Thursday, June 25 Regular Board Meeting

001Vice President VeZ, before you begin today's meeting, I would like to read a few announcements. Good morning. Welcome to the June 25th, 2026 board meeting. Before we start the meeting, I would like to share a few safety points and announcements for the meeting. We are pleased to offer real-time translation services for this meeting via translative live. Registered speakers and attendees can listen to the meeting in multiple languages. If you're attending in person, please visit the translation table for a headset. If you're joining virtually, simply scan the QR code displayed in the corner on the live YouTube stream to access your preferred language. This tool significantly increases the number of available languages 200 plus for translation. Please note that the primary exit and entrance to the boardroom is a door which you use to enter this

002morning. If you are leaving the room, please use this door. The restrooms are outside the boardroom doors to your left. During the meeting, we ask that you keep all aisles and exits clear. If you need any assistance during the meeting, please wave the attention of one of our security officers. Mark your calendars for the upcoming meetings. The next ARK meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, July 8th, 2026 at 10:30 a.m. The next board meeting is scheduled for Thursday, July 30th, 2026 at 10:30 a.m. The ARC and board meetings will be held at 42 West Madison Street, Garden Level Boardroom. For details on how to register to speak or observe at the meetings and to learn about the speaker lottery process, please visit the Chicago Board of Education website at cpsboe.org. If you have any questions about

003registration or public participation, please contact the board office for assistance. Thank you for joining us today. Vice President Vez, we are now ready for you to begin the meeting. >> Good morning, everyone. I think we can do a little better than that. Good morning everybody. >> Uh, welcome to the Chicago Board of Education meeting. Today is June 25th, 2026. We're holding today's board meeting in the boardroom at the CPS loop office, 42 West Madison Street, Garden Level. I would like to note that the board members and senior leadership are physically present in the boardroom. Registered speakers may join us in person or virtually if they opted to do so. I am Vice President Dr. Angel Valz. On behalf of my fellow board members, thank you for joining us today. The regular meeting of today of

004meeting of Thursday, June 25th, 2026. I hereby call to order. Board secretary, please call the role. Member Smith who is joining us virtually via uh Zoom >> present. >> Member Bole >> here. >> Member Wallace >> present. >> Member Kuster >> present. >> Member Pope >> here. >> Member Rosenfeld >> here. >> Member Rivas >> present. >> Member Brown. >> Yes ma'am. >> Member Bannon >> present. >> Member Gutierrez who's joining us virtually via Zoom. >> Present. Member Thorakura >> present. >> Member Blae >> present. >> Member Zachor >> here. >> Member Deberry >> present. >> Vice President BZ >> present. >> 15 members present. We do have a quorum. I'd also like to recognize Dr. Meline King, superintendent, chief executive officer. Elizabeth Barton, general counsel. Dr. Kareem Assaf, chief education officer. Charles Mayfield, chief

005operating officer. Destiny Singleton, our honorary student board member. Uh, let me start by saying that today is board member Singleton's uh, last board meeting as the honorary student board member. And we we have to say uh, where does time go? Um, you know, it feels like we just welcome you uh as our honorary student board member and yet here we are at your final board meeting. Uh, member Singleton, you have been an inspiring and thoughtful student leader whose warmth and compassion have truly fel left an indelible mark on this board. You use your voice to help elevate mental health as a priority for students across the district and your leadership helped deepen our discussions during the student voice roundtables. Because of you, our commitment to supporting the whole child, including their physical, mental, and social,

006emotional health and well-being, is stronger. You will be missed. That's without a question. Uh but we're also excited for everything that's ahead of you. starting with your next chapter at Stanford University this fall. On behalf of the board, thank you for your service and contributions and we wish you much success and a bright future. Member Singleton, would you like to share a few words with us? Thank you so much. >> Oh, and she getting some gift today. >> Thank you so much for that amazing gift and those amazing words. Um, writing this farewell speech was much harder than I had anticipated because how do you put over 10 months of learning, memories, and growth into a few short remarks. But in an attempt, I thought back to my initial remarks I gave in September of

0072025, where I started out with gratitude. So, I would like to continue that pledge by stating that I'm so beyond grateful for the wealth of knowledge that I've gained throughout this experience. Everybody here has been so incredibly kind and gracious with their time and expertise. And I would like to thank all the board members here, um, board staff, CEO King, and the sign language interpreters, Adam and Kristen, and everyone here at CPS who have contributed to this magical tenure. In this role, I have been profoundly humbled to represent CPS students curious minds, their innovative and powerful voices, and their great ambitions. I hope that I've worn the title of honorary student board member well, and that I've left a mark here at the board that can spark change for years to come. I'm now moving

008into my next chapter as a proud CPS alum who stands firm in the belief that CPS students are some of the most brightest, talented in and incredible people out there. CPS students, please remember that we must continue to fight for what we believe in because we are all stronger together than separated. So once again, thank you to everyone who has helped me down my path, and I'm so excited to pass the torch on to the next brilliant mind. Thank you. >> Yeah, let's give a a big round of applause. That spark will definitely continue because of you. The order of meeting will be as follows. We will be honoring excellence, superintendent co remarks, committee updates, public participation, recess, reconvene from recess, presentation, the FY27 finance update by the budget team. Discussion of public agenda items.

009Vote on public agenda items. Close session. Reconvene from close session. vote on the remaining public agenda items and we will adjourn. Chief Assaf and Chief Mayfield, please proceed with honoring excellence. >> Thank you, Vice President Dr. This month we are pleased to recognize the Chicago Multilingual Parent Council. They are a powerhouse of advocacy and community building, supporting education for multilingual families across our district. They serve as a vital bridge between CPS and the diverse mosaic of cultures and languages that make up Chicago's immigrant and multilingual families. The CNPC is made up of parents from our schools bilingual advisory committees along with community members and passionate bilingual educators. The group has four core missions. The first of which is giving parents a seat at the decision makingaking table. This includes formally advising CPS on the development,

010implementation, and evaluation of major programs. They also ensure that the voice of multithnic and multilingual families are woven into school policies. Second, the CNPC is committed to eliminating communication barriers. In a district where dozens of language, actually 159 different languages are spoken, communication can easily break down. But the CNPC works to ensure no family is ever left in the dark. They also assist families who may be new to the United States under understand how bilingual programs work, helping them figure out what resources are available and how to access this. Third, the CNPC gets involved at the grassroots level, turning local schools into hubs of learning for both children and adults. They organize workshops and training sessions to help families effectively participate in the governance of bilingual education and encourage parents to join local committees. They

011also attend school board meetings and events and become leaders in their neighborhoods. Finally, the CNPC works to identify the unique challenges and needs of multilingual learners, making sure that schools have the cultural and language tools needed for kids to success to succeed academically without losing their cultural heritage. What makes the CNPC so amazing is that they transform parents from passive observers into active powerful advocates and leaders. They support their children's education, ensuring that being multilingual is celebrated as the superpower it is. And here to discuss more about the partnership between CPS and the CNPC is Dr. Anna Schuber, our acting chief officer of our district's office of multilingual multicultural education. >> Good morning everyone. After Thank you so much for that introduction Dr. Assaf. I won't have to add a lot, but I just want

012to say that um as someone who works at OM, these these folks really make the work we do a lot better. I am extremely grateful to work with all of them and I feel extremely privileged to be able to learn from them. We want to thank you for this recognition and um I just want to add that bilingual parent advisory committees have been mandated by by the Illinois State Board of Education for over 50 years now. Sadly, in many school districts, even if they exist, they often only meet the minimum requirements, which include four annual meetings and basic advising on the EL budget. Through the Chicago Multilingual Parent Council, our parents bring that law to life in CPS. Our parent leadership in bilingual education has a powerful history since the beginning. The CNPC champions our

013ELELS and multilingual learners by guiding and empowering parents within their local bilingual advisory councils at every school. OMA and CPS work across multithnic communities to identify student needs, determine priorities, and build strong communication by hosting vital monthly meetings in addition to the quarterly meetings for the large CMPC. uh we together educate and equip local school members to effectively address all the needs of the English learner population. Here today we have 13 of our 21 members and four will be making remarks and that includes Carmina Tino who's the president of the CNPC, Raina Rodriguez who's the vice president and two additional members Leonor Ariano and Esmerald de Gutierrez. Thank you so much. Chicago is Chicago. Ilia studenting. foresu. The harbor is Multilingu orch. participo. Much Chicago. We'll have that statement translated. >> Good morning. Good morning,

014Dr. King, Dr. Assaf, and distinguished members of the board of education. My name is Carmina Perez Tino, and I have the honor of serving as president of the Chicago Multilingual Parent Council, or CNPC. It was my first year in Chicago and the first here at the MCPS. Thank you for the invitation. It is an honor to be here. Uh since it establishment in 1973, the CNPC has played a fundamental role in representing, engaging, and advocating for the families of multilingual students within Chicago public schools. For more than five decades, hundreds of volunteers, parents, teachers, and community members have dedicated their time, effort, and talent to strengthening bilingual and multicultural education in our city. We are grateful to each and every one of these individuals. Thanks to their commitment, the council has become a strategic pillar

015of communications and an essential bridge between schools, families, and the cultural diversity that defines Chicago. Currently, 388 schools have a bilingual advisory committee which facilitates direct communication of the office of multilingual and multicultural education or MME. This structure allows us to more accurately identify the needs, strengths, and challenges of students participating in bilingual and multilingual education programs. In addition, council meetings have brought together more than 600 parents, reflecting a level of participation and commitment that distinguishes our organization within CPS. We proudly recognize the history, achievement, and impact of the Chicago Multilingual Parent Council. We continue breaking barriers and building bridges of collaboration to advance a shared goal, ensuring a fair, equitable, and highquality education for all multilingual students in Chicago public schools, including those who also require special education services. The council appreciates the support

016that education that the board of education provides to our multilingual families and multicultural special education in students. Together, we will continue strengthening opportunities so that every student can reach their fullest potential. I would now like to turn the floor over to my fellow council members who will share more about their work and commitment within the multilingual parent council. Thank you very much. Um, good morning. Um, I'm familiar with a lot of you guys, but I'm happy to be here under different circumstances, but good morning to all of you. So, I'm going to go ahead with my thing in Spanish. North side Prep. Chicago. Amomasing for Chicago. for particip for Ultima. We'll have the statement translated. Good morning, Dr. King, Dr. Asaf, and board members. My name is Fina Rodriguez, vice president of CNPC for 20

0172025 2026 and mother of Esmelo Santgo students and Northside College Prep High School students. Today, I want to share something truly inspiring about the Chicago Multilingual Parent Council, or CNPC, and the incredible work they do for our multilingual families within Chicago Public Schools. As a member of this vibrant community, I have witnessed firsthand how CNPC serves as a f power powerful advocate and a bridge converting diverse cultures and languages. >> Take over. This is what >> at the heart of their mission is a commitment to give parents like us a seat at the decision-making table. It's not just about being heard. It's about weaving our voices into the fabric of school policies. Through our direct advising on programs like the transitional bilingual education, CNPC ensures that our perspectives shape the educational language landscape for our

018children. Another remarkable aspect is their dedication to breaking down communication barriers. In a city as diverse as Chicago, it's easy for families to feel isolated. CNPC actively works to facilitate communication among various ethnic groups, helping us navigate the complexities of the school system. This support is invaluable, especially for those of us who might be new to the US education system. The CNPC also fosters a true sense of community through workshops and training sessions. They empower us as parents, encouraging involvement at the grassroots level. I've seen how these initiatives can transform local schools into hubs of learning, not just for our children, but for us as well. Lastly, the council champions the needs of English learners. They identify gaps in resources and advocate for equity, ensuring that our children receive the cultural and educational support necessary

019to thrive without losing their heritage. Ultimately, CNPC transforms us from passive observers to active advocates. They remind us that being multilingual is not just a challenge, it's a superpower. I'm proud to be part of the community that celebrates this diversity and empowers us all to advocate for our children's education. Thank you. Let's um meas the board of educ. Dr. King is Chicago. CNC. CNPC. Foreign Federal We'll have that statement translated. >> Thank you very much for your kind indication, Director of Education, Karim Asaf. My name is Esmeald Gutierrez and I am a mother and a representative of the far far southside community of Chicago. To me, the CNPC's mission of family advocacy and linguist linguistic equity means breaking down language barriers and ensuring that every student receives the tools to which they are rightfully entitled.

020In my experience, this has been key to building a supportive multithnic community where families from diverse backgrounds come together, share resources, and strengthen one another to support our multilingual students. The bilingual special education committee within the CNPC is responsible for informing members about all legislation and regulations concerning bilingual special education. It is tasked with providing the CNPC with up-to-date information on the latest developments affecting English learners with disabilities and disseminating this information to various audiences interested in bilingual special education. At present, the data shows that we serve and advocate for a total of 41,766 English learner students with IEP and long-term English learners, representing 54.9% of the total. We encourage parents to strengthen the relationship and active collaboration among the family advisory board or AFB, the Illinois State Board of Education, and the Office for

021Students with Disabilities. This synergy is fundamental to ensuring the holistic development of diverse students within the bilingual program. To achieve this, we employ the following strategies. We urge families to gain a throughout understanding of the academic programs and specific supports their children receive. We create an accessible information platform so parents can effectively locate the necessary supports to boost academic performance. We promote the creation of internal committees at each school. These spaces allow for the sharing of valuable information amongst parents, teachers, coordinators, and administrators, ensuring excellence in educational services. We additionally inform parents that students with disabilities who are English learners must receive not only language support services, but also services related to their disabilities to which they are entitled under federal law. We listened to parents needs and sought support from the office of multilingual

022and multicultural education or OME to provide presentations throughout the new department of diverse English English learner students. This ensures parents have clear access to information, understand their rights, and feel supported at every stage of their children's educational journey. Thank you. Sorry, Dr. Chicago. Multilinguist. Chicago. participuras. We'll have the statement translated. >> Good morning, Dr. King, Dr. Asav, Board of Education. My name is Leonor Arianiano Diaz and I'm a parent representative at the Chicago Multilingual Parent Council. It is a pleasure to share with you relevant information about the Chicago Multilingual Parent Council and our commitment with the educational community. Our mission is centered around the following pillars. One, culture. We foster the acknowledgement and celebration of cultural and linguistic diversity in our schools. Two, information. We strengthen the community within the Chicago Multilingual Parent Council and

023school bilingual committees and families in order to guarantee the clear and timely flow of information. Three, resource protection. Nobody better knows the needs of English learners than their own parents. For these reasons, we focus on identifying gaps. The council actively identifies the unique needs and challenges faced by multilingual students, establishing clear financing and programming priorities. Additionally, we advocate for equity. We supervise the execution of bilingual resources in order to ensure that schools have the tools required to ensure students academic success while always preserving their cultural their cultural heritage. Ultimately, the extraordinary value of the Chicago Multilingual Parent Council lies in transforming parents into active advocates for their children's education, guaranteeing that being multilingual is celebrated as a superpower. It truly is. We teach parents and students about the importance of valuing multilingualism, creating activities along

024with cultural department. For example, we've invited parents to participate in activities and exhibitions of multiple cultures. We thank Dr. King, Dr. Asaf, and the Chicago Board of Education for their support of multilingual students. We hope to continue working with you. Thank you so much for honoring excellence. There's uh one one quote that really stuck with me which was being multilingual is not just a challenge, it is a superpower. Let's give them another round of applause. Board members, any any comments or questions? Board member Lopez. >> Thank you, Vice President. Soch. So, briefly, I'll say it in English. I thank you. Thank you for joining us and accepting the invitation. It's always an honor to join you in the meetings and the events and seeing you in action. Uh when I see you, I see my

025own mother. I see my community moms. you're always advocating um not just for your own students but for the entire community and oftent times as it was mentioned is work in collaboration and in team oftentimes that means having difficult conversations and I mentioned it in Spanish you know has meaning like pulling our ears when we need to be pulled right u making sure that for me is that I get I stay grounded and rooted and these parents do that not just for me but I know for other fellow board members that I've had other conversations So thank you and I look forward to continuing um in collaboration. I will end with this uh at saying in Spanish board member Rivas. Thank you. Chicago. Um, Um, so just quickly in English, uh, just celebrating um our

026moms that are here today. Thank you so much for being here. Congratulations on this honor and I really really um appreciate the opportunity that I had over this last year to be in in your meetings and learn alongside you about the power that you have in your voice coming here to the board of education. Um and uh something that's really really important to me is that whenever a a mom invites me out, I'm definitely going to be there. So, thank you. much graciaser. Uh thank you uh to our warriors. Thank you so much. All right, >> Vice President VeZ, before you move forward, I do want to note for the record that board member Lopez joined the meeting at 11:03 a.m. Board member Biggs joined the meeting at 11:15 a.m. and board member Lozano joined

027the meeting at 11:34 a.m. Thank you. Superintendent CEO Dr. King. We're ready for your remarks. >> Thank you, Mr. Vice President, and thank you to the members of Chicago Multilingual Parent Council for your ongoing support of Chicago students. After all of this fluent Spanish, I am so nervous to whip out my Spanish. I have been practiced today. But I can only imagine what a student might feel like when you don't have fluency. So, thank you all in advance for your patience with me. Um, sus contribution. My lips aren't working today. academ prospispar. I did not practice today >> and my lips don't seem to be working. >> But I am really grateful to the CMPC um and all of their work and we look forward to working with you all throughout this upcoming year. It

028has been one year since I rejoined the district. In that time, we have faced immense pressure. But we know turmoil does not fracture a strong system. It forages it. Serving as your leader during this time has been the professional experience of a lifetime. Witnessing firsthand the strength of our community. Throughout this year, I've seen more than just achievement and growth. I have seen the resilience and the brilliance of our students. I have been encouraged by the commitment of our parents to work alongside our dedicated staff and continue to trust us with their babies. I am deeply moved by the outpouring of support from across our city, from our community-based organizations, from our business part business partners and our interfaith communities. This is the one district mandate in action. A city rallying around its most precious

029resource, our children. When we align our efforts, we send a powerful message that every student, every neighborhood deserves our very best. We are proving every day what is possible when educators, families, and partners work in radical interdependence. We have moved from an era of of my department, my silo. We are now operating in alignment as one team with one mission ensuring that our students daily experience is one of joy, rigor, and safety. Our challenges are real. They are significant, but they are far outweighed by our district's promise. We are a district in mid evolution, more focused and battle tested for the reality of today. And as we look forward to next school year, I am encouraged by the opportunities before us. We are a district in motion. We are actively shaping a modern system that

030serves every child, not just for for not just in the reality of the past, but for the future. The momentum we are building today is creating greater opportunities for our students tomorrow. I look forward to everything we will accomplish together, continuing to prove that we are one team, one district with one mission, and that our best days are undoubtedly ahead of us. I also want to look at uh recognize someone that's joining us in this journey. I am fortunate to be surrounded by many talented and dedicated team members. And today, I'd like to acknowledge um Dr. Anise Lewis, CPS's new deputy chief education officer. So, as we continue to work and bring strategy uh alignment and strategy to the district, Dr. Lewis is uniquely qualified for this role, bringing 24 years of urban education leadership

031experience, including 16 years of deeply rooted service within CPS as an assistant principal, principal and network chief. Most recently, she served as the deputy and acting chief of teaching and learning. Her proven leadership now supports our district's strategic vision with the focus on effective instruction. She seamlessly blends academic rigor with vital social emotional support, always championing the art of the possible to create student centered environments. I look forward to watching her maximize the potential of our teachers, our leaders, and our students. Hats off and congratulations to the CPS class of 2026 who celebrated their high school graduation earlier this month. This talented group is moving on to their next chapter, the college and career portion of their education, having earned record amounts of college credit, career credentials, and college scholarships. We are extremely proud of

032their accomplishments, and I have no doubt that they will represent our district well. Here is a brief video created by our communications team celebrating this year's graduates. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. before I move to the planning uh before I move to the planning that is underway for the new school year. I want to invite um Chief Mayfield um chief of opera our chief operations officer to provide an update on the work of our district's operations team. >> Thank you CEO Superintendent Dr. King. Really appreciate that. And you know I really want to acknowledge the work of operations. Um the work of operations is often invisible. Uh you don't notice it when it's working. Uh but you really notice it when it's not. And my commitment to this board, to our students, and to the

033CPS community is that you will not notice it because it will be working. As we close out another school year, I want to tell you a story about what it looks like to meet the needs of every student every day. This starts with getting children to school safely. This year, our student transportation services team successfully routed 14,62 students. That's an increase of 384 children over the last year. The number I want the board to hear most clearly is this. Routing students with disabilities increased by 5.79%, meaning that 694 more of our most vulnerable learners were safely transported every day. We also supported student mobility across the city through public transit access. This past school year, approximately 49,660 Ventra cards were issued to CPS students, supporting 5.4 million trips to and from school on the Chicago

034Transit Authority. These students represent a critical part of how this district delivers on its promise of access and their safe and reliable commute as part of our operational responsibility. Transportation is not a logistics function. It is an access and equity function and this year I'm proud to say that CPS delivered. Furthermore, we know that the surge in federal activity last fall required CPS to act to keep students safe traveling to and from school and also while they were in the building. Our safety team worked with principles and school-based staff to get the right protocols in place at the school level. At the district level, we established a command center as an extension of the student safety center to provide student leaders or school leaders with immediate real-time guidance, triage, emergency response, and communication support. I'll

035move now to the critical area of student meals. And uh I'm happy to report that this school year, our nutrition services team served 43.7 million meals to Chicago students. That's 16.6 million breakfastes. That's 22 27.1 million lunches. And behind each of those numbers uh is a student who started their school day nourished and ready to learn. What makes this story exceptional is not just the volume, it's how we got there. And our team listened. They really listened to to 13,000 student voices through our school food survey. They also hosted 39 student tastings and 25 high school popup events featuring made to order stations and culturally responsive food options. They launched 19 breakfast carts at building entrances uh bringing the first meal of the day directly to students as they walk through the door. and they

036upgraded 10 servicing lines across the district to modernize the student dining experience. This is not a cafeteria manage management issue or that is this is a service or a student service center a student centered service excuse me and our students are responding. So thank you for that. I'd also like to highlight the ways in in which the CPS operations team is ensuring every student has access to highquality digital learning experiences. by expanding high-speed connectivity to 379 of 562 of our CPS facilities. That's approximately 67% of of of all of our CPS sites. Our information technology services team is making significant progress toward ensuring digital equity is a reality in every Chicago neighborhood. We remain on track to complete this work by June 30th of 2027. We also recently launched our instructional Gen AI playbook and

037this is a practical resource that gives educators clear, actionable guidance on the safe, responsible, and meaningful use of generative AI in the classroom. This work is directly aligned to our five-year strategic plan as it is in the AI accelerator training program that is also helping our students our students or our workforce drive innovative innovation across the district without increasing the headcount. What I'm saying here is that we are not waiting for the future to arrive. We are actually building it. Next, I want to briefly share what our team is doing to promote fiscal responsibility while delivering all of these essential services for our students. So, through disciplined market negotiation, through cost avoidance strategies, through contract rebates, our procurement team generated more than 90 million in savings for the district during this fiscal year of 2026.

