your left. During the meeting, we ask that you keep all aisles
and exit exits clear. If you need any assistance during the meeting, please wave the attention of one of our security officers. Mark your calendars for the upcoming meetings. The next ARC meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, August 12th, 2026 at 10:30 a.m. The next board
meeting is scheduled for Thursday, August 27th, 2026 at 10:30 a.m. The ARC and board meetings will be held at 42 West Madison Street, Garden Level Boardroom. For details on how to register to speak or observe at the meetings, and to learn about the speaker lottery process, please visit the
Chicago Board of Education website at cpsb.org. If you have any questions about registration or public participation, please contact the board office for assistance. Thank you for joining us today. President Harden, we are now ready for you to begin the meeting.
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the Chicago Board of Education meeting. Today is July 30th, 2026, and we are holding today's board meeting in the boardroom at the CPS Loop office, 42 West Madison Street and Garden level. I'd like to note that
board members and senior leadership are physically present in the boardroom. Registered speakers may join us in person or or virtually if they've opted to do so. I'm President Shan Bhard and on behalf of my fellow board members, thank you for joining us today.
The regular meeting of Thursday, July 30th, 2026 is hereby called to order. Board secretary, please call the role. >> Member Lozano, >> present. Member Smith, >> present. >> Member Lopez, >> present.
>> Member Bole, >> here. >> Member Wallace, >> present. >> Member Kuster, >> present. >> Member Rosenfeld, >> here. >> Member Rivas, >> present. >> Member Brown, >> yes, ma'am. >> Member Rio Sierra,
>> present. >> Member Bannon, >> present. Me. >> Vice President Vez, >> present. >> Member Gutierrez, >> present. Member Biggs, >> present. >> Member Zachor, >> present.
>> President Harden, >> present. >> We have 16 members present. We do have a quorum. I'd also like to recognize Dr. Meline King, Superintendent, Chief Executive Officer. Elizabeth Barton, general counsel. Dr. Kareem Assaf, chief
education officer. Charles Mayfield, chief operating officer. The order of the meeting will be as follows. We begin with honoring excellence, superintendent co remarks, committee updates, public participation.
We'll go into recess, reconvene from recess. There'll be a presentation of whole school safety, finance update by the budget team, discussion of public agenda items, vote on public agenda items. We'll go into cold session, reconvene from cold session, and then
we'll adjourn. >> President Horn, before we move um on with the meeting, I do want to recognize that board member Blae has joined the meeting at 10:47 a.m. Thank you. >> Chief Assaf, please proceed with honor
and excellence. >> Thank you, President Harden. What is this? >> This month's honoring excellence spot spotlight something very close to my heart. Student voice and leadership.
Our priority as a district is to create learning experiences that are rigorous, joyful, and equitable across every part of a student's day. The shest way to get there is to engage
our students directly. Learn from them and let them help shape their own educational path in ways that connect to what they care about. Student voice at CPS is not a standalone
program. is coherencia, coherence in practice threaded through how we operate and how we make decisions. It is not something boxed into a single
initiative. Our department of student voice and engagement has built real leadership opportunities for students. opportunities to bring their wisdom to bear on issues from mental health to
budget, finance and beyond. That only works because students trust that when they speak, we listen and then we act. That confa or trust is the foundation of
everything else we're building. We're very proud of every student who's stepping up to use their voice and grateful to the parents and the partners who help that make possible,
including Mikva Challenge and Communities United. Looking ahead, we're excited to work with schools to expand and strengthen school level student voice committees this year. and we encourage students to
pursue leadership opportunities in their schools, their communities, and across our district. I could go I could go on, but this conversation should be led by the people living it. So, I want to turn
it over to our student leaders to spotlight what they've accomplished during their time in their student voice committees. Will the students in the audience please stand? Good morning.
I am Trinity and I Miles, grateful to be standing before you today to speak on my experience during CPS mental health student roundts. I am a 2026 graduate of Morgan Park High School attending the University of Illinois in Springfield for political science with goals of
youth advocacy and public service. Mental health aligns with my passion for helping young people. In school year 2025 to 2026, I participated in three studentled mental health roundts. We shared our experiences and
recommendations directly with district leaders. These conversations help lead to the to the creation of a district-wide mental health awareness day. This is a testament to students having a true
voice and decisions being made with us. Leading up to this moment, we reviewed resources that were available such as free therapy for all students by Hazel Health. We reviewed the CPS mental health topics guide with the office of student and health wellness. This covered many mental health topics and
situations. I suggested adding more resources about grief relating to gun violence. Whereas in Chicago, many students are impacted. During my high school experience, multiple students were victims of shootings. No one touches on the nuance situation
of losing a family member, a friend, or the void the whole school feels when there's an empty desk. However, there was a media acknowledgement of that suggestion. I'm proud to say change happens through an ongoing conversation. There's a
there's a necessary there's a necessity for students at the table when decisions or lack thereof affect them. CPS is innovating and I see it. I see the resources being pushed full force and I'm forever grateful to have been a part of this change. This reinforced
that youth can be the change that we want to see. Thank you. Good morning everyone. My name is Lazaria and I am a Ryzen senior at Westinghouse. I am a part of Mikvah Challenge where we have a top priority group called the CPS student
advisory council. And in my council, we also have many subcommittees where I am a part of black student success. >> Hi everyone, my name is Jonathan. I attend John Hancock College Prep as a rising senior. I also attend Mikva Challenge alongside my partner Lazaria and together we are part of Mikva
Challenges CPS student advisory council. The student advisory council consists is one of two citywide youth councils with the focus on implementing student voice within CPS. Within Mikba Challenge, there are four subcommittees: black student success, multilingual pathways, post-secondary success, and student
voice and inclusive partnerships. Within these subcommittees, we are able to develop and provide relevant recommendations to CPS departments and offices such as the department of student voice and engagement and the office of multilingual and multicultural education. On Thursday, July 2nd, the student
advisory council engaged in a budget roundt discussion with the board of education. One thing that really stood out to us was the federal budget for CPS. We were many of us were not informed that it was 10% which is the lowest compared to the state and local
funding. This um this new this new budget has affected many school experiences among the CPS population. Also from the budget round table, we were given exclusive insight into the state of the CPS budget, which was highly informative and provided necess
necessary context for the student advisory council in order for us to make informed decisions on our youthled policy recommendations connected to the CPS 5-year strategic plan. And me personally, as a student with a 504 plan, I've witnessed as the budget cuts
have led to my school only be given only be um sort of allocated half of a case manager position. So, I just think when these decisions are being made, we should really take into account students with disabilities with like 504s and IEPs and really make sure that they are
at at least one of our priorities within those who we are making sure are not affected by these budget cuts. In my personal experience, my school has cut about five to seven teachers so far for the upcoming school year. Due to this, many classes will also be cut due
to some of these teachers being the only teachers teaching certain classes. The question that me, myself and other students are asking is how many more classes and um and teachers will be cut, how many more clubs and how many more sports will be cut. But in addition to
this, we decided, sorry, we've also um talked about what students could do to help this. We've said that more more student communications is needed with the board of education. We need more focus group focus groups. We need more dis um discussions and we need more
community forums with students and the board and also with their LSC members so they can be more informed about what's happening within the board of education. Thank >> you all. Hello, my name is Jana and I go to Back of the Yards College Prep and I am currently a senior.
>> Hi, good morning. I'm Adrian. I'm a rising sophomore at Jones College Prep and I'm born and raised from Little Village. We're part of district student voice committee, a group of high school students that are part of SVC's within our own school communities. Our work as
a team is to advance student voice in CPS. >> In school year 26, we planned and facilitated three SBC communes for middle school and high school students in the district. Together, we fostered student leadership development, celebrated student voice, and built
community. As a student leader, our first convening was a huge learning experience for me. I led a workshop called How to Balance a School and Personal Life. Going into it, I expected everybody to engage in a specific way. But when things didn't go planned as planned, I was honestly a little
confused. It helped me realize that every student learns and participates differently. To fix it, I stepped back, reflected, and brought new ideas to our second SGC convening. I tweaked my approach to make the space way more engaging. Doing simple things like asking what music they'd like to listen
to or what activities I could do to make them more engaged. Adapting like that helped me lead with a lot more confidence and really build my initiative as a student leader. >> As a first year DSVC member, I had only attended student voice student voice
committee convenience and this was my first year leading one and it amazed me the amount of hard work and dedication that goes into making these events happen for the students. As a student leadership team, we all contributed in different ways and like
the like the upper classmen, they took on the role of being our mentors and the underassman like myself, we brought fresh perspectives. After this initiative, my passion for student voice only continued to grow and flourish. I see student voice now not just as a
club, but like a program where students can feel safe to share their ideas and needs for a better student experience. Thank you. Hello, I am a middle school student in an elementary school in CPS and I'm in my school's student voice committee,
also known as SVC. I joined SVC because I wanted to help make a difference in our school and help our students get what they needed. We work in our we work with our school administration by meeting with them every two weeks to make sure student feedback is heard and
acted upon. Through our recent student feedback, we heard many things but mostly the concern about ICE in our city. There was an opportunity in partnership with the organization communities united to train our SVC on how to facilitate facilitate student facing you know facing know your rights
trainings. Once we were trained, we all contributed to the training to help make it our own and really show how much we cared. As an SBC, we then all trained all of the middle school students in our school. One highlight I took from the training was teaching all of the middle
school students. We created a space to speak about ICE. Um, students gained knowledge and became informed. This led to student empowerment that created a sense of safety in our school community. This initiative helped students feel that they were safe and that organiz and
that there's organizations in our city like communities united that can help fight our rights. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. We're very, very proud of each and every one of you. I want to assure you that every decision
Dr. King and I make is with you in mind. Before we move on, I want to recognize our student voice champions. The CPS Department of Student Voice and Engagement, the Districtwide Student Voice
Committee, Schoolbased Student Voice Committees, MIGVAT Challenge, Communities United, and the Chicago the City of Chicago Board of Education. To every student
participating in student voice work at the school and district level, thank you. What you contribute is very important to all of us. And to our board, thank you for continuing to champion student voice and for showing
our students that their perspectives and ideas matter. Thank you. Board members, are there any comments? Member Brown? >> Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. President. Um, this is really like a full circle moment. I I just want to say I want to
congratulate you. Let's ask everybody to give him another round of applause. Um, some of you I said this this morning, I just want to say this to you publicly. You are the leaders that we've been waiting for. Um, the work that you
do, there is evidence that competent and trustworthy community and civic leadership emerges from groups like you. All you have to do is look at Alderwoman Angela Clay. She was in the first cadre of voices of
youth in Chicago education when young people actually were coming up with studentled solutions to the dropout crisis. Uh Parish Brown, who is one of the leading restorative justice practitioners in the city of Chicago, is a former voice student.
Maria, one of your lead organizers, was one of the original Voices of Youth in Chicago education students. Uh, Alderwoman Janette Taylor is an example of somebody that emerges from community-based leadership. So, I just want to congratulate you. I want to say
that you have my support. Uh, and the work that you're doing to make our schools more humane, to make our schools more student centered is critical work. It is critical work. And what you all are doing is wisdom based because it's based off your lived experiences. It's
not a disconnected opinion. It's wisdom based. So, I want to salute you and just let you know you have my full support. Thank you. >> Member Smith. >> I want to thank you for being here today
and talk to you about as a board member how far my commitment to you goes. Uh we were recently with Mikfa Challenge leaders at a student power summit in Los Angeles. board member Rosenfeld and I
were privileged uh to be able to go and take students from Chicago public schools and listen to students from around the country who are echoing exactly what you're saying today. I think we can even go further. We know that student voice committee is
enshrined in state law yet all school Chicago public schools don't have student voice committees. I would like to commit with you. How do we get all of our schools to have student voice committees? And not only that, how do we get students limited voting power so
that some of these things that you're talking about in budget and LSC's, you don't only have voice, you have agency. I would go further and say student, it's not just student voice that we need. We need student agency. and not just student agency for the best performing
students, but for students who need supports that are in option schools that are in all schools around Chicago. So, this is not a political thing you're doing. This is a movement that you're doing that politics is involved in that movement. Uh you have my commitment. I
know you just heard the commitment of member Brown. I know you have the commitment of member Rosenfeld and everyone on this board, but please uh bring your proposals to us. Be bold, push us, hold us accountable, do it in
public, and don't let this be the the last time that we see you. We need to see you here regularly talking about the real tangible things that you're trying to accomplish. Thank you for your courage. Thank you for your voice. And I look forward to your agency.
member Zach. >> Uh yeah, let me add my thanks also to you all for being here and um it's just so wonderful to to see and hear about the work you're doing. Um I had the privilege of going to a couple of the
the mental health roundts. So I see some students that I recognize from there. Um and I also had the privilege of being a student voice facilitator for over 10 years at my school. And I know how really important it is that we give all students the opportunity for input um
not only to to submit their ideas but to be part of the implementation of those ideas. So when we hear the wonderful things that that you all are working on um I too want to offer to be part of whatever it will take to make sure that that you all are part of every step of
the way. not just giving the ideas you want to see us implement, but working with us on how they should be implemented in in all of our schools. So, thank you so much. Um, it's just wonderful to see to see your activism and and go students
>> member boy. >> I just want to thank you all for coming downtown and sharing your stories with us. Um, I was still a waitress at a bar and
um, it was a live music venue and Mikvah Challenge used to rent the space on Saturday mornings at 9:00 a.m. and do these all day classes with students. Um, and they would talk to them about politics and and how to discern um, what
you're hearing in in the news, in the media. and then they brought a bunch of um candidates for a race in and that's the first time I met Barack Obama and this was way before he was he was running for president. So I I want you
all to really dig in. Um I love that you're sharing your voice, but I know sometimes it's hard to get up and go to extra classes and have to pay attention and I know that that that that it's challenging, but this is an incredible opportunity for you guys. You don't know where this is going to lead. you don't
know who you're going to bump into. I hate that I didn't get a president a picture with Barack Obama at the time. Um I thought he's good. He speaks really well. You know, who knew? Um but I'm I'm really glad you all came down to share. I think you should be excited for the
opportunities that are in front of you. And um thank you so much. Take take put write this in your journal. Take some pictures. Don't forget this is important stuff you guys are doing. Thanks, >> Member Rosenfeld. Thank you for coming down here. Thank you for being here. One of my goals for
the next four years on this board is to include students as part of our policy writing. You are we work for you. You're not visitors here. You belong here. You're welcome here all the time. Reach out. Send us emails. Tell us what we
need to do better. I went to some of the roundts and I'm glad that the things that we learned are part of the policies that we're creating. But let's take it one step further. And I really mean it. Don't think of yourselves as visitors. Think of yourselves as people that belong here and come here. Tell us what
we need to do. And I promise you that we will get that done. So, thank you for being here. Congratulations. Enjoy the last few weeks of summer. Good luck at U of I. And um thank you, >> member Lopez. >> Thank you, board president.
Thank you. Thank you for being here this morning. I wish I would have been as involved uh when at your age. Um which is something that looking back uh you know it's sometimes scary. It's difficult being in front right and making these whether it be speech in
front um especially there's a lot of attendees today. But don't let that hold you back. keep having conversations and discussions not just here with us but also right at every level whether it be your local alderman uh your representatives senators and by going
with the meetings and community also bring your parents along. I think it's important that we continue fighting for our communities. Thank you. Gracias. >> I'll just say in closing that all of you all are incredible. Uh we appreciate you coming down, but I also want to offer
you an apology. Uh because you should not be asking us what else is going to be cut. Uh that should not be what is first and foremost on your mind. We got to do better. You deserve more. You're absolutely incredible. I wish you all the best and thank you for coming
down this afternoon. President Horn, before we move forward, I do want to recognize board member Deberry joined the meeting at 10:51 a.m. Board member Thora joined the meeting at 11:05 a.m. Thank you,
>> Dr. King. We're ready for your remarks. >> Thank you, President Harden. That was a wonderful presentation and I want to start by thanking the department of student voice and engagement. I'm sure you are going to get a workout this year. Um, a welcome one I'm sure. Um, I
also want to thank the uh our partners at Mikvah Challenge and Communities United for helping our students lift up their voices. And of course, I want to thank the students themselves. We are here because you are here. And so
absolutely, this should not be the last time that we hear from you. At a time when civic engagement is so sorely needed, it's encouraged to see the young people willing to roll up their sleeves and get involved. Today's
presentation is an important reminder of of student voice, especially as we begin to prepare for a new school year. our students. Again, you are the reason why we are here. And I want you to know that your school district is always
listening. Your input is not an extra or a nice to have. Your input is our navigation and is essential to the component of our daily work. I look forward to all of the what you will
bring to the table. even those of you have who have left and now are alumni of Chicago public schools. So I want to thank you for coming down and sharing your voice with us. So again, just one more round of applause as we close out because
this year we wrapped up the the majority of our summer programs at the end of last week and I want to thank everyone who made these opportunities for our young people possible. Our summer programs range from credit recovery to CTE camps to enrichment experiences at
more than 200 CPS schools. They also included transition programs for our students entering preK, kindergarten, and 9th grade, which will no doubt smooth the path for these students during what is a very critical time in their education.
Finally, we are proud to host internships. We are proud to host internships where our high school students and recent graduates receive hands-on experience in areas that could spell a to could spell out a future career. We even have an intern in the
CEO's office. Um, next week, this is finally, really finally for this part, the district will host its summer graduation to celebrate the seniors who persevered to complete their diploma diplomas. They will join
more than 22,000 other of their classmates and taking the next step towards college and career. I want to thank all of our staff who were involved in summer programming. I'll now move on to an update on our
district's evolving approach to whole school safety. We will hear from our safety and security team on this a bit later in the meeting. But for now, I am pleased to share that the C that CPS is releasing an implementation guide that will give every school a clear
districtup supported process for developing a holistic safety plan that meets the unique needs of its students and school community. This guide will this guide will help schools create plans that incorporate not only the physical safety but the
resto but restorative justice, the emotional safety and improvements to school culture and climate. We look forward to hearing more about this guidance later in the meeting and to working alongside our school communities in developing these essential safety plans.
I'll now move on to what I know why everybody is here. Budget season. Um, as everyone knows knows, this was not an easy budget season. Like school districts around the
country, CPS is facing serious financial challenges. Enrollment is declining while at the same time the needs of our students are evolving and growing. and funding from our partners in government has not kept up with those needs as they evolved and
grown. For the second year in a row, CPS has faced had to face down a significant budget deficit going into next school year. And so far, for the second year in a row, we did public engagement to ensure our budget aligns with the needs
of our communities. I'm beginning with urgency of this moment because the stakes are very high. We need to leave today with an approved budget that allows schools to only not to start but to end instability.
Put simply, we are much worse um crash flow is much worse in a much worse position than last year and with inschool staff reporting to work in less than three weeks. We need access to short-term financing in order to make payroll. Staff returns to work on August
17th, and these employees will be expecting their first paycheck of the new school year on September 4th. If we pass a budget today, our finance team expects that they will have funds. They will have the funds we need to make payroll by September 2nd, just two days
before the deadline. Delaying the budget would be a catastrophic for our district. It would be a de facto shutdown right when students are returning to school. We cannot let that happen. So given that we need to pass a budget today, I want
to underscore why this budget that I have recommended is the right one. The important of passing this budget as recommended um was strategically crafted across all departments within Chicago public schools. Over the past two years, we have held
community budget roundts to ensure that community voice is reflected in our budget. I want to thank the hundreds of parents, students, educators, labor representatives, elected officials, community partners, board members um who
joined those conversations using using critical input from our communities. We have created a budget that is thoughtful, balanced, responsible, and student centered and most of all stable. We are maintaining the core investments
that have most direct impact on our overarching goal which is to provide every child from every community a rigorous, joyful and equitable learning experience. We are increasing funding for schools by $143 million over last
year and maintaining a funding formula that provides resources to schools based primarily on student need. We are adding over a thousand positions to support our students with disabilities, special education teachers, classroom
assistants, and related service providers. We are increasing support for bilingual programs across the district and ensuring that our bilingual coordinators are placed where they are needed so that they can support our English language learner experience. We
are maintaining funding for all of our current crossing guards as well as our safe haven and safe passage programs and we are continuing to invest in a team of climate officers who can respond to school safety needs around the city. In
addition to these critical investments, this budget includes structural changes to close our $732 million budget gap and to put the district on stronger financial footing. We've started and as we always do with prioritizing
efficiencies and reducing spending in central office and citywide departments to keep cuts away from the classroom at the school level. This budget adjusts the formulas for positions allocated for our schools include including slightly
adjusting the studenttoteer ratios for foundational teaching positions as well as the number of assistant principal positions allocated to our smaller schools. To be clear, these moves did not increase class- size limits, which are established by our collective
bargain agreement with our labor partners, but this will ensure that staff allocations reflect the decline in our enrollment and are more tightly aligned to the needs of our students in each building. In fact, many schools with will see
overall staffing increases this year once special education positions are layered in. On paper, these reductions decrease our structural deficit by more than $330 million, helping to close this year's budget gap. But these aren't just
reductions on paper. They impact people, their lives, their well-beings, and the students that they serve. Every staffing loss in our district has an impact at the central office level, the citywide level, and especially at the school level.
But let's look at the long view. Over the past seven years, CPS added more than 10,000 staff while the district lost 45,000 students. And even with this year's reduction, we still have close to 9,000 more staff today than we did 7
years ago. Furthermore, last year CPS had 1,700 vacancies, and we expect a similar number this year. And CPS staff is typically rehired at a rate of 65 to 85%. And that still leaves a large
portion of our classes uncovered. And behind every face, there's a classroom of students. So we still have a significant need and talent. So we encourage those impacted to look for opportunities that open up as we begin the school year. This process
again shows us the need for additional revenue solutions. As I mentioned earlier, funding from our government part government partners is not keeping up with our students needs. At the federal level, pandemic relief aid has expired and federal funding, especially
for students with disabilities, is falling short. At the state level, CPS is only funded at 73% of what the state of Illinois considers adequate according to its own formula. While evidence-based funding was a step in the right
direction, it has not been fully funded. CPS is uniquely penalized when it comes to support for teacher pensions. We have to cover about twothirds of our teacher pensions while every other district in the state pays next to nothing. And we still do not have f full funding for
mandated categoricals. At the county level, delays in Cook County Properties Tax Administration have severely disrupted our cash flow, forcing CPS to take out short-term loans to make payroll. The advocate advocacy and
pressure on these government entities to deliver for our students will not cease with the passage of this budget. But let's be clear, at the federal level, we are resisting cuts and attacks rather than building expectations for more revenue. At the county level, the money
owed to us is not new revenue. It's backfill last year's balance and would not help this year's budget. At the state level, we will continue our advocacy and I'm excited that we will soon be bringing on a new IGA chief to lead this work to help deliver
structural progressive revenue solutions for our district. We have seen what it takes to move Springfield, a long-term sustained statewide effort with a clear vision and a clear strategy and we are excited to continue building this campaign.
There is an African proverb, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. We need to go together. We need to move together in a unified way that will give us the best and most effective chance of getting
long-term structural support from the state. In the immediate term, our most supportive financial partner has been the city of Chicago. Over the past several years, the city has provided additional funding to CPS in the form of tax increment financing or tiff re
surplus revenue. Because the city declares any annual tiff surplus later in the Because the city declares any annual tiff surplus later in the calendar year, CPS must use an estimate when developing its budget. This year we
budgeted $200 million, a conservative estimate when you consider that CPS received a net over $400 million to support operations last year. We said that if additional revenue did not materialize that we would need we would need five all staff furlow days that
would not impact student instruction and that we would institute a midyear spending freeze to keep cost under control. We take community engagement seriously and we listen to what our community is telling us they need. Since we released our proposed budget on July
15th, many of our stakeholders um expressed resistance to this idea. While we propose f fund proposed furlow days would not have impacted instructional days, it would they would have impacted professional development
time for many staff members and compensation for all CPS employees. So after carefully considering that feedback, we have revised our proposed budget to eliminate the five furlow days as a budgetsaving measure this year.
Based on recent tiff surplus funding trends, we feel confident in revising our tiff revenue expectations in a way that will take furlows off the table. We feel that given these trends, our revised estimate of 285 million is still
a conservative estimate. We will continue working at ev every level of government to secure the revenue that our students need and deserve. Importantly, we do not need to amend the budget to pursue secure or pursue or secure additional funding from our
government partners. And I want to switch hats. Um, I'm grateful for my 33 years in Chicago public schools. And so, I'm going to lean into that experience. I'm going to tap into the historical
harm I have experienced as a leader in Chicago public schools. As a former teacher, principal, and you all have heard that, you know, that's my tagline, former teacher, principal, and now superintendent. This moment feels eerily familiar for me. I was a
principal at Courtney Elementary School in 2017 when CPS balanced its budget with state revenue that did not come through. In the middle of the school year, I was forced to reopen my budget, cancel programming, and lay off staff.
The staff I had to let go, they went with the staff I had remaining went without colas for two years and were furled for four days. The district was forced to cut additional central office staff and take out long-term debt to cover some of the gap that tanked the
district's credit rating. This was severely disruptive to my students. Those are the faces that I see. Those are the conversations that I recall and that is why I put forth a recommended budget that I did and it is
why I stand by the budget that I have recommended. We are still paying for some of those uh those loans from the decisions that were made all those years ago and still impacting students today. You heard the students talking about the cuts that
they're experiencing. Back in 2017, CPS's budget made an assumption that didn't come through when the governor vetoed the legislation. CPS was m forced to make devastating
decisions, devastating mid-year cuts. We know and we will continue um to advocate at all levels of government for the funding that our students not only need, but they rightfully deserve.
