Chalkbeat

15 more Chicago campuses join Sustainable Community Schools program

2026-08-03T22:05:41+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools will open 15 more Sustainable Community Schools this upcoming school year, meaning roughly 10% of district schools will receive extra funding to partner with nonprofit organizations and provide wraparound support for students and families.

Mayor Brandon Johnson announced the expansion Monday morning at Malcolm X College, where he was joined by allied Chicago Board of Education members, Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates, and several educators whose schools are part of the program or are joining this year.

There are now 51 schools in the program, which CPS launched in 2018 with the CTU. A Chalkbeat analysis last year found the schools have mixed outcomes and have left millions of dollars unspent. The district’s contract with the union requires 70 schools to join the initiative by the end of its contract in 2028. Of the city’s roughly 630 public schools, which includes charters and others run by independent operators, 520 are run by the district.

Schools in the program receive $500,000 annually to work with a community-based organization and provide extra programming and support for students and parents, such as hiring more mental health professionals. Schools must apply to join.

Johnson said the expansion connects to his vision of creating more resources for communities, such as more affordable housing and “holistic solutions” to violence.

“This model provides more than an education,” he said. “It is the hub of wraparound, academic, and social support that’s extended to the entire community.”

The expansion is a sign that the “days of school closures, consolidation, and privatization has ended officially,” Johnson added — a potential nod to candidates for school board he doesn’t align with, who may be interested in closing schools in response to CPS’s dipping enrollment.

District officials, the union, and school leaders have described the program as a godsend for schools with lots of students from low-income families. The office that oversees the Sustainable Community Schools program is slated to spend about 57% more than it budgeted last year, from about $24.6 million to $38.6 million, according to the district’s latest budget book.

But since the program’s launch, schools and their partner organizations have left more than $6.6 million unspent, according to a Chalkbeat analysis last December. Chalkbeat also found that internal tensions and staff turnover sometimes strained partnerships between schools and nonprofit organizations.

Student outcomes are mixed. Schools that originally joined the program now have higher graduation rates than schools that didn’t get into the program. Suspensions dropped among all schools in the program, as they did at similar schools outside the program. But chronic absenteeism is higher, and enrollment is lower, at participating schools.

To combat some of these challenges, CPS changed how schools join the program, said Megan Hougard, chief of college and career success at CPS.

Previously, schools and organizations did not meet before schools applied, she said.

This year, CPS expanded the list of nonprofits that schools can partner with. Interested schools then met with the organizations, picked which one to work with, and applied together, Hougard said.

Now, she said, “there’s shared expectations, and then there’s just a checkpoint of, ‘Is this the right match?’”

One of the new schools in the program is Gage Park High School on the Southwest Side. Mike Norwood, a physical education teacher at Gage Parktold the crowd at Malcolm X that he “almost started crying” when his principal told him the 300-student school had been selected. He said the school has a strong environment but “needed a miracle” to help boost resources for its neediest students.

The opportunity will allow the school, which is partnering with the Southwest Organizing Project, to create more clubs and activities for kids, such as job training, he said.

“It takes a village to raise a child,” he said. “Now, it takes a school to raise a community.”

Becky Vevea contributed.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Johnson-aligned Chicago school board members continue push for more funding from Springfield

2026-07-08T22:17:58+00:00

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Chicago Board of Education members aligned with the mayor again pushed Gov. JB Pritzker on Wednesday to hold a special legislative session to allocate more funding to public schools.

Their calls come as Chicago Public Schools finalizes a roughly $10 billion budget proposal for the coming school year. Officials have been working to close a more than $700 million deficit projected earlier this spring.

Schools had to approve their proposed budgets in early June, but the district has yet to release full details around what might be cut. The Chicago Teachers Union joined Mayor Brandon Johnson-aligned board members at Wednesday’s press conference outside the Board of Education headquarters where they called for state lawmakers to again consider raising education funding through progressive tax policies that target wealthy individuals or corporations.

Khari Humphries, the city’s deputy mayor of education and youth, also joined elected board member Jitu Brown and appointed members Michilia Blaise, Karen Zaccor, Norma Rios-Sierra, Emma Lozano, Angel Velez, Cydney Wallace, and Debby Pope.

Illinois lawmakers attempted to begin the process to raise education funding through a millionaire’s tax, but that legislation ultimately stalled before they adjourned at the end of May.

“If the Hippocratic Oath in medicine says, first of all, do no harm, can the state of Illinois say they have not done harm to Illinois children?” Brown said to reporters.

