As they go back and forth over funding for Chicago Public Schools, Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Governor Bruce Rauner focused on common ground as they helped cut the ribbon on a new plant on Chicago’s Southeast Side. NBC 5’s Mary Ann Ahern reports.
As the city of Chicago looks for ways to fill a nearly $600 million hole to fund Chicago Public Schools, a new setback has been revealed for Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
Emanuel announced Friday his longtime Budget Director Alex Holt is leaving at the end of June.
Holt has been with Emanuel since the start of his first term and has spent more than 20 years with the public sector.
The mayor has appointed Samantha Fields, currently Commissioner of the Department of Business Affairs, to replace Holt.
While there are no details yet on how to tackle the CPS funding crisis, Emanuel has said he's not ruling anything out to keep CPS open until June 20 including borrowing from TIF funds and reinstating the corporate head tax.
The mayor had hoped the Illinois General Assembly would pass a state budget that would include millions of dollars for CPS pension payments, but that has not yet happened.
