Overview

• Starting September 30, CPS will terminate seven private custodial contracts and oversee 2,100 full-time custodians in-house.
• The district issued layoff notices to 1,250 outsourced custodians and plans to rehire 750 as district employees, reducing net custodial roles by about 500.
• Officials project the shift will save $40 million as part of $165 million in summer cuts toward closing a $734 million 2026 budget shortfall.
• SEIU Local 1 denounced the timing of the layoffs and demanded that senior custodians receive first refusal on new in-house positions with their existing pay and benefits.
• School principals and union leaders warned that cutting over 1,200 custodial roles weeks before school opens could compromise building cleanliness on day one.