Illinois House Speaker Emanuel "Chris" Welch just promised the Chicago Teachers Union another $150 million in state cash to plug a budget hole that never should have existed — and taxpayers are supposed to pick up the tab.
Chicago Public Schools faces a $700 million deficit and the prospect of laying off more than 1,000 employees, including hundreds of teachers. Rather than confront decades of mismanagement and union-driven bloat, CTU leaders and Mayor Brandon Johnson want Springfield to write a bigger check. Welch delivered, telling union members he's "committed" to a supplemental budget bill and will "lead that effort in the veto session" this fall, according to a video posted to the union's social media accounts.
The timing is convenient. Welch has been scrambling to shore up his standing with allies after criticism over his office's handling of sexual harassment allegations against former state Rep. Harry Benton, and scrutiny over his own social media interactions with a former female staffer — including reacting to posts with heart-eye emojis, as Shaw Local reported. Nothing shores up political support like promising a nine-figure bailout to the most powerful union in the state.
The problem: nobody knows where the money comes from. Gov. JB Pritzker signed a $55.9 billion budget in June that already relies on hundreds of millions in tax hikes just to balance. Pritzker himself seemed caught off guard, telling reporters he only heard about Welch's pledge from a social media clip and called it "challenging" to build a budget around revenue that doesn't exist yet. CPS is currently at 73% adequacy under the state's evidence-based funding formula — a measure that's been in place for a decade without solving the district's structural failures.
Meanwhile in Michigan, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a $22.9 billion education budget that includes $248.5 million for free school meals — with a notable expansion. Nonpublic schools saw their portion double from $1.6 million to $2 million, reflecting growth from 40 participating private schools last year to 99 this year, according to the State Budget Office. Michigan Catholic Conference policy advocate Paul Stankewitz told CBS News Detroit that parents with children in both systems demanded parity: "Why are our older children getting free and reduced lunch in the public school, but our younger children are not getting it in the nonpublic school?"
State Senator Dayna Polehanki has introduced legislation to make the meal program permanent for both public and nonpublic schools, removing it from the annual budget fight altogether.
Two states, two approaches. Illinois wants to pump more money into a broken system run by the same union that helped break it. Michigan is at least directing some resources to families who chose alternatives. But in both cases, the spending only goes one direction — up — and the question of whether any of it produces educated children goes unanswered.
The real lesson from Chicago: when schools become union employment programs, the bill never stops growing, and the students never come first.
