Chicago Public Schools followed Chicago Teachers Union’s staffing-first approach. Now the district faces cuts.
After years of adding staff and expanding programs while enrollment declined, buildings sat underused andacademic results remained weak, Chicago Public Schools proposes eliminating about 120 assistant principal positions as it faces a projected budget deficitof $732.5 million.
CPS has been pushed in this direction by the Chicago Teachers Union. Recent contracts increasingly go beyond traditional issues such as wages and basic working conditions, with agreements including costly, personnel-heavy initiatives such as sustainable community schools.
Those demands increase costs and reduce flexibility, making it harder for CPS to match spending to enrollment, school use and student outcomes.
Sustainable community schools show the weakness of this approach. The original eight high schools have seen enrollment fall 25% since 2018, compared with an 8% decline among CPS high schools overall. Those eight schools also posted lower academic proficiency rates, higher absenteeism and higher per-student spending than district averages.
In other words, the CTU is pushing CPS toward a model that spends more without delivering better results.
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Chicago’s pension debt rose by approximately $500 million in 2025, according to the city’s audited annual financial report, with the amount the city owes to its four pension funds hitting $36.4 billion. @wttw