038These efforts help maximize the impact of every dollar entrusted to CPS. Equally important, of course, is where our spending goes. And so, we are exceeding our minority and womenowned business enterprise goals while ensuring that these district dollars are circulating back into the very communities our students call home. This is not just sound financial practice. This is equity in action. And our fiscal stewardship also extends to the strategic management of our real estate portfolio through the sealed bid sale process for vacant properties. CPS has conducted two rounds of bidding over the last two years and is currently conducting a third round of bidding for vacant school sites. To date, bids have been received for 13 of 21 sites. Sales for two of these properties have successfully closed and an additional five sales have been approved by

039the CPS board and are now proceeding to closing. Notably, these recent board approvals include development proposals for 304 new housing units. To maintain this momentum, CPS has released a new bid solicitation encompassing eight vacant school sites and 21 vacant land sites with these bids due on June 30th of 2026. So, just in a few days here. More details uh for the public can be found on our procurement web page at cps.edu/procurement. Finally, today I want to emphasize that while the school year has ended, the work of the operations team does not stop. This summer, we are advancing 279 capital projects, capital construction projects to address critical repairs across schools and facilities around the city, representing an investment of approximately 290 million. We are replacing boiler systems. We are replacing roofs. We are completing ADA accessibility

040improvements because we know that every student and every family deserves full access to their school. We are installing and upgrading fire alarm systems because safety is non-negotiable. And we are building new playgrounds, renovating schoolyards, and creating modern learning spaces at schools from Rogers Park to Riverdale and from Austin to the east side. Our goal is to have all critical summer construction substantially complete by the time this board convenes in August. The results I've described today reflect a team that is operating with urgency. They're operating with accountability and unwavering focus on our students. Between now and then, my team will continue advancing every operational system in this district with the same discipline and the same standard that we will continue to provide highquality services for every student in every school in every community every single day.

041And I'll close by acknowledging the dedicated operations staff who make this work possible every day. From our nutrition professionals and our capital and facilities workers to our technology teams, our safety team, procurement and transportation, their commitment is the silent engine fueling student success in this district. I want to thank President Harden. I want to thank Vice President Valz and members of the board for their continued partnership and their commitment to our students. Thank you, CEO King. >> Thank you, Chief Mayfield, for that comprehensive update. As summer programming is underway, we want to make sure that our students stay safe, productive, and engaged during their break from school. That's why our district is offering many program options this summer, including student internships. I want to shout out Dearian, the Collins Steam Academy graduate, who is interning

042with the CEO team, my team, this summer, along with more than 650 additional students who are working across various CPS teams, including our facilities department. Just this year, our district capital team launched a summer internship program for 90 high school students who are interested in careers in the construction industry. These students are receiving hands-on experience in project management, engineering, architecture, skilled trades, and construction operations. They are currently working alongside 13 general contractors on renovations and improvements to our buildings, helping to prepare our facilities for the new school year. Beyond our internship program, CPS offers many other opportunities during the summer, including safe haven sites, transition programs for our incoming preschoolers, kindergarteners, and high school freshmen, career and technical education camps in areas like the culinary arts, engineering, and health science, and out of schooltime programming

043at more than 200 CPS schools. Families can visit cps.edu/ edu/summerprograms to explore all of the options that are available to students through CPS. This site also includes many opportunities from our partner organizations including the Chicago Public Library, the Chicago Park District, Chicago Youth Works, MyShy My Future, the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago, and more. I hope that all of our students and families will take advantage of these fun and engaging options as they enjoy their summer. I'd now like to wish everyone in our district l LGBTQ plus community a happy pride month. CPS It's okay to clap. CPS is proud to celebrate all of our students cultural cultures, backgrounds, and identities. In fact, I firmly believe that our uniqueness is what makes us special, and that is the only way to truly serve our students. The

044only way to truly serve our students is to embrace and learn from our differences. This is why CPS remains committed to providing our our LGBTQ plus students and staff members with safe, inclusive, and welcoming school environments. The district will have a presence at Chicago's Pride Parade this Sunday, June 28th, and I encourage students, families, and educators to join us in uplifting our LGBTQ plus population at this event. I'll also like to um acknowledge the inaug inauguration of our newest LSC members which will take place virtually on June 30th. This is local governance you all. So please give a round applause for all of those people that step out stepped out for the first time to support LSC's. We are proud to have a record number of candidates run for seats on our local school councils

045this year and I look forward to working with all of them to move our district forward. I also want to acknowledge all of the LSC members who will conclude their terms in June 30 on June 30th. We are grateful for all of their service and expertise that they have brought to C the CPS communities. Our schools are stronger, more vibrant places because of their influence. And I have no doubt that our newest LSC members will build on their success. I'll close today with a brief update on the district's budget for the coming upcoming school year. Our budget team will go into more detail on this later in the meeting. For now though, I can tell you that all school budgets have been submitted and that we are in the process of finalizing the district's full

046operating budget for the 2627 school year. This is a student centered budget that prioritizes the things that our students need to thrive, especially their instructional time. Let me be clear with our parents and guardians. We will not limit instructional time for students next year based on this budget. We know that parents are looking for accurate information and looking for a way to get involved in the process and CPS is committed to listening to our communities and incorporating feedback so our budget reflects our values, your values. The first of these that that's why CPS is in the process of hosting five community budget feedback sessions that are open to all CPS stakeholders. The first of these sessions was held this past Tuesday. And I want to thank everyone that came out to join us. Uh and

047the remaining four are scheduled between Saturday, Saturday, June 27th, and Monday, July 13th. Three of these meetings will be held in person. One will be held virtually to accommodate community members who can't make it to uh one of the in-person sessions. And the session held this Saturday, July 27th, will be conducted entirely in Spanish. I encourage all CPS stakeholders to take this opportunity to better understand our budget process and to share what investments you feel most benefit your school communities. Complete details on our community budget feedback session, including a link to RSVP, is available on our website at cps.edu/budget. This is all part of CPS's commitment to openness, transp transparency, and keeping the community informed with accurate information throughout this budgeting process. Mr. Vice President, this con concludes my very long prepared remarks. Vice President

048VeZ, the remarks will now be translated into Spanish as a condensed statement. If anyone wishes to receive the fully translated statement, please contact the board office for assistance. for mechan. foresana. Learnot. Maximos Forever Charles Mayfield. Foreom classes. I am Safe havenricular. Summer programs collabor Chicago youth works. Singular inclusiv. Chicago. LC speech. Speech. Speech. Foreign Fore! Foreign! Foreign! board members. Um, any questions or comments? Board member Blae. >> Thank you, Vice President VeZ. Um, I just wanted to touch on the fact that I submitted some language in proper time to discuss um, Shy Arts and what's happening at that school. Um, and despite having submitted it in the proper time frame, I wasn't able to get it on the agenda. Um, but I just just to briefly go over for folks that don't know, um, Shy

049Arts fundraising component wasn't able to raise enough money to keep the school solvent. So, this board voted that we bring them inhouse um, uh, under CPS and try and pres and preserve the integrity of the conservatory. Um so far, um so my resolution requested another year of funding, CPS funding to just keep the school solvent till they get their legs under them, right? They've got to come up and raise more money to um support their conservatory work. CPS wasn't able to give it to give Shy Arts a fundraising mechanism until a few months later after we brought them in. And at this point, with 70 of their art resident art teachers being laid off, I'm not sure what or arts organization would fund Shy Arts. So, we're kind of creating our own problem here. Um,

050just an Just to back up a few steps, most major cities have arts, free arts conservatories. New York does, LA does, Cleveland does, a free place where kids can um learn the arts. Um, Shy Arts itself is pre-professional. So, once these kids get done at that school, they are prepared. They have a portfolio ready either if they want to go on for additional education or they also have um they have practice auditioning. They're they are ready to go into the arts world. Um so this for me is like a CTE program um because these kids are ready to work right after they're finished with the school. So again 70 teaching artists have been terminated. Um CPS announced that they're creating 20 resident artist positions uh that those 70 ex um experienced teaching artists can compete

051for but at a lower salary. So we know what happens when you offer positions at a lower salary. Those very experienced art teachers are going to go find very experienced and wonderful art to create and our kids are going to probably be left with um people maybe straight out of college or people who are still building their portfolio. Um because it's more work and and less pay. Um >> keep your comments a little brief. >> Okay, I'll wrap it up. Um but I know we've got budget issues. I know we need money, but this is a CTE program that is super important. Um, there's equity issues. We talk about equity all the time. We have to invest in our kids. Um, and I will be too asking for more CTE programs. I'm going to want

052an electrical school on the west side. My folks are asking for building trades. And they're going to cost more money than other schools. And we have to do it. We have to prepare our kids. Not everybody's going to college. We have to prepare our kids for the future and arts. We all know the benefit of arts education. So, thanks. And I would really love for my uh resolution to be on the next agenda that at least so we can have the conversation internally. That's really what my main problem is is that I wasn't even allowed to bring this up so that we could have a conversation about it. Board member Smith. >> Thank you, uh, Vice President Valz. And, uh, I want to say thank you to Superintendent King for talking about the, uh, summer

053programs that are happening. That's kind of what my question is. Uh, an item was removed, uh, from the agenda for the renewal of Safari. Uh and it's my understanding that the nonrenewal of Safari is going to create critical disruption to student learning. Uh our summer bridge program and even fall classes. Uh I wanted to ask the superintendent is it true that students social uh science and social science programs rely on Safari and June 30th uh Safari will shut down because we are not renewing it and uh the students will lose access to science and social science uh programming not only for summer school but for their fall classes as well. And uh you know the suggestion was made that we use Google Drive as an alternative. Uh my second question is does Google Drive put

054the district at risk for lawsuit due to intellectual property infringement? And then my third question and last question is what is your suggestion uh Superintendent King uh to the board to get student learning back on track and avoid uh critical learning disruption due to the loss of if we don't renew uh this Safari contract. Thank you. So the entire skyline platform is um based on the Safari uh software. So it's not a standalone software. But for the technical to explain a little bit more I would rather turn it over to uh the team so that they could give a very clear and concise response to the impact um on without having Safari montage. But it is true that if we do not have it, students, we are preparing um a a supplemental curriculum because students

055will not have access to Skylines uh starting um July 1st. Thank you, Chief Deputy. >> Yes. Good morning, board members. Wanting to just reply to that and thank you for the question, board member Smith. um wanted to just acknowledge that with this opportunity, we do need the acknowledgement of this uh Safari Montage to be able to continue to support the platform for Skyline because all the materials are located on Safari Montage. Our summer programming does utilize Skyline resources for all of our STEM and humanities programming. So to continue to be able to you utilize these resources within the skyline within Safari Montage through the transition to the new platform um is an opportunity for our students to and our teachers to remain with the opportunity to continue the use of the platform with the curriculum

056resources that they've been experiencing throughout the time that they've had access to Skyline. >> Yeah. And what about the lawsuit? Are we at a risk of lawsuit for uh infringement uh of intellectual property uh by using Google Drive? >> Uh thank you, board member Smith. Uh as always, I'm uh not really willing to talk about uh privilege communication publicly. Um but I'm happy to have that conversation with you and and board members offline. >> Thank you. Board member Brown. Thank you. Uh, Mr. Vice President, uh, few things. I I one would like to publicly support, uh, board member Blaise's request to make sure that Shy Arts is on the next meeting's agenda. Secondly, I I want to publicly express um my frustration with um the pace of getting the Black Student Achievement Committee online. I

057want to share with the public that our struggle is internal. Um in my opinion, in January, we could have been ready. Um, and I was expecting to be able to announce the committee members today. So, I'm I'm hoping that um in the next board meeting, we will finally be able to announce the members of the Black Student Achievement Committee. But I I do want to say that the um delay in getting this committee up and running and what feels like a lack of urgency in moving this process forward is part of the antilackness that we're talking about. not recognizing the need to begin to convene um people from around the city who are committed to addressing the inequities that have harmed so many children in this city who happen to be melanated. Um I'm very

058frustrated and very concerned. Uh I've been patient. I've bit my lip delay after delay after delay, change in the process after change in the process after change in the process. I want to say publicly, and no disrespect to anybody in the room, I did not join the board to protect the brand. I joined the board to make sure that I was accountable to the public. And so, it's very important that this committee gets up and running. I'm not really interested in any more conversation about it. We need to be able to announce this committee next month and get to work. Thank you very much. >> Board member Pope. >> Yes. Uh I uh share your frustration, board member Brown, as the uh co-chair of the special ed advisory committee. We were on approximately the same

059timetable and have selected our members many months ago and this also keeps getting delayed for some of our most vulnerable children and the we selected a great group of people and we're eager to get to work with them. So I very much hope maybe even at the ARC meeting that these committees could be appointed officially and uh set up to start doing their work because there is plenty of work on both committees to be done. >> Board member Rosenfeld. >> Yeah, just a quick question following up from board member Smith. Why was that removed from the agenda? I see that it was, but I never heard anything about it being removed. It was just gone. Can anybody answer that? >> Uh, the president is not here, so that question should go to him. >> Okay.

060>> All right, folks. Well, so what I heard um was that the special ed advisory needs to happen, right? Uh the black student success plan needs to, you know, get it going. And also I hear board member Blaze around the charts resolution and you know that should be uh added to the minutes. >> I have a comment question I'd like to add. Um I just want to reinforce my concern that we've that this >> uh let me recognize board member bigs. >> Thank you. Um I'd like to also express my concern that the Safari Montage renewal was pulled from the agenda. It's deeply concerning to me that students starting July 1 will not have access to curriculum that they need for the summer. Teachers will not have access to the curriculum that they need in

061order to teach. That feels deeply disruptive. Um I think it's very concerning to me that we don't have a clear sense of why that was taken from the agenda. um if there was a request from a board member or board members, this feels like a dip into management and not at all the role of governance that we should be playing. Um and so I just want to express my concern that we are not able to move forward with that at this point. >> Thank you, Dr. King. Uh we have no committee updates for this month. Uh so let's now proceed with today's public participation session. Uh, thank you for joining to share your comments with the board. In compliance with the Illinois Open Meetings Act, public participation, sometimes referred to as public comment is the

062portion of the board meeting or hearing that grants district stakeholders the opportunity to address the board with their concerns and comments. Note that public participation is the time for the board and CPS senior leadership to listen and hear from you rather than a time for dialogue with board members during and after your remarks. While we can discuss personal personnel matters, public participation is a key component of transparent governance and it provides us as board members as well as seniors leadership an opportunity to listen to everyone who has signed up to speak. This board takes equity of voice seriously. While we may not address your comments directly during public participation, CPS leadership is always present at our meetings and are able to address concerns as follow-ups after the meeting. As a district and as a board,

063we also have many other spaces for authentic dialogue. For example, each and every one of our board members host board office hours so that we can have a conversation. Please use our website cpsb.org if you want to meet with a board member during office hours. We encourage you to take advantage of the opportunity to meet with board members outside of a board meeting. Thank you for your attention and consideration. As a reminder, union representatives will be allotted five minutes to speak before public participation and any elected officials will be allotted five minutes to speak after the conclusion of public participation. Board Secretary, please share the rules of public participation. >> Thank you, Vice President Vez. Members of the public who registered to speak were given the option to attend in person or via an electronic

064format. For those who prefer to attend via an electronic format, they were given information to access this meeting by dialing a number and using their phone. We did this so that speakers with limited or no access to the internet or who may have weak internet connection could still participate using their phones. Also, members of the public may submit written comments for board of education meetings via the written comments form on the board's website at cpsb.org or mailed to 42 West Madison Street, Garden Level. Written comments received between the day the public agenda was posted through 5:00 p.m. the day after the board of education meeting will be submitted to the board and published within five business days on our website at cpsb.org. Speakers, please listen while I provide directions for public participation. I will call

065your name and number when it is your turn to speak. For speakers joining us virtually, as a reminder to unmute, please enter star six. Once you hear your name, please state your name for the record. I will then start the two-minute timer. When there are 30 seconds remaining, I will inform you so that you can proceed to conclude your remarks to allow for the next speaker to begin. For anyone standing with the speaker, note that in order to comply with the city's fire code, please stand along the glass partitions on the marked spots to keep aisles clear. Thank you. Vice President VeZ, before we begin calling speakers from the speakers list, we do have union reps who would like to address the board. We'll begin with Jackson Potter, CTU vice president, who is here in

066person. It's a a joy to see your classroom management skills, Dr. VeZ. Nice job. Today, I want to first express solidarity with our union siblings in another local one, Unite Here. our colleagues and siblings in the lunchroom uh who work day in day out are really key and and essential in terms of stable, vibrant and healthy schools. They deserve a living wage in terms of um yeah, I think we can all clap for that hopefully. I'm uh I picked the right day to um you know rep the three colore you know felicides Mexico and um unfortunately that celebration is cut short when we look at some of the realities in our schools at Cooper Elementary. The current budget calls for cutting three positions, half a case manager and a bilingual clerk who is 16 years

067in the building and is known as the anchor for the school community and helping students who are newcomers in these last two tumultuous years adapt and come integrated into the school. So that school is reeling and it's replicated 500 buildings across the system. We're hearing of librarians being cut, tech coordinators, class sizes ballooning, uh, athletic directors losing positions, 50 at risk that could really upend sports programs everywhere. So, something needs to be done already. And on top of that, you know, in discussions with the district and the city, we are hearing up to two weeks of the school year could be cancelled in order to meet the budget gap that will still exist after these cuts have been imposed. two weeks of the school calendar eliminated. That's $170 million. It's about equivalent. You can ask

068your financial adviserss how that pans out. Or you could cut 1,700 positions. Or if it's midyear, make that over 3,000. Uh that will be unacceptable and make school and students getting their opportunities almost impossible. You have an alternative. I haven't heard it once today. And nobody should be, you know, running for reelection or election on this board if you can't say this with us. And and co King, uh, really want to invite you to say this with us in unison. And that's you can't have Governor Pritsker demanding a special legislative session for the Bears and their billionaire family or to give data centers and Amazon subsidies and not simultaneously saying we are going to have a special session to fully fund our schools. If you can't say that, you should not be serving this district.