CPS is expected to publicly reveal its budget plan by mid-July and wants the board to approve it by July 30, but some board members said that timeline feels rushed. A delay in Cook County property taxes has placed extra pressure on the budget, officials said.

The state budget increased education funding for school districts by $350 million this year for a total of $9.2 billion. But many districts, including CPS, are still short of what the state’s evidence-based formula considers as an adequate level of money. Even if lawmakers reconvene this summer, it’s not clear how quickly any extra money would make it to school districts like CPS.

“We are facing decisions that no city should ever have to make,” Humphries said during the press conference.

The district is expecting about $100 million from the city’s special taxing districts, known as TIF dollars, which the mayor and City Council control. That’s a fraction of the more than $500 million in TIF last year for CPS, a portion of which went back to the city for pension obligations.

Brown said board members are asking the city to release more TIF dollars. Humphries said he can’t say whether the city will do so. At a board meeting later Wednesday, acting chief financial officer Wally Stock also said CPS is “not trying to be aggressive” but is also having those discussions with the city.

During Wednesday’s meeting, however, CPS CEO Macquline King said the district is working through “different avenues” for help, including pressing the county for some relief.

“There is a sense of urgency,” King said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Some board members claim ‘sabotage’ as Chicago school board and search firm tasked with finding new CEO part ways

2026-02-13T00:39:35+00:00

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The Chicago Board of Education is parting ways with Alma Advisory Group, the search firm tasked with helping the school board find a new CEO, according to a statement from six of the board’s 10 elected members.

The statement, obtained by Chalkbeat, does not specify when or why Alma wrapped up its work on the search. The board members who signed it — Carlos Rivas Jr., Ellen Rosenfeld, Jessica Biggs, Angel Gutierrez, Therese Boyle, and Che “Rhymefest” Smith — say they now want interim CPS CEO Macquline King to stay in the job until a new, fully elected school board is seated next January.

The end of Alma’s contract is another twist in the CEO search process, which began last spring and appeared to be coming to a close in the late fall, only to seemingly come to a halt. Former CPS CEO Pedro Martinez left the district in late June after he was fired without cause, and the district has not had a permanent CEO since.

Search firms generally remain involved until a pick for the role is announced and in some cases might help with negotiating a contract.

The statement, which praised Alma’s work with the board, claims mayoral appointees “sabotaged” the search process and the mayor and “his allies” have “started running political interference.”

After this story published, the Chicago Board of Education office said in a statement that Alma will work with the school board for the next 30 days to “ensure a seamless transition into finalist interviews,” then remain on retainer with the district for future executive-level searches. The statement described Alma offering “extensive support,” including screening more than 100 candidates, and said the board is “deeply grateful” for its work.

The statement, which said the application window for CEO candidates closed Feb. 6, did not provide an explanation for Alma’s exit.

But another elected school board who has repeatedly voted in agreement with that group of elected members said Thursday she still feels optimistic about the search. Jenni Custer said the board is on the cusp of selecting several finalists for the CEO role, though members haven’t decided how many and whether all of them will be named publicly.

“We have a lot of great candidates left in our pool,” she said. “We need to see this through before we say the process has been unsuccessful.”

Custer said that in her understanding, the board and Alma parted ways because of a mutual sense that the search firm’s work was done at this point: “Alma has taken us as far as they can, and now the ball is in our court.”

But Smith, one of the statement’s signatories, said he witnessed mayoral appointees “sideline” Alma when it recommended “best practices” for the search. Smith declined to offer more details about what exactly prompted Alma’s exit.

“Now that Alma has left, how can you trust this process? Who’s leading it?” Smith said.

The school board is currently 11 members appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson and the 10 elected members.

Chicago Public Schools referred Chalkbeat to the Chicago Board of Education office, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Board President Sean Harden and Monica Santana Rosen, the head of Alma did not respond to requests for comment.

After this story published, the mayor’s press office said in a statement that the allegation by these board members is “baseless and inaccurate.” The mayor’s office has not intervened in the CEO search or interviewed any candidates, the statement said.

The mayor’s office, in turn, accused board members of leaking names of candidates to the press — a matter that Harden hired a firm to investigate. It’s unclear where that investigation stands.

Each of the board members who signed Thursday’s statement had voted against hiring King as the interim CEO last year. And last fall, board members chose not to advance King as a finalist for the permanent CEO job before the process was halted when other finalist names were reported by Chalkbeat and the Chicago Sun-Times/WBEZ.

