CPS faces $600M financial cliff as costs shift to schools with no long-term funding plan in place

If the Chicago Public Schools system doesn’t secure significant long-term funding in the next few years, it could face dire financial consequences. (Ashlee Rezin / Sun-Times file)

Every year since she’s been in office, Mayor Lori Lightfoot has shifted millions of dollars in new education-related costs to Chicago Public Schools that were long part of the city’s budget, a growing financial burden that for the first time this year will not be fully covered by other funding from the city.

The mayor and her allies view the changes as a necessary byproduct of the looming move to an elected school board in which CPS will be independent from City Hall and no longer the mayor’s responsibility. Lightfoot’s administration also has said the changes are about “ensuring that each sister agency pays its fair share and is self-sustaining.”