Chicago Public Schools
Pension reserve in the general fund (a reservation, not a payment)
Exact amount: $120,570,340.00
FY2026 (July 2025–June 2026)
Budget-only line: a reserve, not a payment. Budget-only reserve line (it is not a payment to anyone). Official explanation: the budget book says CPS pays $663.6M of the teacher pension fund's required $1,026.7M: $602.3M comes from the pension levy and $61.3M from the operating budget (p.36-37). The State pays the other $363.1M. The pieces below are our arithmetic from those published numbers (see each piece), not a CPS-published split of this line.
This is a reserve the district sets aside for pensions, health insurance or claims, and the real bills arrive later from the insurers and pension funds.
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All items
| Box | Amount | % of this budget |
|---|---|---|
| CPS operating money diverted to the teacher pension fund · Our estimate | $61,256,335.00 | 50.8% |
| State's share of the teacher pension that schools are not charged for · Our estimate | $59,314,005.00 | 49.2% |
Sources
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