Chicago’s $1 Billion Budget Hole Exacerbated by School Turmoil
- City’s entire board of education abruptly resigned last week
- Junk-rated school district projects deficit above $500 million
Criticism from business and civic leaders is mounting.
Photographer: Jamie Kelter Davis/BloombergChicago Mayor Brandon Johnson faces one of the biggest tests of his administration as turmoil with the school district — marked by an abrupt mass resignation by the board — threatens to further erode the already-stretched finances of the nation’s third-largest city.
The first-term mayor is staring down a nearly $1 billion deficit next year — the most since the depths of the pandemic — as well as a surprise gap this year after the school system refused to pay a pension bill. School officials rejected Johnson’s plan to borrow the money and aldermen have chastised him.