The Controversy Behind the CPS’ Board of Education

On Oct. 4, six current Chicago Public Schools (CPS) board members collectively stepped down from their positions. This leaves Mayor Brandon Johnson in disarray now trying to find new appointees.

Originally, the mayor’s office introduced the idea of appointing seven individuals by this past Monday morning. Later that day, Johnson released the information that the seventh seat would be filled soon, while the other six were selected.

Johnson has heavily battled with CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, who was appointed by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot. They have been battling over how to close the school district’s budget of $10 billion, and Martinez has said he doesn’t plan on resigning anytime because he doesn’t want to create instability in the city.

According to Scott Braam, a political science professor at Elmhurst University, “We know from Tuesday’s results that the public only voted for four of the 10 candidates that the teachers union endorsed to be on the board. This is not a good sign for the mayor, who seems destined to be a one-term mayor. It also aligns with the fact that Trump won more votes in Chicago than he has ever won before. I think that this is a clear sign that folks are using back against progressivism in Illinois.”

Johnson does not need city council approval for these picks, but a majority of aldermen signed a letter saying they expect hearings on these picks.

Johnson never mentioned why he only appointed six out of the seven incoming board members. He has continued informing people that it will be easy to fill the remaining slot and that he is just searching for the right person.

There is also a plan to increase the board to a 21-member hybrid board with elections happening next month until 2027, when a fully elected board will take place. This was a major initiative by the Chicago Teachers Union in order to get more representation on the board and have more expansive voices.

“I think it can be a more representative board, but only slightly; the mayor will pick 11 members on his own, and seeing that not all of his preferred candidates in the election won, he will stack the board with loyalists,” said Braam. “So yes, more people equal more chances for debate and progress, but if they are all ‘Yes-people’ for the mayor, he will simply set the agenda moving forward. I think what the mayor has done is hijack the main powers of the board. We shall see what he does with this power.”

These issues all began at the beginning of this past summer when negotiations between the school districts and the union arose once the upcoming budget had been released. This budget portrayed that there would be no room for a teacher’s salary raise as well as other union demands.

What also wasn’t included within this updated budget was a $175 million dollar payment that was hoped to be dedicated towards city funds that were to cover pensions for non-teaching CPS staff.

This was then followed up with Johnson stating that he cannot condone cuts for staff and other programs. He informed his audience at this board meeting that the focus for all Chicago officials is supporting and securing more funding from the State as CPS schools are ranked the fourth-largest school district in the United States.

Johnson sat down with an interviewer representing WBEZ Chicago and made a statement as to why he is doing what he is doing.

“This is about investing in our children and not accepting cuts,” Johnson said. “For too long in this district, that’s all that it has done. And guess who loses when we cut schools? Black and brown children. I don’t want Black and brown children to lose under my administration. In fact, they’re not going to lose under my administration.”

Some of Johnson’s critics have argued the friction that’s undermining the district’s push towards more school funding to state officials.

As of Monday, Oct. 28, the CPS board president, Rev. Mitchell Ikenna Johnson, resigned due to Johnson’s comments on the Israeli war.

“He is on the path to being a one-term mayor, but politics is a strange game,” Braam said of Johnson. “If you would have asked me four years ago if Trump could win again, I would have laughed, and here we are. Overall, it makes Johnson look like the kind of mayor he ran against. It sets him up to be labeled as a Daley-like dictator, which again is what he campaigned against. I think if he chooses to appoint any of the members who lost the election, it will hurt him.”