069If you can't say babies over billionaires and people over profits, then you don't belong here because our school communities are already reeling. You know, we've heard it in terms of Black Student Success Plan, special education. We're seeing cuts to special education despite the claim that that's being invested in over and above last year's numbers. That's not what we're hearing. So, we really need to ask you for that partnership and we need you to say it loud and proud because the legislature left $3 billion on the table and they didn't fully fund their own formula and if they can fund the Bears and they damn better well fund this district and all the schools across the state. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. The next union rep is Caroline Rutherford, CTU vice chair, charter

070division. Good morning, members of the board and CEO King. Uh thank you for honoring the excellence of the parent advocacy for multilingual education and the work of OME. Today Raina is standing here with me today as part of that group of excellent parents in support of the students at Aero. At your last meeting, this board voted to give Asero Charter Schools, where I've taught for 15 years, a five-year charter renewal, despite disrupting the lives of thousands of CPS students, families, and educators by closing half of their schools in the middle of the network's previous contract. Just one week later, after you granted them the 5-year renewal, Asa notified CTU they intend to fire all the bilingual resource teachers at all of our schools. Yep. Aero serves nearly 95% Latina population of English language learners. And

071according to CPS's evaluation of Aero, six out of the eight schools need improvement in English language learner compliance. So after receiving a 5-year renewal, Aero's first move is to fire the staff that supports our students in the exact area they need to improve. This is exactly what we tried to warn CPS about. longer renewals, insufficient oversight, and looking to charter bosses for input instead of families and educators who are impacted. These decisions empower charter operators to make choices that do not serve the best interests of our students. And we are asking CPS to initiate an immediate inquiry with Aero and demand a plan to support our students bilingual education needs so they can be successful in moving forward. How will our students in elementary general education receive their legally required supports if they don't have

072access to bilingual certified teachers? How will our newcomers in high school receive support in their native language? The answer right now is they will not. Again, it is not a coincidence that Aero waited until after the 5-year renewal was granted and announced this decision. This was intentional and it shows ASO's management does not care about what CPS thinks after they receive their renewal vote. Nor are they prioritizing supporting our students. CPS needs to hold the accountable to serving our student population and demand they reinstate these position at each school. I am also here today with members of the Shy Arts community. Thank you board member Blae for raising a concern about the resolution. I'm very hopeful that it can be on the next board meeting. As you are aware, CPS has begun to dismantle this

073remarkable successful arts education institution for CPS students and you may have seen some letters that are coming in from community organizations across the city. I would like to read a few for you now. From the Goodman Theater, we urge Chicago public schools and the board of education to reaffirm their commitment to Chicago High School for the Arts and to invest in the growth of arts education throughout our city. Supporting the Shy Arts Conservatory model is an investment in Chicago's future and the vibrant cultural life that makes this city extraordinary. From the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, for our city to continue to be a world-class arts destination, we need bridges like Shy Arts to continue to exist between young artists and our teaching artists. To underinvest in Shy Arts and dismantle the program at a school that

074has connected students to the institutions across the city would be a disservice to the young people and the city of Chicago. From the Chicago Gay Men's Chorus, I urge you to continue supporting Shy Arts and the working artists that inspire students to set their goals high. Although private institutions exist that serve a similar function, not every family has access to those resources. Also, Shy Arts fosters a welcoming and safe environment for the LGBTQ plus students from all over the city. And from the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, I have seen firsthand how vital arts education is to create Chicago's creative ecosystem. We are asking you to commit to the working artists of the city and the young people of Chicago through the CPS investment of Shy Arts. And there are more. I brought them here

075for you today. from the Color Club, the Black Ensemble Theater, the Artistic Home, the Looking Glass Theater, and Stephen Wolf, all asking CPS for the same thing to invest in Shy Arts and re reinstate the current arts programming because this school is too valuable to the communities to be dismantled. I brought them here for you today as well as a list of the arts courses Shy Arts offers last several years. So you can see the following. One, the programming Shy Arts provides to our students cannot be covered just by 20 teaching artists at half the pay and a fraction of the hours of teaching time. Two, the specialization and depth of this array of classes that cannot be consolidated and crammed into a single umbrella of just generic art class. And three, there were 70

076teaching artists because of the range of specialized pre-professional arts education at this school. That is why students and families chose Shy Arts and why Shy Arts will continue to draw the families to CPS. Like these letters state repeatedly, to dismantle this program, to water it down, to take away its unique programming is to do a disservice to our students and the arts culture in Chicago. We must do the opposite. Invest in this school and its programming so we can expand the arts even more across the rest of the district. There's a packet for each of you. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. The next union rep is Adah Flores, CPAA vice president, who is here in person. Sorry, I'm used to the paper, but I had to um work with the with the

077computers or the phones just like you guys. Our students are going to need Safari, Montage, and Skyline. Um, good afternoon, Vice President Veles, members of the board, partners, and colleagues. My name is Aayida Flores. I'm proud to serve as an assistant principal in Chicago public schools and as a member of the Chicago Principal and Administrator Association. Min is Aida Flores. Um, I'm here on behalf of my brothers and sisters, the unsung heroes of CPS, the allpurpose leaders, most of us known simply as the assistant principles. Over the past few weeks, you've heard from my colleagues. You've heard from Assistant Principal Sai Hendrickson. You received the powerful testimony prepared by Assistant Principal Dr. Alex DeCasian, whose words reflected the realities so many of us face every day. While President Kia Banks is unable to be here

078today, her advocacy for APS has not paused and she continues to meet with district leadership. I want to talk to you about not just the numbers and policy. I want to talk to you about how the practice actually lives in schools because the budget in front of you slashed 120 assistant principal positions and one of them belongs to Dr. Alex. You were told that schools with fewer than 250 students will lose their foundational AP position. We don't know where that research came from or where the number is rooted in. But I can tell you this isn't rooted in the realities of schools like McCutchen which by the way they are dutifully owed a gym. On the 20th day of the school the school district accounted for 246 students. Emin the real number was 317. The

079difference 71 preschool age children counted differently because they were federally funded category. And so in the eyes of this district simply erase. So I'll ask you to sit with that. What message do we send to a family when we tell them their three and four year olds don't count? That their child is a budget line in the wrong column because they fall in a different federally funded category. Now, if we're going to talk about numbers, let me give you a few that matter. Emma Kutchand, Dr. Alice um and principal Longmire oversee two nonadjacent building blocks apart. So, when there's an emergency, Dr. Alex becomes a track star, literally running between buildings. She oversees 90 preK students, six pre-K teachers, and seven seeks. She supports five cluster programs, the specialized programs that make our most vulnerable

080children are served right alongside their peers in their neighborhood school, all resulting in the professional development and support of 40 ESPs, 38 teachers, that is 150 evaluations. But Dr. Alice is not only conducting and leading adult development and growth. She is overseeing the daily operations, the mishaps, the injuries, the um the discipline concerns that that translate into 345 Aspen reports. On top of the fact that she has to schedule 485 classes in Aspen, she helps also helps case manage 131 special education plans where she's learned to communicate with 20 nonverbal students using AIC devices, translated over 134 English language learners, and secured food and bedding for 70 STLs students. I could keep reading the list of things that Dr. Alex has done along all of the other assistant principles in this district. But I don't

081have enough time. If you don't understand the list that it takes, ask any of the 630 principles that this board just evaluates this reality. There is a leadership crisis. The work of principles and assistant principles is symbiotic. Public schools like McCutchen and schools like mine at Darwin where at least 500 children over 90 staff members and 100 parents move within a 20 minute time frame at dismissal and pickup that doesn't happen in any other space in this city. So no matter what the relationships, the daily work of educating the future of Chicago, that is the magic that we bring on the front lines. A sense of principles are not extra. We are not a luxury. We're not part of a we're not part of the leadership capacity that we are part of the leadership capacity

082that allows that magic to happen. Every principal deserves a leadership team. So, I implore you to reject this proposal, reinstate and ensure that the district keeps all of our APS as foundational in the budget as they are in the school. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. The next union rep is Karen Kent, Unite Local One President, who is here in person. as a reminder for those standing with the speaker, please stand along the glass partition at the marked spots. Good afternoon, members of the board, Vice President VZ, and CEO King. My name is Karen Kent. I'm the president of Unite Here Local One, Chicago's Hospitality Workers Union. Our union represents CPS lunchroom attendants, cooks, porters, and associate lunchroom managers, some of whom are here with me today. Our members love what they do.

083They pour their hearts and souls into feeding hundreds and thousands of Chicago school children every single day. But while they spend their days caring for all of the children, uh these workers struggle to feed their own families due to inadequate pay. These workers have been sounding the alarm about their struggle for months. Last year, we conducted a survey of CPS lunchroom workers and the results of that survey were then delivered to this board. The findings of that survey revealed that 47% of the surveyed workers reported having troubled uh paying for housing and 22% said their families has have visited food banks. Those numbers were appalling last fall and frankly they have not aged well with time. The results are far more outrageous today given that the board has been aware of the crisis facing lunchroom

084workers for so long. For nearly 12 months, the board of ed has allowed Chicago's lunch ladies to languish without a fair contract to rely on food pantries and struggle to make rent on CPS's poverty wages. This is unacceptable. Board of Ed should not approve any budget that fails to bring lunchroom workers up to the $40,000 per year minimum that other workers inside CPS have attained. It is past time for the board to settle a fair contract that ends the inequality CPS lunchroom workers have faced for far too long. Uh, direct CPS. Thank you everybody. >> Thank you for your comments, >> Vice President Vez. We are now ready to call speakers from the speakers list. We'll begin with the Whitney Young Magnet High School group. We have three speakers. Andrew Kaplan, speaker number one, Vice

085President, members of the board, and Dr. King. Um, I'm Andrew Kaplan, local school council member, parent at Whitney Young M. Young Magnet High School. Speaking on behalf of many of our L LSC members, we urge the CPS and the board of education to restore both teaching and support positions to current levels at Whitney Young for the upcoming school year. Whitney Young is a proud citywide school community where students from every ward learn together to build something larger than academic success. Our culture is academically serious, but it's also inclusive. It's unpretentious. It's creative. It's ethical. And it's deeply studentdriven. Students take demanding courses, but they also lead clubs, compete in academic and athletic programs, create art, journalism, organize service projects, and participate in cultural celebrations. They learn how to contribute to be a member of the

086broader community. That balance is what makes Whitney Young special. Students depend on teachers, counselors, staff, coaches, and programs. They're now placed in risk in this upcoming uh draft uh of a budget. Um for this upcoming year, Whitney Young was granted 97 core positions. That's 7.6 positions uh reduced from this current year primarily as a rate uh the the ratio that was changed from 21:1 to 22:1. We also compounded another $165,000 in reductions with the lowering of that SRO money. Um, and if you can imagine, we now have one technology coordinator because we've lost a position to handle the needs of over 2,300 students and staff and faculty. Um, I can't imagine. We also appear to be caught in a budget budgetary blind spot. Under the current draft, Whitney Young is losing the same number of

087teachers as a high school nearly twice our size. We think of that as a blunt instrument uh that pushes the consequence new consequences onto Whitney Young students um and their families. Um I realize I'm way over on time, but we're simply asking that you return to current levels and uh thank you very much. >> Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Langston Ellis, speaker 27. Good morning board members and community members. Thank you for make thank you for making this session possible and for listening to our input. I encourage you all to intentionally explore the concerns and issues that have been brought up this far um and that will continue be continue to be brought up by the people in this room and the people across CPS. My name is Langston Ellis. I

088am a rising senior at Whitney M. Young Magnet High School and one of three LSC student representatives. I'm here to share some views on the budget, more specifically the tools that that the district has been using and how that is affecting the Whitney Young community and the students. Um, one of our concerns uh that our school community has is um with how the opportunity index evaluates the funding uh that schools receive. There are two uh metrics that are particularly important for our school community. um that is uh the percent of teachers retained in the diversity index. Um in in effect, our school community has worked hard to nurture a highly diverse student body um that is supported by consistent and strong teachers. As a result, a significant number of uh funding and dollars have been

089cut in essence because we are a diverse school and have low teacher turnout to many of our students and speaking on behalf of many of our students. It seems unfair um and feels like we are being punished for uh the incredible community that we have um and that we are blessed and fortunate enough to thrive and grow in. Um but what do these metrics mean for the students? Uh this what is it? Yeah. What does it mean for our community? Um it means that we're expected to maintain a high level of excellence. >> You have 30 seconds. >> Less resources. Um what seems to be a paradox as inevitably the quality of our educational experience will decline. I have no doubt that our teachers and administrators will do all they can to support the students.

090Um but the harsh reality is that programs are being cut, livelihoods are being affected. Um I personally have had to sit through many difficult LSC meetings with teachers and um students both brought to tears as we cope with having to let treasured teachers um and our programs and enrichment programs go. Uh we will continue to fight for our teachers and school community and advocate for our students so that they have the resources they need to thrive. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. The last speaker from Whitney Young is Carolyn Lewis, speaker 29. >> Good morning, members of the board, and thank you to my uh fellow LSC representatives here, Mr. Kaplan and Mr. Ellis. My name is Carolyn Lewis. I'm a parent at the local school council at Whitney M. Young Magnet High

091School. As our letter of June 3rd states, we urge the board of education to reinstate the teaching and support positions that were cut from the budget for the upcoming school year. Losing 7.6 teaching positions, security and technology staff, and our writing and math centers will be detrimental to our students. Our math center tutors an average of 500 students quarterly. Our writing center guided 350 students with their college application essays last October. This is valuable programming and resources our school is losing. Across the board budget cuts that place the burden of implementation on schools is not the right answer to the woes of the district. The district must approach the budget in a long-term thoughtful strategic and proactive manner. We urge you to evaluate the programs, the facilities, the staffing, the contracts, the funding models to

092determine the budget that best serves our students. We all have stories of waste and glaring needs across the district. The millions of dollars spent on unused curriculum, yet our school doesn't have hand soap and paper towels in the restrooms. Did you hear that? No hand soap and paper towels in the restrooms. Proportionate cuts to schools do not solve these problems. Our school community is a special and meaningful place for our children to learn and grow and become the future leaders of our society. Do not dismantle it. Restore the staffing. Thank you for your comments. The next two speakers are regarding the Arabic language program. Logan Gaus, speaker number two. Hello, my name is Logan Gaus and I'm speaking on behalf of Care Chicago regarding the decision to eliminate the Arabic program at Lincoln Park High

093School. For 36 years, this program has given students access to a language that is both globally important and exceptionally rare in American public education. Across the country, only 161 high schools offer Arabic. Lincoln Park is one of only three CPS high schools that does and the only school in Illinois that offers IB Arabic. I know firsthand how limited access to Arabic can be. My own high school didn't offer it, so I had to seek out a federal state department funded external program to learn it. Uh, which supports the study of critical need languages like Arabic. Learning Arabic introduced me to a language, culture, and part of the world that had previously felt distant. It allowed me to build relationships across cultural and linguistic barriers and inspired me to continue studying it in college. Before learning

094Arabic, much of what I knew about the Middle East came from news articles, textbooks, and social media. Learning the language gave me the opportunity to engage with the people directly and develop a deeper understanding of their lives, experiences, and perspectives. And this has been the experience for so many more Arabic students like me at Lincoln Park and across the country. But in Chicago, we're taking that away. The federal government has designated Arabic as a critical need language for nearly two decades because of its importance to diplomacy, global engagement, and increasing role in global trade and business. That designation reflects a simple reality. >> You have 30 seconds. >> Arabic proficiency opens doors. Whether students pursue careers in government, business, journalism, law, education, or other careers, Arabic is a skill that remains both valuable and rare.

095And that is why this decision is significant. For many students, a public school language program is the only realistic opportunity they will ever have to study Arabic. I was lucky to be one of the few to find an external program that would support my studies, but most students are limited to the opportunities their schools provide. Uh on behalf of Care Chicago, I urge the board to support the reversal of this decision and to invest in students, including the Lincoln Park High School Arabic program in the next meeting's agenda as well. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. The last speaker on the Arabic program is Feder Rico Luca Masias. Speaker number seven. >> Uh Dr. Kim, Dr. Asf, members of the board. I am Dr. Federico Luca Matias, IB Arabic and Spanish teacher at

096Lincoln Park High School and area A vice president of Chicago teachers union. I am a sphartic Jew from Seville, Spain, home of the foundation of the three cultures where Muslims, Jews, and Christians coexisted for over seven centuries. In a time of rising anti-semitism and Islamophobia, my profile as an Arabic educator and this program are exactly the bridge Chicago needs. Instead, both are being cut. I am the only CPS teacher certified in Arabic, Spanish, English, ESL, and bilingual education. I speak five languages. The former CEDO called my profile unique and irreplaceable. Principal Voras um now network 15 chief promised to sponsor my green card when when he first hired me. That promise restructured my family's life. Now CPS had let my visa expire. My my principal refused a $2,760 extension and is forcing me out of

097the country in six days. That's not a budget decision. That is betrayal. I initiated Senate joint resolution 50 passed unanimously unanimously by the Illinois uh Senate Education Committee on May 5th declaring Arabic a state priority language. Lincoln PR program was cited in the testimony. Walter Pum got a plan to save Latin a dead language. Arabic a federally critical critical living language gets nothing. The enrollment decline was engineered. >> Grant funds redirected. Fer school visits denied thresholds apply selectively nearly 2,000 people the size of link comparison student body have signed a petition 16 IB students need to two more years to finish what they started I'm asking the board for four things a transparent audit of enrollment practices in 2020 with a rigorous and unvarnished interpretation of the data an emergency immigration remedy before June 30th

098a funded accountable plan to reintroduce the Arabic program and accountability for the an anti-semitic attack against my family. CPS cannot champion equity while eliminating the programs that prove it. Acting against its own 5-year strategic plan. Add this to the next B agenda. I am calling on the CTU, the city, the state, the US Department of State, and President Sanchez of Spain, my president. This situation has international repercussions. The board must act to provide a plan. Protect this program. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. The next two speakers are from Educators for Excellence. Tatiana Lanin, speaker number three, who's joining us virtually. Please enter star six to unmute. Hello, good morning. My name is Tatiana Lamin. I'm the proud educator. Uh, I am a proud CPS school graduate turned educator and I currently serve

099as a special education teacher at McNair Elementary. I am here to ask a simple question but an important question. Why isn't mental health a priority? Why do we continue to talk about academic achievement, attendance, test scores, and student outcomes without giving some level of attention to the mental health of the people responsible for achieving those outcomes? Every day, educators across Chicago public schools are expected to do more with less. We are maintaining staffing shortages, increasing workloads, behavioral challenges, um mounting paperwork, mounting mountains of paperwork, and consistent changes and expectations. We are expected to show up every day with a smile, ready support into students while many of us are running on empty. The reality is that stress, burnout, anxiety, and emotional exhaustion have become normalized in education. Instead of asking why so many educators are

100struggling, we have accepted these conditions as simply normal part of the job. But they shouldn't be. Students are impacted by what educators carry. They see it, they feel it, and they respond to it. When teachers are overwhelmed, exhausted, and unsupported, it affects the classroom environment. It infects it affects instruction. It affects relationships. It affects students behavior and student achievement. I know this because I've lived it. >> As a special education teacher, I've experienced it firsthand that the outcomes of staffing shortages, schedule changes, increasing responsibilities, and the expectation to continually do more without support. There are times when I've felt overwhelmed, emotionally drained. In those moments, I've noticed the impact in my students. They are more anxious, less engaged, and struggle to regulate their own emotions. Yet, when I have had support, the outcome was different.