Later in November, school board members said they were “recalibrating” the search process. It’s unclear exactly where in the search the board is at or how close it is to choosing a candidate.

But during a board meeting Tuesday, Biggs and Smith publicly praised King’s leadership.

“I just wanted to take this time to just say thank you: Thank you for balancing the budget, thank you for visiting schools, thank you for inspiring confidence in our partners and thank you for being here and being a competent leader,” Smith said.

The board members’ calls to keep King are now in line with a broader call from the West Side NAACP and a coalition of Black-led groups, which want King to stay until at least a newly elected board is seated next year.

The question of the mayor’s role in selecting the district’s next leader has hung over the search, with some board members concerned that Johnson would exert control through his appointees. Smith said the board had at one point invited the mayor’s office to share what it wanted to see in the search process, but Johnson’s team said no.

The city’s mayors have traditionally hand-picked the district’s top leader, but there was an expectation that Johnson would play a more hands-off role amid the transition to a fully elected board.

Tensions on the board rose after the names of two finalists, New York City’s former top education official Meisha Ross Porter and current Denver Public Schools Superintendent Alex Marrero, were leaked to the media late last year, disrupting the search.

The Thursday statement from board members noted “names of finalists have been leaked, progress has stalled, and major decisions have been put on hold” — and it blamed interference from the mayor’s office for these disruptions.

“By making it impossible for a professional firm to see this through, Mayor Johnson and his appointed board members have shown that they are either unwilling, unable, or uninterested in finding a qualified CEO/Superintendent to lead CPS into the future,” the statement said.

Custer said she hasn’t yet seen clear evidence that Johnson’s office is meddling in the process.

This story has been updated with comment from board member Che Smith, the mayor’s office and the Chicago Board of Education office.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago schools will get about $200 million more from City Council TIF surplus

2025-12-23T20:56:54+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools will get $193 million more in tax revenue than was included in this year’s $10.2 billion budget after the City Council passed its own budget Saturday, declaring a $1 billion surplus Saturday from city tax increment financing districts.

But the additional dollars will not result in a windfall for classrooms as the school system continues to adjust spending, eliminate vacant positions, and account for increased interest payments on debt.

The TIF surplus amount is unchanged from what Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson proposed in October. By law, CPS gets a little over half of any TIF surplus declared by the city. City budget documents released in October said the school district would get $552.4 million, which is $193 million more than the $379 million the school board budgeted to get from those special taxing districts, known as TIF.

Johnson said Tuesday he would not sign the budget plan, but he would not veto it either. That means it will automatically go into effect at the start of 2026.

This is the second year in a row Johnson faced a significant budget battle with the City Council. This year, dozens of aldermen presented an alternative budget after voting down Johnson’s in late November. Facing an end-of- the- year deadline, the alternative budget plan passed Saturday by a vote of 30-18.

During a press conference at City Hall on Tuesday, Johnson expressed strong opposition to some elements of the alternative budget’s plan, particularly a move to sell off debt owed to the city. While he considers some elements of the budget “morally bankrupt,” he applauded other elements, including the TIF surplus.

“We added the largest TIF surplus in the history of the city to go to our schools, our parks, our libraries,” he said. “These investments create spaces for our young people to grow and thrive and keep our city safe.”

A coalition of school board members aligned with Johnson put out a statement after the City Council vote that thanked aldermen for not changing the TIF surplus but criticized them for not supporting the mayor’s proposed corporate head tax.

A significant chunk of the additional money — $175 million — is expected to go back to the city as a reimbursement payment to cover a portion of municipal pension costs for CPS non-teaching staff retirements.

That leaves roughly $18 million for the school district to use.

However, the district’s budget approved in August required officials to identify an additional $50 million in cuts. A CPS spokesperson said in recent weeks the district eliminated 69 vacant positions from 19 central and citywide departments, extended an ongoing hiring freeze at the central office , cut some professional development for teachers, and made additional cuts to central office expenses, saving about $34.4 million.

The district also said it found savings elsewhere, including through its Summer Bridge program which was offered at fewer schools this year, according to the spokesperson. The district estimated it saved $15.6 million through these and other measures.

No employee was laid off, and there are no planned cuts to “student-facing” programs for the second semester, another spokesperson said.

Other unexpected expenses have come up since the district passed its budget in August.

In September, the federal government cut millions in magnet school grants citing CPS’s diversity initiatives, which left an $8 million unexpected hole in this year’s budget.

