Running out of cash, CPS tells principals to stop spending

Chicago Public School principals were being instructed on Wednesday to stop spending money because the broke school district that has already imposed budget cuts, layoffs and unpaid furlough days is running out of cash to make a giant pension payment on June 30.

And warnings to get ready for a "lean July," the first month of the new fiscal year, left them with many questions about how to plan to open school doors on time in September.

CPS officials told their principals in a webinar that the district was stockpiling remaining cash to make a $688 million pension payment on June 30 - weeks before new property tax revenue was expected to hit CPS bank accounts.

Any expenditures over $5,000 will need the approval of the school's network chief, the next layer of management above principals. And principals who still needed to buy supplies were encouraged to do so out of federal and state funding sources, rather than money directly from CPS, according to the presentation obtained by the Sun-Times.

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