101That experience taught me something important. Educators mental health is not separate from student success. It is directly connected. I ask again, why is mental health why isn't mental health a priority? Why do we wait until educators are burnt out before offering support? Why do we continue losing talented teachers while discussing teacher teacher shortages? Why do we do expect students to thrive in environment? >> While we do expect students to thrive in environments the adults supporting them are struggling to survive. Mental health cannot be a separate thought. It cannot be a slogan. It cannot be something we acknowledge only during awareness campaigns and then ignore the rest of the year. >> Your remarks. >> Thank you for your comments. The last speaker from Educators for Excellence is Karina Dema, speaker 26. Um, so I wrote good

102morning here. I think that was wishful thinking on my part. Um, hello, my name is Karina Dema. Um, I'm a senior organizer with Educators for Excellence. Um, also a former CPS student, a former CPS teacher, and a current CPS mom. Right. And um I'm standing here with these individuals, these educators who deserve a voice and deserve to speak more than I do. Right now, we're all united. We're frustrated and we're baffled at the board's lack of leadership. There was a resolution on this agenda on mental around educator mental health introduced by Carlos Rivas. Thank you, Carlos, for doing that. And it called for a district-wide strategy on educator mental health. It had nothing to do with teacher contracts or carry any cost on the city's budget. It simply required CPS to have a plan on

103educator mental health to ensure supports are accessible and for the district to update the board on progress. It was maybe the most slam dunk issue for this board to take on. But unfortunately, that resolution sounds like not the only one was removed from the agenda on Tuesday. It was removed after educators and advocates have testified at previous meetings, hosted roundt events. >> You have 30 seconds on the importance of educator mental health, and we hand delivered to you almost 500 petition signatures. calling for this resolution. This action has sent a loud and insulting message to every educator in the city of Chicago and many of you have not gone on record explaining why. So today I asked this board to provide the public and the teachers standing with me one good reason, one good reason

104why after a year of talking about this issue, why has this board chosen to remove the resolution from the agenda and do nothing? Because we're not going away until this resolution passes. We're not. even if it means waiting until January when we have a fully elected school board that is ready to govern. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. >> The next three speakers are from Hancock um High School, Claudia Guerrero Yep. Speaker number four. Hello hello everyone my name is Claudia Guerrero Yep, former 2024-25 LSSE parent representative at Hancock College Prep. I am a recently elected LSC community representative and I'm hoping to take my seat on July 1st. I say hoping to take my seat because for the last seven months I have found myself in legal litigation with the principal of

105Hancock College Prep. Litigation that was brought on by the principal via a petition filed against me for a stalking no contact order which if granted would pro prohibit me from taking my newly elected seat on the local school council. On a Saturday afternoon in November, the Chicago the Cook County Sheriff's Office officers arrived at my doorstep to serve me with a said with said petition. Before I even read the documents, I knew exactly what the principal's angle was. It is a scare tactic to keep me from serving on the local school council at Hancock by whatever means necessary. It is not because I pose a physical threat. It is because I am her loudest critic. While on the LSC, I questioned her spending habits, her hiring practices, and I held her accountable for her actions

106or lack thereof. This action is not the only resistance or disrespectful action I have experienced by this administrator. Since her tenure began, I have been openly accused of being a racist for simply questioning her decisions. I've been accused of bringing gossip to the LSC meeting when in fact I was bringing genuine parent concerns to what was occurring in school. If what I mentioned is not enough, she had the audacity to challenge my LSC candidate application trying to prevent me from running in a free election back in March, an election which I might add resulted in me having the highest number of votes. 30 seconds remaining >> wide LSC election which totaled 213 votes for a single candidate. Her actions continue to be nothing more than re retaliatory tactics similar to those used against teachers, staff,

107and students. Members of this board, while I understand that none of you played a direct role for what I'm about to say, know that your actions moving forward will scream volumes about your true dedication to our students, staff, families as a whole. I stand before you today questioning how it's possible that back in 2016, despite CPS having received a recommendation from the Office of Inspector General for this administrator to not only be terminated, but also be given a permanent do not hire classification, how CPS did just the opposite and continue to employ her. I can't help but wonder, had CPS followed the OIG's recommendation, would I be standing before you sharing my story? Definitely not. The rest of this statement will be emailed to every single one of you. Thank you. Thank you for your

108comments. The next speaker is Andrew Martinick, speaker number six, who's joining us virtually. Please enter star six to unmute. Uh thank you uh members of the board. Uh it's uh been a pleasure to recognize uh over the course of this year that one thing uh all members of this board seem to be unified around is a commitment to good governance and empowered democratic school communities. Um, you know, I recently uh attended a uh budget uh feedback session uh and uh while I appreciated that opportunity to uh use my voice and and and have uh some say in this process, um as a local school council member, uh I feel like that I should I and all the other local school council members across the city should have had a more integral uh voice within that

109process. Um we kind of got the budget very late. Uh we didn't really see what the school uh budget was going to look like and had so many questions. Uh but we really didn't see it until we were at the table in a position where we had to approve a budget uh with a general narrative that if we don't approve it, well, CPS is just going to put the money online anyway. So, uh, and I'm I'm wondering if that is in the spirit of the Illinois school code that gives LSC's and PLC's, uh, influence and and, uh, advice >> on all matters of the educational program, including but not limited to the budget, school improvement, and curriculum. Um, so I would propose that next year we have a uh we have a timeline that whereby

110we get a draft budget by March 30th. We have an April meeting where we can uh set guidelines and and priorities for that final dchoolbased budget. We can look at that in May, make suggestions, send it back to the drawing board and work in collaboration with the principal so that by June we can finalize a budget that we are actually confident about and not be like shoved a document in our faces where we have to cut the heads off of members of our family and send them uh out on the street looking for work. That is what we need. So, uh, if you could please work on that timeline improvement for next year. Uh, and, uh, there have been so many shenanigans around L. >> Uh, I'll be emailing you all, uh, some suggestions that

111we can, uh, implement to fix those situations moving forward. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. The last speaker from Hancock is Alexander Angelus, speaker number 10. Good afternoon, members of the board. I am here today as a proud 2026 alumni and former LSC student representative of John John Hank College Prep. Over the past year, I have had a front row seat to how decisions are made within my school. And unfortunately, what I witnessed often contradicted the values of transparency, representation, and democracy that Hancock proudly claims to uphold. I watch vacancies on the LSC remained unresolved for months while representation suffered. I watch concerns regarding election fairness and equal treatment raised by students only to be brushed aside by the administration of the school. I watch student candidates struggle to participate in election forums

112and efforts to find reasonable accom accommodations discouraged rather than supported by the administration of the school. I watch criticisms treated as a pro uh as a problem instead of addressing the concerns being raised by the administration of the school. And throughout it all, I learned a difficult lesson. Student voice is often celebrated when it's convenient, but challenged when it becomes uncomfortable. As a student representative, I was elected to advocate for students. Yet, there was moments when advocating for students was treated as though it was somehow outside the scope of my role. Students were encouraged to participate, but only so so long as their part participation did not challenge those in position of authority. That is meaningful engagement. That is not democracy. And that brings uh me to our school nurse uh Yolanda Moreno. Before any

113controversy, before any complaints, before any accusations, nurse Moreno was simply the person student trusted. She was a person students went to when they were struggling. She was a person who listened when others would not. There were difficult moments in my own life when nurse Moreno provided support, guidance that helped me get through challenges I was facing as a student. That is who she is, which is why her peers overwhelmingly elected her to serve on the LSC as a non-staff representative. The voters spoke clearly. Yet today, many students, parents, alumni, and community members believe they are watching efforts unfold that could ultimately remove her from the very position she was elected to hold. Whether intentional or not, the p perception is devastating because dem democracy only works when people trust that their votes matter. When an

114elected representative appears to be pushed out of out after winning an election, that trust is damaged. I'm asking this board to look carefully at what at what has happened at Hancock. I'm currently running on three hours of sleep after a combined 20our shift at my two jobs with only a combined 2 and a half hour lunch break and I'm only 18. Yet, I'm still here today upon the board because issues like these worry me. They make me worry sick about a school that gave me opportunities and a home. So, I ask to look at concerns students have raised, look at concerns parents have raised, look at the concerns community members have raised, and please do everything within your authority to protect the integrity of the democratic process and support Norse Mareno's ability to serve the

115community that elected her. For years, North Marino stood by Hancock. Today Hancock is trying to stand by her by her. I hope this board too will too. Thank you. >> Thank you for your remarks. >> The next speaker is Victoria Parker, speaker number five, who's joining us virtually. Please enter star six to unmute. >> Good afternoon. My name is Vicky Parker and I'm a parent in Aperture Elementary School and a current LSC member. I'm speaking today because we are concerned that many schools continue to identify significant differences between their allocated special education staff and the actual services federally regul required by student IEPs. We seek greater transparency regarding the formulas used to determine special education staffing allocations and clarification of the current appeal process to ensure that schools have the resources necessary to meet students

116legal mandated IEP services from the first day of school at Ebinger. Our PIN principal shared last year that for the four last four years in a row, our school has funded 12 special education teachers. Thoroughly justified by CPS's own mathematical formula. This year, that number has been reduced to 10 without any explanation. Despite the fact that the population of special education students at Ebinger grew 15% from fall of 2025 to spring of 2026, historically schools could review allocations and appeal these errors, but there appears to be no appeal process at this time, leaving us with the decision to potentially lay teachers off that we know we need just to go through the hiring process again, potentially with an entirely new staff. This is disruptive to the students. It's unfair to the teachers and it leaves

117us unable to meet the IEP minutes legally. If services are not delivered, families may pursue complaints, due process, and services or outside placements. I respectfully ask the board to provide greater transparency regarding how these special education staffing allocations are calculated, what appeal process exists when the schools believe allocations do not reflect student needs, and what steps CPS is taking to ensure that schools are appropriately staffed to deliver legally mandated services from the first day of school. Thank you for your time and commitment to Chicago students. >> Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Jaylen Teague, speaker number eight, who is joining us virtually. Please enter star six to unmute. >> Okay. Hi, my name is Jaylen Teague and I am a former student of Styman College Prep. I am here because I am

118concerned about efforts to remove a ethnic studies class from my old school. As a former student, I saw firsthand how this class encouraged critical thinking, meaningful discussions, and respect for others. It gave me a space to learn about experiences that are often left out of traditional curriculum, and it helped me and many other students feel seen and respected in their education. This class is not a problem. Is an opportunity to better understand diverse communities that they live in and interact with every day. Removing this class from the school will be a mistake when educational opportunities help students grow, connect with their communities, and become more informed citizens. We should be expanding them, not eliminating them. I I respectfully ask the board to um reject this decision and listen to the voices of the students and

119former former students who have benefited from this course. Decisions about education should be made based on what helps students learn and succeed. And this class I feel has did exactly that. I'm asking you today to protect this program and ensure that future sty students have access to the same educational opportunities. >> Thank you for your comments. The next three speakers are from Chicago High School for the Arts. Alexander Cookman, speaker number nine. Hello, my name is Alex Cookman. I'm a social science teacher at Shy Arts High School. I want to start by acknowledging the restoration of four academic teaching positions at our school. These lynchpin roles will help move us towards a more functional academic schedule. Thank you. I am still here because our work is not yet done. As the district struggles against financial

120headwinds, the board is faced with difficult choices and so is our whole school community. What I'm asking you all to consider is that the fiscally responsible choice is to pay the upfront cost of maintaining our school with the conservatory intact rather than allowing it to fall apart in the hopes of rebuilding it down the road. What are we asking families to choose at this moment? Students left school on the last day without a schedule in their hands and no clear idea of how the course offerings next year will compare to what they've known except to say that they will be diminished. We know students want to attend Shy Arts, but have we maintained the bridge that will allow them to cross over? What are we asking donors to support in this moment? There is certainly

121no shortage of people who would like to share the expense of operating Shy Arts with the district. The school has raised over $40 million since its inception and maintains a robust alumni network. Those donors did not just disappear when the Shy Arts Board dissolved itself. But have we maintained the bridge that will encourage them to follow us? You've heard this week from a small sampling of our Chicago area arts partners like Color Club, the Goodman Theater, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. >> 30 seconds remain. >> These connections have been cultivated through our unique model. A study just released today by the Arts Alliance Illinois showed that the creative sector is Chicago's third largest industry. Our teaching artists are the bridge between Chicago public schools and a world of professional opportunities for our students. Will we

122let that structure collapse in the hopes that someday we'll be better able to afford another one? I appreciate the voice concerned about ensuring Shyart's long-term sustainability, but the body that made Shy Arts unsustainable announced its own dissolution last October. What sustains and connects our wide-ranging school community of students, parents, teachers, artists, philanthropists, art, and community organizations is the conservatory program. And I want to thank Member Blae for her resolution and encourage you all to support it. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Gast Gustavo Cortina, speaker number 15, who is joining us virtually. Please enter star six to unmute. Gustavo Cortinez, please enter star six to unmute. Hello. >> Please proceed. >> Thank you. >> Greetings board members. My name is Gustavo Cortinz. I'm an internationally acclaimed drummer, composer, producer,

123and educator. I have had the privilege of teaching at Chart since 2022. As I mentioned last time, I was deeply honored to be named the Chicago One of the Year in Jazz for 2025 by the Chicago Tribune. I want to begin by thanking you for demonstrating some commitment to Shai Arts, its conservatory, and the pre-professional arts education model by offering 20 positions for teaching artists to continue to share their knowledge, passion, and expertise with the youth of our city. Unfortunately, this is not enough for us to preserve what makes Shy Arts exceptional. The last time I spoke before this board, I focused on the big picture. Today, I want to talk about the details that create the big picture. In reference to safe, shy arts, I worry that we are beginning to blur together programs

124that were intentionally designed to be specialized. If we lose those specialized programs, then the larger vision of SI art ceases to exist in the form that has made it so successful. Take the music conservatory as an example. We currently have 14 teaching artists. Some of our instructors teach only one class a week, three hours of training total. Why is that necessary? Because we offer specialized art education. We do not desire to be a jack of all trades, master of none. Our students and parents seek us for this specialization because it offers a pre-professional level in a tuitionfree setting that is not typically replicated in public education. Our students learn from master practitioners, >> pianists, string players, brass players, woodwin specialists, percussionist drums and artists, jazz vocalists, opera singers, musical theater professionals, jazz artists, and classical

125musicians. Each bring years of professional experience and deep expertise in a specific discipline. Every one of our conservatories is constructed in this same way. We have teachers that are specialist in culture, stage combat, journalism, ballet, and more. I urge you to help preserve this model. Specialized pre profofessional arts education delivered by practicing experts is not an accessory to share. It is its identity. It is the reason students come here. It is the reason families choose the school and it is the reason shy arts has become such an important part of Chicago's cultural community. Shy arts cannot remain shy arts if the specialized programs that sustain it are gradually diminished. Please help us preserve it. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. The last speaker from the Chicago High School for the Arts group is Megan

126Pet, speaker 25. >> Good afternoon. My name is Megan Pet. I'm an English teacher at Shy Arts and the Union Council Chair. As July 1 approaches and our school turns over to district management, it is important that all stakeholders value community voice and institutional knowledge in decision-making. As a teacher leader in the building for the last several years, I have been a part of choosing many new leaders, helping build policies and procedures, and creating plans for transitions and supports between rotating new leaders in our building. Many of my co-workers come with even more experience than me, and their wealth of knowledge in curriculum, systems, and operations is the reason that our school is so enticing to students, parents, and staff across the city. In my role as council chair, I collaborate with many kinds of

127school leaders in our building and at the bargaining table. From my perspective, the best kinds of school leaders know and understand teachers and staff are their best source of data. Teachers spend the most amount of time with the people that we all hope to impact the most positively, students. When we can't get to students, teachers can help us see what we need to see. When teachers are celebrating something, we should all celebrate. And when teachers are sounding the alarm, we should listen. It really is that simple. Shy arts staff, students, and community members continue to come to this space because we are concerned that CPS leaders are not listening enough to our community about this transition. >> You have 30 seconds. We do not believe the plans being made for our students in regards to

128our staffing, scheduling, and overall model um not only does not serve our students according to the mission and vision they signed up for, but we also do not believe it will offer enough options for students when it is scheduled into our student system. This is not something I say lightly and it is not something that I take pleasure in saying. It is something that we need to collaborate on together and our staff wants to help but we feel that CPS leaders are not interested in our input as a school community. This fundamentally disrupts support for our students and our school. Please collaborate with us so that we can help. We want to. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. >> The next speaker is Wendy Weinearten, speaker number 12, who is joining us virtually.

129you please enter star six to unmute. >> Good afternoon. My name is Wendy Weingarten and I'm the proud athletic director at Disney 2 High School. I'm here to talk about the reality of being a CPS athletic director and the unsustainable crisis we are currently facing. Right now, there is a fundamental disconnect between what the office of sports administration expects and what it actually takes to run a program. OSA is implementing changes to the structure of the athletic director role that will prevent more than 50 high school ads from continuing to serve as ads. Half the high schools in CPS will lose their AD. Unfortunately, our positions have been handled with mismanagement and disrespect by CPSA. OSA has baselessly withheld, delayed, and denied payment for our work and unilaterally changed long-standing practices essential to the smooth

130operation of sports. When we ask for clarity, we're met with radio silence or severely delayed responses. This disorganization has caused an unprecedented exodus. Excellent ads, elementary liaison, and coaches are leaving the district or stepping away from athletics entirely. Now, OSA has told principles at roughly 75% of our high schools that they may no longer use a stipened in AD. Instead, OSA directed these schools that they must hire full-time ADs. And while negotiations are still ongoing, OSA is continuing to pay full-time ads at a salary rate that is on average roughly 35% lower than a teacher salary. So any teacher serving as a stud told they can stay in their position if they're willing to take a pay cut of 35% or more. OSA needs to understand that an AB's job does not start when teachers

131return in August. We must be on a 228 day contract. Those 20 additional days in the summer are when the real groundwork is laid before a single whistle blows for a fall sport. We as ads are meticulously checking physicals and grades for every single student athlete. We're ensuring coaches credentials are fully up todate and we're mapping out complex practice schedules. OSA seems to think you can't be both an AD and a coach, but there is a long-standing past practice of this taking place. 85% of us do both. Neither the teams we coach nor the athletic departments we oversee have suffered, and our school administrators will gladly attest to this. OSA is refusing to pay ads who coach for entire teams with their principal approval. Now, those of us who will have to leave these roles

132will be the ones to ask to help the new hires. And of course, we will. Why? Because we've built these programs and we refuse to let our student athletes suffer. They need athletics. We know that. But our dedication should not be taken advantage of. It's time for our athletic directors to be treated like the leaders we are. >> We are We deserve consistency. We deserve clear communication. And above all, we deserve to be respected and fairly compensated for the vital work we do. Thank you very much for your time. >> Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Dennis Dennis Belafer, speaker number 13. >> Hello Dr. King and board members. Um, I am a retired teacher and administrator with Chicago public schools, which provided me an amazing life, an amazing opportunity to serve

133students and the community. I love CPS. I can't tell you how much. And I turned 80 in October. So, Dr. King, I ask you to adopt me as a spiritual or as a CPS grandpa, will you? because I what I'm going to share with you may not be may be hard for you to handle a little bit. Okay? And it has to do what I watched to you on TV. Um and you were being asked about uh pro providing information to fifth grade students about beta blockers. No, I'm excuse me. That's I'm think I'm thinking about me. I I I take beta blockers. I'm thinking about hormone blockers. And I thought about the best the greatest come um uh compliment that I ever received as an educator was from Earl a little boy in 1995

134when I was teaching at Einstein school in the IDB Welsh housing projects and he said Mr. Belofer if you ever die I hope I I I never want another teacher. Well, when I listened to you and what you said about your hand about about that CPS implemented implements the idea about educating fifth graders about hormone blockers. I wonder did she really believe that or are her hands tied by the stage? >> 30 seconds remaining. >> Imagine she has a grandpa now. So then I thought of a scripture and this is not easy for me to say this. Jesus was talking about children and he said stumbling blocks will come but woe to those who are stumbling blocks who hurt kids. And think about I think the correlation fifth graders being taught about hormone blockers and

135what it means to be a stumbling block. Please take that into consideration. I know you care for kids and I'm telling you this as a grandpa. I've have more than 50 years in education and like I said, I turned 80 in August. So, I speak to you from a grandpa heart and please adopt me as a grandpa, a CPS grandpa. Thank you. And think about what you're doing with providing fifth graders with what it meaners. I'm sorry, it just really hurts me. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. The next two speakers are from Walter Payton College Preparatory High School. Suzanne Bish 14. Speaker number 14. Members of the board, um, first of all, thank you for hiring Dr. King. >> If you can please speak into the microphone. >> I can. Yep. >>

136Members of the board, thank you for hiring Dr. King. I have been impressed when she took over a very during a very uncertain time with grace and thoughtfulness and a lot of transparency which I think was lacking. Um I attended the board budget meetings. I have attended uh the focus group meetings and the community sessions that Dr. King put on and sat with parents and students and teachers from across the city. It was a wonderful opportunity. We all care about the same things. Um, there was clear agreement, as this board notes, from those community focus groups, keep cuts out of our classrooms. Um, last year, this board passed a budget from Dr. King that did just that. Thank you. Um, this year's proposed budget does not honor that commitment to keep cuts out of our

