Chicago will end the year in the red for the second straight year after Mayor Brandon Johnson suffered a devastating blow from the city’s school board, which this week balked at authorizing a short-term, high-interest loan to reimburse the city for a $175 million pension payment for non-teaching school employees.

The continued defiance by a partially-elected Chicago Board of Education still controlled by Johnson’s own appointees will force the city to end 2025 with a $146 million shortfall, and make what the mayor called the “hard choices” needed to erase a nearly $1.2 billion budget gap in 2026.

“They passed a budget that didn’t have cuts to the classroom — or as far as what we can tell. That’s the most important thing here,” Johnson said during a virtual budget briefing Friday.

“My jo

See Full Page