And we also need to learn from our mistakes instead of repeating them. Passing this budget does not preclude us from advocating for additional funding from the state. I am there with you in the fight for more revenue. And it
couldn't be more personal professional than that than the experience of 2017. But given that we need to pass a balanced budget today that is based on the information that we have in order to make payroll and start the school year,
we need to move forward with the budget as is recommended. In school staff reports on August 17th and they are expecting their first paycheck of the new year on September 4th. Again, if we pass this budget
today, we estimate that we will receive the money for our next round of short term loans on September 2nd, just two days before we make payroll. We are one CPS. We need to move forward
as one as one team in service of our students and the community and C in Chicago. I am asking the board to pass my budget as recommended. Thank you, Mr. President. This concludes my prepared
remarks. President Harden, uh the remarks will be translated into Spanish as a condensed statement. If you wish to receive the fully translated statement, please contact the board office for assistance. Thank you. Excellenc.
program. Foreign Fore speech. Fore catastrophe. classes. Department Fore! Foreign! Foreign!
official element. The forch. Safe haven is safe passage. forricul. Deficit personality and impacto. Central. scholar. Capacino
formula. for Chicago. personal. fortos. Foreign for personal Foreign speech. Foreign speech. Foreign speech. Thank you. We have no committee updates this mo
month, so we'll go straight into public participation. In compliance with the Illinois Open Meetings Act, public participation is the portion of the board meeting that grants district stakeholders the opportunity to address the board with their concerns and comments. And is the time for the board
and CPS senior leadership to listen and hear from you rather than a time for dialogue during or after your remarks. And while we can't discuss personnel matters, public participation is a key component of transparent governance and it provides us as board members as well
as senior leadership an opportunity to listen to everyone who has signed up to speak. This board takes equity of voice very seriously and while we may not address your comments directly during public participation, CPS leadership is always present at our meetings and will
address concerns as follow-ups after the meeting. As a district and as a board, we also have many spaces for authentic dialogue. Each and every one of our board members hosts board office hours so that we may have a conversation with you. So, we invite you to use our
website CPS cpsb.org if you want to meet with the board member during office hours. We encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to meet with board members outside of a board meeting. Thank you for this consideration. And as a reminder, union representatives will be
allotted five minutes to speak before poke participation and any elected officials will be allotted five minutes to speak after the conclusion of poke participation. Board secretary, please share the rules of poke participation. >> Thank you, President Harden.
Members of the public who registered to speak were given the option to attend in person or via an electronic format. For those who prefer to attend via an electronic format, they were given information to access this meeting by dialing a number and using their phone. We did did this so that speakers with
limited or no access to the internet or who may have weak internet connection could still participate using their phones. Also, members of the public may submit written comments for board of education meetings via the written comments form on the board's website at cpsboe.org
or mailed to 42 West Madison Street, Garden Level. Written comments received between the day the public agenda was posted through 5:00 pm the day after the board of education meeting will be submitted to the board and published within five business days on our website at cpsboe.org.
Speakers, please listen while I provide directions for public participation. I will call your name and number when it is your turn to speak. For speakers joining us virtually, as a reminder to unmute, please enter star six. Once you
hear your name, please state your name for the record. I will then start the two-minute timer. When there are 30 seconds remaining, I will inform you so that you can proceed to conclude your remarks to allow for the next speaker to begin. For anyone standing with the speaker, note that in order to comply with the city's fire code, please stand
along the glass partitions on the marked spots to keep aisles clear. Thank you. President Harden, before we begin calling speakers from the speakers list, we do have union reps who would like to address the board. We'll begin with Stacy Davis Gates, CTU president, who is
here in person. Some of my friends are coming. My my my sisters, the double antandra here. Sometimes I um look directly at G2 Brown when I get here because seeing him up
there helps to anchor the why. This man starved his body for almost a month to keep a school open. There are some people who understand that difficult decisions in this city at
this place has always been shouldered by the children that we implore to do better. difficult decisions cannot continue to be at the expense of opportunity for the
children in this city while at the same time holding them responsible for everything that goes wrong in this city. You got to give people an opportunity to get it right and I respect everyone up here and the very
difficult job you have. If you heard CEO King a moment ago, you heard CEO King say, "I don't want to fail." She said, "I want this to work."
Me too. Them too. Them too. All of us. We've spent our entire summer teachers who got layoff notices asking this city to invest in young
people yesterday. Um they had an interaction with Speaker Chris Welch and he said, "I have your back." And then some reporter went to the Senate President and he says the same thing. I don't think you know how
monumental it is at this juncture in this fight because I do this every year. I've done this every year as an employee of the Chicago Teachers Union since 2011. So, I can assure you I don't blame you and I don't envy you in this moment
because I know it's not your fault. In fact, you're trying to help it and fix it. That's why you're going to assume that the mayor of Chicago is going to come through at a higher number than we know because those estimates haven't been
realized until September and then the city council got a vote on it. But because he's given a billion dollars already, that's a safe assumption. You know what else is a safe assumption? That the governor follows the law
and funds the schools. Cuz both things are true. Both things are true. So what I'm asking you to do today is the thing that I'm willing to do. I am willing to take this as an
opportunity to do the right thing and invest in our kids and do it with the people who do it every day for you. There are people standing up here right now that do not have a job. They you
hear me? They don't have a job and they're up here because they know that because they don't have a job, their students are going to go without or being in a larger class size. I love you, Dr. King, but I do not know how you doing that math. If
teachers are not in the building, class sizes are going to go up. It It's just the math. I understand. I respect what you are trying to say and do. I do. and that math doesn't math. I am saying to you all today that you
are going to have to assume the opportunity for the young people in Chicago and you're going to have to assume the responsibility to make other people assume that with you the way that you're going to assume it for the mayor of Chicago. He signed
up and he said yes to the tune of a billion dollars. Who else can you assume as partners in this? Can you assume Maria Papis? Can you assume Tony Prewinkle? Can you assume JB Pritsker?
Because we have people who assume it every day. They're my members. They're the parents. They're the students. It's you, too. We all do this together. So, let's assume that we're going to
continue to do this together. Let's assume that doing this together makes it impossible for people to keep telling us no because G2 Brown assumed a stance to keep diet open. He assumed a coalition
stance and starved himself for 30 days to keep a school open that is now thriving. So, see, I'mma bet on his assumption. Thank you for your comments. The next union rep is Jen Conant, CTu Charter Division Chair, who is here in
person. Please proceed. >> Good morning, members of the board and CEO King. The work before you today is not easy. I urge you to amend the budget with that in mind in order to reduce the cuts to
schools across our city. That includes cuts announced for your newest school, Shy Arts, as well. So, let's start here. It's not equitable to take away dedicate dedicated educators and staff from our schools. It's not equitable to eliminate
programming that our schools are thriving in. It's not equitable to dismantle what is working at our schools across the city. Access to highquality arts education for students who've never had it before in their lives. There are choices to be made today about how you choose to
invest for the best outcomes of uh for our communities. Investing in schools is the priority. After the budget vote today, there is a second step for those of you who make the choice to invest in Shy Arts. The alternative to saying yes to the
resolution is essentially letting the school close when every last teaching artist that students have known are permanently removed. We know there are arts organizations across the city who are counting on investment by CPS so that they can financially support this
school. We know there are donors waiting to hear how CPS will move forward with preserving or dismantling the thriving program at this school. We know an investment in Shy Arts will lead to a growth in revenue for arts education across the city. We are asking you all
to make a one-year commitment that aligns with your beliefs that we need more access to arts education for our students. Students and parents at Shy Arts have been waiting for months to know what is possible for them in terms of course selections and opportunities for
continuing their arts education. They still do not know what will be offered. And some students are being told fewer and fewer arts classes are an option. They say it feels like they have been sold a lie. School starts in a few weeks and not one single teaching artist has
been hired as a resident teacher or resident artist. You all voted to maintain the arts conservatory. But let me tell you bluntly that there is no conservatory without the teaching artists. Students from every ward across the city of Chicago who choose to attend
Shy Arts as the worldclass arts high school are counting on you to invest in them and in their futures as artists because not all of them can access free public arts education elsewhere. Our union and the whole shy arts community have been ready to negotiate,
compromise, and find solutions as we have from day one. We all know this transition will come with changes, but we have only been told that we are not part of the decision-making process, that our members are not experts on their own school, and that CPS will just
inform us of what is possible. A yes on this resolution will direct CPS to work with us for solutions that can successfully build a CPS version of this arts conservatory. A no will be a vote to close the school, replace it with something very different in the same
building, the building where Lafayette Elementary already went through the trauma of a closure and send the message that our students and city just cannot have the same investment in arts education that we see in other districts across the country. So, please choose
students, choose the arts, vote yes. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. The next union rep is Diane Palmer, SEIU Local 73 president, who is here in person.
Good morning, Dr. King, President Harden, and members of the board. My name is Diane Palmer, president of SEIU Local 73, and I speak today on behalf of 16,000 essential school workers, the special education classroom assistants,
the bus aids and monitors, the custodians, the security officers, the crossing guards, the parent workers, and the miscellaneous workers. the people who open the door of this district every single morning and make sure our
children are safe, fed, and ready to learn. On Monday, our union sent a letter to Dr. King and to this board. We said the proposed budget of 200 million tiff surplus estimates were too conservative and the CPS needed to find
at least 85 million more dollars, enough to take every single furlow day off the table. We didn't ask nicely, we demanded it. Because furlow states are not shared sacrifice. They are unpaid, forced onto
workers who are already among the lowest paid workers in the district. Many of them are black and brown women holding their own families together on poverty level wages. On Tuesday, Dr. Keane and her team answered that call. The revised
budget in front of you today includes the additional $85 million in tiff surplus funds and eliminates the furlow days our members were braced to take. I want to say clearly and on the record that that is real leadership. Today we
asked the board to vote yes pass the revised budget exactly as it stands. We know that there's talk of holding off or building this budget around additional state revenue that has not been appropriated, has not been signed off on, is not in our hands. I understand
the appeal of that. More state funding for public education is a fight we are in every single day alongside of you in Springfield. But hope is not a budget line. We understand the speaker said he would raise um it in his veto session
yesterday. We have spoken to dozens of legislators and Springfield experts who have been clear that there's no pathway to 90. Today, we anticipate some legislators will speak and encourage everyone that they can deliver state
funds. We also know most legislators won't publicly condemn the decision and go against the speaker despite their private opinion and advice not to do this. Unsecured state revenue cannot pay a seeker's rent in September. It cannot
guarantee a bus aid is on the bus when school opens. Our students do not get to wait for Springfield to make up its mind, and neither should this board. Every day this budget is delayed or built on a foundation that isn't real money yet is a day of uncertainty for
the workers who are trying to plan their lives and the families uh who are trying to plan their school year. There are some of you who will say the tiff surplus is not real money yet. But the reality is that we have millions mult I'm sorry multiple years of experience
where 285 million is still a conservative estimate waiting on Springfield is the risky path and our children's education is not the place to take that risk after running after returning from summer break with no income coming in our members cannot
afford to go back to the drawing board and risk CPS not having the funds necessary to make payroll low-wage black and brown workers livelihood should never be used as pawns. They deserve dignity and respect from this board. Do not repeat the same budget mistakes that
Rammy Emanuel and Florence K Clayool made that led to mass layoffs, risky borrowing, furlow days, and our members giving back the raises that they had negotiated. Educate yourselves. Look up what happened in 2016 2017 when state
money was budgeted but did not come through. board members who took on this responsibility. Half of you ran for these seats and the other half were appointed. You accepted those appointments. It is time for you to act. Stand up for the school system you would
like to see. Regardless of the threats or promises, no matter what, it's time to stand up. I pray that 11 of you vote for the CEO's budget. Tell our members, the community, and 320,000 students that you care. Tell them that you you have 30
seconds >> are not willing to ask you are not willing to risk banking on unsecured state funds. Board members, we are asking you to meet the moment. We are asking you to lead with integrity today, no matter the potential personal consequences. Vote yes today to approve
Dr. King's revised budget as written. No delays, no dependence on revenue that isn't secured, no reopening the door to furlow dates. Thousands of people are counting on you to do what is right. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments.
The next union rep is Kia Banks, CPAA president, who is here in person. Good morning. Last year, I stood before you and said something very simple. I asked that at the moment that we passed our budget, we
will begin uh preparing the next one together. However, two things were true. I left this bud uh podium and went back to our business as usual, and you did too. See, I was a school leader in 2017, so I
too remember those dark days. However, today we're here again. And this is exactly why today's vote cannot simply be remembered as the day that Chicago public schools adopted another budget. I keep hearing that word
together. It must be remembered today that this was the day that we, the collective we, decided to break this cycle, the day that we chose to lead beyond this room, beyond this fiscal year, and
beyond the crisis. Because regardless of how you vote today, teachers and staff have not received a paycheck since early July. seekers in security have not received a paycheck since early July.
Many of the employees who will welcome our students back in less than three weeks have no guarantee that they will receive a paycheck in September. I need you to really think about that. How welcoming is an environment for children
when your own children couldn't go back to school shopping, didn't have what they needed to start school, and you don't know if you're going to get a check in two weeks. The very people preparing the meals for our students may be wondering how
they're going to buy groceries for their own families. The educators preparing classrooms for learning are wondering whether or not their jobs will be secure. And there are principles, my colleagues, who are preparing to open schools without the
assistant principles they have depended on for years to share this beautiful burden of leading a public school. That is so much bigger than today's vote because the people I represent don't experience budgets, they experience
consequences. When you vote today, principles see more than line items. We see classrooms. We see children. We see the t the teacher who may not be there if assumptions don't become reality. We see the
assistant principal who helped build school culture, mentor teachers, respond to crises, and support students. They may be gone and some of them are now gone because certainty for them did not
arrive. When we see the counselor carrying impossible case loads, the lunchrooms that are operating short staff, the custodians doing everything possible to keep a building clean and security keeping a building safe, we're the ones
that hear the parents asking why my child's services have changed. And we are the ones that have to have an answer. See, that is what it means to lead through uncertainty.
I recognize the difficulty of decision before you today. No one should ever pretend that this is easy. But see, difficult decisions are exactly what each of you signed up for. And difficult decisions cannot become an excuse for repeating the same cycle that
has brought us back to this point year after year. A bill a a budget built on assumptions may be necessary today. But a school district governed by assumptions cannot become our new
reality. Assumptions don't create stability. Assumptions don't retain great educators. Assumptions don't reassure families who are deciding right now if CPS is the right place for their child. Assumptions
don't build confidence with legislators, taxpayers, or our city. Only a plan does that. Real leadership that is committed to collective action does that. Our members are not asking
anyone in this room for a miracle. We are asking for you today to this be the beginning and not the end of a fundamentally different approach. We need you to vote to pass this budget today, but tomorrow we need you to choose stability for our schools.
Illinois already told us what our children need. The evidence-based funding formula was created to answer one question. What does it actually cost to educate every child? Today, by the state's own calculation, Chicago public
schools remains nearly $1 billion below adequacy funding. Those are not our numbers. Those are the state's own determination of what our schools need. Those numbers are real and the needs behind those numbers are real. The
consequences of ignoring uh the the lack of those dollars um are absolutely real. >> Please conclude your remarks. >> So tomorrow's work cannot simply be finding enough money to survive just one more year. It must be bringing the governor, the general assembly, this
board, district leadership, the mayor, Cook County, all of our labor partners, parents, philanthropy around one common mission to accelerate the path toward fully funding our under uh under the evidencebased funding formula while
building a long-term financial roadmap that finally brings stability to our schools. Because for too long we only respond in crisis. Every single moment morning principles and assistant principles have to bring together people with different perspectives,
responsibilities, and pro priorities. We're able to get them to work together around one mission, educating our children. So now it's time that the district and this board does the same thing. It's time to prove that one CPS is not a slogan. It is whether or not
the adults in this city finally choose to work together. We have to do more than pass a budget. We have to have a new direction and we have to end this annual cycle of uncertainty. Let this be the day that one CPS finally chooses to
lead with a real plan instead of just an assumption. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. The last union rep is Toanda Murray, Unite, Local One, Executive Board Member, who was here in person.
Good morning everyone. Hello Dr. King, President Harden, and members of the board. My name is Towanda Murray. I serve as an executive board member at Unite Here Local One. I am a 30-year veteran at the United
Center and I am I and my children were products of the CPS school system. Our union rep represent CPS lunchroom attendants, cooks, porters, and associate lunchroom managers. Our members love what they do every every
day. They feed, care, and nurture our children. Many students receive their only meal from these workers. Yet these same people struggle to feed their own families. The survey of CPS lunchrooms workers was
conducted and delivered to you last year that showed 47% of the workers reported having trouble paying for housing and 22% said their families had to visit food pantries.
It was shameful last fall and more shameful today because the board has been aware of the crisis facing lunchroom workers for so long. For more than 12 months, the board of education
has allowed Chicago lunchroom ladies to languish without a fair contract, rely on food pantries, struggle to make rent, on CPS poverty wages. This is unacceptable.
The negotiations over the lunchroom workers contract has gone on and bringing lunch ladies up to a equal wage to the minimum paid of other support staff has been delayed long enough. After months of delay, the lunch ladies
has had enough. I have in my hand a letter from the local one negotiating committee for you guys. Can someone receive this? If you want to proceed down, it reads, "Dear Dr. King, pursuant to Er,
Unite here, local one hereby initiates fact findings for labor contracts with CPS. Please contact our council, Robert Blah, to select a qualified impartial factfinder. Best regards, CPS lunchroom workers
unite here local one negotiating committee. The board of education should not approve any budget that fails to bring lunchroom workers up to the minimum that other workers inside CPS have. It is the past time for the board
to settle a fair contract with CPS lunchroom that ends the inequality that have faced far too long. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments, President Harden. We we are now ready to
call registered speakers from the speakers list. will begin with the two speakers from the Chicago Westside branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Carl Brinen, board secretary. I think we have Senator
Mark Wick here. Okay. Elected officials are call after registered speakers. >> Understood. Thanks, >> Carl Brinsson. >> Good afternoon, board members, CEO King,
CPS staff. Once again, I'm Carl Brinen, president of Meritus of the Westside branch in OP, sitting here representing the Westside OP and other community organizations. We're here standing in total support of the budget that was presented to you by the administration and we're asking the
board to also support this budget. Also, we know there's some difficult times, some difficult troubles ahead of us. We know we struggle with making hard decisions, but we know we selected an elected CEO to try to navigate this ship. We're into support of her in
navigation of this and we ask you to support it. We also understand that we have to get more engaged in supporting and advocating in Springfield to get more support from our legislators and our governor in Springfield. We're willing to take on that task and we're willing to work hard to bring those kind
of resources back to the CPS. But at this particular moment right in time, we're here and asking you to stand with us, the NWP and other community organizations to support the budget that has been presented before you by this administration. So, thank you. Welcome your support.
and we believe that you will support because it is the right thing to do. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Princess Sha. Good morning everyone. Um I will say I have a child that is 25 and he has not
been in um CPS school and I am not going to disclose my age because I was at a CPS school as well. But what I will say is it's very disheartening um to hear some of these stories and I will say for me to continue to see the overlay for
the underlay as we say in the hood and also to continuously see this okey do that of a show that's continuously going on. Um Miss King I applaud you for having um the grit and the guts to sit here through all of this because it's a lot.
I'm just sitting here now for my first time and it's a lot for me. But one thing I will say is is that I continuously hear the same thing and the little the little snub comments and um I will say what I continuously see is a conditioned
community on so many different levels, right? A lot of these people here said in this audience, even the children have been conditioned to learn how to survive, which we know for many black people and Hispanic too, but mostly black, we have to always find a way to
survive. And it's sad um because one of the things I kept hearing about is something about being an assumed budget. And again, I'm still learning and I would do my research. But one thing I can say is my grandparents raised me and said, "If you're assuming anything, we know what the end of that comment means.
That means that you don't have uh a bird in a hen, two in the bush, that type of analogy. >> You have 30 seconds remaining. >> Um but what I will say is is that I don't see the same push cuz I spent the entire month of May just about in Springfield. I didn't see the same push
down there. And the only thing I keep hearing about is that Mayor Johnson has put up a billion dollars. But I keep hearing them say, "Oh, these state people are telling us we're going to support, but no dollar amount." And I think for us to continue to sit here and hear this over and over again, it it's
very appalling. And I just uh I want to go ahead on and challenge people that when the veto session does happen, we need to get down there and let's say, hey, I need a dollar amount in hand to help with this schooling because we have people, you're doing a real budget and it's needed. that fat needs to be
trimmed because at the end of the day that means that since 2017 we've had people that have been going into work clocking in and again I don't understand it all but I would do my research with only 27 kids in a classroom for a budget of a school that has 3,000 kids and I
will leave that at that. >> Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Corey Blake. Good afternoon. My name is Dr. Corey Blake Lasano. I'm a music teacher and a gender and sexuality alliance or GSA
adviser in the Belmont Craig community. I'm a Latina transwoman and I survived my youth only thanks to the availability of music and arts classes in my schools growing up. for so many LGBTQ plus youth across the city of Chicago and
especially in our most disinvested communities on the south and west sides where GSAs are harder to come by. Arts classes become the spaces where queer students can safely and creatively express themselves in a moment when their very identities are being attacked
by politicians and dehumanized on the social media they access every day and in communities where they may not be accepted by their own families. By cutting arts teachers and programs when so many schools already don't have
enough K through2 arts education. This budget as it stands only increases the harm that is already being inflicted onto queer youth. Our federal government is trying to kill trans people. Please don't help them. According to CPS's own
youth risk behavior survey data, 29% almost a third of CPS students identify as LGBTQ plus and 1 in4 of those have considered suicide because of the failure of our schools and legislators
to provide for them safe and affirming environments. But it doesn't have to be this way. And while I will continue to fight and organize to ensure that every single LGBTQ plus child in Chicago public schools has access to a GSA, today the board has the ability to make
a decision that will make sure that all children have access to the music and arts that provide kids spaces where they can belong, build confidence, process traumas, and express themselves. It is exactly for this reason that I'm here today to demand the board of education
and Chicago public schools to fix this budget and to exhaust all options to ensure that every single CPS student has access to the arts programs that are fundamental to survival for so many queer and trans kids as they did for me.
Thank you. >> Thank you for your comment. The next speaker is Elizabeth Lundine. Good afternoon. My name is Libby Lundine. I'm a master's prepared second grade teacher in Austin. I spoke earlier
this month at the special budget hearing and I'm back to continue to fight for my school and my students. Since the last time I spoke to this board, the five potential furlow days have been removed from the proposed budget by seeking additional funding from the city. While
this is a great win, it does nothing to address the 2,000 educators who lost their jobs and the countless students who will be affected by these cuts. I stated last week that Dri lost first, second, third, and fourth grade teachers
with no plan on how to fill these positions. Only the disastrous proposition of having all four of these foundational grades being forced into one classroom each with 30 plus students and fourth grade with 45 students. Not
only are these class sizes untenable, the loss of these particular teachers is devastating. Anyone who has looked back on their time as a student can name one educator who made a difference in their life. Be it a coach who believed in their abilities, a counselor who listened when no one else
would, a math teacher who finally got numbers to make sense, or a reading teacher who opened up a universe of possibilities through books. We lost a teacher who joined every committee, including the local school council, to present solutions to improve our school
while also running a beloved afterchool program. We also lost a teacher who started a snack program to ensure our students had the nutrition they needed to focus on their academics and was creating a back- to-school event to engage our parents. These layoffs may be
numbers to you, but to the schools they serve, they are instrumental in keeping our schools running and our students learning. You found money from the city to remove the furlow days. Now join us to demand that the state pay its share and save our educators. Do not accept
this current budget without exhausting all options. You have a choice. Choose our schools. Choose our students. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Traybon at St.
Good afternoon everyone. My name is Trayvon Estie. Uh I'm a Chicago public schools educator and a proud CPS graduate as well as a special education advocate. Um every morning parents entrust us with
their most precious gifts, their children. They trust us to educate them, support them, and help them reach their full potential. That trust is sacred. As a CPS graduate, I know what can be accomplished when students are
the priority. CPS invested in me. I b I benefited from special education services that helped me overcome challenges, discover my strengths, and shape my future. I had educators who believed in me and encouraged me to dream beyond my circumstances.
Today I have the privilege privilege of giving back as a CPS educator. I work in a blended prek classroom where I see every day that early intervention and individualized support can change the trajectory of a child's life. I see what happens when students receive the
resources and attention they deserve. I appreciate that the five furlow days were removed from this budget, but that is not enough. This proposal still permanently lays off approximately 2,000 CPS employees. Those are not just
numbers on the page. They are teachers, clinicians, pair of professionals, and support staff who provide critical support for our students. When we cut staff, we cut opportunities. Educators are stretched thinner. Students receive less attention. And the
children who need the most support, especially students with disabilities, are often the ones who feel the impact first. The the reality is that there are options. Educators, parents, and community members have been standing up for our students. They have traveled to
Springfield, met with legislators, and called on our state leaders to fully fund public education. Some have been in this struggle much longer than I have. If our communities can continue showing up for our students, then our leaders must do the same. We need leaders willing to fight for the resources our
schools deserve. A budget is more than just numbers on a page. It shows what we value. I urge you to fix this budget or vote it down. Call a special session and fight for the funding CPS schools need. Every morning remarks, >> parents place their trust in us. Today,
we're asking you to earn theirs. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. The next three speakers are from Hide Park Academy. Annie is Donald. I waited for my people to come on. Okay.
>> Good morning. My name is Zarya. I am a upcoming sixth grader at Parkside and a youth leader with Southside Together. I am here because we are organizing for a peace room implanted into Parkside. The peace room is a space where students can express themsel and
learn how to manage their emotions. I used to have bad anger issues. Because of this, I used to throw chairs and flip tables when I couldn't control my emotions. Also, I didn't have the best relationships with my teachers. I
didn't feel like I had the the space to express those emotions. We came up with an idea for the peace room. If I had a peace room that could been that that could been avoided, we have been
organizing for a year. This summer organized a community meeting called more dinner room. It happened on Tuesday night and we invited principal acitar. She didn't show up. Principal Ator not showing up give us a messages a message
that she isn't par prioritize the needs of her students. We need the school board to put pressure on principal acitar to speed up the process of getting our peace room this year and to show up that we are serious about
getting our needs met. Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Javante Robinson. Javvante Robinson. It It's going to start. Oh, okay. Okay. I am a Southside Together youth leader and sophomore at High Park Academy. The
reason I started organizing was to give back resources like the peace room in my school. Today I am here to voice all the violence and to have people power and a say in changes that we need at the school for incoming and returning students. My principal
Edinburg kicked out the peace room we had in school after three deaths. And ever since then, we've been feeling like school isn't a safe place anymore. We feel like now we don't have a voice or able to be heard about the situation. And we want our principal Edinburg to take accountability about her not being
there for students when we needed her the most. But clearly she doesn't show any emotional support or that she cares for the students or at least tried to make the school fun for the kids so that we won't be into all kind of drama and trouble. As teens, we felt as though we
needed the peace room, a safe area in school during all lunches where we could express and talk about personal things that we couldn't hold in anymore. And she didn't make it no better by adding all security guards that don't do nothing but yell and send students to
ISS every day. She didn't make her own students feel safe at her school. And we need a better support system as teens and young adults especially in a place where students want to st send their kids for education. >> Thank you.
