Story Continues

It’s clear Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and the Chicago City Council are no closer to reaching a budget deal, as top financial officials in the mayor’s administration have largely rejected the alternative budget plan presented by council members.

The 2026 budget plan needs to be approved by the mayor and at least 26 of the 50 alders by the end of the year. In October, Johnson presented his plan, which included a $21 per employee corporate head tax on the city’s largest companies each month, plus a host of other taxes. A month later, the mayor’s revenue ideas were soundly rejected by the council’s Finance Committee.

Alders began crafting their own plan, and 26 of them signed a letter Tuesday presenting an alternative proposal. The alternate plan took out the corporate head tax, replacing it instead with items like an increased garbage fee, with an exemption for seniors, and an increased liquor tax at liquor stores.

The mayor’s financial team — Chief Financial Officer Jill Jaworski, Budget Director Annette Guzman and City Comptroller Michael Belsky — responded to the alders Thursday, thanking them for their plan but rebuking several of their proposals, saying, for example, that an improved debt collection plan, is “not supported by legal, financial, or operational realities.” The mayor’s administration said increasing the garbage collection fee from $9.50 to $18 per month would represent a 90 percent increase in a year, which would be a financial hardship for families.

“At a time when many communities are already experiencing substantial property tax increases through the recent property assessments conducted by the Cook County Assessor and the appeals approved by the Board of Review, imposing another major cost escalation would create an immediate and disproportionate burden on households least able to absorb it,” Jaworski, Guzman and Belsky wrote in a joint statement to the 26 alders.

The mayor’s team also made it clear the corporate head tax — which it calls a “Community Safety Surcharge” — will stay in the budget proposal, despite objections from more than half the council. Opponents of the head tax call it a “job killer.” The mayor’s team challenged that notion, saying the assertion that it would “disincentivize economic growth is not substantiated by data.”

“The assumption that corporate taxation directly affects employment growth lacks empirical support. By investing in proven community safety interventions, we are making Chicago better for businesses. A progressive revenue like the Community Safety Surcharge, one that asks those who have benefited the most from the city’s growth and prosperity to contribute their fair share, is not a threat to prosperity, but a prerequisite,” Jaworski, Guzman and Belsky wrote in a joint statement to the 26 alders.

Ald. Nicole Lee and Ald. Scott Waguespack responded to the mayor’s administration’s rebuke of their alternate proposal, disagreeing with their assessment.

“The mayor’s office has offered no new ideas – only criticisms of our work. This is not anyone’s idea of actual collaboration,” Lee said.

“It is time for Mayor Johnson to accept the reality that his budget is not going to pass as is,” Waguespack said. “We will take the necessary steps required to move this process forward on our own.”

The city paid the accounting firm Ernst and Young $3 million to outline efficiencies that could help Chicago close its billion-dollar gap in its $16 billion 2026 budget. Among the options in the report: consolidating city purchasing and fleet management, streamlining city departments and better managing health care costs.

Alders have urged Johnson to adopt more recommendations from the report, but his finance team responded in their memo Thursday, saying, “It is important to note that the City’s Financial and Strategic Reform Options report presents a set of options for consideration—not mandates.”

The mayor’s administration noted that it has made changes to its own initial proposal, including the full restoration of the Chicago Public Library’s circulation budget, additional money for the advanced pension payment, more funding for community programs and upping a program that helps low-income people with disabilities make their homes more accessible.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio is among 30 states that require a semester-long financial literacy class for high school graduation.

Students in financial literacy learn about saving, building credit, debt, budgeting and fraud.

As with many states, Ohio’s financial literacy requirement is new, taking effect for students who entered ninth grade on July 1, 2022.

Nationally, 73% of high school students will have received financial literacy education before they graduate, according to an August report by the National Endowment for Financial Education.

This is up from only 9% of high school students in 2017, the organization said.

But in recent years, state legislatures have increasingly passed laws requiring students to obtain financial literacy, recognizing the complex financial choices teens face as they graduate and enter adulthood, according to the Council for Economic Education.

From budgeting and managing debt, to banking and fraud prevention and understanding the economy, students need a baseline of knowledge to navigate their financial futures, the council stated in a 2024 report.

States of all political stripes are requiring financial literacy to graduate, according to the National Endowment for Financial Education, including Ohio’s neighbors: Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

In the state budget the General Assembly passed in June, lawmakers made a change to financial literacy, permitting students who work in public and private school-based branches of credit unions to earn credit toward their graduation requirement.

Read More: Budding entrepreneurs: High school finance lessons blossom for brothers into business success

Some credit unions have run school branches for years, as well as offer financial literacy education.

The push for financial education is already helping former high school students who used the foundational knowledge to launch businesses.

In Lake County, twins Derek and Dominik Zirkle relied on the financial literacy education they received at Madison High School, provided in part by Theory Federal Credit Union, to start D & D Meadery, a honey wine business that opened in 2024 and distributes to more than 300 retail locations.

The class provided the Zirkle twins, now 24, “the foundations to begin the journey,” Dominik Zirkle said. The twins began their business by using their savings, living leanly and reinvesting profits. They sought help from a Theory certified financial counselor who had previously visited their high school class.

Lake County-based Cardinal Credit Union has run school branches for years.

A Cardinal employee runs the branches, but students can volunteer as tellers to gain hands-on experience, performing activities such as making deposits, withdrawing money and paying loans.

Credit unions, including Cardinal, deposit small amounts of money into student accounts so students can practice moving funds, writing checks, and making mistakes in a safe environment.

This allows them to “afford to make minor mistakes,” said Michael DeSantis, Cardinal’s educational finance coordinator.