And last week, WBEZ reported Chicago Public Schools is spending $23 million more than usual to cover interest payments on loans it routinely takes out to cover payroll and other expenses while waiting for Cook County to send tax revenue to government bodies.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago’s 2026 city budget proposal includes $552 million for CPS

2025-10-16T20:00:34+00:00

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Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson proposed a $16.6 billion city budget Thursday that allocates $552.4 million to Chicago Public Schools, significantly more than the $379 million the school board anticipated when it passed its own $10.2 billion budget in late August.

The additional money would allow CPS to avoid midyear cuts and fill gaps created by the Trump administration canceling millions in magnet school grants. It could also allow the school board to approve a pension reimbursement payment to the city, as outlined in the school district’s budget plan, but the city budget overview documents say that is not assumed in its 2026 plan.

“These funds will ensure that we are protecting our young people from the Trump administration’s attempts to dismantle and privatize our public education system, that we are protecting special education teachers, restoring funding for our Black Student Success Plan, and making sure our lowest-paid workers receive their pensions,” Johnson said in a speech to the City Council Thursday.

The city’s 2026 budget, which will need to be approved by at least 26 of 50 aldermen on the City Council before the end of the calendar year, declares a surplus of funds from special taxing districts, known as TIFs, aimed at spurring development in blighted areas.

Before the meeting, Johnson outlined highlights of his budget alongside supporters and allies, including school board members Michilla Blaise, a mayoral appointee, and Jitu Brown an elected member who is an ally of the mayor, both of whom represent the city’s west side, and Chicago Teachers Union president Stacy Davis Gates.

He said this year’s budget was “written long before I took office” and represents the work of “generations of organizers,” drawing on his own background and experience as a CTU organizer before he became mayor.

“Back then, it was about trying to protect and save one school even if it took a hunger strike,” Johnson said. “Now, this budget is about saving our entire education system.”

Blaise spoke in support of the budget and said a coalition of board members who voted down CPS’ spending plan in August because it was “balanced on paper, but not reality” pushed the mayor’s administration to deliver more money for CPS.

“This commitment prevents any midyear cuts and allows us to maintain stability in our classrooms,” Blaise said.

She also applauded the mayor for declaring a record TIF surplus to help CPS fill an $8 million hole created by the Trump administration’s decision to cut some magnet school grants over the district’s commitment to improve Black student achievement and protect the rights of LGBTQ students.

“This agreement is essentially Trump-proofing our budget,” Blaise said.

There are more than 100 TIF districts across Chicago collecting more than $1 billion in property tax revenue each year. Any amount of money not committed to development projects in those areas can be declared as “surplus” by the mayor and City Council. By law, CPS gets 52% of any TIF surplus and the city gets 24% with the remaining sent to other taxing bodies.

Johnson’s budget proposal does not rely on CPS making a pension reimbursement payment to the city, but school board members may still decide to do so. The district’s $10.2 billion budget included a statement that if additional revenue came through, the school board would consider reimbursing the city to cover a portion of the pensions of non-teaching staff covered by the city plan.

That pension reimbursement has been a source of conflict between the school board and city hall in recent years. Faced with ballooning payments and given that about half of the fund’s beneficiaries are CPS employees or retirees, former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration implemented an intergovernmental agreement with her appointed school board in 2020 to have CPS reimburse the city for an increasing portion of the required annual payment.

The cost-sharing irked the Chicago Teachers Union at the time, which lambasted Lightfoot for burdening the school system with the city’s financial obligations. But when CTU organizer and former teacher Johnson became mayor, he continued to push CPS for the reimbursement.

The Board of Education has not made a pension reimbursement payment to the city since early 2024 when it sent $175 million to cover part of the cost of the 2023 payment. Blaise told Chalkbeat Wednesday the school board may discuss a new intergovernmental agreement at its next meeting on Oct. 23.

Blaise said approving such an agreement would help alleviate concerns from alderpeople who want to “see something in writing” about how CPS will use the additional TIF surplus dollars.

In addition to the record TIF surplus, the Chicago city budget includes $7 million for increasing the pay of more than 3,000 early childhood workers at 86 programs run through the city’s Department of Family and Support Services and additional dollars for summer youth employment programs.

Johnson’s budget also includes a new, first-of-its-kind tax on social media companies. He noted the link between social media use and higher rates of depression, anxiety, and mental illness among young people, especially. “Just like we’ve taxed other addictive vices that are bad for our health, like nicotine and tobacco, it is far past time we treat social media companies the same way,” he said.