>> Thank you for your comments. The last speaker from Hide Park is Destiny Primer. >> Please proceed. >> Good afternoon. My name is Leah Wararez. I am a rising senior at H Park Academy and a leader. The speaker is Destiny
Primer. >> Our adult organizers gave their spots to our youth leaders to speak. >> So we can't see time to another speaker. >> We'll allow it. Thank you. >> Okay.
>> I speak or not? Okay. >> We've been organizing over the summer to fight for our peace room in our school. that was shut down after we started organizing to be heard. After three students passed away in April and May, everything went downhill. We felt like kids in our school was very upset on how
our principal Dr. Annberg was handling things such as telling us things but not standing on her word. So, we organized to have a community meeting with High Park students, Dr. Annberg, the deputy mayor of education car Humphre and Otterman Yansy to talk about how we were
feeling, but she canled it and the network chief canceled it also. Edinburgh said she would reschedule it but never did. That meeting was never rescheduled. After that, she agreed to a student town a studentled town hall of the support of Southside together. During the town hall, she took the mic
trying to defend her name from the students saying she is not the principal we deserve. After that town hall, she shut down a peace room and kicked out Southside together and other community groups that we that were our safe places to go for students. Dr. Annenberg silenced us. that we planned to walk out
to fight back for our voices to be heard. We walked out to have a press conference and went to the schoolboard meeting. During that, her and other staff members threatened to suspend us. Even though she threatened us, we still organized the fight for what we needed after the traumatic events to feel safe
and respected in High Park Academy. This week, we had a community meeting to organize to fight for our peace one back. We need your help to hold our principal, Dr. Annerberg accountable for silencing us and trying to punish us by taking away our peace room. School started to feel draining. With the relationships I built in the peace room,
I felt like they were the only ones there for me during all the things that were going on. I don't understand how a person doesn't have emotions and they abuse their power. Rules get stricted when they should make us feel like school's a safe and good place to go to. I shouldn't feel like I'm in a juvenile center. We need a principal that cares
for us. We need a principal who doesn't hide stuff from us. We need a principle that gives us the resources we deserve and need. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. >> That's right, girl. Let's go. >> The next speaker is Alex Rodriguez. before the High Park students leave.
There'll be senior leadership that will talk to you. Good afternoon. My name is Alex Rodriguez. I'm a middle school social studies teacher at Lasal Language Academy and I'm also a CPS parent and I've lived in the city of Chicago my entire life. Today, an important
decision rests on your shoulders. Will we invest in our schools, our students, and our communities, or will we continue asking our students to do more with less? The truth is, our schools cannot continue doing more with less, and neither can our students.
This summer, we spoke with educators and school staff from across the district. We heard about students who went without a special education teacher for an entire school year. Larger class sizes, programs being cut, classrooms with
leaking ceilings and mice, and fewer adults available to support our students every single day. This budget is reckless. How can we expect our students to succeed when year after year we continue
taking away the supports that they need? Join us. Call for a special session in Springfield. We have this urgency. Everyone's talked about it today. We are owed this money. We need you to walk the walk, not just talk the talk. We need you all in Springfield with our union
fighting for the revenue that our students are owed. Amend this reckless budget. Instead, pass a budget that puts students first and gives every school the resources that our children deserve. and members of the board,
>> I want you to understand this. Our communities are paying attention. We will remember this budget. We will talk to our colleagues, our neighbors, and our families. And on November 3rd, we will vote for leaders who stand with our students, our communities, and public
education. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Audrey Phillips who is joining virtually. Please enter star six to unmute. Audrey Phillips, please enter star six
to unmute. Good afternoon to the board president and to all his members. Thank you for your continued commitment to Chicago students and families. I want to begin by acknowledging the difficulty
of the budget decisions you face today. Your work directly shaped the futures of young people across the city. As you know, many of you many of our youth are navigating significant barriers, exposure to violence, trauma,
disengagement from school, and limited access to supportive services. These challenges don't exist in isolation. They accumulate. They compound. And without intervention, they can set a young person on a path that becomes
increasingly difficult to redirect. Choose to change works. Choose to change connects young youth with caring adults, individualized support, and consistent guidance. C2C is not simply a program.
It is a pathway to stability, connection, and long-term opportunity. It provides young people with what research tells us is most pre protective trusted relationships, emotional support, and structured opportunity to
grow. Cutting funding from C2C would limit the number of youth and families who can access these services at a time when the need for prevention and intervention remains significant. Choose
to change. You have 30 seconds. >> Change directly support CPS priorities, students, students well-being, student and school engagement and positive youth development. C2C strengthens the condition that allows
students to learn, grow, and thrive. As you consider the budget before you, I respectfully urge the board to preserve the funding for Choose to change. And thank you for your time. Thank you for your comments. The next
speaker is Kelly Shade. Think I have other people coming. Please proceed. >> A child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to fill its warmth. My name is Kelly Shade. I'm a veteran teacher. I am also a product of
Chicago public schools. I wanted to talk briefly about the assumed funds that are also designated funds and I made a poem about it and it's called Where's the Money? Attention Chicago. Has anyone seen our
money today? If you've seen it, please send it our way. We checked every budget. We checked every file. We checked every classroom mile after mile. Maybe it's grabbing popcorn lakeside and sunny. The question we have is where is
the money? Chicago public schools. Our teachers showed up. Our students came too. We've all kept our promises. Now we're counting on you. Our children know names. They don't count the cost. They only know their favorite teacher
got lost. Instead of pink slips, instead of we'll see, stand up and ask with us. Chicago Board of Education. The classrooms are ready. The school bells will ring. But promises are not better than what budgets can bring.
Don't pass the problem. Don't pass the blame. Children don't care who's calling whose name. Because children deserve more than bad news. Keep your ceremonies and just tell us. Cook County, state of Illinois. If
dollars were planned to help every school >> 30 seconds remaining. >> Thank you. If dollars were planned to help every school, why are our classrooms still missing the tools? If help is available, help us understand. Why hasn't it reached the smallest of
hands? No more fingerpointing, no more delays. This is far from funny. To every student and family, we're sorry your school year is starting this way. You deserve excitement, not questions today. You deserve every teacher who
helped you believe. Not another August wondering who's going to leave. We will show up still. We still care. We still teach because we know you will be there. So you can paint the image bright and sunny, but the question remains
and we know where the money is. It's in Springfield. And we just conclude your remarks. Absolutely. We just hope that uh those funds are released. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Dennis Cass. >> Good afternoon um board and and Dr. King
actually we worked at Courtney uh years ago in 2017 18 school year and I had six schools that year as a school nurse which was a wild ride and things have certainly improved much since then. I'm also a CPS parent of a 2026 uh graduate. Um and and I and I think that one of the
things I would just briefly say is that some of the trust that we have as clinicians needs to be rebuilt um with with CPS to be honest with you. Um, we meet with the as a press practice committee with OSD and they they allow us to meet four times a year for for 90 minutes and six hours over the course of
the school year is not enough. Also, this summer nurses wanted to meet with our uh leadership team and they told us they just didn't have the time to meet with us. So, I think that's something that needs to be improved. We're putting out time to meet with people to work together on staffing issues and um we want we want to have have have them meet
with us too. It used to be three nurses running the entire district. Now there's 12 managers. So I don't like to understand how we can't find somebody to get together with us. Um so anyway, the rest of my message is really is for people the board and people in the audience about what what we can do uh to get more things that we need. Like we
didn't win more nurses in 2019 by acting nicely or making arguments. We want it by fighting and that's what we got to do together, I think. And so my message is anyone here who who's ready to fight uh for the funding that our schools deserve. And I want to draw the lens back a little bit on the world we live
in as our as our previous speakers have done as well. We live in a world where there are billionaires becoming trillionaires. We live in a world that trillions of dollars are being spent bombing a school in Iran, setting people alive, burning alive in Gaza. And so we know
there's money in this system in this society to give people what they deserve. And what I'm calling people to do is we need to start to fight and organize like we actually intend to get the resources that we all create and put them where they belong, which is in the classrooms, in our neighborhoods, in our
schools. We have to be for a world that's for workers and students over billionaires and war profiters and anybody who wants to be part of that fight. Let's go. Let's fight together and win. We deserve. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Wendy Weingurten who
is joining us virtually. Please enter star six to unmute. Good afternoon, Superintendent King, President Harden, and members of the board. I'm speaking today on an issue that directly impacts CPS student athletes, the sudden mandate prohibiting
athletic directors from coaching teams. After months of negotiation, CTU and CPS are on the verge of reaching an agreement for terms for a new full-time athletic director position. But yesterday, the CPS office of sports
administration declared that a CPU does not agree to a term by tomorrow that would immediately prohibit the long-standing practice of athletic directors serving as coaches. With principal approval, OSA will scrap the tenative agreements we have reached thus
far and move ahead with its plan to hire solely educational support personnel as athletic directors. This would result in dozens of high schools losing their athletic director, a coach for both a key sports program or they might even lose both just days before fall
practices begin. This includes the AD and football coach at Simeon, the ADM baseball coach at Whitney Young, the ADM boys basketball coach at Lindlum, the ADM football coach at Amenson, the AD boys basketball and girls flag football coach at Dunbar, the ADM baseball coach
at Kennedy, the AD boys soccer coach and boys basketball coach at Wares, and more than a dozen other examples. The fact that OSA is either unaware of or is indifferent to this fact is very concerning to say the least. If OSA
pushes ahead with its plan to only hire educational support personnel as athletic directors for the upcoming school year, more than 50 CPS high schools will lose their athletic directors. As I noted, we are on the verge of reaching an agreement on terms for the full-time school athletic
director position, and there are a series of compromised proposals the union has made on the issues of AD's coaching that addresses OSA's concerns of avoid leaving schools and student athletes in the lurch. >> ADS are the backbone of school sports,
and we step up to coach for one simple reason. There are not enough coaches. Our joint sports committee is trying to work with CPS to remedy the lack of coaches. But this will take time. What ads do when we coach is give student athletes a sense of belonging, a safe
community, and a pride in their schools. If you bar ADS from coaching this school year, teams will be cancelled. Our kids will be left with no coach, no team, and nowhere to go. Please preserve the vital past practice and keep our teams alive
for the upcoming season. On behalf of all CPS athletic directors, I am urging you to please direct OSA not to throw CPS sports into chaos as we head into this school into the new school year in the manner in which they are threatening. Thank you very much for
your time. >> Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Marielle Lauraniano. Good afternoon, President Harden, Vice President Veles, board members, and Superintendent King.
I'm Maria Lariano from the Chicago Public Education Fund and I don't get tired of saying a former proud principal in CPS. As you know, in just under a month, more than 600 school teams will welcome more than 300,000 scholars.
Before that day arrives, I want to recognize school leaders and LSC's for their work this summer. through one of the most difficult budget cycles in memory. They built fiscal year 27 budgets under real constraints, made
hard tradeoffs with their communities and got them approved on time that deserves our gratitude. As you complete this process, I want to highlight three points. First,
stability. The budget this board is approving today honors the work principles and LSC's have already done. School teams made hard tradeoffs and builds plans their communities can count on. This budget
holds those decisions intact and gives leaders the foundation to open the school year strong. Second, communication and transparency. Families and educators value being part
of the conversation. The community conversations hosted in schools sitting by the suburbs offered an opportunity to provide just this >> third long fiscal sustainability. Over the past two years, principles absorbed many cuts. They can
manage this, but they are asking for a future where they don't have to. We've heard many of you and Dr. King highlight the need for a long-term solution and we agree. The fund remains committed to partnering with you on a stable,
inclusive, and sustainable path forward. Thank you for your leadership and commitment to Chicago's students. >> Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Allison Jack. Good afternoon. I'm Allison Jack with
the Illinois Network of Charter Schools. At Inks, we believe that every Chicago public school student deserves equitable funding and access to the resources they need to be successful, whether they're in a district- managed school or a charter school. We've been up here saying this for years now. Charter
schools receive only 83% of the statutoily required PCTC funding. And given that the PCTC number is actually two years old, charters lag even further behind. Charter public schools face the same cost pressures while serving tens
of thousands of students, most of whom come from lowincome red qualify for free or reduced price lunch and are students of color. The vast majority of charter schools are in our historically underinvested south and westside communities. The rules are different for charter schools. When district schools
are underenrolled, the district ensures they have the resources and staffing they need. Charter schools are on their own. Yet, many charter schools are significantly outperforming their neighborhood schools and the district. Consider the 2005 AR results for a lane
lock charter school on the west side. In ELA, 60% of their students meet or met or exceeded proficiency. That's 17%age points higher than CPS and seven points ahead of the state. In math, they have
36.3% students proficient, which is nine points ahead of the of the district and closing in on the state average, which is 38%. With a budget exceeding $10 billion, CPS 30 seconds remaining >> on ensuring public funding follows
students and shouldn't be less because a student or their parents choose a charter school. We don't we want to partner with you to close these structural funding gaps and initable funding. On behalf of the 52,000 students in CPS charter schools, we urge
this board to be financially fiscally responsible and adopt realistic revenue assumptions, make sustainable financial decisions in a timely manner, and invest equitably in every Chicago public school student. We know you have hard decisions ahead and hope you continue to
prioritize students and over the needs and wishes of the grown-ups. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. >> The next speaker is Kata Truss. Good afternoon, Dr. King. Board members, I first want to start off by thanking
board member Brown for coming out um well, inviting us out yesterday over in the Austin community to work on building uh better schools in the Austin community. We thank you for allowing us to collaborate with you and to come up with solutions for some of the things
that we need in our community. That said, I want to stand in support of this budget. I understand that tough times are ahead and that this is a difficult decision and we have much work to be done and as I poured over the budget, I
noticed that we don't have the power to generate revenue within the board of education. But one of the things that I want to have us look at is look at taking some of the facilities that we have that we own that we are not utilizing and finding a way to make
those sources of revenue. I would also employ us to talk with the county, the state as well as the city to make them fund the schools. I watched during the migrant crisis the city of Chicago, state of Illinois and Cook County find
money to support those ones who are in need. Right now, our schools are in need and we need to them to do the same thing to employ those same details that they did to make money available for others to make available money available for our schools. Thank you.
>> Thank you for your comments. The next two speakers are from Shy Arts, Phoebe Peterson. Hello, my name is Phoebe Peterson and I'm a special education teacher at Chai Arts. Thank you board member Blae for the resolution on the agenda today to
restore the staff and programming at Chai Arts. Like school communities across CPS, we have been fighting to keep what is working at our school. We accept students from all 50 wards, including novice students with no previous artistic training, a model for
equity in arts education, akin to flagship arts schools in other major cities like LaGuardia High School in New York. Our fight as Chry Arts teachers, however, is bigger than just our beloved school. We know that all students deserve access to highquality arts programming as well as certified
bilingual and special education teachers. That is why the CEO and this board need to exert more pressure on our governor to call a special legislative session and fully fund schools not only across the district but across the state. We cannot roll over and simply
accept Pritskar's claim that the money isn't there. We know the money is there. It's a matter of political will. The budget should be balanced by making the wealthy pay their fair share, not by laying off bilingual and special education teachers, violating key
provisions of ESSA and the IDEIDA. CPS would not be playing with the law like this if the Trump administration hadn't just dismantled special education oversight. While those in Washington may allow this district and our governor to get away with depriving our most vulnerable students of the services
they're legally entitled to, the rank and file of this union will not. Step up and tell Pritsker to do the right thing because we are not backing down and vote yes on the resolution for Chai Arts to secure the future of equitable arts education in Chicago. Chicago students
deserve to be our priority. Don't take away their resources. Invest in them. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Philip Lewendowski. Hello, my name is Philip Leandowski. I'm beginning my 12th year at SHIE Arts, a
school providing worldclass pre-professional arts training to Chicago's diverse young artists. We understand the difficult financial decisions you have to face. Every school has needs. Every community deserves support. The district has cut thousands of uh positions across CPS schools and
70 teaching artists have lost their jobs at Shy Arts. When our students return in three weeks to a diminished arts program, your commitment to preserve Shy Arts will have been broken. We are asking you to vote yes on Member Blaze's resolution to invest in our
schools and help prevent budget deficits in the future. This resolution does not uh seek a permanent funding commitment. It recognizes the unique funding transition facing Shy Arts and provides one year to complete it. It preserves the conservatory while shy arts
stakeholders uh establish the partnerships and financial support needed to sustain it. It aligns with the district's goal of investing in and expanding arts education. So, why should you believe Shy Arts uh can build sustain a
sustainable funding model? We're we've already begun the work. Shy Arts has been selected as a sustainable community school, bringing new partnerships and resources for our students. Uh last March, our parent uh support organization, raised more than $37,000
in one week. >> We have donors willing to continue their financial support and are pursuing new partnerships. People love this school and they want to invest, but not if it is dismantled. >> Shy Arts will bring in more revenue if
CPS invests in its preservation. A yes vote today allows Shy Arts to maintain the conservatory while we establish a fiscally sustainable funding model. Give us one year. We're already securing their partnerships and funding needed to sustain Shy Arts and expand arts
education to all CPS students. Please vote yes to help us succeed. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. >> The next speaker is Meg White. Thank you and good afternoon. You may remember me as the childless white woman from Albany Park who comes to board
meetings to remind you that Halen Elementary is devastatingly overcrowded. Turns out some leaders are actually using people like me to deny our neighborhood schools the space that it deserves. Members of Unite for Our Schools Albany
Park have been told that the board perceives Hogan as a white privileged school. But here are Hogan's real numbers. 93% minority, 69% economically disadvantaged, more than a quarter receive IEP or
specialized learning services, and almost three4s are uh English language learners. Privileged, predominantly white schools have mental health interventions in private offices, not in hallways or closets.
Privileged, predominantly white schools store art supplies in a dedicated classroom, not a cart. their dual language certification is not being held hostage due to politics. Here's another false narrative uh that CPS is pushing that only rich white
people are advocating for Hogan. The president of Unite for Our Schools, Albany Park, is a native Spanish speaker. Our meetings are held in both Spanish and English, and they are not scheduled at 10:30 on a Thursday morning. We plan around the busy schedules of working parents and
neighbors to strive for equity in our effort to secure muchneeded resources for our neighborhood schools. >> Sadly, that is more than I can say for this board. When we filed an LSC election challenge, we had to agitate for translation services so that our
Spanish speaking witnesses could testify. Every month, our group's Spanish speaking members register for board meetings, but they never get picked. Yet, three out of four of the times my white privileged self has registered, I
have been asked to speak. Listen, I know I'm privileged. I don't have to shuttle kids to and from school every day. I run my own business so I can elect to set aside a half a day just to have two minutes to speak to you.
But don't you dare use my privilege as a reason not to give Albany Park's children the space that they deserve. Don't make it exceedingly difficult for non-privileged people to speak up. Act surprised when you don't hear from them
and use that as a reason not to abide by your own mandate to fund neighborhood schools. Thank you for your time. Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Carol Riley. Hello, my name is Carol Riley and I am a
CPS school nurse. I want to address a challenge faced by many CPS clinicians. Clinicians are a group of educators including school nurses, social workers, speech pathologists, school psychologists, occupational therapists, and physical therapists. As citywide
employees, clinicians are assigned to schools by management. However, clinicians can be removed from their school assignments at any time without explanation, even when neither the clinician nor the principal has requested a transfer. When clinicians
seek clarification, they are often told only that they are city-wide employees and can be moved as needed. There is current there is currently no transparent allocation formula for clinician assignments despite state requirements for
transparency. Clinicians believe continuity of care should be a primary consideration in assignment decisions. Nearly 250 nurses signed a petition this summer emphasizing the importance of maintaining consistent support for
students. This petition was sent to nursing management and Dr. King. Continu continuity of care means providing consistent, coordinated, and uninterrupted support throughout a student's years at a school. We are
long-term service providers. Clinicians build trusting relationships with students, families, and staff, gaining deep understanding of students needs. When clinicians are reassigned without clearification, >> students lose trusted providers and
progress can be disrupted while new relationships are established. These changes affect not only students, but also parents, school staff, and the broader school community. We are asking Dr. King to require clinician management to implement transparent assignment
formulas that prioritize continuity of care for students. I also urge the b the board and Dr. King to advocate for increased CPS funding. Students need you to advocate advocate in Springfield, in
city hall, and in the media. Appropriate full funding, not austerity measures, is what best serves CPS students and schools. CBS has been underfunded for decades. We need to work on getting more money, not accepting and implementing
cuts. Thank you very much. >> Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Michael Alcantar, who's joining us virtually. Please enter star six to unmute. Good afternoon board members in Chicago public schools
community. My name is Michael Alcantar, a former CPS employee, and I am asking the board to improve accountability, transparency, and oversight with Chicago public schools. There are ongoing
concerns regarding CPS departments not consistently following their own policies and procedures. I have witnessed repeated failures to follow CPS policies and procedures that can result in employees losing wages, benefits, and employee opport employment opportunities.
Employees should not be financially harmed because departments fail to properly implement policies or provide accurate information about employee rights and procedures. I also asked the board to review how CPS handles employee compensation. Employees
should receive fair consideration for their prior experience, qualifications, and years of relevant relevant service when determining pay. Policies regarding experience-based compensation should be consistently applied to ensure employees
with similar qualifications are fairly treated. I am also concerned about the effectiveness of the current oversight systems including Chicago public school CEO's office and the board of education's office. If the including
also the office of inspector general if the office of inspector general does not have the resources to address all mitted concerns that should be a process there should be 30 >> seconds remaining >> serious complaints are referred to appropriate agencies rather than
remaining unresolved accountability requires that concerns receive a meaningful review. Finally I ask the board to improve communication and access with the public. The board has provided opportunities for community engagement, including ways for members to speak with
the public to speak with board members and representatives. If they are not consistently available or honored, the public trust will be affected. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Tanisha Higgins.
Good afternoon. My name is Tanisha Higgins. I am a CPS middle school math teacher at Stag Elementary. I'm a CPS graduate and I'm a parent of two CPS students. Today, I'm asking you to vote no on this budget as it stands. A budget is more than numbers on a spreadsheet.
It's a statement of our priorities. And this budget tells our students that the adults in charge are willing to balance the books on their backs. At least 2,000 positions are being eliminated. Those aren't just jobs. They are relationships, mentors,
interventionists, counselors, coaches, and the adults who help children succeed each and every day. As a math teacher, I know the importance of what I teach, but I also know the importance of every other subject and program that our students encounter. I see the student
who discovers art, confidence in art. The child who feels finally feels like they're be belonging in music. The athlete who comes to a school because of a coach that believes in them. And a student who finds healing through a counselor. Every adult in every program
matters. When we cut teachers, we cut opportunities. We cut support staff. We cut student success. And when we cut resources, it is our children who pay the price. To make matters worse, neighboring states like Wisconsin and potentially Michigan
are actively recruiting the very educators we're preparing to displace. At a time when schools across the country are struggling to retain qualified teachers, why would Chicago choose to push ours away? >> Once great educators leave, they don't
always come back. And our students are the ones who lose. Our students deserve a budget that invests in them, not one that asks them to sacrifice again and again. I urge you to reject this proposal and return with a budget that protects the people and programs our children's need to thrive because every
budget is a moral con a moral contract a document a history and history will remember whether we choose to invest in our children or abandon them and now is the time you get to decide which part of history you want to be on. >> Thank you for your comments.
The next speaker is James Clark. My name is Dr. James Clark and I teach at Bonito Wararez Community Academy. Board member Lopez, it's always great to see you again. My sister Tanisha said it right. A budget is a moral document. Each of you as a member of this board
have chosen to bear the responsibility of the public's trust to do right by our community on a moral level. A budget is a moral document because it expresses the values of an institution. So the question is what do you value?
You know full well that we need adequately funded schools. The fact that CEO King and her staff have failed to create an adequate budget does not absolve the board of the responsibility to ensure an adequate public education for all of our students. The CEO and her
staff have given you an inadequate budget featuring thousands of position cuts. That is not stability. That is thousands of relationships broken between staff and students. The CEO has demonstrated this week that it is not too late to change the budget
by giving you revisions just within the last 48 hours. Now, Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch has committed 110% to increasing state funding before the calendar year ends, as reported yesterday in the Chicago Tribune. It is not too late to fix this
budget. In closing, I want to remind each of you and to reiterate that your work on this board is a matter of the public trust. It is your duty to the public that gives you the authority to make the moral
decision that faces you today. Today, you are called upon as a representative of our community to express our shared values. I will also remind you that the community is watching and it is members of the community who will have the moral decision to make in November to judge
whether you've risen to this moment or not. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you for your comments. >> The next speaker is Brendan Morardi. Good afternoon board members. My name is
Brendan Morari and I am a high school history teacher. I had my position cut from Julian last year where I was the third US history teacher that school year. Students were asking me if I would stay and it broke my heart when I found out from my principal that I wouldn't be
able to keep the promise I had made to them. Almost 2,000 educators are going to be in the same position this August if you do not fix this budget. Illinois is not broke. They are simply refusing to do what they could. Trump's tax cuts
put billions of dollars into the pockets of our richest residents while Medicaid, SNAP, and special education funding in our state has been cut. We could tax the rich to fully fund our schools, and they could still enjoy a net tax cut.
Massachusetts is in their third year with the millionaire's tax and their millionaire population has grown by 39% since the search charge was passed. Meanwhile, workingclass parents are moving out of Chicago because their neighborhood schools are not properly
funded. Board member Lee, 69 educators have been cut from school district schools in district 3B. Board member Lopez, 76 educators have been cut from schools in district 7B. Board member Bole, 63 educators have
been cut from schools in district 9B. I could keep going, but if these layoffs are not reversed, how do you think parents in your school district are going to vote in November? Over,00 educators were laid off across the city.
And this number doesn't even include the seeks, food prep staff, and assistant principles help create the conditions necessary for learning. This is not a done deal. You can call up state legislators and write letters to
the editor for our newspapers to demand that Springfield meet its obligations under state law to provide the evidence-based funding that CPS needs. Partner with us to demand that the governor of Pritsker call a special session to tax the rich and fully fund
our schools. You can start by voting to amend or reject this budget because students and workers deserve more. >> Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Tena Brousard.
