Revuluri on CPS Budget: “Only Chicago Voters Can End the Era of Make-Believe Budgets”
“For the second year in a row, this board failed to do its job: making sure the district's budget delivers for students. Let's not let there be a third strike.”
CHICAGO, July 30, 2026 — Sendhil Revuluri, candidate for President of the Chicago Board of Education, released the following statement after the Board approved a $9.96 billion budget for the 2026-27 school year:
“Replay the tape of tonight's meeting — or any of this year’s budget ‘debate’ — and count the times anyone actually talked about a child learning to read. In nine hours of debate, you won't find it. You'll find a two-hour closed-door recess about $285 million in TIF that isn't committed, $150 million from Springfield that isn't authorized, and a $732 million hole they're all pretending to close. Every special interest and every political group at that table had someone to speak for it. Chicago’s students and residents did not.”
Fewer than one in three CPS students read at grade level on the state's most recent assessment.
“So what was actually passed? A budget that the board failed to validate as delivering success for our students, ‘balanced’ with money the district doesn't have. More than half the $732 million hole foreseen for years, closed with IOUs in the final hours. The layoffs are real. The revenue is a hope.”
“We saw this deficit coming for years. For months, the board didn't ask how this budget serves students—then in the final hours, rewrote it under political pressure, to include $150 million in Springfield revenue nobody has authorized. Families have watched this movie for a decade, and their children pay admission.”
“This Board met a deadline. It did not meet its obligation to deliver for Chicago’s students. The moment I take office, the true budget work will begin: clear goals, honest numbers, and district leadership held accountable for a budget built to start in reality and lead us to student success. Under my leadership, there will be no eleventh-hour votes.”