The tax would charge social media companies 50 cents per active user over 100,000 in Chicago and is estimated to generate $31 million to support mental health services, Johnson’s office said.

Reema Amin contributed reporting.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

When will Chicago schools have a noncitizen advisory board?

2025-10-09T19:07:07+00:00

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As federal immigration agents ratchet up enforcement in Chicago, some advocates and parents are calling on Mayor Brandon Johnson to abide by state law and create an advisory board focused on the needs of noncitizen students and families for Chicago’s school board.

Illinois state lawmakers required the creation of a Chicago Board of Education Non-Citizen Advisory Board when it established an elected school board for the city under legislation passed in 2021. Lawmakers sought to provide the school board with an advisory panel focused, in part, on improving the outcomes and experiences of noncitizen students and sharing the perspectives of noncitizen parents, who cannot vote in school board elections. The law does not prevent U.S. citizens from serving on the advisory board.

But nearly nine months after the new school board was sworn in, the mayor has not yet established the noncitizen advisory board. State law does not specify a deadline for creating the board or how many people the mayor should choose.

“The current situation we’re living through with the heightened ICE raids in the city have proven why we need to have this advisory board — to be able to advise the school board and the CPS district on how to handle things like this,” said Jessica Cañas, chief of community engagement for Kids First Chicago, a parent advocacy group that helped push for the creation of the advisory committee.

In a statement to Chalkbeat, mayoral spokesperson Griffin Kreuger said Johnson’s office has hosted four meetings with “partners” about the establishment of the committee. He said the office is working to finalize an application for the board, including translating it into multiple languages. The office is also taking additional steps to ensure people’s safety, but did not share more details.

“Due to increased tensions driven by federal immigration enforcement the City has taken added precautions to uphold the safety of our partners,” Kreuger said.

The law doesn’t specify who should be appointed to serve on the board.

Both the noncitizen advisory board and the Black Student Achievement Committee, mandated by Illinois lawmakers in 2024, could run afoul of the Trump administration, which said it will pull $20 million in magnet school funding over multiple years for CPS, in part, because of a district plan to improve outcomes and support for Black students. The administration claims that the plan violates the civil rights of students who aren’t Black; CPS says the administration has not provided evidence of civil rights violations.

The Trump administration has also slashed funding for a federal office that focused on serving English language learners and rolled back guidance about the rights of English learners, many of whom may be noncitizens or have parents who are noncitizens.

Yesenia Lopez, an elected school board member who has been tracking how immigration enforcement is affecting schools in her district, said “it’s crucial” to create this advisory board in order for the school board to hear directly from immigrant students and their parents. But she noted the district is in a precarious position: The city is required to launch this board per state law, but it “contradicts what the federal government wants from us.”

Parents fearful amid federal immigration activity

Stepped-up raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, agents have put Chicago’s immigrant communities on high alert. During a school board meeting Wednesday, two parents raised concerns about immigration enforcement and said there was a need for a virtual learning option due to fears of ICE enforcement during school pickup and dropoff.

Other parents who spoke to Chalkbeat in favor of establishing the advisory board also called for the option to attend school remotely, and the teachers union previously called on the district to have a virtual learning option ready for families who want it. Asked Thursday if CPS should consider offering remote learning, Johnson said “we may have to explore and look at other ways in which we can keep people connected until we fully defeat the tyrant that is in the White House.”

Five things to know about immigration policy and Illinois schools

Board member Jitu Brown said school is the safest place for kids and it’s important for communities to be informed of their rights. But, he said board members have raised the question of remote learning to interim CPS CEO Macquline King, and that CPS shouldn’t table that possibility if that’s what many families want.

Elected officials and community organizations have launched school patrols during dropoff and pickup in certain neighborhoods to help alert families if federal agents are spotted nearby. After ICE raided a South Shore apartment building last week — an incident cited by a federal judge in a ruling that found ICE was making “warrantless arrests” in Chicago — and federal agents reportedly lobbed tear gas near a school in another incident, local elected officials and the union called for more support for immigrant students and their families.

CPS officials have emphasized that school is the safest place to be, and federal agents are not permitted in school buildings unless they have a criminal judicial warrant signed by a federal judge. District leaders have so far not offered remote learning options. Chicago schools, like many across the country, saw significant academic declines and negative impacts on student mental health between 2020 and 2022 when the COVID pandemic moved most learning online.

Advisory board should have been established sooner, some parents say

Valentina, a former CPS parent and longtime Chicago resident who is interested in joining the noncitizen advisory board, said immigrant family concerns could have been shared earlier and in a more formal way had the board been established.