Good afternoon. My name is Tena Brousard and I am a former graduate of Chicago public school and a Chicago public school educator with more than 20 years of experience and a passionate advocate for our students and our youngest learners.
I appreciate Dr. King's decision to amend the proposed budget by removing furlow days, but the budget is still inadequate for meeting my students needs. It continues to rely on layoffs and the possibility of mid-year cuts that will cause lasting harm to our
students and our schools. The board of education now has the opportunity and the responsibility to finish the assignment. You have already shown that changes can be made. Now, I urge you to take this next step by eliminating
layoffs and mere cuts and by anticipating the funding owed to our schools by the state of Illinois. Every layoff represents more than a position. We are not only losing positions, we are losing trusted adults and the relationships that have been built over
years. Those relationships are the foundation of student success. They create stability, foster trust, and help children feel safe, supported, and ready to learn. When those relationships are broken, the
impact on students extend the classroom. At the same time, we cannot ignore the disparities that continue to exist across CPS. Many neighborhood schools and early childhood programs still lack the staffing, instructional resources, and enrichment opportunities, and
student supports their children deserve. The quality of the child of a child's education should never depend on their zip code or the school they attend. Equity is not about taking opportunities away from one school to give them to another. It is about ensuring that every child, regardless of where they live,
has access to the resources, relationships, and opportunities they need to succeed. I respectfully ask this board to only pass a budget that protects our educators, invest in neighborhood schools and early childhood programs,
and truly put students first. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. >> The next speaker is Ashley Harris. All right. Good afternoon. My name is Ashley Harris and I'm going to enter my seventh year as an educator and a
national board certified one at that. However, I'm a lifelong CPS student. Every year when difficult financial decisions are made, somehow it's never the people furthest away from our children who are expected to sacrifice. Instead, it's the trusted adults our students rely on who are cut. Children
don't understand line items. They understand the people who show up for them. So, I want to thank the board members who have stood firm and saying no to dismantling and yes to rebuilding and repairing public education by standing with us at Cook County, riding the bus to Springfield, and showing up alongside the communities. This is what
representation looks like. Public office isn't about just casting votes. It's about showing up before the vote is ever cast. Unfortunately, not everyone has chosen that path. Some of the leaders entrusted with Steuart in public education have accepted millions of dollars from interest tied to
privatization and the largest mass school closure in our nation's history. Something this budget will lead to. Again, these are not political donations. They're investments in a vision of public education that Chicago has already seen the consequences of. And when leaders align themselves with
those same interests, our communities have every right to question whose vision they're advancing and whether they're willing to dismantle us, too. Imagine if those same financial investments had been authentically invested in our students, our neighborhoods, and our communities, coupled with you all's political will to
put pressure on the governor to give what is owed. Maybe we wouldn't be having this budget deficit conversation at all. But every year, we're forced to have it. And every year, you all are dividing the communities against teachers. We're refusing to accept that educators deserve fair contracts and our
students deserve fully funded schools. Stop dividing us and stop fighting with us for the funding our children are owed. Stop using fear to convince this city that investing in educators comes at the expense of investing in children. It doesn't. Our children deserve both. For years, educators have carried this
district through crisis after crisis. And if this district is truly in crisis, then lead like it. Leave no tool on the table. Push for a special session and then show up to that special session. Demand every dollar our students are owed. Stop managing scarcity and start
fighting for abundance. Then come back with a budget that reflects the courage our children deserve. A budget that invests in children instead of asking them and the people who love them, your true superheroes, which are educators, to continue paying the price. Thank you all.
>> Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Tamara Fushcher who is joining us virtually. Please enter star six to unmute. Hello. Uh my name is Tamara Fuche. I live close to Hogan Elementary and I'm a member of 33rd Ward Working Families,
which is a independent political organization that advocates for our community. I and a bunch of us uh a bunch of community members and parents and teachers have been advocating for relief from overcrowding in Hogan. The board, CPS leadership and the community
knows that this is a severe issue in the midst of budget cuts. I know that this doesn't feel nearly as pressing as all the other issues we've addressed today, but this is an easy win for CPS. The space for overflow is one block away on
Leland. There's an empty third floor that has been vacated by a Spir after they left the city high and dry. Perhaps adult egos are giving an an excuse to ignore children's needs, but that should literally never be the case.
There's no reason why two school communities need to be at odds with each other over student needs. We must prioritize the needs of the kids first. We have been doing our part in educating board members. Thank you, Norma, Rio, Sarah, for your time with us late late
last night. I want to encourage the rest of the board to have courage and not fall into the old neoliberal traps of limiting yourself in your advocacy. We are looking for you to advocate for us and loudly. You are representing people, not buildings. Speaking of representing people, we've been in front of
Alderwoman Rosanna Rodriguez Sanchez and State Senator Guzman. Um, they know how loud parents and community are about this issue and Hogan has been speaking out. You have seconds remaining. at the board board of education meetings for months and one thing that I've noticed like Meg said earlier is that only the
English- speakaking white parents and then me I'm black have been chosen. We know that our Latinade parents have tried to speak at a multitude of board meetings every time they put in a speak they're never picked. So I don't know what kind of narrative is trying to be spun but it's absurd. At the budget hearing sessions a few weeks ago Dr.
King committed to speak to Hogan parents and community members. We're asking you to hold yourself to that and come speak to us and come talk to North River parents too. We support both schools and we want you to do that as well. So Dr. King, we invite you to come hear from our community directly so that you can take this lowhanging fruit, call it a
win and move on. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. The last speaker from the speakers list is Grace Mahon Mahomie. My name is Grace Mahorny and last fall I began my journey as a first year teacher in CPS. As a fourth generation educator,
I received plenty of advice and caution. Only do it if you love it and you serve your students and community and no one else. Unfortunately, no amount of love for our students can make up for the impact of continuous underfunding of our schools. So, I'm here to ask you to reject a budget that does not serve our
students. With a collective near 200 years in Illinois education, including CPS, scandalridden suburbs, and impoverished rural areas, you'd think there wouldn't be much I could share with my family that would surprise them. However, when I tell them the experiences my students have, or rather are not afforded, their jaws drop.
Everyone here should be embarrassed that Chicago students go without programs like art class, sports, clubs, and that this budget tells more students across the city that they don't deserve access to these programs that are integral to growing up as happy, cooperative citizens. The lack of opportunity hurts
our students, but it's the destruction of relationships that is devastating. As I was warned, my first year teaching was far and away the most difficult thing I've ever done. Like my fifth graders, I walked into a new place full of unfamiliar people where I had so much to learn. Like my fifth graders, my lifeline during this time became my
fellow teachers. I watched them empower, uplift, and completely transform our most discouraged and timid students into passionate, confident, and excited scholars. Despite the countless hours of care poured into their cherished positions, budget cuts meant our year ended in goodbyes through tears instead of see
you next years. Almost half of early career teachers leave within their first 5 years. >> 30 seconds remaining. >> Now the ones who love it through the stress and the heartache are pushed out as the messages sent that we are expendable and our students do not deserve educators who are invested in them along with everything else they are
stripped of. Reasonable class sizes, art, sports, consistency, and the bare minimum funding for their schools. It is not too late to change the narrative. Show our students how much you care. There should be no hesitation to reject this budget and join CTU in calling for
attacks on billionaires for our children and our future. >> Thank you for your comments, >> President Hard Harden. We also have several elected officials who would like to address the board. We'll begin with Senator Robert Martwick Jr. from the
10th district who is here in person. Good afternoon, President Harden and members of the board of education. Uh despite the gravity of the circumstances of today, uh I will tell you that it is an honor to be here with you today and
it is a a personal pleasure to see this board operating uh as truly an accountable and representative board to the constituents that it serves. Um, today I I appear before you and it is the first time that I've taken an
opportunity to address you since the creation of this board. Um, and that is by design. I I do not wish to tell you how to do your jobs. Um, I am happy that you are here and that you can be responsive to your constituents. Um, and I look forward to the growth of
this board, uh, and and as you continue to find your place in in this amazing new journey that you have as members of this board of education. Um, but I am here today as an elected
official. Um, I am here today as a constituent of this district and a taxpayer. I'm here as the parent of two CPS students. And I wish to address you on from all three perspectives um because they are all important to me.
Um I begin with an apology. Um I have lived through some very very difficult years in Springfield where we've had to deal with some very difficult budgets. I do not envy the position that you are
in today. My apology is that we don't do enough in Springfield. Um, I concur with every speaker who has spoke before and has called for more from Springfield. Um, but to that end, I wish to assure
you that I am not alone in fighting for more resources, not just for CPS, but for every school district in this state where a child does not have the education educational resources that
they deserve and that they are frankly entitled to receive. While uh when I came into office in 2013, I had seen the devastation of the cuts that we made when we prrated is a
nice way of saying we prorrated our educational spending to deal with the financial crisis that we were dealing with in Springfield. That that proration started before I came into office. But I saw the devastation as Illinois slipped to dead last in the country in terms of
funding education. I saw how it not only affected in in the most deeply personal way the education that our children were receiving and and the experience that they would have at schools, but the rippling effect that it had throughout the those communities,
be it economic development, crime, property values, as our schools slipped, as pressure mounted on local taxes, people were squeezed out of their homes with rising property taxes. It was the wrong thing to do. We have fought and we
have made progress. But until we reach adequacy at a minimum, we are failing. And that failure is not limited to Springfield. We are decision makers in
Springfield. We are elected officials just as you are. But that burden falls on everyone. It falls on Springfield for not having the courage to fix our revenue system and raise the revenues to fund properly
fund education, but it falls on everyone for not joining that fight and that advocacy to get that across the finish line. Uh there are many dedicated leaders in Springfield who fight as I do for educational resources for our children,
but as we're all aware, apparently we haven't done enough. Apparently, we can't get it across the finish line. Now I as I hope you are am encouraged because leadership has said we need to
do more and that's wonderful. That is good news because there are times throughout this advocacy where you wonder if we are just falling on deaf ears but it would appear that we now have an opportunity. You have 30 seconds remaining.
>> And I will fight and I ask you to fight and to join me in that fight. We will find those resources. We must do it together. Um it is important. Everything that these people have said is has been I've listened to it. I've
taken it hard as I know you have. And we need to fix this sooner than later. The pace that it's being done at is not acceptable. Every day that a child does not have the resources that they needed to succeed is a day that we all collectively fail. I will work with you.
I hope you will come down and work with me. Let's get this done. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. >> The next elected official is Cook County Commissioner Tara Stamps from the first district. It's a long morning.
All right. Good. Well, it's afternoon. It started off good morning. Um but good afternoon um members um the CEO, educators, parents, and students, and members of the public. My name is Tara Stamps, and
I proudly serve as Cook County Commissioner of the First District. But before I was a commissioner and long before I entered elected office, I was and still am a public school teacher.
25 years later, I still wear my teacher hat every single day. But this morning or this afternoon, I want to begin with gratitude because this day, this opportunity represents something generations of Chicagoans have fought to achieve.
For the first time in our city's history, we now have an elected representative school board. That did not happen because power willingly surrendered itself. It happened because ordinary people organized. It happened because parents refused to give up. It
happened because community organizations stayed in the fight. It happened because education advocates never stopped believing that democracy belongs to public education. And yes, it happened because the Chicago Teachers Union stood
shoulder-to-shoulder with elected officials and communities across the city to defend and expand democracy. So before we discuss or I discuss one moment of this budget, I want to say thank you. Thank you to CTU. Thank you to every
parent. Thank you to every organizer. Thank you to every advocate who knocked doors, testified, marched, organized, meeting, built coalition, and refused to let the issue die and made this moment possible so that you all could be elected representative, school board
members, and have this victory. But the elected board is not the finish line. It's the starting line. And that brings me to why I'm really here. I'm here because I'm deeply concerned about a budget that appears to balance the budget again on the backs of teachers, school employees, and ultimately our
children. We have we we've become far too comfortable asking educators to absorb the consequences of political failure. We've become far too comfortable with asking children to wait while adults debate whether they deserve the fully
funded schools that they were promised. That cannot be the answer. You all, as Cook County Commissioner, I sit in board meetings where municipalities, libraries, park districts, villages, school districts, and other taxing bodies come before us and demand what they are legally owed. I have watched
elected officials advocate unapologetically for their residents. I have watched people insist that government meet its obligation. That is democracy. During the property tax crisis, I watched community organizations and the Chicago Teachers Union, parents, commissioners, committed
members of the Cook Board, Cook County Board of Commissioners petitioned the Cook County Treasurer to release the money that rightfully belonged to Chicago public schools. People organized, people advocated, people demanded action. again. CTU showed up, community showed up, parents showed up,
commissioners showed up, and or but respectfully, I have not consistently seen elected leadership of the Chicago public schools participate in that same democratic
practice with the same urgency. If I had my teacher hat on, which truthfully I always do, I would probably tell this board sometime something my students have heard many times. Well, maybe not this way, but you get
it. It looks like CTU is doing your homework and you're putting your name on the paper. So, and as a teacher, I would have had to write one comment across that assignment. Show your work.
Show your advocacy. Show your courage. Show your willingness to fight for every single dollar our children deserve. Because I don't want an elective representative school board that simply inherits the bad habits of an appointed board. We did not fight for elections
just to preserve the status quo. And whenever I say fight, I always think, and you don't have to answer this right now, I'm going to give you some wait time. That's a teacher thing. So those who know no. So this is the wait time. Where were you when we were fighting to
keep these schools open? Where were you when we were fighting for an elected representative school board? Where were you? So this moment demands greater transparency, greater accountability, greater courage, greater advocacy, and we expect representatives who publicly demand what our children are old to
don't be quiet and accept what they are given. If the only thing that change is how you get the seat, then you have missed the entire moment. I've spent 25 years teaching children that when something is wrong, you don't simply complain about it. You organize, you advocate, you build coalition, and you
change it. So, I'm asking the board to model the very civic engagement we hope our students learn in classrooms. Don't wait for CTU to raise their hand and raise the alarm. Don't wait for parents to organize an at rally. Don't wait for community organizations to write a press
release. lead organize the cake fight and demand that the state fully fund the evidence-based formula as promised as law. Demand that Springfield honor its commitment to Chicago's children. Demand
the dollars we are owed. Demand progressive revenue. Demand solutions. Demand that the billionaires put babies before billionaires. That they put our children before politics. Demand that the wealthiest pay their fair share. And instead of balancing the budgets on the
backs of working people, educators, and our children, fight up, not down, because children and teachers are not the problem. >> Thank you for your comments. >> The next elected official is Alderman
Byron Siko Lopez from the 25th Ward. Good afternoon, dear members of the board. Dr. King, the many teachers and constituents, parents who are here today demanding better.
I think it is heartbreaking to see the headlines time after time. I'll just read a few. Latino high schools getting cuts that are going to affect
them hard by losing teachers. Milwaukee looking to hire laid off CPS teachers. I mean, this is the irony that
we hear oftent times, and I'm glad to see more elected officials today. I'm glad to see Senator Marwitz and K County, my sister, K County Commissioner Tara Stamps. And I tell you that today we need you
more than ever. Many of us collected petitions for hard so that we have an elected school board, but not to listen to Lincolnwood base billionaire Michael Sachs.
We did not campaign to have billionaires telling our parents what's possible. What is Lincolnwood based billionaire Michael Sachs have a stake in this? As a father of triplets in Chicago
public schools, I tell you that our parents today sadly do not have prek, full day prek for the most part. Imagine working parents that are asking the bare minimum, do I
have to choose between working or having the ability to send my kids to school? Yet we have billionaires who have thousands and thousands of dollars to pour in elections. We cannot have democracy and billionaires at the same time.
Billionaires are the problem. And I tell you that when we see in other states like Wisconsin, we're going to have a new governor in Wisconsin that actually is going to win. Franchesca Hol is going to win on the same premise that we've been demanding for years here in
Illinois. tax the millionaires. We have over h over over a 100,000 millionaires who have moved to the city of Chicago. Lincolnwood based billionaire Michael Sachs believes that the city is only for
the rich and powerful and they're taking us down systemically. The same people who close the schools in the poorest areas of the city of Chicago now tell us that this is a moral budget. Alderman that are calling many of you telling you that this balanced budget is
okay to pass that you can count on the city. Where is the state in all of this? A mere 3% on these millionaires can make sure that our kids have prek that we have decent dignified food after school
program. We are losing filters. We're losing parents. We're losing teachers. 2,000 teachers. You cannot pass this budget like this. You cannot fail our parents like this. I hear politicians time after time tell us that they're fighting Trump everywhere
and this is it. This is how we fighting Trump. We need you. I see a senator here telling us we can do better. We have a Cook County Commissioner telling us we can do better. As a city council, I told you, don't you trust
those aldermen who blew up our budget about $130 million and are putting at risk another 2,000 city workers because they listen to the same billionaire pitching us against each other. Who suffers? But our children who suffer by
our parents who suffer by the same teachers and staff that every day welcome our kids that every day despite of the lack of funding and support are there are showing up every day and we going to lay them off.
No, this is it. You can count on us to go to Springfield. If the if the House and the Senate can do a veto session for the Chicago Bears, I tell you, we sure as hell know that we
can do a veto session for our children in Chicago because it's about time. For every dollar that we pay the state of Illinois, we get 75 cents back. The inequity way too long. The premises, empty promises, never delivering.
Governor Prrisker, the money is there. The money actually lays with your own family. A billionaire family. Your family also has to take and pay the fair share. Just like many of us, we pay the fair share. Treat Chicago the way
that you say you do. Bragging about the gains that the teachers have made, that the teachers have negotiated. Don't fill your mouth with empty platitudes. deliver you have the power. A millionaire tax will gave those funds
to make sure that we don't have a deficit and once and for all we treat we treat our children with the dignity of respect that every child like ling Lincolnwood we deserve in Chicago like Matt we deserve in Chicago we deserve
better Governor Prrisker do better and we would you count on us I'll be here as we last week every day until we pass a moral budget this budget is failing our children that have been being chased by dead squads that have seen the
separation of families, the trauma. You know where the kids have the only meal in our schools. You know where they get treatment in our schools. You know where they get some love and care in our schools. Governor Prrisker, I'm waiting for that call, too. >> I'm waiting for that call.
>> We're going to find you. We're going to find them in Springfield or anywhere. We're gonna find you, Governor. We need those millionaires to pay the first share. We're gonna find you. Sister President, please pass an amendment. This is immoral. Thank you so much. >> President Harden, this concludes public
participation. >> Thank you. We'll now move into a short recess. Board member Kuster, you have motion mo1. >> Yes. I move we take a two-hour recess. I I begrudgingly second the motion. >> We'll now proceed with the electronic
voting. Board members, please cast your vote. All right, The voting is closed. >> The eyes have it. 11 eyes, seven nays, and zero abstensions. We'll now go into a recess.
>> Hey, let's do two hours. We're ready. >> The meeting of Board of Education is reconvened. We'll now proceed with the business portion of the meeting. Dr. King, we're ready for your presentation. Thank you, President Harden. The first uh presentation will be the whole school
safety update by Chief uh Shableski. As Chief Shableski approaches the podium, I do want to recognize that board member Pope has joined the meeting virtually as of 3:42 p.m. It's going high enough for me.
All right. So, good afternoon, President Harden, board members of the members of the board, and CEO, Dr. King. Uh, my name is Ronan Shabblaski. I'm the chief of safety and security uh for CPS. Um, so, every child deserves to walk into
school knowing they are safe. Not only safe from physical harm, but safe to learn, safe to ask questions, safe to make mistakes, and safe to build meaningful relationships with the adults around them. That is the vision of whole school safety. Today we are providing an
update on how we are moving that vision from policy to practice. The central message is simple. Safety is everyone's responsibility. Old school safety is not only a security initiative is a cultural transformation in how an entire school community
understands, creates, and sustains safety. The whole school safety framework is built on three interconnected pillars. Physical safety, emotional safety, and relational trust. Physical safety means that school leaders and staff are prepared to prevent and respond to
threats. Neighborhood incidents as well as emergencies. Emotional safety means students and staff feel secure expressing themselves, seeking help, taking appropriate risks, and fully participating in learning. Relational trust means that the
relationships among students, families, educators, administrators, security personnel, and staff are built on mutual respect and confidence. Throughout my career, I've learned that the safest schools are not defined by one resource or one position. They are
schools where adults work together, students are known, concerns are recognized early, and people trust one another enough to ask for help. That is why all three pillars matter and why safety belongs to all of us. The purpose of the policy is to support
the holistic safety, health and well-being of every student. It builds on existing district uh work and wellness, social emotional learning, mental health and healing. It also maintains the importance of strong partnerships with city agencies that
provide critical support to our schools. Old school safety does not lessen the importance of physical protection, emergency prep preparedness or professional security. It broadens the work by recognizing that prevention, belonging, wellness, and trusted
relationships are also essential safety strategies. In other words, this policy does not transfer responsibility from one group to another. It expands responsibility so that every part of the school community understands its own role.
For the policy to have meaning, it must change practice. Our implementation is therefore focused on four critical components. First, we are supporting school leaders and school communities through training tools and technical assistance as well as examples of effective practice.
Second, we are building ongoing community engagement with particular emphasis on the voices of students, parents, and those most affected by school safety decisions. Third, we are strengthening transparency and success tracking to schools can
measure uh progress, monitor needs, and make adjustments. And fourth, we are building sustainability by aligning whole school safety with systems schools already use, including culture and climate teams and the continuous improvement work plan process. The goal is not to create one
more compliance requirement. The goal is to build lasting ownership. Whole school safety is not separate from the district's academic and student support priorities. It helps create the conditions those priorities require. Students learn best
when they feel connected, supported, affirmed, and valued. A student who trusts the adults in the building is more likely to attend, participate, report a concern, accept support, and remain engaged in school.
That is why this work aligns with our commitments to the whole child. equity, academic excellence, student centered decision-making, and community partnership. Separate safety is not separate from learning. Safety is a
condition for learning. The research highlighted here reinforces the value of safe and supportive environments, stable adult relationships, and targeted resources. A caring mentor-like adult can have a
profound effect on a child's well-being. School connectedness can protect young people from emotional distress and other harmful outcomes. And strong social and emotional skills can help students manage stress, solve problems, regulate emotions, and develop healthy
relationships. This is where whole school safety becomes visible in every everyday moments. A lunchroom worker who notices a student is unusually quiet. A security officer who knows every student by name. a teacher who creates a space for a
student to ask for help or a parent who shares information before a concern escalates. These actions may not sound like traditional security measures, but they are key to prevention and prevention is one of the most powerful forms of safety.
We are committed to learning as we implement this work. Our research partnership with the University of Chicago consortium examines the removal of school resource officers, how stakeholders understand whole school safety, what schools include in their plans, how reinvestment funds have been
used, and how schools school communities experience the process. This partnership helps us move beyond assumptions. It gives us evidence about what is working, where implementation is uneven, and where schools need additional support.
A cultural transformation cannot be managed by intention alone. It requires honest feedback, careful measurement, and willingness to improve. The stakeholder recommendations are clear. School communities want greater
transparency about decisions, plans, progress, outcomes, and effective practices. They want strong collaboration among schools. And they want students, parents, and community members to have meaningful roles in decision-making and implementation.
They also want us to continue reflecting to collect feedback regularly, expand these conversations across the district, and ensure that relationship among CPS, CPD, schools, and communities remain productive. The common thread is shared ownership.
Stakeholders are not asking to stand outside the work and receive updates. They're asking to help shape the work. That is exactly what we mean when we say safety is everyone's responsibility. Another important part of implementation
is alignment. Schools should not experience physical safety, healing centered practices, mental health, suicide prevention, student success, an equitable, equitable discipline as separate or competing initiatives. Whole school safety creates a common
structure that connects these efforts around the needs of the student. This alignment also supports our broader district goals, including reducing the disproportionate use of exclusionary practices for black students and students with disabilities. When our policies and strategies
reinforce one another, schools can respond more consistently and focus less on navigating separate systems. This work has been intentionally phased because meaningful culture change takes time. The initial implementation began with
the transition away from the SRO program and the development of alternative whole school safety supports. It then moved into baseline assessments, the review and refinement of school plans and tiered support based on student and school needs.
