Out of Money

Wow....the School Board did the correct thing and refused to take out a "pay day" loan that Conehead and the CTU supported that would have saddled taxpayers with additional millions that don't exist:

• Chicago will end the year in the red for the second straight year after Mayor Brandon Johnson suffered a devastating blow from the city’s school board, which this week balked at authorizing a short-term, high-interest loan to reimburse the city for a $175 million pension payment for non-teaching school employees.

  The continued defiance by a partially elected Chicago Board of Education still controlled by Johnson’s own appointees will force the city to end 2025 with a $146 million shortfall and make what the mayor called the “hard choices” needed to erase a nearly $1.2 billion budget gap in 2026.

  [...]  Chicago Public Schools needs a record $379 million tax-increment financing surplus just to keep cuts out of the classroom — even without making the pension payment. That’s $79 million more than last year’s record amount.

  But CPS is not going to get it. 

Here's to hoping someone responsible will start taking an axe to the CPS budget, closing under-utilized schools, cutting staff (especially the schools with SIX "assistant" principals) and firing a lot of dead weight currently under investigation for assorted sexual offenses against children.

The meeting turned contentious at one point with one of hte Board members accusing Conehead's recent appointee of being an FALN tool....which he obviously is based on our post from the other day. Must be a fan!