“All children should have the opportunity that their parents raise their voice for equity,” Valentina, who is on the Kids First Parent Advisory Board, said through a Spanish translator. Chalkbeat is using a pseudonym for Valentina, who is not a U.S. citizen, because she is fearful of identifying herself publicly.

She added, “It doesn’t matter if the children come from a family that is a mixed family, like parents who have asylum, parents who have no status, parents who are not refugees — all children have a right to education.”

In a separate statement, Chicago Board of Education President Sean Harden said there will be updates on the application process for people interested in serving on the noncitizen advisory board in the “coming weeks.” He said the school board is committed to launching the advisory board, as well as the Black Student Success Committee and a committee focused on special education.

“The Board is making every effort to protect partners and stakeholders, and it supports the Mayor’s Office in doing so as well as they advance the work for the Non-Citizen Advisory Board,” Harden said.

Brenda Rivera, who also sits on the Kids First Parent Advisory Board, said one way to navigate those concerns is appointing both citizens and noncitizens to the board, and those who are comfortable can speak on behalf of people who are fearful of speaking publicly.

Norma Rios-Sierra, an appointed school board member who is also tracking immigration-related concerns, said she and some of her colleagues are interested in creating an “ad hoc committee” where board members can receive more information on how CPS is responding to immigration concerns and discuss other issues related to “crisis planning,” including the possibility of virtual learning.

Lopez, the elected school board member, said establishing the noncitizen advisory board right now should be done carefully in order to protect parents who are interested in it. She also wondered how the state might support Chicago if the Trump administration tries to penalize the city for establishing the committee.

“How can the state step in to provide financial support if we get more funding cut?” Lopez said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools students head back to class amid budget uncertainty

2025-08-18T18:48:54+00:00

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Armed with a school bell and flanked by CPS and union leaders, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and interim Chicago Public Schools CEO Macquline King opened the first day of the 2025-26 academic year with a pair of visits to schools on the North and West sides.

Johnson and King visited Courtenay Language Arts Center, where King served as principal from 2013 to 2022. They later made an appearance at Austin College and Career Academy, a high school on the West Side that has newly joined the Sustainable Community Schools program, a CPS and Chicago Teachers Union initiative that provides wraparound services to students and families, which the mayor has promised to expand.

At Courtenay, the mayor and King rang a large bell as kids and families cheered. At Austin, a teacher served as the morning DJ off to the side of the building, playing hits like Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” and Robin S.’s “Show Me Love” as students greeted each other and staff.

Students started school on a schedule similar to years before last year’s Democratic National Convention, when the start date was shifted to accommodate for the large-scale event. Monday was the first day for K-12 students, while pre-K students return to class Tuesday.

King was picked in June to take over the helm of the nation’s fourth largest school district six months after the school board voted to fire Pedro Martinez, who clashed with Johnson over how to balance the district’s budget.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and interim CPS CEO Dr. Macquline King smile for a photo during the first day back to school for CPS students at Mary E. Courtenay Language Arts Center in Uptown, where King served as principal from 2013 to 2022 when she left to work in the mayor’s office.

King and Johnson posed for pictures together, striking a more congenial tone than the mayor and King’s predecessor did during their appearance together last year on the first day of school. The two worked together in City Hall, where King was senior director of educational policy in the mayor’s office before becoming interim CEO.

King made brief remarks at Courtenay before introducing Johnson as “the mayor of education who has made so much possible,” and Johnson complimented King on her work as interim CEO before making his own remarks. Neither King nor Johnson took questions from reporters at either stop.

The two may also be at odds, however, over how to close the district’s $734 million deficit. Last week, King put forward a budget plan that does not include a reimbursement to the city to pay a portion of a pension payment that partially covers school district employees. The proposal says CPS would only contribute if it finds additional revenue. The 21-member school board is also divided over the proposal, with Johnson’s allies urging King to include the city pension reimbursement. Johnson said last week that he expects CPS to make that payment.

Johnson, who said he dropped his own kids off to school Monday morning, did not address the district’s budget situation, but rather highlighted fears that the federal government could cut funding for public education.

A former CTU organizer and an ally of the union, Johnson also highlighted several elements of the new CTU contract finalized this spring, including more staffers, smaller class sizes, and commitments to teaching Black history.

