For the third consecutive year, Mayor Lori Lightfoot is filling the city’s budget gap in part by drawing on tens of millions of dollars from Chicago Public Schools in the form of pension payments historically made by the city rather than the school district.
First revealed in Lightfoot’s budget proposal last fall for the current year, this year’s $175 million payment from CPS to the city was approved by the Board of Education at its monthly meeting Wednesday — but was the subject of intense scrutiny by board members who criticized City Hall.
