Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has eliminated 162 positions as part of a broader effort to address a budget deficit of approximately $732–734 million for the 2026–27 school year, marking the second consecutive year of significant central office reductions.
Employees were notified of the layoffs during the second week of July. The cuts include 82 central office positions and 80 citywide support roles, employees who provide services to schools but are not classroom teachers. District officials estimate the layoffs will save approximately $18 million.
Unlike previous workforce reductions seen in some districts across the country, this round of layoffs does not primarily target classroom teachers. Instead, CPS has focused on administrative and district-level support staff in an effort to preserve direct instructional services. 
Multiple Departments Affected
The layoffs span more than a dozen CPS departments, including Human Resources, Information Technology Services, Principal Quality, School Counseling, Procurement, Student Health and Wellness, Transportation, Facilities, Safety and Security, Career and College Success, Special Education, Real Estate, and Sports Administration.
The workforce reductions also affect employees represented by both SEIU Local 73 and the Chicago Teachers Union.
Schools Face Additional Budget Adjustments
The layoffs come after CPS released school-level budgets earlier this year containing additional cost-saving measures.
Among them are limits on the number of teacher layoffs each school can make, larger student-to-teacher ratios in some buildings, and the elimination of assistant principal positions in schools with fewer than 250 students. At the same time, the district increased funding for special education and services for students with disabilities.
The strategy reflects CPS’s stated priority of protecting classroom instruction while reducing administrative costs wherever possible.
Declining Enrollment Is Only Part of the Story
Although falling student enrollment has contributed to the district’s financial challenges, it is only one piece of a much larger problem.
Current enrollment stands at approximately 316,000 students, continuing a long-term decline that has seen CPS lose roughly 80,000 to 86,000 students over the past decade. Since 2019 alone, enrollment has dropped by about 45,000 students.
During that same period, however, CPS expanded its workforce by roughly 10,000 positions, with central office staffing increasing by approximately 60 percent.
Financial pressure has also intensified following the expiration of temporary federal COVID-19 relief funding, which many school districts used to support permanent staffing levels. CPS must also contend with significant pension obligations, aging facilities, long-term debt, and rising operating costs.
Critics argue that the district expanded staffing faster than long-term revenues could support, creating structural financial problems that have become increasingly difficult to manage as enrollment continued to decline.
A Continuing Pattern
The latest cuts are not an isolated event.
In 2025, CPS eliminated 161 positions while confronting a similarly large budget deficit. That year, the district also reduced non-school spending by approximately $272 million.
The back-to-back rounds of layoffs suggest that the district’s financial challenges are structural rather than temporary, as one-time pandemic funding has disappeared while operating costs continue to rise.
Education observers have described the current budget cycle as one of the most difficult CPS has faced in years.
Impact on Employees and Schools
For affected employees, the layoffs bring immediate financial uncertainty.
District officials emphasized that the decisions were driven by fiscal realities rather than employee performance, stating that the reductions “do not reflect the value of their service” but instead the district’s responsibility to address significant financial challenges while protecting investments that most directly benefit students.
For schools, the effects are expected to be more indirect. Centralized services may become more limited, some classrooms could become larger because of staffing adjustments, and smaller schools may lose administrative support. Increased investment in special education, however, remains a notable exception to the broader spending reductions.
Families may also experience the loss of familiar staff members who provided district-level support to schools.
What Happens Next?
Because the layoffs were announced only recently, there is no public information yet on how many affected employees will quickly secure new positions.
Historically, educators, particularly teachers and special education professionals, often find employment relatively quickly elsewhere in the Chicago metropolitan area due to ongoing demand. Union agreements and CPS recall provisions may also provide opportunities for some employees to return if positions reopen.
Administrative employees, however, may face a more competitive job market depending on their area of expertise.
Looking Ahead
The elimination of 162 positions represents only a small step toward closing a budget gap exceeding $730 million.
Without additional state funding, changes to pension obligations, or further adjustments to staffing and school utilization that better reflect declining enrollment, CPS is likely to face continued financial pressure in the coming years. The district has begun by reducing administrative spending, but education analysts say broader structural reforms may ultimately be necessary to restore long-term fiscal stability.
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