Over time, schools are establishing whole school safety committees, developing plans, expanding student voice, and connecting security officer allocations to the broader framework. The important point is that implementation is not defined by whether a school has completed a document. It is
defined by whether the school has built the relationships, structures, and habits needed to continuously identify and address safety needs. Again, the goal is not compliance. The goal is ownership. The next three years will move schools
through a cycle of assessment, action, reflection, and improvement. Schools will convene whole school safety committees, assess practices across the three pillars, identify supports and resources, track those actions in their
plans, and revisit the work each year. By the school year 2030, whole school safety planning will be fully integrated into each school's continuous improvement work plan. High schools will have student voice committees. Security officer allocations will be budgeted through the whole school safety and
limitation pro process. that integration matters. Old school safety should not live in a binder or occur only when there is an incident. It should become part of how schools plan, make decisions, allocate resources, engage families, and support students every
day. That is how policy becomes practice and how practice becomes culture. Throughout this presentation, I've discussed the framework, the policy, the research, and the implementation process. But whole school safety will not succeed simply because central
office establishes a framework. It will succeed when students feel heard. Parents know their voices matter and community organizations are welcomed as trusted partners. Students and families are not simply recipients of school safety decisions. They are experts in their own
experiences and they must be co-creators of the solutions. I have shared what this work means from the district and implementation perspective. It's now important that you hear what it means to the people this work is intended to serve. At this time, I would like to turn the presentation
over to our community partners who will share perspectives of parents and students and discuss why their engagement is essential to whole school safety. I'd also like to have our whole school safety steering committee to stand up who've been supporting this over the last several years. So, you can see the faces of those who've been
supporting this work. Um, hello. My name is Lisa Russell. Thank you. Um, I am a parent um that leaves with Kofi Power Pack, Illinois. So, um,
and I'm from the West Side branch. uh are definitely proud and represent that. But um for decades, Power Pack parents have um advocated to reduce um suspension uh the punitive
discipline um and polices in schools and instead implement restorative justice. Um the whole school safety is a milestone that builds on this legacy. My personal
connection to this education in CPS is deep. I am a part of three decades of um educators in the CPS system as well as um have went and was educated by CPS. Now four of my so it's my mother,
myself, and now four out of four of my children, three are giving back into the district and their own communities. Um, with that being said, um, as my children was giving back, I also
have three grandchildren that that's in the school system now. Um, my experience came with my two youngest sons who um when we lost my husband, their dad um it had an impact on their
life. So quite naturally um I noticed some change and as we was advocating in the school um the impact came to their it was a mental health deeply u involved with this. So
of course they were being labeled to different things but uh and so many other children in the community as well from trauma um and dealing with these trauma situations. But for me, my sons was basically feeling like they were
never heard and you know, suspicion was definitely not the answer and just the whole thing. But anyway, so a lot of times I would get um what do you mean? I said, "Well, let me hear his side of the story." So the bottom line with that was that um while they was talking, I'm
trying to rush this up y'all. Okay. So they um felt that their voice was not be heard. So I think what's important with this building relationships is a very important part of what they needed and um and at that part the pillar as he was
speaking um saying with the whole school safety that is why me and this work is very important and personal the whole school safety is a positive shift giving voice and power to students and parents
um to be part of determining what our whole school what does our schools need to feel safe at Kofi uh power pan the power pack parents we are um excited I'm definitely excited to see that this
whole uh the work that I have been doing um for years now the stage implementing um the invitation for moving forward in the coming school year it feels like to me personally, decades of long work is
finally coming to life and I'm seeing it firsthand. Um, we are committed to supporting our communities to understand the process and use their voices to re-imagine
safety in their own schools, in our own communities. And so with that, thank you. And I would like to pass it on to Ariana with voice. Good afternoon everyone. My name is Ariana Brandt and I'm a proud member of ways which stands for voices of youth in
Chicago's education. I'm very happy to be here today. I've been a part of the whole school safety steering committee since my sophomore year high school and I'm a current graduate. As we continue to talk about our implementation guide and how important it is to be inside of
schools, I want to highlight how this work is has been done with young people and when we have conversations about youth safety, we have to continue to keep the ones impacted directly. I'm sorry, a part of this conversation as we continue to talk about
implementation guide youth safety shouldn't be compromised. We should be included. This is not only a model our city should be used, but a model for other school districts to use. Being a part of this work truly has been shaped the future of what all districts can
look like when we listen to young people. Thank you. So thank you for sharing those perspectives and helping lead the work uh alongside us. Um as we move forward, I I hope one message remains clear. Uh whole school
safety is not asking one department to do more. It is asking every one of us to do our own part. Security remains essential. Emergency preparedness remains essential. Strong public safety partnership remains essential. But lasting safety also depends on whether students are known, whether families are
heard, whether concerns are identified early, and whether every adult understands the role they play in creating belonging and trust. When that shared responsibility becomes part of how a school operates every day, whole school safety becomes more than a policy. It becomes the culture of the
school. And ultimately that culture is what helps keep students safe, supported, and ready to learn. Um, thank you very much. And open any questions. >> Thank you, Chief. >> No questions for you at this time. >> Congratulations. Thank you.
Congratulations. Yeah. Next we will have the FY27 budget. >> Okay. should I go ahead? Okay. Good afternoon. Thank you all for being here. My name is Emmy Lazoko, acting chief budget officer. I'm joined here by Wally Stock, our acting chief financial
officer. I'm here today with an overview of our proposed FY27 budget, which totals $9.96 billion across capital, debt, and operating funds. In the face of persistent revenue shortfalls, growing
costs, and a deficit of over $732 million, we published a budget for yours and the public's consideration that protects our most important investments. This number is higher than the last time I was before you due to revisions which we'll discuss in the next slide. What
hasn't changed is that this budget includes $330 million in structural deficit reduction, helping our long-term financial picture for CPS. This budget puts students first, reflecting choices that center our students needs, prioritize equitable resource
distribution across the district, and protect the investments that have the most direct and measurable impact on students day-to-day lives at school. In the tenative budget published on July 15th, the district proposed implementing three measures to realize an additional
$297.6 $6 million in deficit reduction. We assumed 100 million more in assumed tiff surplus increasing the total to 200 million. We proposed five furlow days for all CPS employees beginning in January on
non-instructional days for savings of 85 million. We proposed a district-wide mid-year spending freeze and procurement savings initiatives for an estimated savings of 112.6 million. Based on the public feedback received during the statutory budget review
period, the district revised its proposed budget on July 28th, eliminating the five proposed furlows and increasing its stiff surplus assumption by another 85 million to a total of 285 million. Based on these changes, our budgets
increase our budget increased by 85 million both in the expenditures and in revenues in order to remain balanced. Over the next couple of slides, I'll show you updated breakdowns of the budget. Here you can see how the operational budget increased as well as the proportion going to personnel, 63%
overall. Similar to what we looked at last week, our operating funding primarily goes to schools. 64 cents on every dollar goes directly to schools, both our district managed and our charter and contract schools. Another 32 cents on every dollar goes to
citywide supports, the vast majority of which also support schools and students directly. And about 4% on 4% on every dollar um goes to our central office and network infrastructure. Local revenues are our primary source of revenue at 64%.
Another 25% comes from state revenues primarily in the form of EBF and categorical grants. About 10% of our budget comes from federal grants for specific purposes and specific populations. And a small piece comes from other sources of revenue. And so you can see here how those
breakdowns have changed from FY26 to FY27. There's a slight increase in the share of our budget that's going to district managed schools and a small decrease in the share that's going to charter schools. That's primarily that's primarily driven by the number of uh
schools that have moving and transitioned from charter and contract management to district management. Our citywide and network and central office budgets have also decreased over time by about 7% for a slightly decreased budget year-over-year by about 1%.
School budgets overall are up 143 million compared to FY26. And this is largely due to annual salary increases for unionized school-based employees. Compared to FY26, the number of positions in schools is projected to
remain about flat. We are down 164 positions for an overall reduction of approximately 1%. The figures here reflect shifts in the types of budgeted positions needed to better serve the students that are part
of our current student population. This is our responsibility and this is the charge of equity. It's making sure their resources go not where they make sure their resources go where they are needed, not where they've historically gone, not where the preference may be, but where they are needed today. I'd
like to call out two rows in particular. The core funding allocations in the first row and the special education allocations in the third row. The core foundational allocations include positions allocated through our formulas for schools instructional and administrative foundation. These include
principles, assistant principles, counselors, clerks, foundational teachers, holistic teachers, operational staff, RJC's and lead coaches. You can see that there has been a decrease here in almost a thousand positions.
In the third row, you can see how the special education staffing levels have increased by almost a thousand positions, a shift that reflects the changing needs of our students. You can see here how our budget pictures um we've shared this type of information before, how our budgets compare from
FY19 to FY26. So over the course of kind of pre and post pandemic in that time our enrollment has decreased by about 12 a.5% by 45,000 students while our staff has increased by 26% and our budget has
increased by 71%. when you include FY27, you can see that while FY27 is slightly down compared to FY26, it's not that far off um in terms of the comparison to FY19. While aggregate funding has remained
whole, many individual school budgets changed. Principles in partnerships with their local school councils tailor staffing to meet their community's unique needs, balancing enrollment shifts, programmatic changes, and budgetary realities, including updated
district-wide allocation formulas. As part of this year's process, 1,602 school-based staff were impacted. for special education staff included in that total. The district has established retention pools where over 500 special
education teachers and classroom assistants are secured to help ensure that the district maintains these in- demand professionals. At the time that we implemented the impacts, there were 1700 vacancies across the district again for 1,600
impacted staff. We currently have about 1,400 school-based teacher vacancies, which means that we are on our historical trend of about 65 to 85% of teachers that are impacted over the summer able to find new roles within the district by
the time school starts. It's the responsibility of the finance team to make recommendations to you as the decision makers that are grounded in the best available data and supported by rigorous analysis. That's my professional obligation to you as well
as to the students and taxpayers of the city and it's one I take very seriously. The school code requires the budget to meet certain requirements. And I'd like to just read a portion of the school code here that's really that's been really important as we've developed the budget. The several estimates of assets,
liabilities, and expenditure requirements required or authorized to be made by this shall be made on the basis of information known to the board at the close of the preceding fiscal year. In addition to these school code requirements that require us to balance
the budget based on the best information analysis we have on hand at the time, we work according to a number of professional standards and requirements. Generally accepted accounting principles, uniform grant guidance, and government finance officers association
good budgeting principles. So, I'd like to take a few minutes and walk through how we've used data and analysis to make reasonable revenue assumptions for this budget. Again, as required by state code. Based on an analysis of publicly available data, we project that there's
over $3 billion available currently in TIFF accounts. This is despite last year's record surplus. The accounts appear to be replenishing themselves at a rate of over a billion dollars each year. TIFF surplus distributions are governed
by state law and city policy. When the city declares a tiff surplus, about half automatically goes to CPS and about one quarter goes to the city. The annual distribution percentages are based on state law. The city determines the total amount of
surplus by following the policy outlined in their budget, which is bulleted here. So, taking all of this into account, we also know that last year's surplus was historic. We also know that the final tip surplus amount is determined as part of the city's annual budget process and
that we won't have a final figure by the time that ends at the end of the calendar year. And this is why we've continued to be very conservative in our assumed amount. So if you look at the tables here, the one with the purple header shows the amount of tiff surplus received by CPS
every year since 2020. And so you can see how our $285 million assumption fits in with the historical picture. Um, and that every year since 2023, we received at least $200 million in TIFF surplus. If you look at the chart to the right
under the green header, you can see see that TIFF fund balances have been hovering around $3 billion for years despite the historic surpluses. Some estimates put next year's fund balance close to $4 billion. The accounts continue to replenish themselves with taxpayer funds every
year. Our assumptions of available state revenue for 2027 are similarly based on data reviews, historical trend analysis, and a review of applicable policy and legislation.
The state has already passed its FY27 budget, giving us a reasonable idea of what we can expect to receive this fiscal year from established funding sources. We're continuing our advocacy with the state around long-term solutions. The upcoming veto session starts on November
17th. Even if in this session the state approved additional funding for CPS, it wouldn't come in until FY28. It would not help this year's budget. We understand that there may be a motion to amend the proposed budget
by adding $50 million in additional state revenue in the form of mandated categorical grants as well as a h 100red million in additional evidence-based funding. In our opinion, an amended budget that included new state revenues could not be considered balanced.
This is of course the standard required by state law. If we used unrealized state revenue to balance the budget, this would put the district in immediate and long-term financial jeopardy. In recent conversations with lenders, it's clear that while they're comfortable
with the $285 million tiff assumption and see that as reasonable, they would not look favorably on the addition of anticipated new revenue from the state. And this would lead to credit downgrades, higher higher borrowing
costs, failure to secure short-term financing, and missed payroll as soon as September. Medium-term financial considerations would lead to severe mid-year disruption to school operations and the potential for additional cuts. In the long term,
we could see higher debt burdens and future cuts to staff and to programming. There is a difference between making different types of assumptions for different types of revenues. The tiff surplus assumption in the budget is based on a decadel long trend of growing
revenue from the city that has helped CPS close its budget gap. The state does not have any track record of passing additional revenue to help CPS close its budget. We can pass the budget as is and continue advocating for additional state revenue. And if it comes through, we can
avoid mid-year spending freezes and make additional investments. But if we count on this revenue and it fails to come through, then it will be a disaster. We saw this in FY17 when the district budgeted for expenses using unrealized
state revenue. And when it fell through, the consequences resulted in mid-year reopening of school budgets, which led to mid-year cuts and layoffs, no cost of living adjustments for two years, furlow days, crisis borrowing, and credit downgrades. And we're still paying for
this. There's money coming out of the classroom today to pay for this exact mistake from a decade ago. Looking at the impact on our credit rating and the impact that has had on our cost of borrowing in the mid2010 CPS engaged in crisis borrowing which led to
34 credit downgrades. We pay $200 million annually to pay off this debt. You can see here that while we've made great strides in restoring our credit rating, we're still far below investment grade. We still have urgent cash flow
pressures. Without an approved budget and the new FY27 short-term borrowing authority, the district will not make payroll for staff in September. We're reaching its legal limits on available FY26 tax anticipation notes and the
current $1.25 billion borrowing capacity will be fully exhausted in August. TAN's borrowing is different from other kinds of borrowing for capital or operational expenses. They help us with these cash flow issues that are caused by misalignment between when revenues
come in and expend expenditures have to go out the door. An approved FY27 budget with an approved tax levy are required in order for lenders to provide us financing under a new authorization. And without an approved budget this month, CPS will not have enough time to
engage with lenders in order to secure financing and will be in danger of not making payroll in September. The problem is made more urgent by the systemic delays in CPS receiving property tax revenue from Cook County. We are owed somewhere between 175 and
$250 million in delayed revenue. CPS leaders are continuing to talk with the county and last week the county told CPS that they would distribute about $72 million next week um stemming from that first installment this year. While this is a step in the right direction, the
$72 million will not ensure enough cash flow for the district to delay the passage of the budget. County funding will also not solve our FY27 budget deficit. This is FY26 property tax revenue owed to CPS from
earlier this year. There's an urgency around approving the budget as proposed today. Inschool staff report on August 17th and school opens the following week. Staff is expecting their first paycheck on September 4th, covering time worked during the period
of school opening. With the budget passing today, we estimate that we'll receive the short-term financing in our bank account on September 2nd, two days before checks go out. Delaying the budget means the CPS will fail to receive this financing in time to make
payroll. Missing payroll would put us in violation of our collective bargaining agreements, multiple state statutes, and would likely require us to pay fines and increase costs on the back end. It may also impact our credit rating and limit our ability to achieve financing in the
future. and not just for TANS, but also for our $600 million capital budget that's coming to you today as well. This would essentially result in a district-wide shutdown when we should be preparing for a smooth opening to school. Today, we are presenting to you four
related resolutions. the FY27 budget, the FY27 capital improvement plan, the FY27 property tax levy, and the authorization of a new a new TAN authorization in the amount of $1.65
billion. Favorable votes on these items as presented will ensure that the district can avoid the financial, operational, and other risks as have been described to you and focus on smooth, strong opening of the upcoming school year for our students, families, and staff. Thank
you. And with that, I'm happy to answer any questions. >> Kuster, >> thank you, board president. Um, I have, I guess, two questions. Um if you had mentioned this upcoming amendment and if this amendment were to
come through and to pass and we had we'll call it this fictitious revenue in the budget line um do do we consider this budget to be balanced? >> I would not know. >> Thank you. My second question um is regarding the TANS um and if for
whatever reason this budget does not get passed today and we don't come back until middle of August or end of August, how does that affect our ability to um close this TANS u in time to make this first payroll?
>> Each day that we don't pass the budget makes it much more difficult to be realistic about the ability to close on a transaction. It typically takes four weeks or more to close on these transactions. So there's not a lot of wiggle room between now and when we would look to close. So uh
creditors have to look at the budget. They have to assess it. They have to understand what kind of risk there is associated with that, what interest rates they will charge us. We have to negotiate that. We have to put documents together, multiple documents,
indentures, credit agreements, supporting documents. We need legal opinions that talk to the validity of what it is that we're doing. These take again several weeks to go back and forth to negotiate with multiple parties at the table. And then when that's all
secured, we still need another week to be able to produce final documents for leadership to sign and put the bank in a position where they're ready to fund the loan. So, it's definitely not something where you can go in and think you want to buy a car and you walk out with that
car. This is a much more complicated process that takes several weeks. That why we've presented the budget at this point in time and we think it is the most realistic path towards success. >> So, even middle of August is too late. I cannot make a guarantee at that point that we would succeed. >> All right, we have to consider
everyone's paychecks. Thank you. >> Or member Smith. >> Thank you. Uh I want to ask about uh you know I was advised that an amended budget may even be potentially illegal and not uh be able to uh qualify us for
shortterm financing. My question is with the uh 1,000 employees that we want to hire uh with whatever $150 million would hire uh in in terms of uh staff, what
kind of cuts would we see uh if this amended budget was not uh could not get the financing that it is assuming? What would it be like? what kind of job furlows and and job uh cuts would we
see? >> Um so it would take time to do that analysis to to fully understand the impact but I think the example of 2017 is a really powerful one. Um and I think that we would see the same situation
that we had there where there would um be the potential to have to reopen school budgets. When we look at how our budget is set up, I showed you the graphs and the dollars where most of our budget is in schools. Most of our budget is in personnel at schools. And so in
the need to make significant reductions, um we've really gone as deep as we can in other areas in terms of central office, citywide, we've looked at every other source of revenue and savings that we have. And so there really unfortunately wouldn't be anywhere else to go.
And let me let me just say I think there's two parts to your question, right? I I look at it like with what we've described is, you know, a near-term uh immediate need for cash flow with the short-term borrowing, right? It's not unusual that the board
passes a budget before August. this year. Uh what is making it a little bit more difficult is the fact that the property taxes have been delayed and they don't give us that cushion of money that we need to start the fiscal year. So, we're compromised by that and we
have significant short-term money outstanding from that revenue that's due to us and really nothing else to pull on. And as we get into September, we have nearly projected $700 million in obligations. 500 million which is
payroll and without property taxes. Our major source of revenue is state aid that comes in on time every two weeks and some other grants and some other local revenues, but that's only estimated at about $300 million. There's a $400
million gap that essentially needs to be financed through short-term loans until that tax money is received and we can repay that back. So that's number one. Will the lenders look at the budget as it was presented and approve a loan
based on what they think is the creditworthiness of that? Then you get into if we can get past that, you get into the next aspect of it. Will the revenues that are put in the budget, if they are changed, will they materialize? And when will that come to a halt? Like
when essentially will we have to say that those revenues aren't going to materialize? Will it be the end of the year? What the calendar year? will it be December? And if it is something like that, we only have half of the fiscal year left. So in order to make up any kind of gap, if we were to budget, say
an additional $150 million in revenues, that clearly isn't materializing by December, you're looking at $300 million in cuts to be able to make that happen. So that's the kind of scenario I think that quickly responding to your question that I would I would say. And then the
my last question is how would that affect you know I'm concerned about a lot of the old deteriorating buildings that I walk into. Uh how would that infect affect our capital invest investments? >> That that's an excellent question. You
know a majority of our debt we do have some of the debt that we took on when uh you know we we needed to do working capital. Um we're not contemplating that thankfully this year but we do need to borrow each year. So we have the $600 million capital plan. Each year we're
trying to borrow between $5 and $600 million to fund that P plan. So um an estimate is if you look at the potential of a ratings downgrade and there might be not only one ratings downgrade but two ratings downgrades uh and and the
market itself is actually not in a super great space as opposed to where it was at last year. Interest rates are trending higher. We all hear about mortgage loans and how those are almost near 7%. Well, our borrowing costs are higher, too, right? But if you look at how we finance our debt, you look at a
$600 million issue. We did some calculations on this. And if we had to pay say 3/4 of a percentage point more, if we can even access the market, you're looking at something like 80 to$100 million more in interest expense that
you would pay on that loan that we would take out this fall. So that's a result of what it is that would be being done here with the budget with an amendment and how lenders and how the rating agency rating agencies would look at that. You could also look at it in terms of our TANS and our short-term borrowing. If there's a say a half of a
percentage point increase on something like that, I think that could be $6 million a year extra that we could end up paying. That could be $500,000 a month. That could be 20 almost $17,000 a day. These are real life implications. you think about the salaries and the
workers that we have and what $6 million would do. I think we're, you know, we would all like an extra $6 million in this budget as opposed to paying extra interest on loans with that. So, that's what we're trying to do. We're trying to present a budget that will kind of hold all that off and let us do our our job
and our work and keep things flowing. >> Thank you very much. I got one more addition to that is when we presented to the board, you know, the capital improvement plan and just the state of our buildings again, we still have a 16.3 billion with a B in deferred
maintenance. So any increase in let's call it uh interest is taken away. Those are funds that are actually taken away from building repairs that we can actually do. Also keep in mind that the capital improvement plan is is just not
about fixing buildings. It's also about modernizing our technology. And so we use dollars to upgrade our systems. Uh we have three big projects in the queue right now that you've heard several times. Bridge uh and and WAN making sure
our internet is is working as quickly as possible because the needs always increase year-over-year. So those would be impacted too where we would have less dollars to use towards modernizing our technology. >> Thank you, Chief Mayfield.
>> Board me. >> Thanks. Um I heard that um city budget experts are actually saying that uh the tiff funds are not available in the amounts that you're talking about and that you've actually been informed of that. Is that uh true?
We've been in conversation with the city. Um I showed you the data and the balances and the trend data that is publicly available and that we're going on. Um and so that's what we're basing our recommendation on. >> So you're ignoring what the city is telling you.
>> We've been transparent with the city. We've been discussing what it is that we've been doing with the TIFF revenues in hopes of trying to find a a common path forward. That's why when we first initially opened up the budget and what our recommendations were, we started out
with uh discussion about $100 million. We walked it up to $200 million. Been trying to have those conversations. It's an incredibly complex situation with lots of ideas and I think there's um information that is still uh not known
about some things. So, while there may be some uh budget analysis or something, I was not made aware of anything like that. All I can go by is the reports that the city has online and some of the surpluses that they've declared and make reasonable assumptions about how those
will grow over time. We have been consistently seeing over $1.2 billion in incremental revenue, but not that same amount flowing out. It was only in this last year where we had the record surplus that that came even close to the amount of incremental revenues that was
being brought in. But the projects, all the things that happened such as the stadium with the Chicago Fire, um I've been doing this for quite a long time before doing my work here at CPS for 25 years. I was an investment banker. I did multiple TIFF financings all over the
state of Illinois. I did a number of TIFF projects all over Melrose Park, all over Rosemont. So tiff projects don't come in at the same time. So the $400 million that we're talking about that'll take time to go out. So while there may be differences of opinions um while you
know all the information may not be out there based on our projections and what we put together we do really feel that these are reasonable amounts of money that we can rely on that we can say that the balanced the budget is balanced. Well, um, forgive me for saying, but it kind of sounds like you're saying that
we're not going to listen to what the city is telling us there is for TIFF money and go with the information that is before us. But when the state is telling us literally that they're willing to fight for funds, you want us to ignore them.
I think the only other thing I would say to this point is going back um to a couple slides in my presentation. There is a process to tiff. It involves input from the mayor's office. It involves the city alderman. It's part of the city budget process and we have to
respect that process playing out which is why we structured the budget the way we did with some things taking place in January when we would know by that point exactly how much um the revenue would be after the city budget played out. Um there's also these points here that
determine every year based on city policy and state law how much of the balances are surplus based on different criteria. So again, I go back to what I said in the presentation that with TIFF, we have publicly available data. We have trend data. We've looked at this. We
know the policies. We've checked with outside experts. We've had conversations with other stakeholders. For the city revenue, we've included everything where we have those same data points for um >> Rosfeld.
>> Uh thank you. Uh three quick questions. One, and this was sort of answered, but I just want to get a really fine point on it. So why exactly is it that you think we can rely on future tiff money and we revenue and we cannot rely on
future revenue from the state. So again the standard is the information that you have the best information that you have available at the time. And so I just went through tiff. We know tiff policy. We've had people inside and outside of the district looking at the
balances, doing projections. We're looking at the amount that we've been surplused over time, the amount in the fund balances, their rate of replenishment. For the state revenue, we've done the same. We've gone through based on the state budget, based on the
funding sources we know are coming through, based on the different inputs that we know could could impact different revenue streams, based on the fact that the city's that the state's budget is final, we've included those in the in the budget. Um, anything new, we don't have
anything new to go by. Um, we're continuing our advocacy with the state, but as far as I know from the last conversations with our IG team, we don't have any commitments. there isn't any pending legislation. Um, and so that's the difference.
>> So if this sort of magical thinking, maybe potentially illegal, fiscally irresponsible budgeting happens and if that money doesn't come through, and I believe Dr. King said this in her statement, we'll have to go to school budgets, right? The cuts will midyear
come to school budgets, which will not in fact be student centered because it will lead to mid-year cuts. Is that what you're predicting? Yes. Yes, that's absolutely correct. >> Okay. I just want to be clear about that. So, not student centered because it leads to ultimately we have nowhere
else to go but school budgets. >> That That's correct. >> Okay. And then finally, and this is probably more for the general counsel, Liz, but um so we can't pretend to have money that we don't have. Chicago public schools, right? and approving a budget based on
unsupported revenue would violate my fiduciary responsibility from what I understand and would put me and other board members at risk basically of personal liability. Um, is that correct? Would you agree
with that statement? Um, I would say what I can say publicly is that the school code requires this board to pass a balanced budget >> within 60 days of the beginning of the
fiscal year. The school code also requires that the budget estimates or any estimates in the budget including revenue and liabilities uh must be made upon information known to the board at the time of this vote.
>> And I will also say publicly that the school code require or um lists out various uh sanctions for willful violation of the budget provisions in the Illinois school code. um and I have advised the board accordingly.
>> Thank you. And this budget is not balanced with the state revenue assumption. Correct. >> That is not um an opinion that I'm able to make. Um I rely on the budget and financial officers before you. >> All right. So I'll ask you if th this
budget then is not considered balanced >> with the state revenue assumption. Correct. >> That's my opinion. Yes. >> Thank you. member Gutierrez. >> So last year we did this budget in August
and this year in July. Um can you run that for me again? Why we're a month early? >> Sure. Well, let me back it up even a little bit farther. I've been here for a few years. um I think since 2020 I
believe and in four of the last five years we've passed the budget in June or July. It was only last year that we actually passed it in August. I mean so it it goes back and forth, right? Um during many of those years when we
passed the budget earlier, we were having COVID money, right? And each year, of course, we were doing short-term loans, uh, TANS, but the ability to pull the COVID money in at the beginning of the school year let us delay when we were looking at some of
the the TANS financing. So, last year, uh, you know, taxes were delayed, but there were a number of other different factors. There was, uh, the financial performance was slightly better. That gave us a little bit more window. We also did a bond financing in September
that brought in a lot of money that was a able to reimburse some of the expenses that were out there. But we did ultimately do short-term borrowing and start drawing on tans in October. So, we are a little bit earlier, but it's not, you know, it's not like it's six months earlier or anything like that. And and
again, it's we're here because we're trying to plan, right? we can't react um to putting, you know, half a billion dollars, a billion dollars worth of loans in place over the weekend. This is a process that has to take place and we
want to make sure that we give ourselves enough time to succeed. So that's why we're here in July. >> And my second question is really for legal counsel. Um, so to follow up on board member Rosenthal's question is it
is also my understanding if we don't pass through school code um not only would potentially me and my colleagues be uh liable uh legally liable uh for passing a budget that's not balanced um
but also officers of our corporation that being the Chicago Board of Education and its members. Correct. >> So again, I'll say that the school code requires this board to pass a balanced budget. The school code also sets forth
the sanctions for willful violation of the budget provisions in the school code. And those sanctions may apply to any board member or any officer thereof, which would include the chief executive officer, chief financial officer, etc.
