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At least 40 aldermen, including numerous allies of Mayor Brandon
Johnson, posted an open letter Saturday blasting the mayor’s handing of
Chicago Public Schools that led to the entire Chicago Board of
Education announcing they will soon resign.

The group of aldermen — including 12 members of Johnson’s leadership
team on the council — chastised the mayor’s high-stakes efforts to take
greater control of CPS, which include trying to get CPS to take out a high-interest $300 million loan and assume a $175 million pension
payment for nonteacher CPS employees. In the letter, aldermen said the
idea of the district taking out the $300 million in loans was “not a
smart decision” and also praised CPS CEO Pedro Martinez who has pushed
back against Johnson’s efforts.

The mayor has been moving to get the seven-member board to fire
Martinez and when Johnson announced Friday the full board intended to
resign it was viewed as a clear attempt by the mayor to clear the way
for a newly appointed board to fire Martinez. Johnson said he intends
to name board replacements at a South Side church on Monday.

“There is extreme cause for concern now that those voices have been diminished,” the aldermanic letter stated.

While the wording in the letter directed at Johnson was harsh, aldermen
have no say on the CPS matters and public letters are often easy ways
for council members to weigh in on matters to look good to their
constituents.

A spokesman for the mayor did not respond to a request for comment.

The aldermen who signed the letter included Johnson appointees to
powerful City Council committee chairmanships and 13 of the 19 members
of the council’s progressive caucus, which is Johnson’s most consistent
base of support in the body.

The group in the letter demanded Johnson convene a hearing before the
end of the month and before any new appointments to the CPS board are
made.

“Chicagoans deserve a voice when it comes to decisions that will affect
our school system and city as a whole. 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 said.

The letter made note of the upcoming November school board elections,
which mark the beginning of Chicago’s transition to a fully elected
school board that will no longer be fully controlled by the mayor.
Still, a majority of members will continue to be appointed by Johnson
next year and the board won’t be fully elected until 2027.

“With the next School Board meeting scheduled for late October, only
days away from the general election, it would be a disservice to
appoint anyone without thorough vetting — this is not what we fought
for in our efforts for a fully elected School Board,” the letter said.

Aldermen drafted the letter, edited it and collected signatures in less
than 24 hours after the “Friday massacre” resignation announcement,
Ald. Gilbert Villegas, 36th, said.

Villegas said he teamed up with Alds. Nicole Lee, 11th, Silvana
Tabares, 23rd, and Maria Hadden, 49th, to lead the effort to craft and
build support for the letter.

“It’s our responsibility to say something,” Villegas said. “This is
just unprecedented.”

Also Saturday, state Rep. Ann Williams, a Chicago Democrat who
sponsored the Chicago elected school board bill in Springfield, said in
a statement that she was “shocked” by the mass resignations and that
“losing the continuity and experience of the entire board” now
undermines the phased-in approach to the elections that was embraced in
the state legislation.

“Major decisions which have significant impacts on the future of the
Chicago Public Schools should not be made until the new school board is
in place, only a few months from now,” Williams said. “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
and months.”

At the center of Johnson’s push to remove Martinez is his demand to the district’s leader that CPS take on the $300 million in loans to cover
the $175 million pension payment for non teacher CPS employees. That
obligation used to be the city’s until Mayor Lori Lightfoot shifted the
burden onto CPS, a move initially opposed by Johnson but now one he is
fighting to preserve as he faces a nearly $1 billion fiscal shortfall
in 2025.

Martinez has rejected the mayor’s request and passed with the school
district’s board this summer a budget that did not include the loans
and payment. In their letter on Saturday, aldermen said Martinez and
the board “understood the reality of the situation” when they made the decision.

“With federal Covid-relief funds having recently expired for CPS, it is critical that CPS leaders keep the interests of taxpayers and our
children top of mind as they make budget decisions that will impact the District for decades to come,” the letter said.

The aldermen also blasted Johnson for failing to secure more money for
the school district in Springfield. Illinois General Assembly
legislators said the city’s lobbying efforts “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.”

“We must find new ways to work with one another, CPS leadership, and
our colleagues in Springfield to achieve our shared vision of fully
funded schools for all Illinois students,” the letter said.

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2024/10/05/aldermen-including-several- mayoral-allies-blast-johnson-over-cps-board-resignations/

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