CHICAGO, June 2 (Reuters) - Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel declined to say on Tuesday whether the city's school system will make a $634 million payment due at the end of June to its teachers' pension fund, the Chicago Tribune reported.
He told reporters that his goal is to work with state of Illinois officials so as not to undermine the progress that has been made at the nation's third-largest public school system, the newspaper reported. (http://my.chicagotribune.com/#section/545/article/p2p-83687750/)
The district is facing a $1.1 billion deficit in its upcoming budget mainly fueled by higher pension payments.
Spokeswomen for the mayor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Emanuel, who controls the Chicago Public Schools, named four new school board members on Tuesday, a day after announcing the district's chief executive officer, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, resigned amid a federal probe into a contract the school system awarded to her previous employer.
Pension relief for the Chicago Public Schools was on the mayor's wish list for the Illinois Legislature's spring session, but lawmakers only passed a bill to give the city some breathing room for a looming spike in contributions to its public safety workers' retirement funds.
The session, which was scheduled to end on Sunday, has gone into overtime as Republican Governor Bruce Rauner and Democrats who control the House and Senate differ over the fiscal 2016 budget and other matters.
(Reporting by Karen Pierog; Editing by Leslie Adler)