>> Thank you. me Rivas. >> Uh, thank you, Mr. President. Um, I So, we we've talked about this. First off, uh, I was hoping you could just spell it out for us one more time, what
it would mean for us in terms of credit downgrades, uh, possible credit downgrades if we are unable to pass a balanced budget today. Well, it's hard to exactly say like how
uh far we could go or what could happen. I don't have a crystal ball, but there has been um concerted more attention in the recent rating reports uh by um the credit rating agencies as I've gone through the process with them. Last
year, we did receive uh a downgrade from Croll uh bond rating. um we maintained our standard and pores ratings. I think we have a number of negative outlooks also on our credit profile. So those things need to be resolved. Um but going
through this process and financing billions of dollars of transactions, I am extremely concerned that a budget other than what we have presented will lead to a downgrade. And that's basically what I spelled out when I was asked the question about the capital. So
it could be one notch, it might be a two notch, it could be multiple agencies and all our borrowings after that. It's really quick for you to go down and it takes a really long time for the elevator to go back up. You saw the chart that Emila did with the 34. That
happened really quick and now we've been struggling for like what over 10 years trying to get our rating back up. We had eight years of financial overperform where we basically took our fund balance from
negative to positive and we still are not fully investment grade on our general obligation bond across the board. So consequences of actions today will have long-term impacts on the future. Our
classrooms all the things that we need to do involve money unfortunately in the borrowing. >> Waldy, how many years have you been doing this at CPS? I've been here for 13 years and before that about 25 years and as an investment banker in the state of Illinois.
Um the last thing I I want to end on because it's been mentioned several times but it hasn't been spelled out and this is not private information. This is um Illinois school code uh but Illinois school code section 34-552 willful violation of budget provisions.
any member of the board or any officer thereof or of the city or any other person holding any trust or employment under the board or city who willfully violates any of the provisions of section 34-43 through 34-51
which is includes passing an unbalanced budget. shall be guilty of business offense and may be fined not exceeding $10,000 and shall forfeit his right to his office, trust or employment and shall be removed
there from. Any such member, officer or person shall be liable personal liability for the amount of any loss or damage suffered by the board resulting from any act of his in violation of the
terms of any of the of those sections to be recovered by the board. Thank you. >> Member Biggs. >> Thank you. Um connected to the first part of member Rivas's question, I too was a principal
in 201617 and very much remember the furloss. I remember the layoffs. Uh what I think I didn't understand as clearly then that I very much understand the impact of now was the borrowing that we did during that time. And I now
understand that that borrowing has a very real financial impact on the revenue that we have available to direct to schools. Now, could you talk us through some of that? >> Sure. Um, a lot of what we faced was
coming back from the pension holiday. Let's not forget about that. We had seven, eight years where we had not made, you know, a teacher's pension payment. The fund was close to 90 or n over 90% funded. And they determined
that, you know, we could take a holiday And and so that occurred for a number of years. There were a number of different changes in budgets that happened over those years. But when the need to make the pension payment came back, it was upwards of a $600 700 million annual
obligation that had to be faced. So it began to be faced uh by I think first a change in a revenue recognition period uh to count additional revenues into the fiscal year. A little bit of a accounting
wonkiness if you will that depleted cash very quickly when uh it really wasn't it wasn't there. It was just an accounting mover maneuver. Uh it then subsequently, if my memory serves me, moved on to um
budgeting for more state revenue, right? And at that point in time, I believe there was legislation approved. I think this went on for a number of years. I think at one point there was a bill that was awaiting um you know, for the governor's signature. Um and you know,
those things just didn't happen. So, um, that's basically when the cash ran out and we needed to start doing the short-term borrowing to make ends meet, right? Um, it got so bad that there really wasn't anybody that would lend to us also and and so we were kind of a
going to lender of last resorts and we couldn't get all of everything that we needed to get done done. So then we started to take out a longer term loan to plug the hole, but the longer term loan was paid back over 20 years and that's what's outstanding. And our
credit rating at that point had dropped so low that those loans were costing seven, seven and a half, 8%. Right? So I the refinancing that I did last year, I saved I think over $130 million. it
effectively refinanced a lot of that debt at more market uh reasonable interest rates, right? But that same thing could occur again. That's what that's what we're fearful of, right? Is that if lenders don't agree to what it is that we're doing, they don't think
it's structurally sound. >> I have I have, you know, relationships now that I've cultivated with three lenders. There's still lenders that won't talk to us that are large lenders in the United States. There's only a few that we can go to. If any of those lenders drop out, then we run the risk
that we can't even get all of the short-term financing that we need and we'll have to do something else, too. So, these are the things that we're like really trying to um stop from happening. >> Yeah. And about how much are we paying now each year on the debt service on the
borrowing that we did during that time? >> I'd have to go back and check with you, but I mean, I think we've quoted last year that it was upwards of $200 million. It may have gone down a little bit because we refinanced it, but we really took most of the savings up front. So, it probably didn't go down
too much in terms of the cost to carry over the remaining life because when you refinance, you can take the savings annually, you can take them in the back. We chose to take them up front because we didn't want to make additional expenditure reductions in the classroom.
That was really an important thing. I think was the right thing to do. it doesn't change the present value of how much you're saving. Um, so I think the cost of carrying is still probably close to that $200 million mark for, you know, another 10 or more years, 15 years.
>> Right. To be clear though, if we had not engaged in that borrowing, that would free up about $200 million in resources today that we could direct to schools and classrooms. Correct. >> Yeah, sure. any you know we would have at that point in time needed to make
those adjustments in in the budget and then they would have flowed through and yes then of course we wouldn't have that that debt outstanding. So, those are the difficult things that happen like this is what we went through last year talking about how to close the gap with long-term borrowing. Those come back,
right? You get you get a benefit the current year, but then you do have to pay that debt back and it turns into more cost for you over a 10 or 15 year horizon. That's what's occurring right now with that debt. >> Got it. And very quickly, big picture, total debt service that we're paying in
this year's budget is what percentage of the total budget? >> It I believe it's it's uh around $900ish million dollars. It's probably about in a 10 15% range is what it >> of our total budget. >> Got it. >> Thank you.
>> It's in one of the slides. >> Thank you. I'm going recognize uh board member Pope who's joining us virtually. >> Hello. I'm sorry. Hello. Can you hear me? >> Yes. >> Uh so here's my concern and I've
mentioned this concern before. We are relying on a very optimistic projection. I know you say it's conservative, but last year we had letters from dozens of alders saying we will get we will get a
big tiff surplus to you. This year I have not heard that from the alders. I haven't seen any evidence of that kind of funding coming through. So it makes me very nervous to count on that. We've just seen an increasing number of state
legislators committing to a fight on behalf of getting some of the additional state revenue that everybody recognizes we deserve and are entitled to and that we all know that our children are entitled to. So this is an important
fight for us to have and we have a bunch of allies who have declared themselves today and I think we need to keep that in our considerations. So to me I am very I have a question here. I'm I'm a little
confused about it. We said, I believe last week, that if we eliminated midyear cuts and eliminated furlows, the total on that would be something like $200 million in savings. Could we not
say we are going to pass this budget with the state projections? If we do not get that money in the veto session, then we would have to deal with reconsidering and possibly reimplementing say a
midyear freeze if we only got part of it for example. Why do we have to hamstring ourselves, for lack of a better word, now with an assumption that we will not get any money from the state
and yet continue to assume that we will get money that no one is promising us from the city? I'm just I'm a little baffled by it to be honest. >> Thank you, board member Pope. Um, you know, again, I think it's a lot of the things that we went over in the
presentation, what the realistic assumptions are. I understand that there could be differences of opinion that you may not agree. Um, the state has only done anything to the education formula once in I don't know
20 years or more. I mean, before they before they changed EBF, I'm not sure how long the existing formula was in place. So, they don't have a great track record. I mean, I find it encouraging that you're having these conversations. I'm curious if the conversations are a
result of all the conversations we're having here in the public, quite frankly, um that are really getting others to listen, which is great. Um but they still don't give me um comfort in the fact that the state will move especially in the fact that uh if they
did move and they did want to make the revenue available to us in the fiscal year uh my understanding is that they have to amend their own budget and they need a super majority to do that. So, while you know we may be successful in getting some categorical grants or some
other changes, um these are really um significant things to try to get that revenue in the current fiscal year that we're in. In addition, I would just think about what the state has been doing and what and how CPS has
benefited. So, I believe $350 million in new state aid was put into the formula this year and that resulted in $65 million in revenue for CPS. So, you just think about how much they would potentially have to put into EBF because
it would have to be shared with all of the school districts throughout the state be talking about a number an additional number, you know, close to another half a billion dollars before CPS would be getting a hundred million dollars of that. and then again uh the
supermajority to make that revenue available. So I find that to be a very risky proposition and not one that I can I can comfortably get behind. But the tiff on the other hand I see those numbers. I see those amounts in the bank
account. I know there's a lot of voices and a lot of opinions. Last year again I think was a much different space because essentially was a much larger amount and it was much more contentious at this point. Um this amount is half of what we
received this year and it is in line with amounts that we've received since you know the last 2000 beginning $200 million which we put up on the board since 23. But at that point the balances were half of what they are now. So
there's pretty significant amounts of information that are available to us that seem to make it clear to me that it's more logical to put the revenue assumption into the tiff versus the state of Illinois and especially
considering all the other mitigating factors that would come into play with the operations, the cash flow, the loans, all those other things. Okay, just to follow up if I may, you had kind of convinced me that the 200
million figure was not that unrealistic and not overly optimistic. And then we all want to eliminate furloss. I'm a teacher. I was victim I was a victim of furloss. I don't want any of our lowest paid workers, whether they be
custodians, lunchroom staff, etc., to have to suffer from the uncertainty of lost pay and the way that can affect people's lives and people's budgets. I want that less than anybody else wants it. But how did we then suddenly come up
with another $85 million which just happened to be the amount involved in the tiff that I mean in the uh furlow and that that that really made it seem more unrealistic to me I have to say just because it's so conveniently came
up and matched up and stuff. >> Could you clarify? You know, I well, what I would say to that is you think about the the messaging and how we've rolled out the budget initially on the 15th and how we crafted where the furlow
days were going to be, how we crafted where the mid-year spending freeze, uh, where the hiring freeze would be, it was all on the second half of the year. So, wholeheartedly, Emila and I always believed there would be more tiff revenue. We were just trying to find a
shared experience in reductions of expenditures across the district and see where that could go. Uh it it resulted in quite a large push back. It was not our ideal state to be recommending furlows. Uh but when we went out and did
the community engagement, when we started talking to our labor partners, we saw what um you know what what it resulted in. It seemed like we needed to go back up and look at where we were at with our assumptions. That was going to involve either additional uh reductions,
which we knew were really difficult to do, or to look at the revenue. And all along we were trying to put the revenue number on the tiff as low as possible. um even though we knew it would be higher and we knew there was a possibility that some of the things we were looking at could be rolled back but
when faced with the possibility of would we have enough support for the budget or not it seemed like the logical space to go was to look at the tiff revenue and make that I know it's not making everybody happy but it seems like something that well I know it's something that I can live with and and
something that I hope that some of the board members can support as well >> member Lopez. >> Thank you, board president. And my question is, you already touch upon this. So whether it be either of you or um the district leadership, I'm just
trying to figure out how realistic or what the path forward is. Uh given that I'm just reviewing the language that I received today during the meeting for this uh potential proposed amendment and seeing here right 150 from the state just for Chicago district. um knowing
veto session six days uh that have been scheduled on the calendar uh and per the Illinois constitution as it was mentioned in order to pass any supplemental funding to go into effect right away and something that gets passed after May 31st it does require
the super majority which looking at numbers we're looking at a 107 from both chambers um and that will include getting individuals legislators from outside of Chicago on board if we are just 150. Uh but potentially they will be asking also
funding for their local districts which we know that this is across the board where there needs more support from special education to other to other areas. Um and also it will require to find a new line of revenue for the state in or propose where are they going to
get that money from? which other budget lines are they going to remove it from the state in either to move it to these new items while at the city and please someone who knows more than me can correct me 26 votes are needed for a
budget approval at the city level right 26 alder people that represent the city of Chicago that also individuals have schools public schools in their wards it might be an easier conversation than me going trying to talk with I don't know a
member of of uh the general assembly that represents the quad cities for example, right? Um so just to put those numbers in perspective and but is there a plan already? Is there a plan how we can make this possible in six days?
>> I I think it puts an incredible amount of pressure um on the district. I think what we're trying to do is give us a path to succeed and not fail. Um, I know there's optimism. I'm I would think it would be fantastic if it if it could occur. Don't don't get me wrong here.
Um, I think we're also just, you know, trying to come to terms. I know we've recently approved our legislative agenda. I know we're trying to get an IG chief on board. Um, so there's a there's a number of things. I mean, I I believe the current IG team will be, you know,
supportive and aggressive on what it is that they can do. Um, but there's still some things that that need need to really be aligned. Um, >> and you know, the other point I would make is that the budget is designed to allow the the budget as it stands is designed to allow for this kind of
advocacy and this kind of work between now and the end of the year um to secure revenue from any source that we can. And I think we're all on the same page and I'm encouraged to hear the progress with the state legislators. Um but I think we have to balance that against
um both the requirements to have a balanced budget for the fiscal year at the start of the year and also some of the real operational risks that we're facing to not approving to not having an approved balance budget today.
>> Thank you. I think at least for me it will be seeing what a plan looks like so we can get this going and that we are setting up everyone for success. Thank you. >> Member Boy. >> Wow. >> Yeah. Um
probably the thing that speaking loudly to me is this uh fear of not making payroll um on September 4th. I got a lot of friends that are working in the schools, a lot of family members,
uh, colleagues, and I know that after not getting paid all summer, about this time, people are starting to scrape the bottom of the barrel in their their personal finances. And it's right at the
same time when staff teachers need to spend extra money because they're all getting ready to not only send their own children back to school, but they're they're trying to get their classrooms ready. And teachers spend a lot of money getting their classrooms ready every
year as well. Um, so I know that's part of my fear of not not passing today of that impact. But I heard you say something that beyond the impact to our staff that the district would face
consequences for not making payroll like can you explain about that? Like what what are the consequences to the district? Um, I think it's best if I kick this over to um to Liz.
I can say publicly um that failing to make payroll could bring potential sanctions and consequences under several Illinois state laws as well as our collective bargaining agreements um which require us to pay employees for
the work that they've done. >> Thank you. Member Brown. >> Uh, thank you, Mr. President. Um, I I have um deep concerns about getting a 10 billion budget in 10 days and being told that we don't have a choice but to
pass it by the end of the month. Basically, to rubber stamp a budget. Um, I have deep problems with being told that originally there were only 750 uh cuts to teachers and roughly 400 cuts
to teacher age and then when you peel back the onion is is more like 2,000 cuts. I have deep concerns about fear-mongering and um being pulled all of a sudden into a
2-hour break because there's a particular proposal. I have deep concerns about legal telling us that somehow we're breaking the law when there was precedence not only in
2017 but 2015. It concerns me that and I don't like disagreeing with our superintendent because I respect our superintendent, but it concerns me
that we are missing the biggest difference between 2017 and today and that's political will. In 2017, Bruce Roner was the governor.
And so, anything that was going to be pro public education, he was swinging the hatchet to it. And you're not acknowledging the fact that never before, even before Bruce Ron, you had Michael Madakin and John Cletton. John Cletton
blocked the bill for this elected school board four times. Four times. So, the political will was not there. What you're not acknowledging is never before have you had the speaker of the
house and the senate president say we will find the revenue. Um I feel disrespected. I feel insult profoundly insulted. Um, and and as a board member, I'm I'm
you know, don't call me in any rooms like that because I'm not gonna I'm not going to do it. Don't call me any rooms like that. Don't don't fearonger with us. Because I know a little bit about Chicago public schools history. I was in
those board meetings when a lot of those decisions were made. It's dishonest. It's disingenuous. And I I really don't appreciate it. um didn't volunteer for this to be manipulated.
And so, and it's it's it's kind of deep when people try to spin you and they don't think that you they they don't think that you see them. I see you. I see you. And my BS meter is very sharp.
And so, and Dr. King, I respect you more than this. I I I I respect you more than this. I fought for you and I'm hurt. And many of the people that are in your ear did not
did not. And so, I'll stop there. Mr. President, >> member Blaze, >> I wrote a speech and it says, "I'm so glad to have the opportunity to be here today for that." Anyway, I just thought
I'd throw that out there. Um, I know I'm surrounded by people who love our schools and kids. Um, I want to thank Dr. King and her staff for the first iteration of this budget. I want to thank my school leaders who shared their concerns and opened up about the
challenges that this budget created for them. Um, I also have to say that I always have to be rooted in my values. Um, when I first got on the board, President Stacy Davis Gates looked me
like dead in my eyes and she said, "Do you know your north star?" And I had to I was taken a little bit of back because I I don't think I could articulate it. And and I know that to be a super important part of this journey. And so
when I when I started um this volunteer job, I knew my job was to make certain that um I was a good steward of the Westside um schools. I've visited most of the 64 schools in my district and I've been immersed in their accomplishments and
challenges. And when I look at our budget and see $20 million in cuts just to my district, just to 5B, I feel like a failure. When I know this budget asks me to fire 2400 people, I h I feel like I've lost
my way. Um I still I'll be honest with you, I still feel the loss of the 100 safe passage workers that we let go of last year in addition to the other staff cuts. We know those um folks just their mere
presence equates to 15% reduction in crime, but I wonder if there's a a kid who never made it home based on on the votes that happen in this room. Um but there's nothing in me that thinks removing 2400 people from our schools
makes anything better. Um and you know, I understand people talk about the changes in population. Um, the population has changed over the last 10 years, but 10 years ago, our schools were not staffed appropriately either.
We were 49th in the country in funding. So, comparing what we're supposed to have with what was going on 10 years ago is a sham. Um, so,
uh, so I'm I'm listening to the budget as it develops. I see there's a a hundred a $100 TIFF um request from this body to to to the city. I call some
people at the city. I'm like, "You guys got a hundred million?" Cuz everything everything that happens, I I make a phone call or two just to double check. And they're like, "It's going to be really tough." Um so then a week later, the number just goes up to
200. And then I say I called that person at the city. I was like, "Oh, you found some more money." And they were like, "No, I don't know how we're supposed to get to 200." Um, and I called another person cuz that person might have been like maybe uninformed. So I called another person and they were like,
"Dude." Um, so in the collo the colloquial language. So then um Diane Palmer by all rights and God bless you for fighting for um our special ed students and for seekas. Um she writes a
letter. I think we got it on Tuesday and on Wednesday 85 million more dollars of tiff money showed up like $285 million in tiff money. when we don't have any assurances for anybody at the city in the offices. I haven't heard it from any
of the aldermen. I haven't seen any letters. I haven't seen any information saying that that 285 is available. But you know what we do have? We have the education mayor. We his legendary tiff surpluses have bailed us out for the last two years. And so we're assuming
he's going to find that 285. But Tiffan will not fix our structural deficit problems. We need to talk to the state. And um I'm not sure how long, Wally, that you worked with at the state or you were a legislator, but I think there are
opportun you're not okay. I just wanted to make sure because um I I I know that there's opportunities on the state level for them to give us money and it's the money that we're owed
and it's the money that we need and it's the money that we keep asking for. But as soon as we even allude to the fact that we're going to throw it into the CPS budget, the Senate, the um speaker of the House says, "We got you. I'm 110%
sure we got you. All of a sudden, Don Harmon's talking about it. And then I see the the the governor, Governor Pritsker, who said, "We don't have any money for CPS." There's a paragraph in capital facts you wouldn't believe. It's
it's like half a page long. Now he's talking about CPS. We have to keep us in the conversation and cowtowing and bowing down and pretending like these aren't real, that
these cuts aren't real. 2400 teachers, educators, assistant principal, let me tell you about the assistant principal, my favorite one, my um two little boys coming to the office. Three little boys come in the office. They said, "That girl, she's scratching my face and she
beat me up." And um they it was my daughter, my youngest. They said, "Bring her in here." And um she came in furious. She was stomping her and everything. And she was pissed. And she said, "I didn't do it. They came after
me." Blah blah blah. They had a whole conversation. The boys ended up admitting that they hit her first. But that assistant principal is the one who kept her out of trouble, who kept her from her name being on a list or and kept her belief that she was safe in her
own school. These little this 2400 is a lot and we have to act like we care. And just because you don't The amendment came late, I'm I'm a I'm You're right. We should have been talking about this
earlier, but we found $85 million in 24 hours um on Tuesday. Can we find some more money that allows for the state to give us what they owe us? That's what I'm asking. And so I had a
whole long speech and it was so pleasant, but I just got so frustrated. But I'm I'm telling you, we have to do this. This is important. This isn't a game of let's see who can who can get out of what. I This is important and
it's going to make a difference. Be bold. Be courageous. You will be part of changing history. You will be part of making sure that the state knows that they are part of this whole system and
they owe us money. It's not a handout. Thank you, >> Member Smith. Thank you, Mr. President. Uh, I want to ask you, 285 million in TIFF is a conservative estimate based on all of
the previous years, would you say? >> I would. Yes. And considering that the city is having its own uh budget uh problems, uh it will be probably dipping into that surplus, which means that they
probably owe us more than 285 legally if they dip into that their surplus to fill up their budget. Is that correct? >> It's impossible to say for sure, but I imagine that'll be part of the conversation during the city budget process.
>> Okay. So, it's it's really odd to me that we're complaining about getting $85 million from the city when really we're probably owed more. It's really odd to me that we're saying we can't depend. We
have to really pound the state, pound the state when we're going to need a in the general assembly, we'll need a 71- 36 vote uh in order to make that happen. just in the uh state, not the not the
Senate, just in the rep house. Uh so that's a real uphill battle. I I want to I I'm hearing these things about the uh Speaker of the House, Welch, who made the statement that he is in full support of us. I I saw that clip and he looked
like he was in duress and he looked like uh when I when I saw it, I said, "Brother, blink twink twice if you need me." And I'll tell you exactly what the brother said because some of his statement is being said, but the whole statement is not being said. The whole
statement was, I don't know if we can do a special session. I can commit to a veto session in November. We got to pass a budget so people can get paid now. I want my teachers paid now. I want the I want special ed teachers now. I want
that extra $143 million in this balanced budget right now. I don't I just told you I want it now. I I'm I'm not tripping. I'm not tripping. I love y'all. You y'all know it's all love. But what I'm saying is we deserve it now. And so I'm not saying
we're not going to fight in Springfield. Yes, we got to do that. But why are we limit? If we say we want fully funded schools, you fight Maria Poppins, you go to Brandon Johnson, you go to the governor, you go everywhere because our kids deserve it. And I agree with member
Blaze. It ain't welfare or a handout. It's my mama. It's my uh grandmama property tax money and she deserve it because tiffs come from her property taxes. Thank you. >> We will close out this discussion. I I just want to make one statement though
as as we we close this out just a cautionary tale as as I sit here and listen to the different analysis. I think the board is right to evaluate everything closely to determine the
likelihood of one source of revenue over the other. But I think the part that concerns me is that we become a little bit too cavalier over the expectation of tiff and just looking linearly at the data. Looking at what has happened
historically totally uh takes away the reality of the politics of the moment and that is a factor that contributes to what has happened historically over the last couple years. We can't take that out and
just look directly at the data and have that as our sole source of assurance. I could tell you as a board member, as president, that doesn't give me the assurance that you think that it may.
the conversations directly with the mayor's office, the budget director, and everyone associated has not shared the same sentiment that we should be comfortable in this assessment. So my only cautionary tale to the entire board
is do not rest with an assurance that the 285 is coming and everything else we should just be focusing on. that too has an element of risk that has not been substantiated by any account that I can
have determined and I've looked for it. I've this is something that I want. I don't care where the money comes from um quite frankly but it has to be if we're going to evaluate risk. I just want it to be underscored that that 2852 is
risky. And as we talk about it, we talk about it with a certainty and assurance that could leave us in a in a desperate situation if th those resources aren't fully realized. So that's my only comment. There's no need to respond. Um
we can move on. Thank you both for your presentation. Thank you. We'll now open the floor for questions or comments on the public agenda.
Beginning with RS1, adopt the annual school budget for fiscal year 2027. RS2 resolution adopting a final one-year capital improvement plan of the board of education of the city of Chicago for
fiscal year 2027. RS3, a resolution levying property tax and authorizing and directing the filing of a controller certificate for the fiscal year 2027 for school and capital
improvement purposes of the board of education of the city of Chicago. RS4 resolution authorizing the issuance of educa educational purposes tax anticipation warrants and notes of the board of education of the city of
Chicago and a maximum principal amount not to exceed 1 bill650 million outstanding are six resend board report 25-104-EX2 established Chicago High School for the
Arts as a district-managed fine and performing arts school and adopt a new resolution to invest in arts education, support the Chicago High School for the Arts School community, and preserve the
pre-professional arts training. There'll be a separate vote taken after MO3. So you can provide your questions and comments for that item before we proceed with the separate vote or board members. Are there any comments
or questions or any of the items on the public agenda? Are there reports that you wish to be removed from the consent agenda as a separate vote? Member Kuster. >> Thank you, board president. Um, I am going to motion to take a quick
20-minute recess. It's my understanding that there is an updated legal brief for us in our emails that should be read. >> Is there a second? >> I second. >> We'll move to a vote. >> We'll now proceed with the electronic
voting. Board members, please cast your vote. Board member Pope, can you let us know what your vote is? Board member Po, can you let us know yes or no to take a 20 minute recess? I'm trying to say no. I'm sorry. I had
trouble unmuting. Did you hear me? Yes, we cast the vote for you. >> Thank you so much. >> Vote is closed. >> Not everyone has voted. This is for recess.
