The Chicago Board of Education is counting on money it does not have yet. A couple of weeks ago, most board members turned down staff layoffs, Chalkbeat Chicago reported. CEO Macquline King had proposed the layoffs. She called them a responsible way to handle the district's deficits after years of falling enrollment and a growing workforce. Instead, the board balanced its budget by assuming it would get more state money. The cited sources do not give a dollar amount for that money. If state lawmakers do not approve it during a November veto session, the district would likely face sharp midyear cuts, Chalkbeat reported.
On August 13, 2026, the board took a step that critics say does little to ease that pressure. It voted to put two nonbinding questions on the November 2026 ballot, Chalkbeat reported. One asks voters whether Illinois should create a statewide millionaires tax to fund education. The other asks whether the city should charge a penalty on owners of vacant land to raise money for Chicago Public Schools. Both are advisory. Neither would force the state or the city to enact the taxes or hand the money to the district, Chalkbeat reported.
Board members split over whether the questions were worth doing now. Che "Rhymefest" Smith, an independently elected member, questioned the rush, Chalkbeat reported. He said he was still checking the board's legal power to add the questions. He also said the questions include no plan for how the district would use the money. "If we're asking the state to amend our funding formula, we have to show we can govern responsibly and connect funding to student improvement," he said, according to Chalkbeat.
Supporters saw it differently. Board President Sean Harden said the board should chase more urgent fixes but also let voters weigh in on longer-term ideas, Chalkbeat reported. He called the moment a "window of opportunity" that was "pretty short in nature." Board Vice President Angel Velez backed the effort. He pointed to the gap between what Illinois calls "adequate" funding and what CPS receives. "This is fundamentally about how we build the public support needed to move our schools from scarcity to adequacy," he said, according to Chalkbeat.
The plan moved fast. On August 10, 2026, the board's chief of staff, Fae Rabin, emailed members, Chalkbeat reported. She cited a 2011 law that lets the board place advisory questions on the ballot by a simple majority vote. The board reviewed the two questions at an agenda review meeting on August 12, 2026, Chalkbeat reported. The special meeting was held on August 13, 2026, at the CPS Loop Office at 42 West Madison Street, according to the board's meeting notice. It first lacked a quorum, Chalkbeat reported. Some members who came accused their colleagues of boycotting to derail the questions. The meeting was reconvened at 11:15 a.m., with two supporters joining online, according to the board's meeting notice and Chalkbeat. The board then voted to add both questions.
The next deadline is close. The city Board of Elections must approve the questions by Monday, August 17, 2026, for them to reach the November ballot, Chalkbeat reported. Supporters hoped the questions could pressure state and city leaders, Chalkbeat reported. A similar effort has already failed. Last spring, a binding millionaires tax measure did not make it through the state legislature, Chalkbeat reported.