137classrooms. To the contrary, this year's budget by increasing the teacher funding ratio to 22 um, has led to devastating teacher cuts in every school across CPS. um to illustrate the impact in my school. My kids are blessed to attend Walter Payton um a terrific school, the number one school in in the state, one of the top 10 in the country. Um but also has a CTE program um which also has a cluster program um which also has a 40% of students with unstable housing and who need food assistance. Um Payton, contrary to uh popular opinion, receives less funding discretionary per student than other schools, most other schools. Um but this budget eliminates funding for two core teachers um and three special ed teachers. >> As a result, uh Payton is losing a science teacher in

138a school that has the best science program in the state. Uh we're losing important, insightful, engaging arts programs, language programs. um the Asian program, African-American lit, uh queer lit, uh uh Latino studies are all at risk. Things that teach our kids, um the real American history as well as keep them engaged and seen. Um upper level math and science courses are at risk in a school that puts kids in the best schools uh in the country. The undeniable success of Payton students is a powerful counter uh to the baseless national attacks on this city, on our schools and other schools are also increasing with the funding that we've been given and the support that you all have given the last few remarks. >> There's strong gains that are at risk. Um we can't risk a

139setback. We don't have any more to give. Um our parents are we can't volunteer anymore. We can't give anymore in this inflation. Our teachers are are burning the candle at both ends. Um, I know the city gave a $500 million in TIFF revenue. Let's not pay any pension back. I implore you to restore student uh per teacher ratio and to have a budget that fully funds and protects our classroom and our st students. I know the budget guru and Dr. King and this board can do it. Thank you so much. >> Thank you for your comments. The last speaker from Walter Payton College Preparatory High School is Kevsur Basics. Uh, speaker 21. Hello, Chicago Board of Education members. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you all today. My name is Kev Basik and

140I've come as representative of Walter Payton's Latin community to address the impending impacts of the CPS budget cuts. As a result of said budget cuts and the diminished esser funds, Payton will no longer offer Latin 1, four, and AP next year. In the coming school years, Peyton will only offer Latin one and two, cutting our teachers position to halftime and effectively eliminating the program. At a competitive school where the majority of students will take a language for four years due to the academic benefits that come with it, Latin has become an integral part of Walter Payton Prep, helping students find a passion in an unusual place and build lifelong connections and allowing them to pursue Latin later on in their careers. While this issue extends beyond just the Latin classes at Payton, the destruction of

141such a unique and exclusive four-year program, usually only offered at elite private schools, is a testament to what the future of CPS will look like if this budget crisis continues. Bleak and characterized by an inability to thoroughly provide for their students. The dismantling of such a program not only affects the students at the class, but the numerous extracurriculars that are tied to it, such as a Rome trip that gives students a usually exclusive experience. The National Latin Honor Society and Cretamin, a Latin competition that Payton historically performs extremely well in. In addition, schools all across Chicago face similar situations where they have to sacrifice programs that give students life-changing opportunities just so their schools can survive. Currently, we pay Latin students face numerous obstacles in our 30 seconds Latin program, including challenges with fundraising and

142administrative efforts. We have no way to fund raise for the position properly due to conflicting information and lack of a clear path. I come here to request that the board try their best to offer solution to this predicament, which includes giving us necessary information to fund raise and to help us figure out a method to restore this program, paving the way for other schools and programs to do the same. We have submitted handouts electronically that give more information on the situation. Thank you for your time and attention to this matter. >> Thank you for your comments. >> The next two speakers are from Noble Schools. Lorna Ortiz, speaker number 16, who's joining us virtually. Please enter star 62 unmute. Lorna Ortiz, speaker number 16, please enter star six to unmute. BPS board members and superintendent

143King. My name is Lauren Ortiz. I'm a parent of advisory council at ITW of Spear Academy. I'm also a proud CPS employee for the past eight years. I have worked as a special education classroom assistant. Most importantly, I'm a parent. I currently have a rising senior at Spear who is a student athlete and thriving. Today, I'm asking the board to commit to a process that includes chartered school parents, staff students, and community members as you consider voting on your legislative agenda. My voice should be included, too. My family's journey with charter schools began because of choice. Both of my children have attended charter schools, but we started in CPS schools that we loved. It only served students through sixth grade. So when it was time for the next step, I had to look elsewhere to

144find school that met my family's needs. That search led us to CICs Bucktown and later to Noble's ITW Academy. For us, it came down to having options and access to quality education. My children are hardworking students, but they're not great standardized test takers. There are so many seats avail there are only so many seats available in selective enrollment schools and students who do not pass into those programs should not be denied access to strong schools. I know you're voting on your legislative agenda but the resolution about charter schools that is guiding one of the pieces of this agenda was not created with charter school parents. >> You have 30 seconds remaining >> facts and all the sides of the conversation. This is what democracy is. Everyone has an experience that we deserve to share. You

145cannot create something that impacts our kids without hearing from all sides. So again, when you're thinking about a CPS legislative agenda, I ask that you create a process to work with and hear directly from my charter school community. We are partners. Partners are supposed to work together. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. The last speaker from Noble Schools is speaker um Ellen Mini, speaker 24. Good morning board uh and Superintendent King. Excuse me. My name is Ella Moyani Nobles's director. Oh my good. Sorry. without water for a while. Yes, please. Rethink that policy. Thanks for pausing. Appreciate it. My name is Ala Moyani, Noble's Director of Government Affairs. It's good to see all of you today despite my voice. and I'm joined by Noble's new uh director of family engagement, Dr. Cortez M

146McCoy. We're excited to have him. And for those who I've had the pleasure of meeting with, I hope to meet with you all. Um you also know I'm a former educator, an educational advocate with over 17 years of experience. 12 of those years have been here in Chicago. In all of my roles that I've partnered, I partnered closely with families. And without this partnership, I wouldn't be the educator or advocate I've grown to be. That is why I'm here today to discuss the board's proposed legislative agenda. When reviewing the legislative agenda, we noticed that the only specific policy priority listed was charter school regulations. The agenda states that in response to the board's May 2025 resolution, CPS will continue pursuing legislation regarding charter school contracts and charter school closings. If CPS is asking Springfield to

147enact laws that will reshape how charter schools operate, then all our charter communities should have a seat at the table before those proposals move forward. Families, educators, and students deserve the opportunity to share their experiences, raise concerns, and help shape policies that affect their all of them. >> This resolution underscored this board's desire to pursue policy changes that could negatively impact us, like I said, and they may affect our ability to have results for our families. Just yesterday, we released a blog post with the result achievements of the class of 2026, seniors that got 744 million in scholarship dollars and 17,7,700 college acceptances. That's hard work from families, teachers, students. So, I respectfully ask this board to commit to a formal engagement process that includes all charter school parents, staff, students, and community members when

148considering any type of policy, resolution, or state legislation, and Noble is ready to be a partner. Thank you so much. >> Thank you for your comments. >> Thank you for this, too. The >> next speaker is Ryan Kelly, speaker 17. Uh, good afternoon. My name is Ryan Kelly. I'm a CPS parent of two students, an educator and an ALSC member at Chicago Academy High School. First and foremost, we call on you to intensify your leadership in the fight for full funding to our district. I implore you to lead CEO King, CTU, and CPS families in advocating in Springfield and at all levels of government for an adequate education for our children. The state of Illinois itself suggests that an additional 1.6 billion is needed for next school year. Please publicly rally parents, educators, students, and

149community members to join the chorus of voices demanding fully funded schools. Public schools deserve full public funding. On a local level, some schools are disproportionately feeling the impact of these budget cuts. Chicago Academy High School is a medium-sized school, facing the elimination of six positions. If this budget isn't corrected, the majority of seniors, including all seniors with learning disabilities, will no longer have access to science. The formula penalizes schools with teacher retention. We're losing a science teacher of six years. Hundreds of students signed a petition to retain this teacher. With the cuts of these six educators from the classroom, we're also losing the varsity baseball coach, the chess coach, the Palms coach, the black student union sponsor. Six is too many, one is too many. In addition, the athletic director is no longer to be

150a classroom teacher, further separating the athlete from the student. The impact to school and the school experience will be profound. Finally, private fundraising efforts to fill budget gaps exacerbates inequities across schools. Public school families should not have to fund raise to support essentials. As a CPS parent with students in both scenarios, I have witnessed the firsthand disparities in private fundraising and how funds are allocated unevenly to predominantly white schools and affluent communities compared to my other child's school in a predominantly Latino and lower income community. The issues we will face will only be fixed through the funding our school uh through fully funding our schools. We call on your leadership as a body and as individuals to fight for the schools your students deserve. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. >> The next

151speaker is Peter Collins, speaker 23. Good morning. My name is Peter Collins and I teach 9th grade English at a Sarasota High School. With this board facing a $732 million deficit, let me tell you what charter operators do with your money and my money since I'm a Chicago homeowner. Almost 99 cents of every dollar they spend is public money. Money this district gave them to educate children. Here's what Asero did with it. At the very board meeting where they announced they were closing seven schools mid-contract, Asero also voted to buy a plot of land with that public money because that's their pattern. They take public tax dollars and turn it into private assets that they control. This is not money going to kids in classroom. It's in the stock market. And now, two weeks after

152you renew their charter for five more years, Asero says it will cut every single bilingual resource teacher in the district. I teach freshmen and next year's incoming uh freshman class, we have 98 English language learner students out of a total of 145. 15 of those require level one services. These are students from Mexico, Honduras, Venezuela, Guatemala, and other places. Uh, these will be the youngest students in the building and they will have no one to teach them the basic remedial English skills that the state and federal government requires CPS schools to offer. $53 million in the bank. That's what Asero has, but not one penny for teachers. You are paying you are paying off a charter's real estate debt and padding their stock portfolio, letting them sit on piles of cash while you cut resources

153from your own schools. This is not fiscal common sense. It's the opposite. Board member Rosenfeld, board member Kuster, board member Bole, last year you talked about how spending money to save schools was a bad use of taxpayer dollars. Is $53 million sitting in the stock market a good use of taxpayer dollars? You have a financial imperative, not just a moral one, to insist that public tax dollars, our dollars are used to educate children, not to inflate the real estate and stock portfolio of our charter operators. The fact that you are allowing them to do this 2 weeks after signals how seriously they take your orders of compliance. Please act before it's too late and don't require all of our ESL students to receive no services the entire year. Thank you. Thank you for your comments.

154The next three speakers are from Corus High School. Kenneth Johnson, speaker 19. Good afternoon all CEO superintendent Dr. King the board and uh congrats to honorary board member Singleton. Uh my name is Kenneth Johnson native Chicago and athletic director at Corless High School. My life has been defined by service. That's why I'm here this afternoon. Between my family and my professions, I've experienced nearly every educational model our city has to offer. I didn't come here to defend one system over another. I came here to defend our children. At Corless, we've refused to make excuses. Despite shrinking resources, consistent budget cuts, and limited general support, our students succeed. We've we have a bunch of different athletic accolades. We send our students off to state play. We've won STEM uh STEM competitions, expanded early college opportunities that's

155trans translated to four college graduates while in high school during school year 26, two during school year 25, one during school year 24 that recently graduated from U of I and many others with collegiate credits. And we will continue to choose our children over excuses. Like most schools in CPS, Corus isn't asking for special treatment. We're asking for stewardship. Whether the stakeholders across the city agree with the the charters and colllocated campuses like ours is no longer the question. We're here. The question is whether we're going to steward the them responsibly. If we're going to share one public building, your policies on shared facilities, safety, transparency, procurement, and accountability must exist in practice, not just on paper. From where I stand currently, our building roommate has an approximately $86,000 construction project moving forward inside one

156of our shared spaces in our CPS facility without a competitive vendor bidding process being performed by nonCPS vendors, hiring out ofate third-party non- vendor contractors on CPS property, and without the coordination of our engineer staff. I watched a community space serving students, ROTC families, and community events nearly become the office for only one of our roommates administrators and take and took Coralus investing $20,000 to preserve it for students in the community. Those are only two examples of the myriad of egregious acts of disregard, misconduct, or lack of oversight within our building that is known by those paygrades of far beyond those in our building. We're often told we don't control them, and those aren't CPS dollars because they're charter dollars. But every dollar allocated to a charter school is still a public investment made on

157behalf of Chicago's children. CPS authorizes these schools. CPS allocates those public funds to those schools. CPS charges an oversight fee from from the very money allocated to them from CPS budget. My question is simple. What oversight are our children receiving in return? Oversight isn't bureaucracy. Oversight isn't how we protect ch Oversight is how we protect children, public dollars, and public trust. This isn't simply a charter issue. It isn't simply a neighborhood school issue. It's a stewardship issue. It's a leadership issue. These aren't isolated issues. These are symptoms of a larger question. Are we making decisions based on what's easiest for for the adults or what's best for the children? In education, I I hear the same phrase over and over again. These kids, every time I hear it, I ask myself, when did the adults

158in the room stop looking in the mirror and start blaming the people they serve? It's not the kids, it's us. It's the parents, the coaches, the mentors, the educators, the administrators, the executives, the boards, the politicians. It's us. These children didn't build the system. They're inheriting it. While granted, this board and the CEO inherited these problems and didn't build this system, this is the opportunity to change to be change agents. I'll close out with this. Let's ask ourselves two questions. Do these budget decisions provide necessary rigor, make life safer, fairer, and healthier for our children? and doesn't move our our society forward by nurturing and sending elite Chicagoans out to positively change the world because the children didn't inherit the future we promised them. They inherit the future we build for them. Let's build one

159we can all be proud of. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is Marshan Donigan, speaker 20. Good afternoon board. I speak to you today to address the colllocation of Corless Early College STEM High School and Butler Charter School. To be frank, this arrangement was practically engineered to create inequality. Let's look at the facts. We are not playing by the same rules. Butler Charter gets a selected student body while Corass opens its doors to every single child within our attendance boundaries. So Butler can push students out from misbehavior, but Coralus has to embrace them and work to build them up. This is an uneven playing field titled heavily to favor charter schools in the areas that matter most funding, resources, and space. Yet against all odds, Corus remains to be a

160force to be reckoned with. Our early college program is thriving, sending graduates into the world with associate degrees and college credits. Our athletic teams just brought home the city conference championships and four different sports this year. And we did it all with one gym while other schools have two. Alongside the charter school next door, essentially we are doing more with less. Less funding, less space, and fewer resources. Now our renters want the public to believe that Corus is underutilized. Yet we use every single classroom on our side of the building. And think about that for a minute. A school that has stood proudly in our community for over 50 years with a legacy of prestigious alumni and has degenerated to a mere side. This decision was made by CPS without a shred of community feedback.

161Enough is enough. THIS lopsided arrangement cannot continue. Butler is now requesting more space operating under the assumption that Kers should just put our visions aside to accommodate them enrolling more students than what they can afford to keep into their own space. So CPS needs to step in now to ensure that future memorandums of understanding protect community schools. We're asking them to end these future agreements to include strict enrollment caps on renters, a what you see is what you get space policy, mandatory community sports, and explicit restoration clauses. Wallace High School is not a landlord, and we are certainly not an afterthought. We are the bedrock of our community. And for over a half a century, we have anchored the neighborhood and we refuse to shrink so that uh so that a charter school can grow.

162It is time for CPS to stop prioritizing private interests over public promises. Our face, respect our legacy, and give Corus the room to breathe, grow, and continue to win because at Corus, our students are elite. Thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. The last speaker from Corus High School is Tyrone Law. Speaker 30. Good afternoon, esteemed members of the board of education. I am Dr. Tyron Laws, de facto chair of the corus LSC. It is the desire of many coreless stakeholders to dismantle our shared facility agreement with board with Butler College Prep. We know the board has a responsibility to optimize building space, but our colllocated charter school now outpaces our enrollment at a 2:1 ratio. Consequently, our community feels that this is a marketdriven metric being used to justify a slow displacement of

163Corass High School. Corass has gladly welcomed Butler into its share spaces from our athletic teams to our auditorium. However, as Butler's footprint expands into the hallways and dance studios and building modifications occur without our principal's knowledge, the collaborative balance has dissolved. This oversaturation proves that Butler has outgrown a shared model. For both student bodies to succeed, the solution is not the gradual displacement of Corass, but securing an independent facility that fully accommodate accommodates Butler size. If enrollment numbers are the justification for this displacement, please understand that this is a major equity failure. Corus is restricted to a local neighborhood boundary while Butler can draw from across the entire city. Using their cross country cross boundary numbers to strip a localized STEM school of autonomy over its primary facilities is inherently unjust. Corass provides a disproportionate

164share of student services while achieving immense success. We are the only STEM school in the area. We host a drone program. Uh our teams are league champions in four sports. Four of our students recently made the news for earning their associates degree. If we cannot dismantle this agreement, it must be audited, restructured to prioritize equity and not just economic efficiency. Future plans must ensure that renting tenants contribute equity to overhead and support staff. Thank you for your time. >> Thank you for your comments. The next speaker is David Bryant, speaker 28. And I'm sorry, this is the last speaker from the speakers list. Good afternoon to CEO Dr. King and to this prestigious board and to all present at this most important meeting. I am Dr. David Bryan Jr., pastor of Alan Metropolitan Christian Methodist

165Episcopal Church located in the Rosland community on the far south side of the city. I also serve as founder and executive director of Rosland neighborhood community organization. I stand to speak on behalf of our children and in support of the CPS premier safe haven faith-based program which is without a doubt one of the solutions to the overwhelming problems our school district is presently facing. The safe haven program provides a mirage of services in our that are essential to the well-being of our children and families. In December 2010, our safe haven program was birthed partnering with principal Sandra Berright and Dun still steel academy which is located in the backyard of our church for over 16 years. Our safe haven program has provided safe passage for the children escorting them from the school cafeteria to the

166church fellowship hall. Students from single parents' homes are now in college. As a testimony of the success of of the program, the program provides a numerous essential wraparound services addressing needs such as food insecurity, tutorial services. You >> have 30 seconds remaining. >> Music instruction, computer technology, chess, cultural enrichment, etc. The program also taps into the wealth of human resources, wisdom, academic knowledge, and experience that are inherent within the faith-based community. And finally, this program, Finally, this program addresses the high incarceration rate of our community because there's a direct direct correlation between poor education and incarceration. And therefore, we must put the bulk of our resources, financial and human resources on the front end. Frederick Douglas stated, "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." Therefore, I urge this board and

167pray that you will look at the budget. You will increase and sustain funding for the CPS faith-based safe haven program for sustainability and so that we can leave no child ever behind. God bless and thank you. >> Thank you for your comments. Vice President Vez, we also have an elected official who would like to address the board, assistant majority leader and chair of the House Executive Committee, Ann Williams of the 11th District, who is joining us virtually. Please enter star six to unmute. >> Hi there. Good afternoon everyone. Uh this is Ann Williams, state representative from the north side of Chicago. And I just wanted now that session is adjourned, we adjourned on May 31st, just to make a couple points um that I wanted to share with you all. First of all, um a

168big thank you to all the individual board members that came to Springfield to uh meet with me and other members of the Chicago delegation and others to urge support for some of the legislative priorities of CPS. It was really refreshing to see everyone down there and I think a real uh indicator of um you know the great things that are happening at the board level. I also wanted to just take a moment to um thanks uh give my thanks to Superintendent King and um her whole legislative team for their very um visible and engaging presence in Springfield this year. Certainly we face state, city level, county um and beyond um significant budgetary challenges, but I always felt that the team and Dr. King herself were accessible, engaged, and available with information, resources, etc. And that

169is something that we don't always see um from the school board and and now we've really seen it change in the last few years. So, I'm really grateful for that collaborative approach and just wanted to again commit uh to a continued partnership with all of you as we work to make sure the Chicago public schools are the best they can be. And again, thank you for your time and your service. Thank you for your comments, Vice President VeZ. This concludes public participation. >> This concludes public participation. We will now move into a short recess. Board member Deberry, do you have motion? >> I move that the board take a 30 minute recess. >> I second the motion. >> Thank you. I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Lozano. Yes, >> member Smith. >> Yes, >>

