Chicago Mayor Richard Daley on Tuesday defended a proposed budget from Chicago Public Schools that calls for larger class sizes and teacher layoffs.

The mayor spoke at an event to tout an all-time high in college enrollment of CPS graduates. Daley says he thinks those numbers will go up despite the district’s plan to increase class sizes and layoff teachers in order to balance its budget. Daley defended schools chief Ron Huberman and shifted blame to Springfield.

DALEY: He only gets what he gets in front of him. Then he’s trying to figure this out. He wished he didn’t have to do any of this. Yeah, he wished he wouldn’t have to say, ‘I don’t have to balance my budget. I don’t have to do anything.’ But in the real world you have to. He’s just responding [to] what the state is doing.

District officials say the state owes them more than $230 million in back payments. Hearings on the district’s proposed budget begin next week.