Turnover of the Chicago Board of Education just a month before voters will elect new board members has sparked talk of a state intervention.
“We wanted to ensure a smooth transition, minimize disruptions for students and streamline the process as we do a historic divestment from the city,” said state Rep. Ann Williams, the Chicago Democrat who sponsored the law establishing a hybrid board. “Unfortunately, here we are facing what we were trying to avoid with that methodical, phased-in approach.”
It has long been a given that the Chicago Public Schools board would transform come 2025.
According to a pair of laws — one signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in 2021, the second (sponsored by Williams) in March of this year — the CPS board in January will triple in size, growing from seven to 21 members.
Voters will choose 10 of those members on Nov. 5, leaving it to Mayor Brandon Johnson to appoint another 10 as well as a president.
Stay Tuned: Mayor Brandon Johnson is scheduled to appear on “Chicago Tonight” Tuesday to discuss the latest on the Chicago Board of Education. The show airs at 5:30 p.m., 10 p.m. and streams on-demand online.
That setup, established in the 2024 law, was the culmination of years of negotiations, with shifting alliances of advocates pushing for various means and timelines of moving Chicago to a democratically elected board, like all other Illinois school districts.
Some organizations wanted to immediately move to a fully elected board come 2025. Ultimately, state lawmakers opted for a hybrid approach that will keep mayoral control of the board until 2027.
Williams said with less than a year from the election, she preferred that staggered model as a means of making the transition as smooth as possible.
But she said sudden shifts playing out as Johnson moves to push out CPS CEO Pedro Martinez and to spend more money despite a half a billion-dollar deficit, run “contrary” to that goal.
Williams wrote in a statement Saturday that she was “shocked” by the school board’s sudden upheaval, and hinted at Springfield getting involved, writing “the level of state oversight necessary for the district will be informed by the decisions made by the mayor and his administration in coming weeks and months.”
“As someone that represents Chicago, it seemed irresponsible to completely overhaul the makeup of the board just months before the election,” Williams told WTTW News.
The seven current Board of Education members on Friday announced they will resign, and Johnson on Monday announced new nominees to fill six of the vacancies.
The mayor said it’s part of his fulfilling a campaign pledge to improve CPS, to make sure that every Chicago child — and particularly Black children from historically neglected areas — have a neighborhood school with a resources like a librarian, counselors and extracurriculars.
“I use my authority that the people of Chicago gave me, which is to hurry up and make sure that our children get what they deserve,” Johnson said.
At the Monday news conference announcing his nominees, Johnson repeatedly pointed out that as mayor, he has the unilateral right and authority to make appointments to the CPS board.
“I am fulfilling the executive responsibility that is given to me by the state law,” Johnson said.
But local governments are by nature creations of the state.
“All of the rules on how local governments act, what their responsibilities are, all come from the state,” said state Sen. Rob Martwick, the Chicago Democrat who spent the better part of a decade shepherding the Chicago elected school board through the General Assembly. “So we certainly have the ability to do certain things, but just having the ability doesn’t mean the will.”
Martwick didn’t rule out taking further action involving CPS, but he said lawmakers shouldn’t be reactionary, especially when a hot-button issue is playing out in real time.
“It took eight years to pass the elected school board bill from its inception — a long, drawn-out contentious, highly negotiated process,” Martwick said. “You get to that, it’s like: You don’t react and change just because of stuff going on in the moment.”
Martwick said some of Johnson’s critics are making incendiary remarks for political gain, which he separated from valid questions about what’s going on at CPS.
“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with efforts to shine light upon practices that people think are problematic,” Martwick said. “That’s’ just a natural function of government to say, ‘Let’s have a hearing, let’s find out what’s going on.’ We just need to be thoughtful.”
Martwick said instead of focusing on the political machinations, the focus should turn to figuring out the real problem of CPS’ budget needs.
Williams deferred from getting into specifics about what state intervention could look like, saying that her goal is to spend the coming weeks and months talking with Chicago residents and concerned CPS families.
“I’m open to ideas and creative solutions,” Williams said. “I look forward to patterning with the new school board.”
She, too, said central to coming discussions will be what financial support the state can give CPS.
Johnson has said Illinois “owes” Chicago $1 billion in order to meet the obligations of a formula that’s intended to make all Illinois public schools meet an equitable funding benchmark.
Pritzker has said that he favors more spending on education, but he has also made clear that Illinois, with its own fiscal issues, doesn’t have the billions it would take to make Chicago and other schools whole.
It’s unclear what any state involvement would look like, though lawmakers during their November veto session could take action such as giving themselves or alderpeople more control over future mayoral appointments.
Pritzker is in Japan on a trade mission, but his office issued a statement on the CPS upheaval.
“The Governor doesn’t have the legal authority to intervene in this situation,” it reads. “As he’s stated previously, Governor Pritzker’s focus is first and foremost what’s good for Illinois students. The administration will continue to work with our partners in the Illinois General Assembly to invest in public education across the state.”
Martwick said during negotiations leading up to the 2024 law, there was discussion about putting in place a checks-and-balances system that would have given Chicago City Council members advise and consent powers when it comes to CPS board appointees.
Contact Amanda Vinicky: @AmandaVinicky | [email protected]