170member Lopez. >> I >> member Bole. >> Yes, >> member Wallace. >> I >> member Kuster. >> I. >> Member Pope. >> Yes. >> Member Rosenfeld. >> Yes. >> Member Rivas. >> Yes. >> Member Brown. >> Yes, ma'am. >> Member Bannon. >> I. >> Member Gutierrez. Member Gutierrez, >> member Biggs, >> yes. >> Member Thodicura, >> yes. >> Member Blae, >> yes. >> Member Zachor, >> yes. >> Member Deberry, >> I. >> 16 eyes, zero nays. This motion is adopted by the board. This meeting will now go into a 30 minute recess. The meeting of the board is reconvened. We will now proceed with the business portion of the meeting. Superintendent CO Dr. King, we're ready for your presentation. Sure thing moment. Hey, >> see I I'm getting there. Almost perfect. Emma. Thank you for

171your patience, board members. We will now have the FY27 finance update provided by Emily Zoko, our acting chief budget officer. Hi everybody. Good afternoon. I made the mistake of thinking I had time to run to the washroom, so I'll know better next time. I'm sorry that everybody was waiting. Right. Um my name is Emily Lazoko, acting chief budget officer for the district. I'm joined here by uh Wally Stock, our acting chief financial officer, and we are here today with an update on the FY27 budget process, as well as an update on our immediate term uh cash position. I'd like to start with an overview of where we are in the FY27 budget process. School budgets were released in May um back on May 12th and school leaders then worked with central office and their local

172school councils to develop budgets aligning resources to their student needs and their CIWPs. Budgets were approved by LSC's and submitted to the district by June 9th. Throughout the school budgeting process, um we engaged with LSC's regarding school budgets. We reached out to labor partners, elected officials. Um, and really all of that engagement happened before May, but it really kicked in um during that process to make sure that we were supporting um principles and school communities in developing their local level budgets. So, we are currently working on developing our department budgets um and working to bring the full budget into balance. So we are most of the way there. Um but we are continuing to refine the numbers and put the budget together. Also during June and July we are doing the community budget roundts which

173we'll talk a little bit more about and which Dr. K mentioned in her opening remarks. Then in July, we plan to um finalize the proposed budget um and submit it to the board of education prior to the July 30th um meeting. As part of that process, um we will also be doing the statutoily required public hearings. So, as Dr. King mentioned in her uh opening remarks, we are again doing community budget roundts um in order to ensure transparency about our current financial situation and hear directly from the CPS community. Um, and we are really trying to um, have this process build on the sessions from last year and going forward to not just have them once a year, but really make them an ongoing deliberate deliberate part of the way that we that we plan

174throughout the year. Um, and so there are six dates. Uh, we had a great session earlier this week at Westinghouse with 98 attendees. Um this year in direct response to feedback that we've heard, we actually added a six session on Monday, July 13th at Brooks College Prep. We also hosted a budget, we will also be hosting a budget focus group on July 2nd with students from Mikva Challenge. We also had a significant um student presence in the Westinghouse round table. Um and again, that was something that was explicitly called out last year was the the need to really have more student voice. So, um, we're happy to be, uh, making some ground there and bringing more students into the process. And so, the way the roundts are set up, um, it's it's really intended to

175prioritize discussions among community table among among community members um, at small group tables. So participants share feedback, priorities and ideas on what's most important to them um from their perspective as a as a part of the CPS community. Uh we start with the short presentation and then CPS staff at each round table capture real-time input um which we will then compile to understand the key themes and the key takeaways. And then at the end of each round table um we ask someone from each table to stand up and share out what they talked about um and share and share with the room. And the goals of these roundts are really twofold. So first to provide context on the current state of CPS finances and our funding strategies and our approach to addressing our financial challenges.

176We also really want to hear participants um share their experiences as students, parents, teachers, principles, community members. Um community input is essential to what we do and it will continue to be important as we um look to the next fiscal year and the next school year. Um, similar to similar to the last couple of years, um, we are continuing to face significant funding challenges and our projected FY27 budget deficit is upwards of $700 million. So, under, um, these circumstances, that input is more important than ever. So, we started each of the sessions, we plan to start each of the sessions with the discussion of um our budget overview to make sure that everybody um has a shared understanding of how our budget is built and where the funding goes. Um and so what you see

177here on this uh slide is the budget overview for the current fiscal year showing where our revenues come from. So the majority of our revenue 61% um come from local funding which is essentially property tax revenue. Um another 29% comes from the state mostly in the form of evidence-based funding um or EBF also in the uh form of grants and different reimbursements for different specific um activities. About 10% of our revenue comes from the federal government in terms of grants for that are targeted to specific student populations and then a small percentage comes from other types of grants and private funding. The vast majority of this revenue goes um directly to schools. um 61 cents on every dollar um goes directly to our district and charter and contract schools. Another 34 cents on the dollar

178goes to citywide supports um which are those supports that don't um live in school budgets. They're not managed directly by schools. Um but these are supports that are managed uh centrally but serve multiple schools. So when you factor that in um again most of our budget is directed um towards schools either directly or through these um on behalf of services only 5 cents on every dollar is dedicated to uh central administration. So this is central office as well as our network offices. And so uh as I mentioned a couple of slides ago, we are facing a deficit in FY27 similar to the past couple of years. Um we've really faced major budget deficits each year since FY25, which was the last year that the district used um the last of our remaining COVID era federal

179relief funding um also known as ESSER. Um and so in FY26, we faced an initial budget deficit of 55 million. In FY26, that deficit grew to 734 million. And in FY27, we're facing a deficit again of over $700 million. Um, and each one of these years, we were able to close the deficit in FY25 and FY26 with a combination of increased revenue, including um, historic levels of TIFF surplus as well as expenditure reductions. And while the expenditure reductions um, largely spared core school budgets, they have impacted things like custodial services, um, citywide supports, and central administrative operations. Um and these are not trends or um challenges that are unique to CPS. Um postcoid the pressures that are impacting districts nationwide including increasing costs, declining enrollment, stagnant revenue um are really put into plain view. And

180so here you can see a little more clearly I think how the FY26 budget um fits in when you look at um our budgets over time over the past about eight years. Um so you can see that the FY26 budget is $10.2 billion. That is a $2.6 billion increase from FY19. Um and throughout the period of FY19 to FY26 about $3 billion of COVID funding um was pushed into the system which allowed us to add our staff um and increase our staffing by close to 10,000 positions. Again, all mostly working in schools um in order to support our students in their pandemic recovery. Um but over the same period of time, our enrollment has declined by 45,000 students. And so these are um some of the the pressures that we're seeing now compared to previous

181years. And now that we don't have access anymore to that federal infusion of funding. And so when we step back and ask, you know, what is driving these recurring deficits? there's really two sides of the coin. So, the revenue and then the expenditure picture. Um, and so a large part of our fiscal challenges are due in part to our long-standing resource constraints. Um, which limits the funding that we have and available to meet our our needs. Um, and also the fact that we are limited in raising the revenue ourselves that we need. So, there's really three main pieces to this um to this part of it. And the first um and the largest is really around state funding. And so state funding falls significantly short of the need. Illinois had a goal um to reach

18290% funding adequacy through EBF by 2027. Um and they are not on track to meet that goal. In addition, the state reimbures districts for only a portion of the cost of legally required services. So things like transportation, um special education, transportation, bilingual education, um and they only reimburse for a portion of the cost. Um forcing districts, not just CPS, but districts across the state to um to make up the difference. The second piece is federal pandemic aid, which we just talked about has expired. Um but other key federal funding streams remain under threat um with levels declining or stagnant over time and we'll talk about this in some detail in a couple of slides. And finally, CPS's ability to generate local revenue is really limited under state law. Uh we are capped at how much

183we can raise um the tax levy um giving us minimal capacity to combat state and federal funding challenges. And if we look at the expenditure side of the equation, um we are facing significant growth in the cost of our obligations to our schools, our students, and our staff. First, we are facing higher costs in several key areas, including maintenance for our aging facilities, labor contracts, and employee pensions. Second, CPS must continue to direct operating funds away from classrooms and to help pay off our existing debt burden. This is something that our CFO will go into a little bit more detail on towards the end of the presentation. And finally, the costs associated with educating our highest need student populations continue to grow. What you see here is um the prime example of what we mean

184when we say that revenue streams are not keeping up with the needs of our students. Um and the prime example is around special education. And there are others um but this one is just the most stark. And I'd like to be very clear though when we're talking about the cost of special education that the issue is the lack of sufficient funding. It's not our students or the supports that they um that they need and deserve. It's our responsibility to provide all of our students with the academic and other supports that they need. Um in fact, this is one of our core guiding principles. And we take this responsibility and this commitment very seriously. And so what we're trying to highlight here is how while student needs have grown year-over-year, the level of state and federal

185funding for special education has remained relatively flat. So looking at the chart, the red lines, the red bars at the bottom represent federal revenue between FY19 and FY26. So you can see that that has stayed pretty much flat. And the main driver there is um the IDA funding that um stems from the federal government. The blue bar, the middle one, that is state funding in the form of reimbursements and the EBF revenue that we receive that's driven by um our special education population. You can see that that too has stayed relatively flat over time. The purple bars then represent the CPS portion of the budget um that make up the difference between those funding sources and what the need is. Um, and you can see that that cost has almost doubled since FY19. So, in

186FY19, state and federal funding covered about 50% of the cost. By FY26, state and federal funding is um covering just under 30% of the cost. So, now that we've set the stage, um I'd like to talk through our approach to closing the FY27 budget gap. And again, there's really two options. Um first, we have to identify either budget reductions and other cost-saving measures or additional revenue um additional revenue streams. And so starting with the um expenditure side of this, we have reduced been reducing non-school-based expenses significantly since FY25 as part of our deficit reduction strategies. We have really dug through our central and our citywide department budgets to identify reductions and efficiencies. And these have included things like redirecting grant funding, reducing custodians, reducing programs that were expanded significantly during the pandemic using federal relief

187dollars. You'll see here that the FY26 budget included about $272 million in reductions and then that the FY27 budget includes at least another $105 million in reductions. And this dip reflects the fact that it's getting harder and harder to make reductions that a don't impact our core administrative abilities um to run an organization of our size or to impact direct student programming and student supports. In an effort to prioritize school-based resources, um we've asked our department leaders to determine what reductions can be made with the least impact on students. And the picture that you see here, um is a really great representation of how we've been thinking about prioritizing resources and supports um which is by the degree of separation from the student and their direct um daily school experience. And it's not that the

188things in the outer rings are not important. Um the example that I always use for the first degree of of separation is teacher professional development. We all know how critical that is. The outer ring encompasses things like um payroll, our legal teams, um all kinds of of um important functions that are that are removed from the daily student experience but still really critical to running to running our district. Um so it's not to say that the things in the outer rings are not important. Um but in a in a situation in which we are forced to prioritize, this gives us a framework um for making decisions that's aligned with their guiding principles of putting students and their needs and their direct daily student experience first. And that was really one of the major things that

189we heard in the feedback sessions from last summer. Um that our financial situation should have the least impact on students as possible. And in line with this throughout the FY27 budget process, our priority remains sustaining investments that are critical to student success. Um and I just would like to highlight here some of the key ones um that we are preserving in the way that we are addressing them in the FY27 budget even as we're asking our teams to identify reductions. First is around student safety. So budget reductions will not impact programs like safe passage and safe haven crossing guards. Um, in fact, CPS plans to invest in things like mobile security units so that our security team can be more responsive um to things as they're happening across the city. Second is around student supports.

190Uh, the district will continue working with partner organizations that provide proven mentoring and other supports. So, things like BAM, WOW, and Cityear. And finally, direct academic instruction. The FY27 school budgets maintained the needs-based funding model, providing a minimum set of foundational positions and funding to each school regardless of the size of enrollment and then layering in additional resources based on enrollment and need. I think you can also see um the priorities as well as some of the trade-offs that we were faced with in our approach to other school-based supports. Um, so first, as I mentioned, we maintain the core teaching and discretionary funding levels at our smallest schools. The district did change the threshold for assistant principles. Although schools were still able to use discretionary funds for assistant principles, all but about 40 schools were

191able to use their discretionary funds um to support AP positions. Um, we've also added more special education teachers, classroom assistants, related service providers, and plan to open 60 new cluster classrooms and increase transportation supports for students with disabilities. We are continuing to allocate academic intervention and professional development supports at schools and targeting those with the greatest needs by adjusting formulas throughout the system. And finally, um we've maintained levels of needs-based discretionary funding and increased levels of title one school-based funding to eligible schools um based on the the um change in formula in some of the other positions that were that have been that have been funded in those grants um over the last year or two. And so on the other side of the coin, um FY27 re revenue strategies, um the team has really

192been working hard to strengthen relationships with state, city, and other key partners in order to develop funding solutions and address other structural issues. We are reviewing our contractual services to identify opportunities for rebates um and other cost-saving and and um income generating measures. there. We are redoubling our efforts to seek grants and other government funding opportunities and we continue to refine our revenue projections now that the most recent state legislative session has closed and also as our federal grant allocations are released by federal agencies. Um and finally, we're looking at ways to be creative with um growing existing revenue streams. Uh one of those is around Medicaid. And so our teams are working on identifying process improvements to increase the revenue there. And now I'd like to turn it over to CFO Stock to discuss

193the impact um of our debt and cash flow priorities on the upcoming budget. >> Thanks Amala. Hi everybody. Um just walk us through the next couple of slides here. I have a pointer here. Okay. Um, so currently, you've heard us talk about this before, we have more than $9 billion of existing long-term debt. And debt is has been accumulated going back over 30 years. Primarily, we issued debt to pay for capital improvements throughout the footprint of our district. So, when you think about it, each year has we approve a a capital improvement plan. And we have a variety of things that are critical. Um, and then we have a lot of wish list things that we'd like. The bottom line is everything has to be financed. Uh, I I shouldn't say everything, but 97% probably

194of every of of everything has to be financed through long-term debt. So the $9 billion, our oldest issue goes back to 1998, but um, we we sell debt every year. So we pay off probably somewhere between 250 million to $300 million a year in debt and we probably add somewhere between$500 to $600 million in debt. And in some years where we've passed capital plans that have been eight or $900 million that exceeded the amount of debt that we paid off. So the debt is what it is at this point. It's kind of a mortgage if you will on our our footprint. And each year we have to pay a little bit of that back. We're always looking at creative ways to restructure the debt to bring savings. We issue bonds. They're fixed rates. So they're

195dependent on market factors. Right now, while market factors may not be the worst, um our credit rating is the worst. So each time we borrow, it costs us additional to do that. It's all a function of kind of what we're here talking about with the budget and trying to get a solid structurally balanced budget. But, uh, years prior to this board being seated, we've had some some other hurdles that we've had to go through and they haven't resulted in in the best outcomes for us. We've had significant losses. We've had depletion of our cash and it's resulted in numerous downgrades. I think 34 downgrades to our credit rating if I recall. and we've done a long way to fight back on that, but we we've only I think had something like 14 upgrades. So, we're

196still at below investment grade and a little bit more push to go before we can start enjoying a little bit lower borrowing costs. So, not to wax on about this, but in the FY27 budget, there's $900 million that must be paid for that existing $9 billion outstanding. Most of those payments because of how we borrow money come from unrestricted revenue sources in the general operating fund. So the state aid, we use a portion of the state aid and we use a portion of what's called personally personal property replacement tax which is a share of corporate income tax at the state level that we receive. So nearly $700 million of the $900 million is money that frankly if we didn't have the footprint, if we didn't have the debt, we could be using that in the

197classroom. So, we're very conscientious about how much we're borrowing, the timing on when we borrow, and adding additional debt, because each year, if we add on 500 to $600 million in debt, that could take 30 $40 million out of the classroom. So, we've kind of been in a pattern of trying to moderate how much debt that we're borrowing, but still keep pace with what it is that we have to do with fixing the equivalent of, I think it's 16 Sears towers that sit in our footprint. Um, so then in addition to the woes of the long-term debt, we also have short-term debt. That's primarily uh a result of ending the the fiscal year with not enough cash in the bank. If you think about um maybe a few days before you get your paycheck, how

198much money you have in the bank? Uh and if you didn't get your paycheck on time, how would that work out? Well, CPS really when we end our fiscal year and before we get our next paycheck of property taxes, we really have no money in the bank. And so, we're making that work with short-term debt. And the short-term debt has been we've we've had a period of where we had no short-term debt outstanding at the end of the year. That was when we had COVID money and we were able to pull in the 700 $800 million a year. So, we ended the fiscal year. We started we started chipping away at that and putting some cash in the bank. But with the co money drying up, we've had to sort of use uh more of

199the resources that we're getting on an annual basis to make ends meet. So, it's about uh at the legal limit of what it is that we can borrow. We we are we're borrowing against our property taxes, right? So these come in twice a year and in between those twice a year payments every month we have to make payroll. So if uh 50% of our revenues or more which is the property taxes that Emila showed on the prior slides there isn't coming in until two times a year you have to bridge that gap with the short-term debt. So that's what we continue to do and we do it to the extent of what we can legally do. So that's about a $1.2 2 billion uh borrowing at the end of the fiscal year when we're owed

200our second installment in property taxes, but in the first installment, we can sort of leverage a little bit more and we tend to borrow the money, pay it down, borrow it again, pay it down. So really, you know, in this last year, um some of this wasn't our fault. It was uh the delays in the property taxes from Cook County. We've we've borrowed $3 billion dollars in short-term money to sustain operations. So, in in a in a perfect world, we would have a little bit more money in the bank. I don't think there were very many uh governmental entities in Cook County that sustained the delays that occurred without doing short-term borrowing, but ours was really exasperated and driven a little bit larger by our financial position at year end. Um, this is also identified

201by in fiscal year 26, we basically paid every single one of our payroll at the same time that we had short-term debt outstanding. So, uh, and in in, um, we're also projected to end the year with a negative 38 days cash on hand. So, that's that's like if you if you just take out the short-term, we're we're obviously going to have positive cash at the end of the year, but that's because we're borrowing money to do it. But if you took that out, we'd have negative 38 days. So, you know, how did I I think we're trying to end on this to sort of drive home a point here and trying to be proactive about what we're doing here with the budget. We know this is all very difficult. Um we're trying to obviously reduce

202our expenses in order to bring things back in line with the limited resources that we have and the controllability of getting new revenues. Um but um we're looking at this timeline right now. We've talked about uh some of the community roundts. We've done a number of different 5x5s on a on a kind of a preliminary basis leading up to today's meeting, but we've we've had a number of different engagements as you know. So we'll continue to do that with some more details about what's being laid out in the budget. Um the goal is uh July 15th. So, you know, each year we publish a full budget book. We put our budget online. We we have to do a number of different public things, but you could go back and you could look at our website

203and there's 10 plus years of our budgets there in the budget book. So, you know, the budget uh crafted with the different departments, the narratives. It's not going to be terribly different. What's going to be different is kind of the size of the budget and kind of what we're able to put on the table in order to balance the budget. You know, we uh by law, we have to balance pass a balanced budget. So we have to do to the best of our ability understand what the revenues are available, what the extenses will be and try to bring that to a zero focus. We don't have the liberty or you know the the luxury uh some communities pass a budget and they budget for a surplus. We're not at that point. We've never been at

204that point. The city of Chicago, all the governmental entities uh around here don't really do that. Um but um we need to at least break even and that's really what the goal is. And then you run through the course of the year and um you you'll see kind of what happens to that on the on the next slide here. But um what we're trying to do then is get through the publish publication again on the 15th, have a number of different hearings um through the 20th through the 24th as required by law and then bring the full budget to the board for a vote on July 30th. Now, here's here's kind of something that is not entirely different from prior years, but it has a different sense of urgency for me as I stand here

205before you. We want to bring and we we typically do this. We want to bring at the same time we bring the budget, we want to bring the tax levy for the upcoming year and we want to bring a new authorization for short-term borrowing for the TANS that I talked about for FY27. Why do we want to do all that in July? Why don't we want to do that all the same time? Like I said, we typically do that at the same time, but by law, we have up until August 30th to do that. So, we're trying to do it on on July 30th. And let me just say that the board has passed budgets on July 30th before. If you go and you think about the state of Illinois and the thousand school districts,

206many school districts are able to pass their budget on June 30th. They might not be dealing with the same financial constraints as us. So, I don't know that that's in our cards, but I think a July 30th is a reasonable date, and it's also something that we've done before. So, I don't want you to think that we're overreaching here by any means by the July 30th date, but it is ahead of the the August 30th date. And why it's so important is because, as you know, that I stood here before you and talked about the delays in the property taxes. And I'll have a slide on that next slide here. But um we're experiencing another delay of property taxes. So property taxes should have been due uh August 1st. They're not going to be due

