Chicago’s reform ledger is wide open today: a CPS deficit, new scrutiny on City Hall’s budget work, and a state finding that says federal abuses were approved from Washington.
This is The Chicago Daily Fix. Today, we’re following the money, the oversight, and the public systems setting up Chicago’s next reform fights.
Yep. Let’s follow the receipts.
Exactly. First up: the school budget gap.
From the Chicago Sun-Times:
Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is projected to end the current fiscal year with a $45M deficit, marking the second consecutive year that CPS has spent more money than it comes in. Financial reports reveal that the school district is struggling to cover all its costs.
That is the roof leaking two years in a row. CPS leaned on temporary federal money for ongoing costs, and now that cushion is gone, or going fast.
Next, from a source listed as Unknown:
Regional Transportation Authority CTA 2025 CUSTOMER SATISFACTION STUDY November 20, 2025 55 Railroad Row White River Junction, VT 05001 802.295.4999 www.rsginc.com CTA 2025 CUSTOMER SATISFACTION STUDY Regional Transportation Authority i CONTENTS 1.0 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .................................................................... 1 2.0 OBJECTIVES & BACKGROUND ...................................................... 2 3.0 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................ 4
This is the unglamorous stuff that actually matters. A customer satisfaction study is where a transit agency either faces what riders are saying, or hides it under methodology. For CTA, the question is simple: do riders feel any change after this?
From the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law:
This report was created by the Chicago Area Fair Housing Alliance in partnership with Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law. The Chicago Area Fair Housing Alliance (CAFHA) is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit consortium of fair housing and advocacy organizations, government agencies, and municipalities. CAFHA works to combat housing discrimination and promote integrated communities of opportunity through education, advocacy, and collaborative action.
That framing is doing a lot of work. This is a housing report, sure, but it’s also about power: who gets to shape neighborhood change in Chicago, and who gets boxed out.
From the Chicago Tribune:
Aldermen once again aired their distrust of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s work implementing Chicago’s budget yesterday as his top finance leaders revealed the city is once again turning to an outside consulting firm for help in cutting costs. City revenues are “tracking very closely to budget” so far this year, Budget Director Annette Guzmán told aldermen.
If the message is, “trust us,” but the update is, “we brought in Ernst & Young,” aldermen are going to focus on the consultant. At this point, the fight is as much about confidence in City Hall’s follow-through as it is about the budget math.
From Maggie Dougherty at Capitol News Illinois:
The Illinois Accountability Commission has spent six months reviewing incidents of alleged misconduct by federal immigration agents in Chicago during Operation Midway Blitz. The commission found evidence of three major policy directives that permitted and encouraged agent misconduct, stemming from top Trump administration officials. These directives included militarizing the streets, suppressing speech and assembly, and immunity for lawlessness.
That’s the commission connecting street-level abuse back to federal policy. If that finding holds, then “bad apples” does not cover it. You’re talking about command responsibility.
Links to everything we talked about today are in the show notes, so if one of these stories caught your ear, you can dig into the original reporting there.
That’s The Chicago Daily Fix for Wednesday, April 29th. Thanks for listening. This is a Lantern Podcast.