Politics
CPS Board Votes Unanimously to Prohibit School Closures Until 2027
(WTTW News)
The Chicago Board of Education voted unanimously Thursday evening to prohibit the closure of any public school until after the 2026-27 academic year, acting after reports that as many as 100 schools could be on the chopping block created a firestorm of controversy.
The 6-0 vote by the board overseeing the Chicago Public Schools came two days after CEO Pedro Martinez announced he had refused Mayor Brandon Johnson’s request to resign, an unprecedented show of public defiance by the head of a city agency toward the mayor.
The board held no debate or discussion about the moratorium on the school closures.
Speaking in public for the first time since the rift between him and the mayor burst into public view, Martinez called reports he planned to recommend closing schools “misinformation” at the start of the board meeting, which took place at Roberto Clemente Community Academy High School.
After Chicago Teachers Union officials sounded the alarm about possible school closures, Martinez acknowledged compiling that list as part of an effort to craft a five-year strategic plan for the district.
Sources in the mayor’s office said Martinez’s decision to craft that list without informing the mayor indelibly broke the relationship between the two men. Martinez and Johnson have been at odds over the district’s finances and efforts to craft a new contract with CTU for months.
Board members — all appointed by the mayor — have the power to terminate Martinez’s contract. Board President Jinan Shi referred only obliquely to the controversy swirling around the school district, acknowledging “a lot of noise” before saying there were no plans to close schools.
But Shi made no mention of Johnson’s attempt to oust Martinez, saying only all board members were prohibited from discussing “confidential and personnel matters publicly."
The school board gave no public indication that it is considering firing Martinez or amending its spending plan that did not make a required $175 million payment to one of its employee pension funds.
The decision not to make that pension payment exploded Chicago’s 2024 budget gap, complicating Johnson’s efforts to craft a budget for the 2025 fiscal year and to keep the city’s finances out of the red.
A former middle school social studies teacher, Johnson helped lead CTU’s 2012 strike and campaigned against former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s decision to close 50 schools in 2013, the largest school closure in the nation.
More than a decade later, the closures did nothing to steady the district’s financial position and left deep wounds in communities where schools were closed.
Martinez’s relationship with the leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union deteriorated during increasingly fraught negotiations over a new contract for the district’s teachers. The district’s 2025 budget does not include funds to pay teachers the raises CPS officials have offered during negotiations.
A former organizer with the CTU, Johnson has backed the union’s demand that a new contract include pay raises for teachers, more art teachers and services for children experiencing homelessness. That would likely require the cash-strapped school district to borrow a significant amount of money at a relatively high interest rate.
Martinez opposes additional borrowing, saying it would worsen the district’s financial condition. CPS has approximately $9.3 billion in debt, costing the district more than $817 million annually, records show.
A senior aide to Johnson told WTTW News the mayor is confident that a majority of the CPS board supports his vision for the city’s public schools and is committed to making the payment to cover the pensions for the district’s non-teacher employees.
The tumult comes as Chicago voters prepare to elect the first members of an independent school board in November, ending nearly 30 years of mayoral control of the school district.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
