Burn The Playbook
$2 Billion for Police. A $732 Million Hole for Schools.
Chicago's police budget: $2.11 billion. Chicago Public Schools' deficit: $732 million. The budget tells you what the city values. Read it.
WASHINGTON: The Chicago Police Department's proposed budget for 2026 is $2.11 billion. Chicago Public Schools faces a projected $732.5 million deficit for 2026-27, and the school budgets it sent principals this spring cut staff positions to close it.
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Chicago is not unique. Policing is the single largest line item in most major city general funds, consuming 25-40% of general fund spending. NYC's NYPD expense budget for fiscal 2026 is $6.14 billion. Atlanta's FY2026 budget proposed a $54.6 million increase for police alone, a 15% jump, enough to fund roughly 700 new teacher positions, and the FY2027 proposal adds another $16.5 million for police and $8.9 million for fire.
Cities routinely declare education their "top priority" in State of the City addresses, then allocate the largest discretionary spending increases to police departments. Oakland's 2025 budget slashed unfilled city positions specifically to avoid cutting public safety budgets. Every other department absorbed the pain.
Read the city's own budget report yourself, the one that puts the numbers side by side.
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The Receipts
1. $2.11 billion vs. $732M deficit: Chicago's proposed 2026 police budget, $2,114,745,912, against CPS's $732.5 million deficit. The police department gets nearly three times what the school system is short. Source: Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability, report on the proposed 2026 CPD budget, November 4, 2025; BGA Policy, CPD 2026 Budget Snapshot, November 2025; Chicago Public Schools budget update, July 31, 2026; Chalkbeat Chicago, July 2026.
2. $54.6 million: Atlanta's proposed police budget increase for FY2026, a 15% jump to $361 million, enough to fund ~700 new teacher positions at average salary, in a metro with severe teacher shortages. The FY2027 proposal adds $16.5 million more for police and $8.9 million for fire. Source: Capital B Atlanta, May 2025; Atlanta Press Collective, May 2026.
3. $6.14 billion: NYPD's fiscal 2026 expense budget, per Commissioner Tisch's testimony to the City Council, one of the largest single-department budgets in any American city. Police consume 25-40% of most major cities' general funds. Source: New York City Council, Committee on Public Safety, May 29, 2025.
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The Dispatch
A budget is a moral document. Read yours.
Every city council member who votes for a police budget increase and a school budget cut is making a statement: we would rather respond to the consequences of poverty than prevent them.
Atlanta's $54.6 million police increase could fund 700 teachers. Chicago's police budget could close the entire CPS deficit and still leave over a billion for policing. These are not constraints. They are choices.
The budget does not lie. The speech does. The press conference does. The campaign ad does. The budget tells you exactly who the city serves and who it surveils.
Sources
City of Chicago, Community Commission for Public Safety and Accountability: report on the Mayor's proposed 2026 CPD budget, $2,114,745,912, November 4, 2025. source
Better Government Association, BGA Policy: Chicago Police Department 2026 Budget Snapshot, $2.11 billion proposed, overtime up $101.1 million, November 2025. source
Chicago Public Schools: Board amends budget to address the $732 million deficit, community update, July 31, 2026. source
Chalkbeat Chicago: how CPS plans to close its $732.5 million gap, July 2026. source
Capital B Atlanta: Atlanta police budget could increase by $54.6 million, FY2026 proposal, May 2025. source
Atlanta Press Collective: $994.6 million FY27 proposed budget, police up $16.5 million and fire up $8.9 million, May 2026. source
New York City Council, Committee on Public Safety: NYPD fiscal year 2026 expense budget of $6.14 billion, executive budget hearing, May 2025. source
— Michael Starr Hopkins · Washington, D.C.
Burn Notice
A city that spends $2 billion on policing and cannot fund its schools is not a city with a budget problem. It is a city with a values problem.
You do not build a safe neighborhood with a bigger police budget. You build it with a funded school, a staffed hospital, a clean park, and a job that pays enough to keep the lights on.
The safest cities are not the most policed. They are the most invested in.
A budget that funds the response to failure and defunds the prevention of it is not a safety plan. It is a confession.
— MSH
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