The mayor announced his new picks for the board amid a tumultuous time between Johnson and CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, who said he rejected the mayor’s request that he resign his position.

Board president Jianan Shi, Vice President Elizabeth Todd-Breland and fellow members Mariela Estrada, Mary Fahey Hughes, Rudy Lozano, Michelle Morales and Tanya Woods plan to step down from their positions this month.

Voters in the Nov. 5 election will pick a member to represent each of 10 new districts as the board triples in size from its current size of seven up to 21 members beginning in January 2025.

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.

Will Fletcher, who took over as the school district’s watchdog in 2020, resigned last week with nearly two years left in his term.

The board this week disclosed that the remainder of its 2024 meetings will be moved to other locations after the regular board room sustained water damage when a pipe burst at a nearby business just before the board’s June meeting.

“This budget very clearly puts teaching and learning front and center where it belongs,” CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said in a statement Wednesday.

Chicago Public Schools parents, educators, Local School Council members and more were among the 47 candidates to submit their nomination petitions for the board races by Monday’s deadline.

According to the Chicago Board of Elections, 42 challenges have been filed against 27 candidates — some faced multiple objections — mostly alleging the candidates didn’t meet the 1,000-signature threshold to appear on the ballot in November.

The Board of Education on Thursday approved a resolution that will grant school leaders the ability to begin spending their funding allocations when the 2025 fiscal year begins next month — even as the full district budget has not yet been finished.

As Chicago Public Schools prepares to eliminate resource officer positions districtwide, a new study found removing police from city schools has not led to increased disciplinary issues, nor did it make students and staff feel less safe.

CPS on Tuesday announced the CPS CEO Pedro Martinez had informed network and school leaders the final draft of its FY25 budget would now be presented in July as the district continues “finalizing the total budget.”

An Illinois appellate court this week ruled that Chicago Public Schools did not violate a moratorium on school closures when it voted down charter renewals for a pair of South Side high schools.

The historic November races are part of a multi-year transition that is hard to explain to voters. Special interest groups are taking notice. And questions loom about how the new 21-member board, triple the current size, will govern.

The Chicago Board of Education unanimously approved a new agreement with unionized staffers represented by Service Employees International Union Local 73.

SEIU Local 73 says it represents more than 11,000 CPS support staff, including special education classroom assistants, custodians, crossing guards, bus aides, security officers and parent workers. CPS and the union had been negotiating on a contract for a year.