Overview
- Board members voted 6-1 on Monday to rescind the 0.75% earned-income tax that had been approved last week and then voted to add a 7-mill property tax measure to the November ballot, with one member opposing and one abstention on the property measure.
- Officials face an Aug. 4 filing deadline to submit the levy for the ballot, and if they miss that window or fail to agree on a measure, voters will not be asked to approve new local school funding in November.
- The replacement property levy would cost homeowners about $245 per $100,000 in assessed property value if it passes, while the earlier income tax was estimated to cost someone earning $50,000 roughly $375 a year.
- CPS has already cut 111 positions and imposed five unpaid days for some staff this summer as part of maneuvers to close a multimillion-dollar budget gap, and district leaders say further cuts will follow if new local revenue is not approved.
- Labor and board leaders framed the property levy as a fairer way to spread the district’s funding burden, and the board and community will now campaign in coming weeks to explain the levy and its likely effects on classrooms and services.