>> This is for a 20 minute recess. The remaining board members aren't in the boardroom at this point. You can close the voting. This fails of adoption. We have how many eyes?
Eight eyes. Zero abstensions. Nine nays. Nose. Members, please review your email. >> We'll now proceed with the vote on public agenda items. Board Secretary, please proceed. >> Thank you, President Har. I'll proceed with the items on the public agenda.
Read the board report numbers and the brief titles. I believe board member Bole has motion MO2 regarding the record of proceedings. I move that the record of proceedings of the agenda review committee meeting of June 10th, 2026 and
the board meeting of June 25th, 2026 prepared by the board secretary be approved and that such records of proceedings be posted on the Chicago Board of Education website in accordance with section 2.06b of the open meetings act.
>> Is there a second? >> I second the motion. piss. We'll now proceed with the electronic voting. Board members, please cast your vote. Board member Pope, can you let us know what your vote will be? Yes or no?
board member Pope. Yes. All members present have cast their vote. It can be closed. The eyes have it 17 eyes, zero nays, zero abstensions. President Harden, I'll continue with items that do require a vote. RS5,
resolution, authorize appointment of members to local school councils for the new terms of office. PO1 rescend and adopt new concussion management policy. PO2 rescend and adopt new op a new option school academic
accountability policy. EX1 transfer of funds. EX2 amend the fifth final option to renew the intergovernmental agreement with the department of family and support services. President Harden, this amendment is necessary to extend the agreement to
August 31st, 2026. I'll continue with PR1, authorize a new agreement with SAGA Innovations, Inc. PR2, authorize a new agreement with Arbiter Sports LLC. PR3, authorize the first renewal agreement with various vendors for managing
environmental consulting services. PR4, report on the award of construction contracts and changes to construction contracts for the board's capital improvement program. PR5 authorize a new agreement with various vendors for field support services. PR6 authorize the
first and second final renewal agreements with various technical services consultants. President Harden, for the record, I would like to note an abstension by Vice President VeZ on PR6 for the following vendor CDW Government LLC
vendor number three. I'll continue with PR7. authorize the pre-qualification status of and new agreements with various vendors to provide safe passage services. President Harden, for the record, I would like to note an extension by board member Gutierrez on
PR7 for the whole report and board member Lopez for the following vendors. Catholic Bishop Catholic Bishop of Chicago DBA St. Sabina Church vendor number seven and SGA Youth Family Services NFP vendor number 14. Is there
a motion? >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> We'll now proceed with the electronic voting with the noted abstensions on PR 6 and PR7. Board members, please cast your votes. Board member Pope, can you let us know
what your vote will be? >> Yes, please. >> Thank you. It's It's not show. Oh, yeah. Sorry. >> Voting is closed. Oh. >> Oh, I thought I did.
Oh, sorry. It's locked. Oh, that's >> the eyes have it. >> What's the button? >> 18 eyes, zero nays, zero abstensions for board reports RS5, P1 and P2, EX1 and
EX2, PR1 through PR6. For PR7, it's 17 eyes, zero NAS, and one abstension. President Harden, I'll continue with additional items on the public agenda that do not require a vote. P8 chief chief procurement officer delegation of
authority report for May 2026 and chief financial officer report for May 2026. EX3 report on principal contracts new. EX4 report on principal contracts renewals. AR1 report on board report recisions. President Harden, these items
just need need to be accepted by the board. >> Please mark received a file. >> President Harden, I'll continue with items from the general counsel that do require a vote. AR2, appoint assistant general counsel, Department of Law, Alexander J. Smith. AR3, authorize new
retention of various outside counsel law firms. AR4, authorize continue retention of various outside council law firms. President Harden, I would like to note an extension for board member Gutierrez for the following law firms on AR4. Burke, Warren, McKay, and Saratella PC,
Meer Brown LLP, and Greenberg Trrowig LLP. AR5 workers compensation payment for lumpsum settlement for Will Arer. AR6, approved payment of proposed settlement regarding claims brought by Mary Terry on behalf of ZG.
AR7 approves settlement between the board of education of the city of Chicago and Chicago teachers union on behalf of all affected coaches, athletic directors, and sports liaison. AR8 property tax appeal refund authorized settlement for 3750 North
Lakeshore Drive, Inc. President Harden, these items do require a vote. >> Is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> I second the motion. We'll now proceed with the electronic voting with the noted abstensions on AR4. Board members, please cast your vote.
>> Yes, please. >> Thank you. >> Voting is closed. >> The eyes have it. 19 eyes, zero nazs, zero abstensions. President Harden, I'll continue with items from the board that do require a
vote. RS7, resolution approving interim superintendent, chief executive officer's recommendation to dismiss educational support personnel. President Hart, this resolution is being updated to rem remove Tyiana Campbell from the dismissal resolution. Tyanna Campbell
resigned effective July 27th, 2026. The final resolution will will be included in the agenda of action. RS8 resolution approving interim superintendent chief executive officer's recommendation to dismiss probationary appointed teachers. President Harden, these items do require
a vote. >> Is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> We'll now proceed with the electronic voting. >> Board members, please cast your vote. Yes, please. We can close the voting.
The eyes have it. 19 I's, zero naz, zero abstensions. President Hart, I believe board member Rio Sierra has motion MO3. I move that the board adopt the minutes of the close session meetings of June
10th, 2026 and June 25th, 2026 pursuant to section 2.06 06 of the Open Meetings Act. Board members reviewed these minutes and determined that the need for confidentiality exists. Therefore, the minutes of the closed session meetings held June 10th, 2026 and June 25th, 2026
shall be maintained as confidential and not available for public inspection. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> We will now proceed with the electronic voting. Board members, please cast your vote. >> Yes.
Voting's closed. >> The eyes have it. 19 eyes, zero nays, zero abstensions. President Harden will now proceed with the separate votes as noted earlier with a separate vote on RS1 adopt the annual
school budget for fiscal year 2027. This item does require a vote. >> Is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> This matter is now open for discussion. Any any comments before proceeding to the vote?
Member Boyce. >> I move to amend the budget to respond to community concerns and recent developments in the news by increasing anticipated state revenue by $150 million and using those funds to avoid
making thousands of recent layoffs permanent and to protect students from challenges caused by additional mid-year hiring spending and service cuts. If I receive a second, I will speak to the motion. >> Second. >> Second.
>> Um, again, we are being asked to bake in nearly 2,000 staff cuts that just rolled out and make them permanent after saying we do not want cuts to the classroom. We do not want cuts to the classroom. We do
not want cuts to the classroom. It's it's getting to be almost like the word equity around here. Like just we say it all the time and we're not thoughtful about how we move. We are still being asked to sign off on a one-time funding fix of TIFF funds that
are completely unsecured and we're giving a pass to the state who have a constitutional duty to fund our schools and are the only path to longterm structural solutions. These are real cuts to real people and
real schools. They have an impact on real students. Over 75% of the staff laid off are people of color and in my district 5B saw more positions cut than any other. Um yesterday we received a historic invitation from the speaker of
the house to push through additional funding. I need to take every step possible to restore and protect the schools in my district. We each have that duty. And I'm sorry I sound upset. right now, but I have been threatened. I have been put off. I have been told uh
uh they don't have any information by board staff. And I'm I'm just trying to at least have this conversation. It's hurtful. The state owes us money. The funding formula is going down. We've
gone from 87% down to 74% and the cost of everything is going up. and all we want to do is talk about the city. Uh, member Smith, I will go with you to the city. We're going to demand that 285. But if we're not doing the same, if we're not including the state in this
conversation, we are fooling ourselves and we are robbing our kids of opportunities. So, let's work together to make it clear to our students that cuts to school communities will not come lightly. Let's show our dedicated staff that we also
are dedicated to fighting for them. Let's show families that we will leave no stone unturned to fight for the funding their students need and deserve. Thank you. >> Member Smith.
>> Thank you. I was um today I heard a I heard a CTU member say a poem and it really inspired me and it inspired me so much that I wrote a remix. It don't matter. It's my turn to speak.
So the the poem that was written was called Where's the money? This poem is called The Money is There Politics is wild and the system ain't fair. State, city, and county, the money is there. TIFF dollars are our tax
dollars, not CPS welfare. Teachers know the truth. The money is there. Everybody owes our children. They say the mayor gave a billy. Give it again and again and don't make our city look silly. I will fight with you, member Blae,
because I know that we all care. Let's tell Johnson and Pritsker. We know the money is there. Now, today we have a choice and that choice is between a fully realized balanced budget that
funds our schools, adds 143 million dollars more to the schools, 1700 new positions uh for excellent uh schools like PO Classical, who the last time I spoke to the principal, they do need
their AP back. They do need special ed teachers. They do need seekers that they lost and whether or not they have them August 24th the doors are opening and they are going to be ready to teach and that's all schools whether they have it or not. This is not the time to be
playing chicken with people's paychecks at the state. I've never said I wouldn't go to the state. I've never said billionaires uh over uh we shouldn't do uh uh babies over billionaires or uh
people over profits. I agree with you totally. All I'm saying is that this is not a eitheror. This is a both and. And if we're going to be really really honest with ourselves. When we saw Speaker Welch yesterday, he
specifically said in November, what we heard today, all I can go off of is the experts that we pay, is the superintendent that we hired. I believe that they know more with her superintendent's lure about how to run
schools than I know, about how to manage a budget than I know. So, I look at the data that's given to me from the experts that we hire. That's what I know. And from what we're seeing, we wouldn't get that money until next year. Let's not
play with your paycheck today. Let's Yes, let's fight. I agree. Let's go. Let's get it. I am down with you. But let's not cut our nose to spite our face. That's called a spherical victory. When you win, but you lose at the same
time. There's a way that we can all win together. And if we're going to all win together, we got to all work together. And all of this stuff people doing about who's on this side and who's on that side and who's with this person or that person, that's silliness.
That's silliness. And it's propaganda. Now, y'all know me. I am accessible. I do office hours. I be in every school more than a lot of people. And the people in the community know me. If you want to fight together, I'm with you. But let's get all the money, not half of
it. Thank you, >> Member Brown. >> Thank you, Mr. President. Um, I want to speak in favor of the amendment. Um, I want to say that I was one of the board members who lobbyed the mayor hard
last year for the TIFF surplus. So, I agree with board member Smith. I think uh I I agree with what Commissioner Stamp said when she was here. She said, "You got to look at, you know, there's an old saying from the
black power movement, Dr. Malana Coringa, the creative quanza. One of his teachings is Kazzy is the blackest of all." And that means the work you do is a lot more important than the work, the words that you say. So I can stand here before you and say I have lobbyed the mayor. Not letting the mayor off the
hook. But it seems to me in this space all we talk about is the mayor. All we talk about is tiffs. And I want to I want to do a little history because values are beliefs that govern your behavior. What you believe is what you do.
So for three decades, Illinois was 49th in public education due to an overreiance on property taxes. despite the fact of having an international city within his midst. This was foundational to creating an apartheid school system. But schools in
Streetville and Lincoln Park by design were far more resourced than schools in Austin and Aguil Gardens. Then in 1995, despite this inequity, former mayor Daly ignored the progress that was made for the first five years of local school
councils and he invented an education crisis and the state of Illinois passed the amendatory act which gave daily mayoral control over the Chicago public schools as the second city in the United States to have mayoral control. Boston
was first. There was no political will to hold Springfield accountable at that time. The result, over 161 school closings, 88% of them in black communities. The
purging of black teachers out of Chicago public schools from 44% in 2000 to roughly 19% today. Thousands of children in the wave of school closings lost and unidentified. And at this moment
I want to speak to the spiritual memory of Darien Albert who died on September 24th 2009 as he was going to Finger High School because his school Carver High School in Aguil Gardens was closed.
I want to speak to the spiritual memory of Edward Anderson who I knew who went to Diet High School after Inglewood High School closed because as a community we understood that if you get off that third and King Drive bus and you below 25 you gang affiliated whether you gang
affiliated or not. That community wisdom was ignored and I went to Edward's funeral. And I want to say at that time the political will was not there to hold the state accountable. As our community suffered, the state
ignored our pleas for a moratorum on school closings. Three different years, 2009, 2010, 2012, we went to the state begging them for a moratorum on school closures and they refused. My point in this is that
the state has caused harm and they owe us values. What? The former Senate President of the State Senate killed four bills calling for democracy in Chicago
education. I want to say again, values are beliefs that govern your behavior. What you believe is what you do. So when I when I hear an aversion to truly holding accountable all the
people that owe us money and we going at one target, the mayor, I want you to know I see through it. We see through it. Values are beliefs that govern your behavior. Who are you protecting? Who don't you want to be
held accountable? This isn't looking for a handout from the state. Have we ever seen the speaker of the house invite us in supporting supplemental school funding like this and then the Senate president backing him up?
One of my mentors taught me this lesson that sticks with me in different parts of my life. He said, "All you need to make change is time, space, and will." But political will was not there in 2017.
We sit in these seats not respecting the political will that we forced to create this opportunity. There's a arrogance in that. There's a deep arrogance in that. For the people that went to jail for the right for you to sit in these seats.
For the people who sat outside in the cold and froze in front of Chicago public schools. Who took over John Cullton's bar on Rush Street and demanded the right to have an elected school board. who wrote the referendum to prove that Chicago can have an elected school board. There's an
arrogance and I want you to know I see you. I see you. You're not fooling nobody. So what we're calling for in this moment is not letting the city off the hook. There's no evidence that we've ever done
that >> ever. >> There's no evidence. But there is evidence of people for some reason not wanting to hold accountable the body that actually owes us a billion dollars. The the the body that has actually done harm.
We need and and so I want to say to you, one of my goals, if I'm if I'm blessed enough to be reelected, one of my goals is to end the year with CPS in the black with CPS not having a $500 million deficit or $400 million deficit. And in
order to do that, we must fix the structural uh uh break that is in Chicago public schools. We need progressive revenue, real structural solutions, not political theater. Beyond this immediate crisis, this is the time to heal the wound of structural
underfunding of Illinois schools. If you look at other large urban districts, Los Angeles funds between 58 and 70% of their schools from the state of California. New York 40 to 48%. Chicago 29%.
Legitimate progressive revenue legislation has been proposed by Senator Martwick, Representative Theres Ma, and others. I am reminded and I'll close with this of one of the quotes from one of my heroes Alhaj Malik El Shabbaz Malcolm X. If you
stick a knife in my back 9 in and you pull it out 6 in, there's no progress. If you pull it all the way out, that's not progress. The progress is healing the wound that the blow made. And they don't even want
to admit that the knife is there. It's important that when we have conversations, we have honest conversations about where the deficit lies and I'm really concerned about our aversion to having a holistic approach.
We passed a legislative agenda finally and we are hoping that Chicago public schools will work in coalition with the people that are that have created this moment. values, our beliefs that govern your behavior.
What you believe is what you do. We have no excuse not to be working together to win this for our school. That's it. Thank you, >> Vice President Bas. >> Uh, thank you so much, President Harden. Um,
this is a difficult time and I know we have had a lot of conversations, but I'm I rise in support of this amendment. Um, I also would like to take a page from board member Smith and I try to do my remix but a little bit different. I
title it they not like us. >> Copyright there. >> Fear is what you sell when you have nothing to offer. And Chicago, that's what you are about to hear. That the sky is falling doom disaster. Earlier we were being
threatened from board members who are backed by billionaires. The same crowd that has been closing schools in the black and brown community for decades since the dailies. They mentioned earlier that our plan
rely on assumptions. But let me tell you how their number was born. A letter showed up and 10 minutes later calls started ringing. But I didn't get a call. Some members did. They were counting votes. They were
just two splitters apart. Somehow they assume an extra $85 million into existence. Took a number from 200 to 285 off a piece of paper. Did they get a commitment from the city council? Nope. Did they talk to city's
budget director? Nope. Assumptions for some, not for others. That's not budgeting. That's politics. And that's irresponsible. But us fighting for every classroom, we have a track record of that. But why the have they done in 12 months
barely anything? That's not leadership. That's obstruction with a name plate. They're not like us. But this isn't about them. It's about our children. I have a kid in CPS, by the way. This is not a classroom. A classroom is
not a line item. It is a promise. It is our responsibility. you know, a kid with IIP should should be getting a commitment uh to getting the help they need to thrive. Uh but we believe in abundance. I don't believe in scarcity.
I believe in account accountability for everyone. City Hall, our central office, and Springfield, which wrote a funding promise into law and walked away from his bill. But I'm glad to see that they're trying to make amends and and
that's really wonderful. Uh 2,000 positions cuts, it touches the classroom. Um I want my son to have the best education, you know, that any kid in one of the top private schools could ever have. Um
care taxes are not a budget plan but this amendment is and I really rise in support because we have fought we have walked with many union members outside the lunchroom workers who who were outside we stood up with them we stand
with you know uh with CTU we stand with SEIU we stand in getting all those positions back because this really impacts all of us and our children just deserve better. Thank you, member Wallace.
>> Thank you, Mr. President. I um I just wanted to share some frustrations that were on my heart this last uh 72 hours or so. I apologize for anyone who has heard those frustrations already. Um but I'm going to speak as a parent volunteer that I am. I uh sit amongst
some amazing people, some activists, teachers, um principles, doctors. Um but I come as as just a parent and that's the the perspective I have. So, um I'm frustrated because we're here again looking at a budget that reflects cuts
because we don't have the money that we are owed. Um, I'm frustrated to be governed by a different set of rules where if I don't pay my bills or make the obligations I promised on time, I have repercussions. >> I'd have my lights cut off, a lean put
on my house, my credit ruined. Um, I along with my neighbors paid at my taxes, uh, that have continued to go up, expecting them to be used to fund various things, including our schools. And as I look at the rest of the state,
I can't even lament and say that they're giving it to the rest of the state because it doesn't look like any of our school districts are being funded the way they're supposed to be. Um, so as Miss Shade said, where is our money? It is not enough to tell us what we are
owed or even how much you've already given, especially when you have not yet made us whole. I don't have the luxury of telling those coming to collect on my bills that it will be late or I don't have it without suffering what much Miss Shaw mentioned consequences to my family
and the consequences have thus far seemingly not been felt by the entities unable or unwilling to offer what is owed to our students. They are being felt by our families and students that paid their fair share, that did their part in maintaining public schools,
expecting the entities that impact our funds to uphold and do their part. And look, I'm aware we haven't had the greatest funding situation in our district since at least the 70s. But I can't help but notice it feels like that now that our Chicago students are getting what they actually deserve, we
suddenly aren't even receiving the less than complete funding we had been getting in a timely manner. It is often the way of those who see something is working and are afraid of changing the status quo or outright don't want progress to slow or remove
funding from it. We have been incredibly reactive as a district, something I've brought up before and I'm hoping we can become more proactive. I don't see that happening though until we stop focusing on all the reasons we believe something can't be done and start focusing on the ways in which we
could actually make it happen. Member Rosano. >> Thank you, Mr. President. I too am feeling a lot of frustration and anxiety. Uh, and I'm a bit nervous. Uh, but I will say what I have to say, what's in my heart. I want to let you
all know that we've been told, I've been told, and families have been told in the barios that uh, don't fight for that because you're not going to get it. They're not going to listen to you. Impossibly, they're giants and we're too little. But
then I remember my brother Rudy Loausano and he said, "There are no great men or women in the world, only great challenges that ordinary people must take on." And I remember Cesa Chavez saying, I know people talk about him now, but cue
and I'm just saying to the governor and the state of Illinois, pay your bills. You owe us the money. And we hear arguing with each other. Good people. Every single one of you here has a good heart and you love the children. And I
respect each and every one of you. But we cannot get played and fight each other because the state of Illinois doesn't want to pay their bills. We have to make them pay their bills. And we're not going to do that just keep throwing it back on the mayor. He's a good guy. He did it last time. He's going to do it
again this time. We know he will because we're going to pressure him to do so. But what I'm saying now is that we need to make sure period pay your bills. We can't let them off the hook. Our children deserve it.
And we and my schools in 7A card Chicago Tech High School, Chicago Language, Cooper where I went to school, Corkery, Farragate, Fina, all of our schools deserve not to get any cuts and that's what we're about. No cuts, no closings,
no furls, no BS. So, we're calling on the state of Illinois to do this and we will do what we have to do today to make sure that happens. Gracias. >> Member Gutierrez. >> You know, every member of the Chicago
Board of Education wants the same outcome. Protecting classrooms, supporting educators, and ensuring every child receives the education they deserve. I appreciate the passion of my colleagues advocating on behalf of our students. They are right about one
thing. Illinois has not fully funded Chicago public school under the evidence-based funding formula. That remains a broken promise. Where we disagree is not on the destination. It is on how we responsibly get there. The
question before us is not whether Springfield owes us Chicago more. It does. The question is whether the board of education should adopt a budget that depends on revenue that have not yet been approved, appropriated or
guaranteed. Ironically, this is not a new debate. Nearly a decade ago, the Chicago Teachers Union star strongly criticized CPS for building budgets around what it called at the time
phantom money. In 2017, CTU argued that relying on uncertain state revenue created instability, delayed difficult decisions, and place schools in jeopardy if they were promised dollars failed to materialize.
The union's warning was straightforward. Budgets should reflect resources that are actually available, not simply those we hope will arrive. The historical lesson deserves consideration today.
Advocating for additional state investment is not incompatible with adopting a financially responsible budget. In fact, the two should go hand in hand. What concerns me is the timing.
If additional legislation authority, new state appropriations, expanded county financing or significant new local re revenues were essentially to balancing the budget, then those conversations should have begun months ago. And I think this body has argued that not in
the final days before the board has been asked to vote. Legislation does not move overnight. Coalitions are not built overnight. Appropriations are not negotiated overnight. The general assembly operates on calendars,
committee deadlines, fiscal notes, and negotiated compromises. Successful legislative agendas require months of planning, coalition building, and discipline advocacy. Imagine where we might be today had we
coordinated a legislative strategy beginning last fall. Imagine if board members, city hall, labor partners, parents, business leaders, and Springfield legislators had spent the
past year advancing a unified package of solutions. Imagine if we had entered the budget season with enacted authority instead of hope for authority. Those are fair questions, not because the ideas are
wrong, but because leadership requires acting early enough for good ideas to become reality. That does not mean we stop advocating. Far from it. We should continue demanding that Illinois fully fund
public education under the evidence-based funding formula. We should continue urging the city of Chicago to declare a meaningful tiff surplus. We should continue exploring reasonable financial tools that reduce
borrowing costs. We should continue pursuing long-term structural revenue solutions. But advocacy and budgeting serve different purposes. Advocacy asks what should happen. Budgeting requires
us to decide based on what we know today while we're preparing for what will happen tomorrow. Our district already faces significant cash flows. Existing borrowing authority is nearing its legal
limits and delaying budget approval risk the district's ability to authorize financing needed to meet payroll and maintain operations in the coming months. Those are practical realities
that cannot simply be wished away. I have consistently argued that we should exhaust every available re revenue option before asking classrooms to absorb the burden. That includes calling on the city to declare a
substantially larger tiff surplus and begin long-term planning for FY28 immediately after adopting the FY27 budget. Those positions are not inconsistent with fiscal responsibility.
They reinforce it. The students of Chicago deserve more than annual budget crisis. They deserve predictable funding. They deserve honest planning. They deserve a board that advocates aggressively while budgeting reasonably.
More importantly, they deserve leaders who will begin to solve next year's problems long before next year's budget arrives. If there is one lesson we should all take from this year's debate
is this. The work to balance the FY28 budget must begin the day again after FY27 budgets adopted. Not next spring, not next summer, and certainly not the week before another difficult vote. That
is how we protect classrooms, restore public confidence, and fulfill our responsibility to the students and taxpayers of Chicago. >> Member Rosenfeld. >> Uh I have there is no aversion to a holistic support, a holistic strategy.
We just have to live in our reality right now. One of the most frustrating things here for me today is as a board, we voted almost unanimously in favor of Dr. King. She presents us with a budget and we come right at it
where I value I value district leaders. I value the people that have worked hard on this. I value Dr. King as the CEO and superintendent of CPS. The first time she does this for us, we all come at it. It makes no sense. Where is the faith in
the district leadership? the budget isn't balanced with the state revenue assumption. Dr. King made it clear, our our our um CFO made it clear if that money doesn't come through that
money from Springfield, we will have to go to school budgets. There will be mid-year cuts. I'll be in this seat in the middle of next school year. I don't want to clean that up. I don't want to have to deal that. Let's do the right thing now. Um,
I want to make sure that everybody understands that there is no state special session right now. It's not coming in time to solve for the FY27 school year budget. We have to pass this budget right now. 100 million added to
EBF for CPS costs about 500 million because we are one district in Illinois. We are here in Chicago. We need to take care of ourselves here. I agree. Let's go to Springfield. I think Speaker Welch does want to talk to us. He did invite us in. Let's begin those conversations
at veto session, but that's not going to pass this budget. I value people getting paid. I value our workers getting paid on time so that they can pay their bills. That's what we need to do today to pass this budget. >> Member Biggs.
>> Thank you. Um, so we tried this exact move nearly a decade ago and the results were catastrophic. I clearly remember the furlow days that came. I remember the layoffs. I remember how staff lost hard-earned cost of living adjustments.
I don't understand why we're proposing the same thing that Rahm Emanuel and Forest Clayool did and expecting a different outcome. This amendment is delusional at best and deeply harmful to students and working people at worst.
This amendment will result in twice as many layoffs as are in the current budget. It will ensure furlows for the entire district. This amendment will increase our debt service costs and force CPS to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in borrowing costs each year,
diverting desperately needed funds away from our classrooms. and any member voting for this amendment is ensuring this eventuality. Nothing in the budget as it's proposed prevents us from advocating together in Springfield for fully funded schools. This board
cannot repeat the mistakes of the past. So, let's reject the amendment, pass Dr. King's budget as it is currently proposed, and come together to work with our legislature and our governor for the funds that we so desperately need.
Member Zachor. >> Thank you, President Harden. We are a representative school board, the the first representative school board ever. We represent the parents, students, and staff of the schools in each of our districts as as well as of the city.
