City Council accuses Mayor Johnson of 'unprecedented' instability in Chicago school board shake-up
CHICAGO - Mayor Brandon Johnson planned to announce replacements for the entire seven-member Chicago Board of Education on Monday, but a majority of City Council members are saying "not so fast."
Thirty-eight out of 50 City Council members have signed a scathing letter demanding hearings before Johnson moves forward. The signatories include a handful of alderpeople who had been progressive allies of the mayor and who were supported by the powerful Chicago Teachers Union.
"Chicagoans deserve a voice when it comes to decisions that will affect our school system and city as a whole," the letter reads. "A school board full of lame-duck appointees carrying out only a few months of a term before residents get a chance to elect representatives is not what is in our best interest."
The letter was in response to yesterday’s mass resignation on the Board of Education. A joint statement from the Mayor’s Office and the board framed the upheaval as part of a "transition" to a new elected and appointed hybrid school board that takes over in middle January, as early voting has already begun. But sources that have spoken directly to board members say several of them were agitated at what the sources referred to as a "relentless pressure campaign" from the Mayor’s Office and the CTU to fire CPS CEO Pedro Martinez.
Martinez refused Johnson's direction that he resign. Martinez and the board also refused to authorize a short-term, high interest loan to help plug a budget deficit, pay for worker pensions, and help fund a new CTU contract.
The letter called the chaos "unprecedented," and said, "it brings further instability to our school district." Further, the alderpeople criticized the mayor for failing to successfully lobby state lawmakers for more CPS money, as CTU has placed the blame squarely on Martinez.
"Earlier this year, legislators in Springfield noted the requests they received from the city’s lobbying efforts," the letter read. "Many of them shared that the requests focused too much on $2 billion for a new Bears stadium, and not enough on additional funds for CPS and other school districts across Illinois."
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'Deeply alarming': Critics blast Mayor Johnson for CPS mass resignations
What started as tension between the mayor and Chicago Public Schools has developed into a full-blown crisis.
Also on Saturday, State Rep. Ann Williams (D-Chicago), a progressive who led the legislative effort for an elected Chicago Board of Education, floated the notion that the state might have to intervene among the current CPS crisis.
"The level of state oversight necessary for the district will be informed by the decisions made by the Mayor and his administration in the coming weeks," Williams’ statement read. "I will continue to talk with Chicago families and my colleagues to evaluate what additional guardrails may be needed to ensure policy decisions are consistent with the best interests of Chicago students and communities."