The Chicago School Board Coup -The entire board resigns in protest as the mayor tries to placate the Chicago Teachers Union

The Chicago School Board Coup

The entire board resigns in protest as the mayor tries to placate the Chicago Teachers Union with an unaffordable new contract.

The Editorial BoardOct. 6, 2024 at 5:29 pm

Any illusion that Mayor Brandon Johnson has a steady hand on the wheel in the Windy City was put to rest on Friday when all seven members of the Chicago Board of Education resigned amid a pressure campaign from City Hall. That’s a no-confidence vote, Chicago style.

Chicago is in the middle of negotiating what is likely to be a costly new contract with the Chicago Teachers Union, Mayor Johnson’s largest campaign contributor. Since the Chicago school district can’t afford the hefty raises and benefits CTU is demanding, the mayor has suggested that the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) take out a $300 million short-term, high-interest loan to cover the shortfall.

CPS CEO Pedro Martinez rejected this as irresponsible and unsustainable. In a column in the Chicago Tribune in September, he wrote that he is against “exorbitant, short-term borrowing, a past practice that generated negative bond ratings for CPS and that would likely lead to additional bond rating cuts and higher borrowing interest rates.”

For that display of sanity, Mr. Martinez has become persona non grata at City Hall. Local press reports say Mr. Johnson asked for the school’s chief’s resignation, which Mr. Martinez declined. Mr. Johnson then began pressuring the school board to fire him for causing a roadblock to CTU’s contract demands. Thus the school board’s resignation in refusal to be window dressing for the CTU agenda.

Mr. Johnson now says he’ll appoint a new slate of school board members on Monday, and no points for guessing they’ll be allies of Mr. Johnson and the CTU. The seven new members will have the authority to approve the loan Mr. Johnson wants, and fire Mr. Martinez if they can invent a reason.

The power play has outraged even the progressive Chicago City Council. In a blistering letter on Saturday, 41 of the City Council’s 50 members called the mass resignation “unprecedented” and noted it “brings further instability to our school district.” The letter noted that Mr. Johnson’s emergency financing demands are especially rich since the city has spent more effort lobbying Springfield for $2 billion for a new stadium for the Chicago Bears than it has trying to shore up CPS finances.

In other countries, this would be a crisis of corrupt governance. In Chicago it’s the CTU monopoly at work.