What I have heard from my schools is deep concern about the impacts the cuts they are experiencing already will have. Some principles in my district have expressed doubt that they will be able to ensure the same quality of education given the magnitude of the cuts. I
believe them. They are in their schools every day and they know. Newspaper articles are referencing 4% staff cuts across the district on average and the budget as is would make those cuts permanent. It is not fiscal
responsibility to fill a budget gap by making cuts that will harm our children when there is a pot of money that is literally owed to our schools that we have not made a concerted effort to get. If we are fine anticipating money from the city that has not been voted on,
then it makes sense to anticipate that we can get funds that are rightfully ours from Springfield when Speaker Welch, President Harmon, and a team of legislators as well as others are reaching out to work together with us and saying explicitly they are going to
make it happen. As Frederick Douglas said, power conceds nothing without a demand. Our demands are moving the needle. So now is not the time to ease off. Now is not the time to be satisfied with business as usual. This is not 2017
and our governor is not rounder. We should not be running scared now because of the circumstances then. I wanted to be on this board to fight for the resources our students deserve. And I knew it would be a fight and it is. I will be voting yes for this amendment.
>> Member Bannon. Uh, I want to recognize the work of Dr. King, budget staff, all the network chiefs, principles and LLC's for getting the budget to this point. They have our students interest at heart and I think they went as far as they could with this
budget. As a board, however, we can do more. We must do more. We can pass a budget that spotlights the chronic underfunding by the state. This revenue projection is backed by recent comments of legislative leaders including my state senator Senator Martwick here today and by state law that says it will
fully fund EBF by 2027. Adding this revenue to the budget is not reckless or irresponsible. It's saying to the students, parents, and staff of this district that we will do everything we can do to fight for them. What's reckless and irresponsible as a board is doing the same thing and expecting a
different result. I'll admit that adding this projection to the budget makes me a little uncomfortable, but not as uncomfortable as failing falling into a cycle of balancing our budget with cuts. We cannot cut our way to student success. Uh in my district alone, there's 145
position cuts, 16 at Dirkson, four at Nord Park, nine at Hitch. I'm sure a lot of schools all over the city are experiencing that. We can't continue to cut and expect uh parents to want to send their school students to our schools. The state's own funding formula says CPS and other schools across the state are not receiving the minimum
state funding that they need to adequately serve students. The state constitution says the state has the primary responsibility to fund education. But the state contributions only make up 29% of CPS revenue. This budget amendment says loud and clear that
forcing us to cut because of state underfunding is no longer acceptable. I recognize member Pope. Board member Pope, if you can enter or press star six to unmute. >> Can you hear me now?
>> Yes. Please proceed. Please proceed. Oh, I'm so sorry. Thank you. Uh, yes. I spent my career teaching at woefully underfunded neighborhood high schools. We're wonderful students. Many of them from challenging situations in their
home lives. Many of them immigrant students who have had a rough way to go getting to Chicago. Many of them kids who did not have the kind of support at home because their parents were working two and three jobs. I know the effects
of underfunding our schools and those effects are devastating on the lives of young people and I cannot in good conscience support a budget that slashes jobs and that slashes opportunities for
our youth. It is wrong to do this, especially when we have finally gotten a group of very important legislators to commit to joining us arm- in-armm in this fight for our children. This is not
just a fight for our children, too. When people say, "Oh, well, other districts are going to want some, too." Well, absolutely, other districts should have some, too. We have districts around Chicago where people have moved due to the cost of housing in Chicago and many
people are struggling. We have districts downstate near St. Louis where many folks are struggling. We have rural districts where rural poverty is a real thing and we need to fund those districts too. We have a Democratic majority and a Democratic supermajority.
This is the time for our governor to step up and be a beacon of light for education. This is the time for our legislature to show what they can do to help the children of Illinois, whether those children live in Rosland or
whether those children live in East St. Louis, Peoria, or anywhere in between. Please support this amendment because this amendment is the way forward to getting actual sustainable funding and
not to be begging and counting on things that we don't know that we can count on for the future of our children. My children went to CPS. My granddaughter is in CPS and I was a teacher for decades. So please hear my cry on behalf
of our children. Thank you. Member Kuster. >> Thank you, board president. Um, someone told me once that arguing logic here is pointless. Um, but I would be remiss if I didn't at least acknowledge that, um,
school code, Illinois school code 3444 is pretty clear on what our role here is and school code 3452 is pretty clear on the ramifications. This amendment completely fabricates revenue that's not even based on any
real good faith estimates, let alone actual revenues. And it's really just pure hallucination. It's not a mistake, and it seems like a pretty intentional attempt to place revenue numbers in our budget in order to offset undesired spending, but it doesn't take into consideration what
happens when those real revenue numbers uh are put into action and the district runs out of money midyear. If the board members are voting yes on this, um it's likefully that you are willfully violating the budget provision of the school code and having this
actual knowledge of proposed revenue figures are not based anywhere in reality. Um and we've been put on notice already about this, but I don't expect that logic to sink in. But I know that many of you have children in the district and some of you have much older
children or you've already seen your children go through the district. Um I have three children. Many of you have met them, been to our home, been part of our life for the last two years. Um my oldest is going into first grade. So whatever the ramifications are from
tonight, I will be living with that child for the next decade. And I will have to somehow explain to him why he loses teachers midyear, why he loses programming midyear, why his brother will never experience
those things or his sister will never experience those things. And there are 60,000 children first grade and under that their parents will have to do exactly the same thing. I'm perfectly willing to bring them here and one of you can explain it.
But I'm just starting in my children's educational journey and so many of you are on your way out and this is a real reality for me and so many families like mine. 60,000 children like mine. I came here to try to make their
experience and all of these children's experience better with the knowledge and experience that I have for my professional career. And this makes me incredibly fearful about what my students educational future will look like. So if the logic
doesn't work, those of you who have met my children and looked at their smiles, you can think about that, too. Before we move to a vote, I just want to remind the board that
multiple things can be true. And we have a responsibility to be analytical, empathetic, and thoughtful in our decision-m. But I'm going to challenge us as we continue to look at difficult decisions
that we do so in a way that does not become disrespectful. There's a way that we can convey our convictions without it becoming personal attacks on perspectives. We show up here. This is what democracy
looks like. 20 different perspectives converging trying to reach a consensus on very challenging matters. It does not help the situation when we are attacking each other's perspectives
because they are heartfelt. There are lived experiences and that's why we are a diverse board. So, I'm going to challenge us to take a moment to think about how we convey our feelings and thoughts in a way that does not offer attacks to our fellow board members. And
with that, we'll go to a vote. We will be taking a vote on the amended language as uh motioned by board member Blae and seconded by board member Lozano. I do want to clarify though uh for the amended language board member
Blae is it increasing anticipated state revenue by 150 million as you noted or is it based on the materials that were was shared earlier this morning?
>> It's based on the materials. The amended language is on page 10 of the budget book. At the paragraph starting at the end of this process,
after that sentence, it's adding the sentence after reviewing the impact on students and school communities of over 1,600 position closures and layoffs. And given this district's commitment to continued investments in special education,
this budget will use additional resources to add back 100 million in funding to resend layoffs and maintain staffing across schools. It is also adding number two in that section,
increase the state funding assumption by $150 million, including $50 million additional funding in mandated categorical grants and $100 million in additional evidence-based funding. The
state of Illinois reports FY2026 revenue exceeded projections by 1.00 003 billion and there are active legislative proposals for additional revenue streams and additional public education
allotments striking institute five furlow days for all CPS employees to be taken on a non-instructional days between January and June 2027 resulting in 80 million in savings striking that out also
>> sorry Susan the parentheses we took that out The state of Illinois reports FY2026, the portion that's in parenthesis >> that's being stricken. >> Yes, please. >> Okay. >> It's not necessary. I have a question.
Uh I have a question. I just want to know uh if voting yes on this budget uh maybe this is for the superintendent. Would this be considered a balanced budget if we v vote yes on this budget? the amendment the amendment
>> I have not seen the amendment in its entirety and based on uh the CFO and uh the budget director they're re they're telling me no >> it would not be considered a balanced budget >> that's according to what I've been told >> okay thank you
>> I do want to note that um the first part of the amended language reads proposed amendment language for the budget resolution 260730 RS1 amending section two of the resolution adopting the annual school
budget for fiscal year 2027. Section two budget approval the annual school budget for fiscal year 2027 incorporating exhibit A of this resolution and the website at cps.edu/budget as amended by exhibit B is adopted.
Uh continuing on where I left off, the section starting with implement strikeout a combination strikeout and a district-wide midyear spending and hiring freeze strikeout
112.6 million and adding 62.6 6 million in the table noted as balancing the FY2027 budget
adding under FY2027 beginning deficit rescending of layoffs and position closures 100 million updated remaining deficit 397.6 six uh
million increase under updated remaining deficit. I'm sorry in that section strikeout districtwide midyear spending and hiring freezes with
62.6 6 million adding in increasing state funding assumption 150 million. Striking out the midyear spending freeze is a measure of last resort. By delaying
the implement implementation of this measure until the second half of the school year, we created a critical window between now and December 31st, 2026. Striking out in the next sentence, timeline gives. Adding in at the very
end of this paragraph, protect our school communities and prevent permanent harm. This is the amended language for RS1. Adopt the annual school budget for fiscal year 2027.
the vote. Can Can we get our CFO or chief budget officer on the record clearly stating whether or not this presents a balanced budget proposal? >> We're done with questions already. We're ready to a vote. >> We're in the vote.
>> Please proceed. We will now proceed with the electronic voting for the amended language for RS1. Board members, please cast your vote. >> Board member Pope, what is your vote?
>> Yes. I'm sorry, Susan. Did you hear me? >> Yes, we heard. Your vote has been recorded. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Voting is closed. The eyes have it for the amended language to be added to RS1 with 11
eyes's, seven nazs, and one abstension. We will now need to take a vote on RS1, adopt the annual school budget for fiscal year 2027 with that amended language. We'll need a motion. >> So moved.
>> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Was that board member Brown that seconded? >> Yes, ma'am. We'll now proceed with the electronic voting for RS1 with the amended language added.
Board members, please cast your vote. Board member Pope, can you let us know what your vote is? Yes, please. Yes. >> Thank you. >> Thank you.
All votes have been cast. The voting is closed. The eyes have it. Uh with 11 I's, seven nazs, one abstension for RS1, adopt the annual school budget for fiscal year 2027 with amended language.
President Harton will continue with a separate vote on RS2 resolution adopting a final one-year capital improvement plan of the board of education of the city of Chicago for fiscal year 2027. >> Is there a motion? >> So moved.
>> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Second. >> I'm sorry. Who's seconded? >> Vice President V. The matter is now open for discussion. >> Member Brown. >> No, I'm sorry, Mr. President. What What
M what what what item are we on? I'm sorry. >> We are looking at the capital improvement plan RS2. >> Member Kuster. Um, we didn't really discuss if there's any ramifications of the passing of this
budget with the amendment on this capital budget. Um, is there any way to know if there's any ramifications of that Member Custer, your question was directed to whom? >> Anyone who can answer it, I guess. Um, I
mean, we've just changed, we passed an illegal budget and changed budget fundamentally and so I don't know if that action is going to have an impact now on the proposed capital budget. So I don't I don't know if anyone can answer that. I maybe there is no answer because
we don't know what is going to happen. But um even a hypothetical would be appreciated if anyone can answer it. >> I I can say there will be an impact, but right now we're in uncharted territory. So I can't definitively give you a
response right now. Uh that's something that we'll have to take back as uh we assess next steps with the initial vote and now with this we'll see the decision of this next vote member. >> Are any other questions or comments related to the capital plan?
There being none we'll move to a vote. We will now proceed with the electronic voting for RS2. Board members, please cast your vote. >> Board member Pope, can you let us know what your vote is? >> Yes.
Yes. >> Thank you. >> Voting is closed. >> The eyes have it. 19 eyes, zero nazs, zero abstensions. This item is adopted by the board. President Harden will continue with a
separate vote on RS3 resolution levying property taxes and authorizing and directing the filing of a controller certificate for the fiscal year 2027 for school and capital improvement purposes. >> Is there a motion?
So moved. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> The matter is now open for discussion. >> There being no comments, we'll move to a vote. >> We'll now proceed with the electronic voting for RS3. Board members, please cast your vote.
>> Yes. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Can we cast board member Pope's vote as a yes? >> Voting's closed. The eyes have it. 19 eyes, zero nays, zero abstensions. This matter is adopted
by the board. President Harden will continue with a separate vote on RS4 resolution authorizing the issuance of educational purposes, tax anticipation warrants, and notes of the board of education of the city of Chicago,
Illinois in a maximum principal amount not to exceed 1 bill650 million. Is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Second. >> This matter is now open for discussion.
There being none, we'll move to a vote. We'll now proceed with the electronic voting for RS4. Board members, please cast your vote. Yes. >> Yes, please. >> Thank you. All members have voted. Voting is
closed. The eyes have it. 19 eyes, zero nazs, zero abstension. This matter is adopted by the board. President Harden will now continue with the I'm sorry. We will continue with a
separate vote on RS6. Resend B report 25104EX2 establish Chicago High School for the Arts as a district manage and fine performing arts school and adopt new resolution to invest in arts education support the Chicago High School for the Arts
community and preserve the pre-professional arts training. President Harden, please note that RS6 was drafted on agenda. The final report being will be included in the agenda of action. >> Is there a motion?
>> Is there a second? >> Second. This matter is now open for discussion. >> Member Rosfeld. So my question on this is because it's not a line item in the budget and it's asking for $5.5 million, how does that work?
Does anyone know? >> Are you asking me? >> I don't know who I'm asking. I just I don't know how that works. I don't how do we vote on something that's going to cost $5.5 million when it's not in the budget? I can say that the Illinois School Code
um requires that for the board to commit to any liabilities, expenditures, there must be an associated appropriation in the budget. >> So, this would be a second illegal budgeting vote is what I'm hearing.
Thank you, >> member Smith. >> Thank you, uh, Mr. President. I want to start with a quote from, uh, James Bowwin. Uh the quote is, "Artists are truthtellers that exist to make the
world a more human place by confronting society's uncomfortable realities and tearing away delusions and insisting on the sanctity of every individual life."
I am saying that quote to the students of Chicago Arts High School. Speaking directly to them, I want those students to know that the $5.5 million that's being asked for, the entire budget of
Chicago public schools art department is $7 million. Because it's $7 million, that $5.5 million is probably going to come from the CPS arts department that has to fund every school in the city's art program.
So when I am in my community, Bronzeville, uh, uh, Woodlon, Chadam, and they ask me, "Why do we get inequitable funding? Why do other schools get funded more than we do?" I bend myself in pretzels
to tell them that's not true. CPS does fund every school equitably. And I believe that to be true, and it pains me today. really disappoints me that I wasn't telling them the truth. I
didn't understand that when people put their thumbs on the scale and as we speak, people were making backroom deals that nobody here had any idea about to try to get money for one school over all
of the other schools. Um, it disappoints me that some of the people that talk about their own districts are robbing their districts. And I pray that the cameras are on, the schools are watching, the students are
watching, the parents are watching. As I let you know that in district 5B, the member who is bringing this resolution forward, there's been zero and will be zero arts investment in Collins Steam High School, Crown,
Skinner, Talcott, and Wales. In district 5A at Chopen, Clark ES, and Nash, they will get no arts investment. and district 4A member Zachor's district. There will be no arts investment in
Blaine, in Disney, in Hamilton or Ravenswood. And I love you so much, Mama Emma, but here's yours. There'll be no investment in your district either in arts if this passes. So, what we're effectively doing, and I'm speaking to
the students of Chicago Arts High School, what we're effect Take a picture of that, too. I need that back. What we're effectively doing is we're saying we'll take from arts from the whole city just for one school. How does that fit?
James Bowwin quote that the job of the artist is to be brave in the face of delusion and speak for humanity. I'm asking you for the humanity of every student at every art school in Chicago.
As an artist myself who was robbed of the education from CPS that I deserved in the arts and I had to get it in the streets, I was blessed to have somebody like Dr. D West put her arms around me. I was blessed to have Timuual Black and
Reverend Jesse Jackson put their arms around me. Every student doesn't have those type of giants today. If we vote yes on this, you're taking $5 million out of a $7 million department to fund one school. How's that for equity? Thank
you. >> Member Gutierrez, >> legal council, questions for you. Um, I assume this requires twothird vote. >> Well, the resolution is would require 11
affirmative votes. the resolution um as I said would need to account for well um the money that's pre presented in the resolution needs to be
accounted for in the budget. The budget has just passed and therefore um any amendments to the budget do require a twothirds vote. Yes. And public notice posting
hearing, you know, the budget hearings, etc. Everything else under the school code of the notice requirements. member Gopez. >> Along those lines, I'm just trying to figure out what the process here is. So, if this resolution passes, does that
mean there needs to be a later on a different resolution where it would allocate pretty much an amendment and allocate a bud a line in the budget for this funding? Um what I can say publicly is that the
school code requires that um or prohibits the board from incurring any expenditures without an associated appropriation in the budget. >> Okay. I'm just confused. If we were to pass this resolution, can it be
implemented? >> Are you asking operationally or legally? If it's legally, then I do not feel comfortable expressing my legal opinion publicly. >> Okay. >> And operationally, >> that is a question not for me. >> Operationally, you don't have the funds
allocated to do this project. uh the funds would need to be taken from somewhere else to be able to designate that. So, similar to what board member Smith said, the money would have to come from somewhere.
That would be probably the existing budget if it were to play out that way. But again, legally, I think that's uh an avenue that we want to have a definitive answer on. Okay. And I will also like to know where
potentially the funding or if there's an idea. Um I know that board member Smith mentioned potentially the arts. Um but I I think I would like to know you know what the plan will be for this. Thank you. >> Member Biggs.
>> Yeah. I' I'd like to understand from our chief budget officer if the passage of this resolution will necessitate a budget amendment. Um I don't it's hard to say this is this is new. Um like Liz said the requirement is
that the balance the budget stay balanced. And so if we're identifying $5.5 million in additional expenses, we have to either identify an additional five million in revenue or $5 million in expenditure somewhere
else. Um, and I can say that the way that the budget is built this year, as I've shared with all of you in conversations and in various briefings and memos over the last seven or so months, um, the way the
budget is crafted this year is very, very tight. There is no space. There is no place where we could take from to absorb a cost like this, this cost, or really any other new cost that's not currently written into the budget.
Um, and so that's what I could say about how we would have to I I think Liz spoke to the requirements around maintaining and passing a balanced budget and having in the and I think also having in the resolution a budget line and funding
available. I think that's one thing. Um the other thing then is how we would um implement this and how we would actually move forward with funding this if passed. We would have to identify where the funding would come from.
>> Okay. So, is there currently a line in the budget that this would come from? >> No. >> Okay. So, then my question is for board member Blae. What are you suggesting gets cut in order to implement your resolution? >> You don't have you don't have to answer
that question. Explain >> how we've been paying for shy arts for the past two years. >> Yeah. So the way we've been and this is a difference in how the budgets were crafted um you know last year versus this year
>> um the reason why we were able to absorb those extra funds um not just for Shy Arts but for some of the other um charter and and other schools >> um is because when we budgeted
>> um there was some natural there was some um underspend within INI's budget for those schools. And so we had an overall budget for um the unit and four charter schools and we saw some underspend I
believe because of enrollment. I would have to go back and and check. Um and so we use that funding for some of these new um for some of these other authorized expenditures that came up. We don't have that authority in this budget. Um because because of how tight
it was and because of how big the deficit was, >> all of these um any area like that where we thought we would see a a a you know underspent throughout the year due to enrollment, due to other reasons, um we already included that in the budget. So
we don't have the same space that we perhaps did last year. I would argue we didn't even really have the space to do it last year since we underperformed. Got it. So, I I'll just offer this. Um, I really do think that Shy Arts will be
in a position where it can raise its own money and it will be able to earn its own keep. Um, the the imperative part of this is because the teaching artists have been laid off. Over 70 teaching artists have
been laid off. Um, and I know CPS is still negotiating what is a good number for that. I just wanted to make sure that there was space for those teaching artists, at least some of them, to start to be hired back so that school could
start on time. Um, I'm I'm feeling all the resistance. We can withdraw this. We can, you know, shut the I mean, what's the alternative? >> Table it. >> Table it. And then um there's no music
cons there's no arts conservatory. >> That's what we're planning, right? We'll just close the school or it'll just be a school. >> We're not closing the school. We're not closing the school. >> Two dance teachers and two art teachers. >> It's an art school like the rest.
>> It won't be an art school anymore. It'll be a regular school. And some of the schools you mentioned have great um arts programs. The Collins Academy has a whole setup from Chance and they're doing incredible work there. So,
plea just I know trying to make take shots at the >> I'm not taking shots >> at the board meeting, but you're inaccurate. No. >> And again, I don't come in your board. I don't come in your I don't try to tell you about your district. I'm very supportive of other members wanting to
do things in their district. In fact, Shy Arts isn't even in my district. I'm just supporting um that school because I know how incredible it is. >> Yeah. >> Um and so but I don't I don't lick shots at other people in other other people's
business. I'm sorry, you probably have way more information than I do. >> No, I I just I just wanted to clarify a couple of things. Uh first and foremost, that Shy Arts um wasn't a part of our budget because it was a contract school, >> right? >> And so the conservatory was funded by
private funding. And when that funding was not able to meet the uh rising demand and cost of the conservatory, that's when Shy Arts reached out to the board to um come to a mutual agreement to close the school. So the conservatory
funding is was separately funded um outside by um private funding and that could no longer happen. So that's why um that school decided to close their doors. But luckily the board decided to
transition it to a CPS school. So the um budget line would have never it was never part of the conservatory was never part of the uh funding that they received. What the uh current school leaders have done is that they've built
the conservatory model similar to that of LaGuardia into the actual school day so that you can have that pre-professional training during the actual school day. and then an additional robust after what we would consider an afterchool program or OST
which is now part of an extended form of the conservatory. So just wanted to clarify some of the um things. So it won't change that much. >> Uhhuh. And so but 70 of the teaching artists that have been there for years
are no have been let go. Right. So the the teaching artists because of the shift the shift of how the the model is being done. Um there has been a shift in the model. Yes. >> A tremendous shift. Right. And so Okay.
How about um if are you still in negotiations with um about staffing levels? I know there was 70. We we you had talked about 70 was crazy. And I not I'm not I can't
disagree or agree because I'm not that familiar, but are there still talks going on in terms of staffing? >> So that I unfortunately I I don't that's not part of our department. But what I can tell you is that based upon the conversations and the models and I was
actually part of those conversations with uh multiple schools across the nation, the model that has been presented and preserved at this point in time uh reflects a highlevel model. Mhm. >> That model implements all of the great
things that was >> part of Shy Arts with the conservatory and the academic day uh into one holistic school day. Because what people have to realize is that >> Shy Arts as a contract school, the actual school day actually ended at 100
p.m. And then from 1:00 p.m. to 2 p.m. every student went to lunch. And then from 2 pm to 5:00 pm there was the conservatory. >> And so what has changed is that has all been integrated into uh one school day.
Uh correct with the current model. >> Yep. So the $5.5 million number I just got two days ago. So this is all that's news to me and probably it's probably my fault for not following up more on it. Um
I'm sorry. before two days ago. >> No. >> Yeah. Okay. Got you. Um I'm I acknowledge that 100%. And so, um I think I'm I'm willing to um withdraw
the if I withdraw the item, I can bring it up later, right? Table it. >> Remember, you want to table it and then maybe while we get more information and a plan and then >> I have a better plan. I want to encourage you all to stay at the negotiation table and make sure that you
get to a staffing level that makes sense. I think firing all 70 of those teachers is really destructive to the heart of the school. Can I just say we did not fire them. They were they were employees of Shy Arts. They were not employees of Chicago public schools. And
when this the school transition to a Chicago public schools, the principal has autonomy though. There's no guarantee that even if you gave them 70 positions that the principal would hire all 70 because principles have the right
to hire who they want for their school and dismiss. So that is part of the challenge. I think you all are trying to save the 70 artists understood because they were part >> some portion of the conservative >> right but I just want to emphasize the principal has the right to hire whoever
he or she would want to hire. And who hired the principal? >> That was a part of a team if I'm not mistaken. >> Yeah, that was a part of a team. The actual Shy Arts community came together to create a steering committee to create um and they vetted multiple um
candidates and they chose um Dr. Fees. >> Okay. Okay. Um I hope that you all will continue conversations um about staffing level and come to some understanding with the staffing levels that don't destroy this school. It is a
real gem. Um we'll I can table it for now and we can bring it back next month and try again. School's supposed to start in a couple of weeks. Those kids won't have their arts training classes. um the thing that they're going to that
school for. And it's a magnet school, by the way. So, there's kids coming all over the city to go to a school that no longer offers what it said it was going to offer. So, >> do we need a motion to table? >> Yes. And a second.
>> I would like to motion to table. >> Is there a second? >> I second. >> Was that board member Bole? >> Me? Oh, sorry. >> It's okay. >> Yeah, >> I had a question too actually.
>> Um because uh member Blaze talked about fundraising. Um while he matter now >> move to >> Yeah, but you didn't >> motion. >> Yeah, but my light was on prior to that motion is what I'm trying to tell you.
>> Isn't it terrible when they >> I want to have a conversation. I appreciate that member Gutierrez but we have a motion on the floor. >> Is there discussion for this motion to t to postpone? No. So the motion on the floor is to postpone RS6 the resolution
for Chicago High School for the Arts to August 27th, 2026. We'll now proceed with the electronic voting for the postponement of RS6 to August 2726.
Board members, please cast your vote. >> Susan, my vote is yes. >> Thank you. Voting scores. The eyes have it. 18 I zero nays one abstension. This matter is adopted by
the board to postpone RS6 to August 27th, 2026. President Harden, this concludes the public agenda items. >> We'll now move into executive session. Vice President BZ, you have motion MO4.
>> I move for the passage of motion number 26-0730- MO4 and the commen commencement of a closed session to consider matters permitted under section 2C of the open meetings act subsection 1 and 11 as specified in the motion.
>> Is there a second? I second that motion. >> Thank you. We'll now proceed with the electronic voting for MO4. And board members, please cast your vote. Are all volts in? Board member Pope,
this is to go into uh close session. >> Voting's closed. >> The eyes have it. 18 I zero nay zero abstension. This motion is adopted by the board. Call session. The board meeting of the board of education is reconvened.
Board secretary, please proceed. >> President Harden, I would like to note for the record that there are no items to vote on from executive session. >> Thank you. Is there a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Is there a second? Second. All in favor? I. We got our turn.