Welch ‘committed’ to more funding for Chicago Public Schools — and the school board is banking on it

The Chicago School Board’s upcoming budget is banking on $150 million in funding that the state hasn’t allocated to prevent layoffs, but the request comes amid a tight budget landscape in Springfield.

The calls for further state aid to the Chicago Public Schools accelerated this week when House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, D-Hillside, told members of the Chicago Teachers Union that he’s “committed” to supporting a supplemental budget bill that would increase funding for the district.

One day later, the Chicago School Board approved a budget that relies on the state chipping in another $150 million beyond what’s already been allocated. CPS is facing a budget hole of more than $700 million and the specter of laying off more than 1,000 district employees, including hundreds of teachers, to close it.

“This should not be happening,” Welch said, holding a union flyer outlining the impacts. “I do think that the state of Illinois can do better (and) should do better. I’m going to keep fighting for you, so that we can get more revenue to get to CPS schools.”

Welch said he would “lead that effort in the veto session,” Welch said in a video posted to the union’s social media accounts. Lawmakers return to Springfield from Nov. 17-19 and Dec. 1-3.

It’s not clear what Welch’s plan is, and Gov. JB Pritzker told reporters on Friday he hasn’t discussed it with the speaker.

“I only heard it yesterday,” Pritzker said. “I think I saw a clip of it on social media.”

Pritzker said while state funding is a “known quantity” for schools, the CPS decision to bank on unallocated funding creates uncertainty.

“I would say I think it’s of course challenging to face a budget where there’s revenue that’s expected that the speaker is planning to have a plan for, but we don’t exactly know how,” he said.

An uphill battle in Springfield

Welch, Senate President Don Harmon and Pritzker have largely been aligned in their position of balancing the need for more education funding with budget realities.

But his apparent change of tune comes as he has been working to fortify his standing with key allies in recent weeks amid criticism over how his office handled allegations of sexual harassment against ex-Rep. Harry Benton, D-Plainfield.

The speaker has also faced scrutiny over his own interactions with a former female staff member on social media, which including reacting to posts with heart-eye emojis.

That said, it remains unclear where the additional funds would come from. The $55.9 billion spending plan Pritzker signed into law in June, which relies on hundreds of millions of dollars in tax hikes to bring it into balance, leaves little wiggle room.

“We’ve increased education funding across the state of Illinois,” Pritzker said. “I want to do more, and we’re not yet where we need to be. I want to do more, and at the same time, I’m a big believer in — and I think you’ve seen this — balanced budgets. You have to balance the budget, try to run a surplus, make sure you have priorities in order to fund the things that we really need for the people.”

CTU leaders and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson have long blamed the district’s financial issues on insufficient funds coming from Springfield. CPS is at 73% adequacy under the state’s evidence-based funding formula.

The aim of EBF, now in its 10th year, is to improve both the adequacy and equity of school funding in Illinois. The law calls for increasing state K-12 education funding by $300 million every year with the goal of getting every district up to at least 90% adequacy. The district estimates that it would take an additional $985 million to reach 90% adequacy.

Despite the state pumping additional funding into schools every year besides COVID-impacted 2020, 63% of the state’s school districts remain below their 90% target. And the Illinois State Board of Education estimates it will take at least $3 billion to bring them all up to it.

To this point, CTU and Johnson have had little success in their advocacy in Springfield as lawmakers grapple with competing funding priorities and budget constraints that are only expected to grow amid federal spending cuts.

An effort Welch championed this spring to place a question on the ballot authorizing a surtax on income over $1 million fell short. The earliest voters can have a say on the measure, which some estimate could raise up to $3.5 billion annually for the state, is now the 2028 election.

And any effort to pass something in veto session with an immediate effective date would require three-fifths supermajorities.

Welch’s office did not return a request for comment seeking clarification.

Statewide education funding bill?

Many progressives who fought largely without success this spring to add a series of tax hikes on the ultrawealthy and corporations welcomed the push.

“We took some things to the mat in May, and we need to continue doing that work all year-round, and we need to go back to the options we had on the table,” said Rep. Lindsey LaPointe, D-Chicago.

LaPointe, however, acknowledged that she doesn’t “think enough work has gone on between the end of May and today yet.”

“Do I think there’s a pathway to get there? I think my colleagues are on record saying that they care about K-12 education across the state,” LaPointe said. “My colleagues are on record supporting the evidence-based funding formula, and when you look at the reality that we are 10 years away from adequacy, yes, I think there is a pathway to get us closer to adequacy. But we all have to collectively do the actual work to get there.”

A spokesperson for Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park said, “The Senate President looks forward to working with our allies and partners to identify resources, and he shared this with the IFT executive board earlier this week.”

Rep. Ann Williams, D-Chicago, told Capitol News Illinois that she was “pleased to hear that both Sen. Harmon and Speaker Welch have committed to pushing for more education funding.”

“That’s something that continues to be a priority for me,” Williams said. “I’m hopeful we can find more ways to direct revenue to the evidence-based funding formula which will benefit all schools.”

Several lawmakers reached by Capitol News Illinois made one thing clear: There is next-to-no chance a CPS-only funding bill passes the General Assembly. New school funding would have to be spread statewide.

And even then, many suburban Democrats expressed skepticism that something could get done during veto session.

CPS funding history

In fiscal year 2025, CPS was classified as Tier 2 — second in the priority list for increased funding. That year, they got $25.8 million in “tier” funding — the amount of increase based on how far below adequacy a district is.

In fiscal year 2026, they were dropped back to Tier 1 — the top priority for EBF funding. As a result, their new state funding tripled to $76 million, or 25% of all the new EBF money the General Assembly appropriated.

Pritzker earlier this week said the state was “making progress” on school funding, adding that “it’s never fast enough.”

Peter Hancock, Ben Szalinski and Jerry Nowicki contributed to this report.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.