“Our workers, whether you are a [Special Education Classroom Assistant] or a social worker, they’re all here to support our families, particularly at a time at which there’s a great deal of consternation at the federal level, where dollars are being starved away from our city,” Johnson said outside Courtenay. “But we are going to work tirelessly to ensure that every single child has a high quality education.”

CPS starts year with budget uncertainty but fewer staff vacancies

CPS is starting the school year for the first time in recent memory without a budget. In 2016, facing a similarly difficult financial outlook, Chicago’s school board approved a budget in late August, but that year, the school year started after Labor Day.

The school board must legally adopt a spending plan by Aug. 29 and is expected to vote on a plan Aug. 28.

Kids walk to school during the first day of classes for Chicago Public Schools students at Mary E. Courtenay Language Arts Center in Uptown on Aug. 18, 2025.

Students and families may notice some changes in classrooms this year related to both budget cuts and the new Chicago Teachers Union contract. These include smaller class sizes in the early grades, additional teaching assistants, fewer hot meals, fewer custodians, and adjusted bell times at about two dozen campuses.

Custodians represented by Service Employees International Union held a rally outside of Jones College Prep on Monday to protest CPS cutting 480 full-time custodial positions.

District officials, however, also said CPS started the year with some of the lowest staffing vacancies “in recent history.” As of Sunday night, CPS had just under a 2.5% vacancy rate for teaching staff compared to 4.4% at the start of last school year, and a 3% vacancy rate for support staff, compared to nearly 7% this time last year, officials said.

For the first time in at least three years, the district has largely the same number of teaching positions as the year before — 22,671. And it has 13,267 support staff positions, down by 567 positions at the start of last school year, according to CPS data as of Friday. Ben Felton, the district’s chief talent officer, said not adding more positions helped the district shrink vacancies, but he heavily credited the district’s Teach Chicago effort, which has multiple programs meant to recruit and keep people in CPS, including at hard-to-staff schools.

“We know in CPS, as is true in any big school district in America, that when you have teacher vacancies they disproportionately impact students that are furthest from opportunity, whether that’s kids in some of the highest need communities or kids who require teachers in higher need subject areas, like bilingual education and special education,” Felton said.

Students and teachers share hopes and concerns about the next year

About an hour after their visit to Courtenay, Johnson and King moved on to Austin College and Career Academy High school on the West Side.

The mayor made brief remarks before joining King and other officials, who stood near the entrance and welcomed students as they walked into the building.

School staff and Chicago education leadership welcome students as they walk into Austin College and Career Academy for the first day of school on Monday, August 18, 2025.

Debra Woods, a special education teacher at Austin high school and a CTU delegate, watched as district, union, and city officials greeted students. Woods said she hopes that joining the Sustainable Community Schools program means the high school will be able to provide extra programming for kids. She also hopes the initiative will result in more parent and community involvement at Austin High.

“We haven’t had a lot of success with that so hopefully this will help,” Woods said.

But Woods’ optimism is paired with nervousness about her school’s future, given the district’s financial troubles. Woods said she was a teacher in 2013 when her former school, May Elementary, was closed with 49 others that year and merged with Leland Elementary. She left education for one year following the mass closures before a colleague persuaded her to come back to the field.

Austin College and Career Academy on Mon., Aug. 18, 2025 on the first day of school in Chicago, Illinois.

Austin high school, she noted, has the capacity for hundreds of students but enrolls fewer than 200 kids. The school has seen dwindling enrollment for the past two decades and enrolled just 140 students last year.

The district’s proposed budget includes no plans for closures and no beginning or midyear cuts to schools. But officials have projected deficits for future school years.

“There is this fear of what’s going to happen to our school? Will it be closed? Will it be combined with other schools?” she wondered out loud.

Nevertheless, Woods said “We are the ones who create productive citizens in our communities. The fact that we struggle so much to have the resources that we need and there is still a deficit, it’s so hard to figure out where that funding will come from, it’s disappointing.”

Stanley Scales, 15, felt nervous as he waited to enter the school for the first time. The sophomore used to attend Providence St. Mel, a private school in Garfield Park. But his mother, Tanya Saracco, who was with Stanley, said she isn’t working as she undergoes treatment for breast cancer and can no longer afford tuition at the private school, so they decided to enroll at Austin, which is his neighborhood high school.

As a fan of flag football, Stanley said he hopes to try out for school sports. He also has a simple goal this year: “To pass.”

Sarocco described Stanley as a “good kid” who’s smart, so she doesn’t have many concerns, besides bullying.

Staff at Austin College and Career Academy welcome a student for the first day of school in Chicago, IL on Monday, August 18, 2025.

