As a veteran elementary school teacher, union member, wife and mother of four Chicago Public Schools graduates, I have spent my life raising a family and teaching in the city that I love. I know firsthand what happens when we invest in people. I also know what happens when we don’t.
That’s why I’m urging Chicagoans to stand with Mayor Brandon Johnson’s 2026 budget. This is more than a budget — it’s a line of defense against President Donald Trump and a statement of values.
It’s about who we are as a city and whose side we’re on. An October poll of 600 registered voters, conducted by HIT Strategies, found that an unheard-of majority — 90% of Black and Latino Chicagoans — prefer that the city raise taxes on ultra-wealthy corporations.
So the question for our aldermen becomes: Are you on the side of the working people who have been made to pay through tax hikes and service fees every year? Such as teachers, paraprofessionals, clinicians, custodians, postal workers, construction crews, bus and taxi drivers, food service workers. Or, are you on the side of billionaires and corporations that are losing their minds that corporations might have to pay 0.4% more in order to prevent massive midyear cuts in our schools and to invest in community safety for all of us?
For far too long, Chicago’s budgets have been balanced on the backs of working people. Give away the parking meters and take away the clinics and schools. When schools lose funding, students go without special education services, sports and after-school programs. When libraries close or bus routes are cut, families lose vital connections.
The budget for 2026 changes that equation. It invests in the people who make this city work. It funds reentry programs, violence prevention and rapid rehousing. It funds the Department of Environment to protect communities facing flooding and pollution. It funds Law Department litigation to protect immigrants and holds corporations accountable. And Johnson’s budget directs a historic half-billion dollars in tax increment financing surplus funds to our public schools — restoring essential programs and preventing cuts that would keep every child from receiving the world-class education and services they deserve.
That’s what a people-first budget looks like. Instead of raising property taxes on working families, Johnson calls on the ultra-rich to pay their fair share to the city they profit from. That’s not radical — it’s repair.
Johnson’s plan pursues progressive revenue solutions asking Chicago’s 127,000 millionaires, 25 billionaires and largest corporations to put more skin in the game. It’s about tax fairness and shared responsibility.
This approach shifts the burden off the backs of working families who have already paid enough. It’s about building a city where every neighborhood in every ZIP code has a fully funded school, a clean park and an open library. A city where our seniors live with dignity and our children have real opportunity.
As an educator, proud Chicago Teachers Union member and elected officer, I’ve seen how much working people sacrifice to keep this city running. We teach through overcrowded classrooms, show up in snowstorms and keep going when there isn’t enough. We worked through a pandemic. We’ve carried Chicago through hard times when others profited from it.
We’ve done our part. It’s time for the wealthiest receiving enormous tax breaks from Trump to do theirs.
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Protecting Chicago turns the budget into something larger. It’s about the kind of Chicago we want to be and the future we envision and build together.
For me, there is no other choice. I stand with the families who believe in fairness, opportunity and dignity for every neighborhood.
Johnson’s budget gives us a chance to finally build a city that reflects those values. A city that protects people, not profits.
Vicki Kurzydlo is a 30-plus year veteran educator and the recording secretary for the Chicago Teachers Union.
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