207until sometime October 1st. And because we have this limitation of how much money we can borrow on the $1.2 billion, we have another delay of property taxes. We don't have any federal revenue. We had most of our reserves being used up in the prior financial years. We need to get a new TANS program in place and we need some time to be able to do that. You can't um you know some of us maybe all of us have mortgages. We know how long it's how painful it is to get a home mortgage. Uh borrowing hundreds of millions of dollars is you know in some sense it's maybe not exact replicate but it's it has its pain points. It has its due diligence. It has its things. So, we want to make sure that we have

208enough time for the runway. Uh, those are the legal things that are required in order to get the short-term borrowing. You have to have your budget approved. You have to have the tax levy and you have to have the TANS authorization. So, 3 to four weeks is a is a is a fair amount of time to get that done. And we could put the TANS in place by September 1st, which is what's outlined on the slide here. So, if you think again about the budget, everything that Emila has been saying, um, and you just back up like 10,000 feet, and you think about you have a balanced budget, but how does it work throughout the course of the year, right? And that's kind of what's I I you know, trying to say is depicted on

209this slide. This is where the rubber hits the road and this is the cash flow position. I've shared this slide with you before. Uh, the gold is is really the the cash flow position. The green is is a zero line where you hope to have positive cash and the blue is where we have short-term borrowing in place. So, um this goes back from 25 to 26. And the delays that started in the second installment of of 25 really drove that cash position to be the lowest that I' I've seen it in uh maybe I have to check my notes here, but I think this is about the lowest that I've ever seen the cash position in 10 years. It was nearly $2 billion negative. So, we had short-term borrowing, of course, outstanding at that point

210in time to cover us through that, but really an epic amount of short-term borrowing and currently we're at negative 582 million and it's it's declining worse each day as we don't get those property tax revenues. So, the fivemonth uh second installment property tax delay, talked about this before, it cost us $30 million in interest expense. So that's money that we paid for short-term borrowing instead of putting it in the classroom. We budget each year for short-term borrowing. You you know there's no way to predict like with what's been going on with the county. So we we're overbudget on that. We're trying to budget again this year for a more reasonable number. But we have no, you know, we have no alternative but to borrow and do it legally to what we can in order to

211sustain operations. So that's what we continue to do. This current year uh with what's going on, it has uh cost us $10 million to date. So we had the first installment that should have been due March 1st. It was due April 1. That's a very critical point in time for our cash flow. We have to make a debt service deposit. We have charter payments. So that was costing us at a peak of what we had borrowed $165,000 a day. That's $10 million to date. This is this this tally is growing as the delay of the property tax continues that you know we should have got the money on August 1st and now we're going to get it in October. So be to be continued on how much that will cost us. Um but that is

212that is what is occurring. So that's what we're trying to to navigate here. I think we have ample ability to navigate that over the next, you know, uh, few months, but as we get past Labor Day, that's that's what the concern is. And that's why it's it's just of paramount importance that, um, you know, we stay ahead of this. Again, um, this final slide of the presentation here is just talking about the revenue versus expense mismatch and the timing. You know, if you think about again a budget and you might say, "Hey, in a perfect world, it's 12-month budget. One 12th of your expenses and one 12th of your revenues come in each month and you zero out." That's not that's not the case. We talk about the property taxes only coming in twice a

213year. So, you have this huge huge mismatch as it is. You don't have the resources and then you have this delay of the property taxes by Cook County because of what they have going on. So, here's our TANS programs that we've had in place kind of in a picture. uh the combined peak issuance. So on the other slide I said negative $2 billion. So this is kind of the the juxiposition of that upside down here with a you know some shading here. So we had a FY25 program outstanding. Um and then on top of that we had a FY26 program outstanding. That's still outstanding. We have that outstanding until we get paid those property taxes. Again the problem is that it's all used up. So we don't have any more capacity. So then we need

214to get into the FY27 problem and create a scenario like we had um in those months in uh you know October, November, December where we had the two programs outstanding. And so that's the purple over to the left. That's the new program. We don't need to put the whole program in place, but we need to we need to get the authorization for the whole program and we need to start putting some of that program in place so that we have uh you know cash flow as we get back into the beginning of the school year and our payroll starts picking up, the vendor payments, everything else starts happening. So, um, I've already been having a number of conversations with the lenders. There's only a small universe of people that lend a billion dollars, a half

215a billion dollars, but I think those conversations are going well. I think they're also kind of, you know, contingent upon how we solve the budget and what this looks like. So, I appreciate your cooperation. I know this is a very serious matter and that's why we're kind of bringing it to you um, and framing it like this. It's not anything that we're trying to do intentional. It's just these are the facts. This this property tax is out of our control and we want to make sure that we stay ahead of this and that we get the budget, you know, put together and put to rest in a reasonable amount of time so that we can continue to do the good things that we do for the city of Chicago. Thank you. >> Uh thank you

216so much for your robust presentation. I know this is hard work, right? Um, I would like to uh see if any board members have any concerns or comments or questions. >> Board member Toakoro. >> Thank you. Thank you for your presentation. Um, I know that there's a a long road ahead of us between where we are now and before we can um pass a budget. Uh, I would just ask, you know, for myself, my own learning needs are that as we get this information, these slides are very small on our screens. If we could please get any slide. This is actually in general whether it's related to budget or something else. It is very helpful for board members to have the information beforehand so that we can come prepared with questions and we can follow

217along. Um because you know as you move from slide to slide we may have questions or or want to review. So I would ask that for moving forward the rest of at least this budget season if we can get materials ahead of time that would be very helpful for at least me personally. Um, a question that I have specifically is about this timeline for um, I got to zoom in on my picture here. Uh, timeline as it relates to having something passed by July 30th. I see that 5x5 briefings will begin next week. I remember receiving some kind of notice about 5x5s on budget that were supposed to happen I think a couple months ago and then they were abruptly cancelled and schools were already they've received information about their own school budgets. So, I'm

218wondering if more can be shared about the timeline um and especially the points at which board members have information that is shared with us for our input and um for us to know because I think a lot of us have been in a position to field questions and a lot of concerns from our schools, from parents, from students um about the impacts of the budget which we don't have full insight and awareness into because of our briefing starting later. So, if we could get some information about decisions about timeline and um what information we can expect in these briefings next week and down the line. Um thank you for that. So, in the last round of briefings that we did, we um outlined the existing deficit and some of the measures that we've taken so

219far to uh bring that to shrink that deficit down. So the plan for the briefing starting next week is really to share the refined numbers now that the school budgets are in, now that like I mentioned um we have a better picture of our federal revenue, our state revenue now that the session is closed. So the plan really for next week's briefings is to bring um that more refined picture of where we're at um and provide some of those additional details around, for example, the $ 105 million target around the central office and citywide reductions. Um, and if there's anything else that would be helpful in particular, I'm happy to to be ready for that for next week. But that was the plan. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. Those initial 5x5s we had around

220like different scenarios and deficits, that is helpful at like a macro level to know like what options a district is considering. I don't know that that information would not have been able to be presented earlier in the in the year like even February March as it relates to a number that we knew was coming like above $700 million. Um but I think for right now what would be helpful for me potentially others is district level information which many of us have gotten directly from stakeholders within our district about you know what are the what are the school level impacts that are going to happen and in different scenarios we're that we're considering what is going to be the school level and district level impact. >> Um yes and it is and I think you know

221we will we will share that information. It's not that we've not necessarily wanted to share it. It's that it's a huge amount of data. Um, schools completed their budgets not that long ago and it takes time to go through. It takes time to make sure that um, decisions are final, that um, talent goes through their processes. There's there's a number of technical processes that go through until we can call those final. Um, and so the plan is to release those as soon as they um, as soon as they're ready. >> Thank you, Bo Gutierrez. Um, thank you guys for your presentation. I have three questions. So, so Wally, you mentioned dollars relative to um the additional dollar. What what what are we what what is our borrowing interest rate currently uh that you would predict

222um given the current situation we're in from our lenders? I think the short-term borrowing is the most uh relevant to to what we're talking about here. And we borrow at a variable rate and it's based off of an index that we don't control. So when we talk we hear about the federal government cutting the federal reserve rate that can lead into lower borrowing costs indirectly for us. So I think it's, you know, 85% of what it is that we pay is that base rate and then we pay a credit spread on top of that based on how the banks indicate our or I believe our creditworthiness will be. So we've done um done a lot of work to push them to um get them to compete against each other for our business. And overall, like

223right now, again, you know, 85% of that rate is is the index. We're we're borrowing at about 4%. Is what it is. The the the other question is at the rate that we're going right if the county doesn't get their act together um would it be possible not to add some additional work but for us to have maybe a to add a little bit to uh board members to the chorus question is to maybe have a tw 12 to 18month cash flow projection relative to all these potential things that may may come up our way cuz I think um I think that would be helpful cuz I think at some point we may run out of options, >> Right. Which is I think kind of why you're asking us to do this a month earlier

224so that because we're kind of almost there, >> right? No, that that's fair. And let me just say that obviously we do do cash flow projections. We wouldn't be able to survive if we didn't do them. um they're very they're very granular >> um and they update on a daily basis. So, and there's just like with forecasting and analyzation, there's all different types of scenarios that probably if I started talking to each of the 21 board members, you'd all have different ideas on how to approach that. So, we use our best judgment to um use empirical evidence to say, "Hey, this is what happened last year. This is what should happen. this is how the timing of different expenses hit us. Um, and and I think at a high level, I'd be glad to share

225with you, we we have a 12-month projection, right? And that's usually what we share with the banks. That's usually what we share with investors, and we update that a couple times a year. So, um, when we get the budget done, uh, it takes a few weeks for us to load the whole budget into our cash flow model and then get the projections out for the whole upcoming year and then we update them on an ongoing basis. So >> yeah, I think that would be really helpful. And my last question is uh how many uh appeals um were awarded relative to budgets from schools um in this cycle? >> I don't have that off the top of my head, but it's we have those records and I'm happy to share them. >> Okay. Thank you. >>

226Board member Biggs. >> Yeah. Uh Chief So I have a related question. Do we have a sense of the number of schools that lost foundational AP positions? How many were then able to purchase them back using discretionary funds? >> Yes. So, um 138 I believe uh schools actually are under that 250 threshold. Um some of those schools received a foundational AP. um either because they are I know our specialty schools were able to retain an AP um and then some schools receive them back on appeal. So one of the things that we did based on um feedback from the field when the when the allocations went out was go back and look at schools that were on the cusp of 250. This is an example of why a school might have gotten an appeal for

227this. So, we went back and looked at the schools that were on the cusp of the 250 enrollment, but that we knew were slated to get new cluster classrooms in the year. And so, we said, "All right, they we're going to count the cluster classrooms that we already know are confirmed." And so, that pushes them over the 250, so we're going to grant the AP. So, once you take those into account, I think it was 121 schools that didn't get allocated the AP. and all but 40 um were able to to purchase one back using their discretionary funding. Um and I have the specific numbers there written up and I'm happy to to share them um via the board office if that's helpful. >> Thank you. Um second question in your uh model that showed

228us the number of cents within each dollar committed to direct supports to students etc. Do you have a similar model that shows us the proportion of each dollar that's spent on debt service? >> I do. It's in Yeah. Um it's in the round tables deck. It's not in um it didn't I didn't include it in this one, but it's about um 10% of the overall budget. >> Okay. So maybe 10 So 10 cents of every dollar is a >> Yeah. Yeah, I mean if you just think about it, uh that the budget is close to10 billion and this year we're paying 900 million. That's close to 10%. >> And that and it varies each year, but that's where it's at and it it um probably hangs around there for quite a while. >> Thank you,

229>> Bo Member Vivas. Thank you. Um, my question will will be quick hopefully, but I from all the many briefings we've had over the last few months related to the budget, I remember the uh the debt number for this year being 626 million for some reason and then uh the last few weeks it's popped up to 900 million. So, I'm wondering if if maybe I'm just misremembering, but I thought we were paying less in long-term uh less toward the long-term debt. Now >> we we think that the the 626 is is closer to the the 700 number that we talked about coming from operating. >> We talked about 900. So there's 9 I don't want to get in the weeds, but the half half of the debt gets paid beyond the fiscal year, but we

230have to put the money in the bank in in the current fiscal year. So there's 900 and there's a little bit of a mismatch. So, some of it's appropriations that get spent and some of it is cash that gets put it parked and it's it's close to 700 uh that has to get parked out of the operating fund. >> Okay. But it's safe to say that as we're as we're talking to constituents, you know, we're spending $900 million on our long-term debt. >> I think the other thing that gets lost sometimes is that our full budget is actually three separate budgets. So, it's the operating budget, the debt budget, and then the capital budget. And so part of the debt service um 900 is the overall amount that we have to pay this year. Um

231but part of it gets paid out of the capital budget, part of it gets paid out of the debt service budget. And so then when you look at how much comes out of the operating budget, that's the number that's closer to 700 that is flexible and could be used for any number of other purposes if we had that ability. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Member Lopez. >> Thank you. uh three questions and one of them it's uh just a followup regarding in particular school leaders. Can you give us a quick overview of the timeline when principles when they had to submit their appeals and then how long did it take them for them to be notified um and also along those I believe this was already asked how many appeals were received and how many

232were approved. >> Um I'll provide through the board office the number of appeals that were submitted and then how many were appealed. we have a a tracker and can pull that. Um I believe that via the board office that we shared the uh the principal budget deck the the rollout deck that was shared at principles when we released budgets and so the details on the appeals and the processes are all included towards the end of that deck. Um, I don't have off the top of my head the the exact windows, but we provided at that point the windows by which schools needed to via their chiefs um either submit for a liquidation request or an appeal request. And so there was a window in the middle of the budget in the middle of that month

233window when um those requests were being considered by chiefs and the turnaround um on those was about 48 hours. So once a chief said once a chief submitted and then the team said we're approving um within 48 hours the school saw that um additional saw the funding or saw the position in in their plan in the budget planning tool um and so all of those were resolved several days before budgets were due. So, it was within that month window and I can share the exact dates um like I said through the board office, but it's all listed in the in the principal deck that we uh that we shared on May 12th. >> I believe it might have been June 9th. I recall the date around there, right? >> Um budget due on June 9th.

234That's right. >> Um and the reason, you know, even up to most recently even yesterday had a meeting with parents from you know the schools being impacted and uh they also had needed more clarification. Um the other question is once the school year starts and the 20th day comes around and if there's a significant change in numbers, how has the you know the planning for that potentially will that impact of an AP potentially getting higher back or a school losing an AP position towards the beginning of the school year? So the way we typically um over the past few years have done 20th day adjustments is at 20th day for schools that have seen an increase in enrollment. We've adjusted core um allocations up only. So the we rerun the core teacher formula, we rerun

235the discretionary formula and those are the allocations that are adjusted up. Um many moons ago we used to adjust both up and down and haven't done that in quite some time. Um and so we haven't if if we go based on past practice that's that's how we would um handle it is by rerunning those core formulas only. >> Thank you. And my last question is and please forgive me if this was already um I might have missed it during the presentation. It was mentioned that when we're getting the additional funding from the federal government because of co you know it helped us in many regards. I'm just wondering if during that time were there additional payments done towards the debt that we have or any were there any reasons why that strategy was not put

236in place? >> Yeah, so that was um the ESSER funding was incredibly flexible funding, but one of the things you could explicitly not do with the funding was pay off um existing existing debt. So we didn't that was against the federal regulations. That's not what the funding was for. Um >> but if if we could have used our flex our internal other money revenue be used cleared up for paying that debt and then re you know the u federal new federal co funds for only what was within the law. Um and again this is it doesn't matter anymore. We're past that and we cannot go back and make any changes. >> Yeah. Um I don't know if you want to Yeah. I mean one one thing I would just say again history we can't we

237can't go back and hindsight's always 2020 right but we were facing a structural deficit when we entered the co years and co helped us to avoid making those corrections to do that. So, um, there was reductions that arguably could have needed to be taken place in order to bring things back structurally solid and and they were not done. And then each year that compounded a little bit more. Um, and it hasn't kept our our revenue as we know like on the on the state level on the federal level. It just hasn't kept up with inflation. So um we were as creative as we could have been with CO money but yeah we could not use that to pay debt service and we could not use that for capital projects either that was also restricted so

238a lot of it went you know towards what it was intended towards the PPE towards a safe environment towards um you know learning loss wraparound services all those types of things. Thank you. >> Board member Bannon. >> Um, so the budget poke is scheduled to be released on July 15th or is that just the and the the the um farthest out it'll be released? >> Can you repeat that? I'm sorry. >> The July 15th date for the budget book, is that the farthest out it's going to be released or is that the date that you're shooting for right now? So, working back from the July 30th board meeting, that's the latest that we could publish the budget book. So, we will aim for um to not be on the very last day to to beat

239that by a couple of days. Um but we will need, you know, just about the next 3 weeks to pull the budget book together. >> I know the schedule is not your choice and it's not ideal. I'm just wondering is there to release it on July 15th and then have the public and the board members review it, you know, and vote on it within two weeks. Uh also not ideal. and doesn't feel transparent. Is there any way to release, you know, are there parts of the book that will be ready earlier that could be released uh earlier so that you can review that that stuff? >> Yeah, that's a good point. I think um one of the reasons why, you know, we're doing the roundts and why we've, you know, tried to do briefings over

240the last couple months is to share pieces of the budget um bit by bit as as they're ready. Um so that's definitely the goal. It's not um it's not about not wanting to be transparent. We strive to >> I'm not saying that at all. >> Yeah. No. And I don't mean to imply that you are. I just mean to say that it's there's also a real um like technical and operational lift in putting the budget together because of the size of the budget and how many individual units there are. The budget book on its own involves you know my team, department teams, comms, like it's it's a hefty effort. Um, and so I think that's something though that we can definitely go back and and take back and hopefully in the um, you know, in

241the briefings for next week when we provide some additional information and some more detailed information around how we're looking to close the gap building on the last round of 5x5s. Hopefully that will help with having some additional details in that way. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah, but I hear the concern and appreciate it for sure. or member Bole. >> Yeah. So, I I understand you guys would like us to be able to review and approve the budget in July because especially um with the delay in the county giving us our tax money, which then necessitates us having to go out and try to borrow. Um I heard mention of salaries. Is there a very real concern that if this timeline doesn't go through like the July approval so that we can go borrow some

242money that we would not be able to make salary in September. Is that a concern? >> Let me just say that I wouldn't be bringing this before you if I didn't think it was a concern and I was not trying to get ahead of it. Right. So if if we there's always like a little bit of flexibility, but um there's not much and and and you can tell by my chart with the -2 billion and yada yada. >> It's it's very serious. So we're trying to stay ahead of it. So we're just again really appreciate >> Thank you. >> Um your your help and cooperation, >> Board Member Sacker. >> Um thank you. Uh my question is kind of related to uh board member Boils. Um, so I'm understanding that we need to approve the

243the TANS appropriation um authorization, whatever you call it. Um, am I correct in understanding there's basically three different things we're voting on the budget, the TANS authorization, and the levy? >> Yes, that's correct. >> So, I guess I'm not really understanding why uh they have to all be together. Why can't we vote on the one that we have to vote on so we can pay those salaries and whatever and uh put off the others until um the August vote? I'm not really understanding the logic of oh, they have to be together if it's really only one of them that is that urgent >> because it's a non-starter for the banks. It's a non-starter for the banks. We won't get the loan. Board member Pope, >> one of my questions was just answered, but I do

244have another question. Uh, I understand that we have been severely impacted both last year and we expect to be severely impacted again by the failure of the county to get the tax bills out on time. And while I understand that at this point we don't have legal recourse to go after the county or potentially do we have recourse I mean I'm not saying would we want to sue the county but do we have recourse in some way to do something about it and if not now is this something that we could be putting into our legislative agenda as something that maybe Springfield would pass giving us the right to get interest from them on payments that were their fault basically. >> Yeah, I think those are fair questions. I don't want to get into the

245the the legal uh the suit and things like that. I think we could have um general counsel consult that I know smart enough to do that as well. Um but um we were glad to to talk to you about some of that. Um I I would just say that um also in terms of the legislative agenda, I think that's a great idea. Um I don't want to uh delay the legislative agenda. I know it's been um you know different ideas about it, but I I think that there could potentially be some some different um hooks in there um to have more transparency and and more accountability on behalf of the county because as it is right now, I didn't really get into this, but I've told you before, I mean, they still owe us money

246from the first installment. We just had a conversation with them earlier today. I've been having conversations all week. So, we we did get some money um yesterday and um we we're potentially going to get some money, but we're still not made whole. We're at 83% tax collection. So, we should be at 98%. And I don't know whether that money sits in a bank account that the county is earning interest on and not passing passing it to us or what's happening. It's just not very transparent. So, I think there could be some legislative agenda. I don't think that's been looked at in a long time. The county had some issues back in the the 80s and the 90s with delays in tax payments and that's resulted in some changes in the law, but I don't think

247the law has been changed in a long time and I think that's a great suggestion. I' I'd welcome an opportunity to collaborate with you on that. >> Board member Blae. >> Oops. Um, so my question is about the AP appeals. Does everyone who file an appeal typically get one? >> Um, no. So, a principal that so the the guidance is that um principles work within the budget that they receive and if they can't make it work, if they um are missing a key resource, if they can't make class sizes, then they go to their network chief. And if the network chief agrees that they can't make it work and additional resources are needed, then they submit an appeal. um to to ONS leadership for review. So again, I don't have the numbers in front of

248me on like the approval denial rates, but um but it's not it's not like a it's not that every everyone that submits a request gets gets approved. >> No. Mhm. So, just to backtrack a little bit, when you when you're building the budget, um, and you know, you have to make cuts, the list of items that are possible to be cut, who comes up with that list? Like, how did where did APS come from? Just the idea, right? Or because in the past it's been special ed and we know that that's a problem now. So, we're we're shifting or it the the the the narrative was that special ed was getting cut or whatever. I'm I'm just curious how you come up with the menu of what what are the possibilities. >> Um I see

249that as one of the responsibilities of you know me and my team is to present that to other senior leaders. That's what we are doing not just at budget season but um you know throughout the year and and this started many months ago. Um and it's really been a a collaborative effort where we are taking the list of options. We are taking updates on our situation how to approach it um to the to the senior leadership team. Um and so we've really taken the approach with this given where we're at in the um budget situation that everything has to be on the table. And so it was considered um along with you know a number of other options. >> Got it. Um and so can we get a list of the actual schools that are

250going to lose an AP or do we have one already? I think it's part of the list of school-based um like the school-based uh I'm sorry, the question came up a couple of questions ago where I think it was from board member at Thodakora for a a list of school budgets year-over-year and how they shook out after budgets closed. Um so that information would be available in that sheet um when we're when we're ready to share it out which I think is soon. >> Okay. Um, and my other just little concern is INI department is really small and has lots and lots and lots of work to do. I'm wondering if there are any cuts projected for their office. >> Um, again, I think we're taking a a similar collaborative approach, >> okay, >> to

251the department budgets as well. Um, and that's really been a big effort this year is to make sure that we're not making any one decision um, in a silo. And so all of our teams and all of our cabinets have been at the table as we've been talking about the school budgets and the department budgets. Um, and that's part of the reason why our approach has not been a, you know, x amount of percent cut across the board. um acknowledging that there are some areas where we need to invest and some teams where we have to invest and some teams where they can't do where they can't do more. Um and so that you know that's all part of the consideration and again we'll be sharing more details on the department budgets and the reductions

252um that we're proposing in the next round of briefings. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Thank you all. Board members, we will now open up the floor for questions or comments on items on the public agenda. I would like to note that the following public agenda item, the unfinished business item from the June 10th, 2026 agenda review committee meeting 26-0610-X1 approved the Chicago Public Schools legislative agenda will be a separate vote taken after MO3. So you can provide your questions and comments for that item before we proceed with a separate vote. Board members, are there any questions or comments on any other items on the public agenda or are there any reports that you wish to move from the consent agenda as a separate vote? Being none, we will now proceed with the vote on public agenda

253items. Board Secretary, please proceed. Thank you, Vice President Vez. I'll proceed with the items on the public agenda read the board report numbers and the brief titles. I believe member Wallace has motion two regarding the record of proceedings. I move that the record of proceedings of the agenda review committee meeting of May 13, 2026, the special board meeting of May 19th, 2026, and board meeting of May 28th, 2026 prepared by the board secretary be approved, and that such records of proceedings be posted on the Chicago Board of Education website in accordance with section 2.B 2.6B of the Open Meetings Act. >> Is there a second? >> I second. I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Lozano, >> yes. >> Member Smith, >> I. >> Member Lopez, >> I. >> Member Bole, >> yes. >> Member

254Wallace, >> I. >> Member Kuster, >> I. >> Member Pope, >> yes. >> Member Rosenfeld, >> yes. >> Member Rivas, >> yes. >> Member Bannon, >> I. >> Member Gutierrez. >> Hi. >> Member Biggs. >> Yes. Member Thodicura. >> Yes. >> Member Blae. >> I. >> Member Zachor. >> Yes. >> Member Deberry. >> I. >> 16 I zero naz. This motion is adopted by the board. Vice President Vez. I'll continue with a resolution that does not require a vote. RS1 resolution. Ray Destiny Singleton, honorary student board member, Chicago Board of Education, June 26, 2025 to June 25th, 2026. Vice President VeZ, this item just needs to be accepted by the board. >> Please mark receive on file. >> Vice President Vez, I'll continue with items that do require a vote. RS2, resolution authorize appointment of

255members to the ESSA Title One parent board of governors. RS3 resolution authorized appointment of members to local school councils for the new terms of office. RS4 resolution authorizing expenditures at beginning of fiscal year 2027. PO1 amend comprehensive non-discrimination harassment and retaliation policy. Vice President VeZ, this amendment is necessary to ensure educational access regardless of citizenship or immigration status and updates um to sexual assault definitions to match federal standards. I'll continue with MS1 authorize the renaming designation of schools. EX1 transfer of funds. PR1 authorize the second final renewal agreement with international balorate organization. PR2 authorize the first renewal with ACT education corps ACT education corps. PR3 authorize the first final renewal agreement with college board. PR4 authorize the second final renewal agreement with various vendors for safe haven sites and services. Vice President BZ for the

256record I would like to note an extension for board member Lopez on PR4 for the following vendor. Catholic bishop of Chicago DBA St. Sabina Church number six. I'll continue with PR5, amend agreement with various vendors for the purchase of custodial equipment. Vice President VeZ, this amendment is necessary to increase the not to exceed amount. I'll continue with PR6, report on the award of construction contracts and changes to construction contracts for the capital improvement program. PR7, amend the first, second, and final renewal agreements with Active Office Solution LLC and Rico USA, Inc. Vice President Vez amendment is necessary to extend the contract term. I'll continue with PR8 amend authorize amend the first and final renewal agreement with Sentinel Technologies Inc. Vice President BZI amendment is necessary to extend the contract term. I'll continue with PR9. Amend

257the extension of the agreement with Omocron Technology Solutions LLC. Vice President Ble's amendment is necessary to extend the contract term and increase the not to exceed amount. I'll continue with PR10. Amend the extension of the agreement with UK G Inc. DBA UKG Kronos Systems LLC. Vice President BZ's amendment is necessary to extend the contract term and increase the not to exceed amount. I'll continue with PR1. Amend the first and final new agreement with Kerasoft Technology Corporation. Vice President BZ's amendment is necessary to extend the contract term and increase the not to exceed amount. I'll continue with PR12, authorize a new agreement with AT&T Mobility National Accounts LLC, DBA AT&T. PR13, authorize a new agreement with Class Link, Inc. PR14, authorize a second final renewal agreement with various vendors for the purchase and or lease of

258network services servers and hyper convergence. PR15 authorize the first renewal agreement with various vendors for districtwide marketing services. Vice President Veles, for the record, I'd like to note an extension by board member Gutierrez on PR15 for the following vendor. Vera Creative, Inc. number four. These items do require a vote. >> Is there a motion? >> So move. >> Is there a second? >> I second. >> I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Loausano. >> Yes. >> Member Smith. >> Yes. >> Member Lopez. >> I with a noted >> with a noted I'm sorry. With a noted abstension on PR4. >> I. >> Thank you. Member Bole. >> Yes. >> Member Wallace. >> I. >> Member Kuster. >> I. >> Member Pope. >> Yes. >> Member Rosenfeld. >> Yes. >> Member Rivas. Yes, >> member Bannon.

259>> I >> member Gutierrez with the noted abstension on PR15. >> I >> member Biggs. >> Yes. >> Member Thodicura. >> Yes. >> Member Blae. >> I. >> Member Zachor. >> Yes. >> Member Deberry. >> I. >> 16 eyes, zero nazs. These matters are adopted by the board. Vice President VeZ, I'll continue with additional items on the public agenda that do not require a vote. PR16, Chief Procurement Officer, delegation of authority report for April 2026 and Chief Financial Officer Report for April 2026. PR7, Chief Procurement Officer Quarterly Report on the pre-qualified vendor expenditures. EX2, report on principal contracts new. EX3, principal report on principal contracts renewals. AR1 report on the board report reisions. Vice President Vez, these items just need to be accepted by the board. >> Please mark receive on file. >> Vice President

260Vez, I believe board member Pope has motion MO3. >> Yes, I do. I move that the board adopt the minutes of the closed session meetings of May 13, 2026, May 19th, 2026, and May 28th, 2026. Pursuant to section 2.06 06 of the open meetings act. Board members reviewed these minutes and determined that the need for confidentiality exists. Therefore, the minutes of the closed session meeting helings held on May 13, 2026, May 19th, 2026, and May 28th, 2026 shall be maintained as confidential and not available for public inspection. >> Is there a second? >> I second the motion. I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Lozano. >> Yes. >> Member Smith. >> I. >> Member Lopez. >> I. >> Member Bole. >> Yes. >> Member Wallace. >> Hi. >> Member Kuster. >> Hi. >> Member Pope.

261>> Yes. >> Member Rosenfeld. >> Yes. >> Member Rivas. >> Yes. >> Member Bannon. >> Hi. >> Member Gutierrez. >> Hi. >> Member Biggs. >> Yes. >> Member Thorakura. >> Yes. >> Member Blae. >> I. >> Member Zachor. Yes. >> Member Deberry. >> I >> 16 I zero naz. This motion is adopted by the board. >> Vice President VeZ will now proceed with an unfinished business item from the June 10th, 2026 meeting. I'll read the board report number and a brief title. This item does require a vote. 260610 EX1. Approve the Chicago Public Schools the legislative agenda. >> Vice President Veles, for the record. EX1 was drafted on agenda and has been updated. The final report will be included in the agenda of action. This item does require a vote. >> Is there a motion?

262>> So moved. >> Is there a second? We will now open this matter for discussion. Board members, >> do we have to vote? Actually, >> uh you open it up for discussion. Any comments before proceeding with the roll call vote? >> All right. >> Uh, board member Smith. >> Board member Smith. >> Yeah. Thank you so much. Uh, I I'd like to begin uh with a message to our uh CTU labor partner and vice president that yes uh I am committed and do believe in babies over billionaires and people over profits. And that's why uh I do a monthly event uh where I invite parents, students, and uh staff of CPS to come. I've invited the leaders of uh CTU to come and I've yet to hear back from them. I would love if they

263would come participate in community uh with us uh when we uh discuss budgets. Um that's also why in the last meeting uh even though I did not think member thought Dr. Kora's uh resolution went far enough and asking for the county and the city to be accountable to our schools. Uh I still voted for that resolution even though I didn't think it went far enough. One of the things that we heard was we'll have time to talk about TIFF. We'll have time to talk about uh the county and their responsibility. Uh we have a $100 million assessment uh for TIFF funding this year, which puts us down. It's, you know, last year's $530 million tiff surplus that the schools got was not a one-time you did your job thing. It's an annual thing that we

264need that $500 million. And so, uh, in this legislative agenda, I was disappointed that still we're not focusing on the county. Still, we're not focusing. And I was happy to hear board member Pope talk about the county's responsibility for those tax assessments and and the burden that it's causing us. Still, we have a $100 million tiff assessment. And none of us in any of these resolutions I try to put an amendment forward uh are asking is asking the city to bear its responsibility and uh for more tiff funding for our schools. My oath and my commitment is to babies over billionaires and people over profit. And I was disappointed even in this legislative agenda not to see any accountability for our city, any accountability for our county. My oath is to our schools. And guess

265what? I'm still going to vote for it cuz I believe the state owes too. And it would be helpful if we stopped our partners would stop calling each other name a board members names so that we can move forward together. Thank you. >> Board member Bannon. >> Um like board member Smith, I'm going to vote for this. Um I think it it still needs to be refined. I think it's a a living document that we can revisit as legislative sessions come and go. Um I look forward to continuing to work with uh the CPS staff and the IG office to refine this legislative agenda. >> Board member Rosenfeld. >> Yeah, I do appreciate the co the colleagues that are seriously thinking about these issues. You know, it's a great start. Um the timing is a

266little questionable why we're passing a legislative agenda once session is over, but I guess it's better than nothing. Um we just haven't seen a road map on the execution of this. You know, no strategy on coalition building. It just feels like we're doing it to check the box, but I'm not sure how genuinely helpful this is going to be as we try to rightsize and make this district financially stable. Um yeah. Board member Pope. >> Yes. Uh I uh too support the legislative agenda and I do definitely think we have to make it a living document. If it is just a piece of paper that's going to sit there and say, "Okay, we did this," then it doesn't mean very much. But if we take that document, we go to Springfield with as many of

267our partners as possible. We call for a special session if possible. we do all of those things, then we are going to learn things that we will then have to modify and change and that we can do. I, for example, would like to see something about legislation that might enable us to recoup uh the extra debt that's being caused by the county's delays added to our legislative agenda. But that doesn't mean that I'm not going to vote for it now. It means that I'm going to continue to press for it. Also, I know we're in the process of uh hiring an IGA chief at some point in the not too distant future, and I would assume that whoever uh Dr. King suggests for that job uh and who we uh vote on as a group

268uh will have ideas of his or her own that they will want to contribute to our legislative agenda and to how we go about it and what kind of proposals we make. So yes, I think we should adopt it and we should adopt it as a first step to what we're doing. When you go on I remember when I was a kid, we would go on road trips and my mother would get these things called trip ticks from the p from the uh AAA club and the whole map wasn't on one page, but as you went through it and you got places, the rest of the map unfolded. And I think that's the kind of approach we have to take here. There's no more comments. >> Vice President FZ, um, board member Gutierrez has his

269hand up. >> Board member Gutierrez. >> He may have turned his uh, video off. >> Yeah. Can you hear me? >> Yes. Please proceed. Um yeah, I I am going to vote on this legislative agenda but with my uh stink nose to it because it still fails to be very inclusive. Doesn't have a federal uh portion to it. Doesn't have a local um strategy neither. Um, and I echo uh board member Smith's um comments, you know, that there's local dollars that we should be asking for and um and we need to develop really a federal strategy as well with making an ask of all our congressional delegation sooner rather than later. There's no more comments. Oh, actually, uh, board member Lopez. >> Thank you, board of vice president. I I also want to echo I

270definitely in support of this legislative agenda. Uh, and I feel it's a step forward in the right direction. There's a lot of different things that could be added, right? I agree that we need need to have also strategy for every level of government. Um at the city, at the county, at the federal, as board member Gutier pointed out, at the federal, we have an incoming new uh potentially or incoming new senator, right? And then we're going to have an large number of new House representatives in the other chamber. So how are we going to be positioning ourselves to you know have those conversations once they get elected and sworn in so they can be fighting with us with us and for us at the federal level when it comes to for example to special education.

271We saw that it's been a flat rate. So there's a lot of area opportunity um and also thinking about short-term and long term. what are our goals that in the short term right now whether it be with the city and long term for example progressive revenue uh to looking forward to working with the district and our legislators in Springfield and also locally so we can continue supporting our students here in the city of Chicago >> I think that was the end oh sorry member Zacker a disease hidden. >> Yeah. >> Um yeah, I I um and a number of other board members were at the hearing uh at Westinghouse and one of the most often repeated comments was um that we should be uniting with districts around the state and pushing for that special session.

272Um, so I think that sounds great and I'm just really eager to hear what the plan is for that because obviously uh time is of the essence. Um, so hopefully we can we can hear something about that in the very immediate future. >> I think that's it. >> I'll proceed with the roll call vote on the unfinished business item 260610 EX1. approve the Chicago public schools legislative agenda which was motioned by board member Bannon and seconded by board member Lozano. Member Lozano. >> Yes. >> Member Smith. >> I. >> Member Lopez. >> I. >> Member Bole. >> Yes. >> Member Wallace. >> I. >> Member Kuster. >> I. >> Member Pope. >> Yes. >> Member Rosenfeld. >> Yes. >> Member Rivas. >> Yes. >> Member Bannon. >> Hi. >> Member Gutierrez. I >> member Biggs.

273>> Yes. >> Member Thorakura. >> Yes. >> Member Blae. >> I. >> Member Zachor. >> Yes. >> Member Deberry. >> I. >> 16 eyes, zero nazs. This item is this matter is adopted by the board. >> Vice President BZ, this concludes the first part of the public agenda items. >> We will now move into executive session. Board member Rivas, do you have motion MO4? I move for the passage of motion number 26-0625-4 and the commencement of a closed session to consider matters permitted under section 2C of the opens meetings act subsections 1 and 11 as specified in the motion. Is there a second? >> I second the motion. >> Thank you. I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Lozano. >> Yes. >> Member Smith. I >> member Lopez. >> I >> member Bole. >> Yes.

274>> Member Wallace. >> I >> member Kuster. >> I >> member Pope. >> Yes. >> Member Rosenfeld. >> Yes. >> Member Rivas. >> Yes. >> Member Bannon. >> I. >> Member Gutierrez. >> I. >> Member Biggs. >> Yes. >> Member Thodicura. >> Yes. >> Member Blae. >> I. >> Member Zachar. >> Yes. >> Member Deberry. >> I. >> 16 eyes. Zero naz. This motion is adopted by the board. >> This meeting will now go into close session. >> The the the board meeting of the board of education is reconvene. Board secretary, please proceed. >> Vice President Vez, I'll continue with items from the general counsel that do require a vote. AR2, appoint assistant general counsel Naomi Forbes. AR3 appoint assistant general counsel Joshua Weiner. AR4 amend workers compensation payment for lumpsum settlement for Willy Willie

275Thomas. Vice President BZ this amendment is necessary to change the settlement amount. I'll continue with AR5 workers compensation payment for lumpsum settlement for Kimberly Jakam Melon. AR6 workers compensation payment for lumpsum settlement for Francine Kubic. AR7 approve payment of proposed settlement regarding claims brought by Hagen King, Muhammad Bowen, and Haywood. >> Is there a motion? >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> Second. We'll now open this matter for discussion. Board members, any comments before proceeding with the roll call vote? See none. I'll proceed with a roll call. Member Lozano. >> Yes. >> Member Smith. >> I. >> Member Lopez. >> I. >> Member Bole. >> Yes. >> Member Wallace. >> I. >> Member Kuster. >> I. >> Member Pope. >> Yes. >> Member Rosenfeld. >> Yes. >> Member Rivas. >> Yes. >> Member

276Bannon. >> I. >> Member Gutierrez. >> I. >> Member Biggs. >> Yes. >> Member Blae. >> I. >> Member Zachor. >> Yes. Member Deberry >> I. >> 15 I's zero nazs. These matters are adopted by the board. >> Vice President Veza will continue with items from the board that require a vote. RS6 resolution approving superintendent chief executive officer's recommendation to dismiss educational personnel. RS6 resolution approving superintendent chief executive officer's recommendation to dismiss probationary appointed teacher. Vice President BZ, these items do require a vote. >> Is there a motion? So moved. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. I'll proceed with a roll call vote. Member Lozano. >> Yes. >> Member Smith. >> I. >> Member Lopez. >> I. >> Member Bole. >> Yes. >> Member Wallace. >> I. >> Member Kuster. >>

277I. >> Member Pope. >> Yes. >> Member Rosenfeld. >> Yes. >> Member Rivas. >> Yes. >> Member Bannon. >> Hi. >> Member Gutierrez. >> Hi. >> Member Biggs. >> Yes. Member Blae >> I. >> Member Zachor. >> Yes. >> Member Deberry. >> I. >> 15 eyes, zero nazs. These matters are adopted by the board. Vice President Vez, there are no further items on the agenda. >> Thank you. Is there a motion to adjurnn? >> So moved. >> Is there a second? >> Second. >> So moved. >> All in favor? I I >> I survive and we adjourn. Thank you.