Asked if she has any concerns about the lack of a budget, Saracco said, “As long as [Stanley does] what he has to do, and gets good grades, and doesn’t get in trouble, I’m not worried about it too much,” she said. “They’ll figure it out — they always do.”

Kaniyah Harris, 14, is starting her freshman year at Austin high school after graduating from nearby McNair Elementary School. She felt anxious about the first day but as she waited outside of the building with her parents, she grew calmer, she said.

“I’m gonna stay focused this year,” Kaniyah said. “I’m not trying to pressure myself, but I’m gonna stay focused, get good grades, and stay successful.”

She had advice for her peers who are also nervous: Don’t put too much pressure on yourself, stay positive, be respectful, and “pick your friends — don’t choose everybody.”

First-day jitters were also on display at Chalmers Elementary in North Lawndale. In the gym, some students clung to the parents dropping them off, and a staffer reassured a boy gripping his mother’s hand, “It will all be OK.” Overall, it was a more laidback vibe compared with last summer, when the West Side campus hosted Johnson and then-CEO Martinez, whose relationship had recently soured, for the first day of school.

The school — along with nearby Collins High School and Johnson Elementary — underwent extensive renovations over the summer as part of a community-led initiative to reinvent them as Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math schools. All three have grappled with declining enrollment over the past decade, and supporters hope the STEAM project will give them a boost in a neighborhood with few specialized programs.

Chalmers got a spacious new maker space, computer lab, and arts studio on the second floor — a makeover that workers scrambled to wrap up Sunday.

Many parents dropping off students Monday had not heard much about the initiative. They said the close-knit, supportive environment is what brings them to Chalmers.

One third grader, Aaliyah, and her grandmother, Angelica Smith, arrived more than a half hour before the 8:45 a.m. first bell. The girl, in the school’s elementary grades uniform of dark green polo and khakis, was ready to kick off the year, Smith said: “She wanted to get in and eat breakfast and see if she remembers any of her friends.”

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Colin Boyle is the photo editor at Block Club Chicago.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago school board president says borrowing could solve CPS’s budget woes — but not in ‘isolation’

2025-07-23T22:51:10+00:00

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Chicago school board President Sean Harden laid out a case Wednesday for borrowing as “a viable option” for closing the district’s $734 million budget deficit. But he said it must be paired with long-term solutions to solve CPS’s larger financial crisis.

“The centerpiece is children and education, and if the tool that we have to protect that is borrowing, then that’s the tool that we’ll use,” Harden said in an unrelated interview with Chalkbeat. “But we’re also saying: ‘Give us different tools, and then we will use that.’”

The district must pass a balanced budget within 60 days of July 1, when the new fiscal year started. CPS hosted a series of public budget meetings last week, and is expected to present a budget update to the board this week. District leaders have said they plan to present a budget proposal to CPS next month, with a board vote expected at its Aug. 28 meeting.

Harden is one of 11 people — the majority of the school board — appointed by the mayor. Harden can only vote to break ties.

Former CPS CEO Pedro Martinez resisted short-term borrowing last year when City Hall floated it as a way to reimburse the city for pension costs and cover new labor contracts. That resistance led, in part, to Martinez’s firing and the mass resignation of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s first appointed school board.

But Harden said borrowing could be the only pathway to avoid “draconian cuts” to schools and said he doesn’t feel the public is connecting the dots between budget cuts and how they could impact students in schools. He made similar comments to WBEZ on Wednesday.

“We’re talking about significantly impacting educational experience,” Harden said, arguing that cuts could hurt the progress made by CPS students in the wake of significant academic declines during the COVID-19 shutdowns.

But borrowing shouldn’t happen in “isolation,” Harden said. That means looking for money down the road that could bring in additional sustainable revenue for the district to solve its long-term financial problems. That could include more “efficiencies” in CPS’s budget, examining declining enrollment and underutilization of buildings, pushing the state for more revenue, providing additional tax levying authority for CPS, and looking at pension obligations.

Harden also pointed to future revenue expected from expiring Tax Increment Financing, or TIF, districts, which represent a pool of city tax dollars meant to spur economic development.

Roughly half of the property tax revenue tied up in those districts would go to CPS once they expire — a point City Hall officials have previously pointed out when making the case for CPS to borrow money. By the end of 2025, CPS is expected to receive $54 million in additional property tax revenue from expiring TIF districts and another $117 million by the end of 2026 with amounts growing beyond that, according to data published by Cook County.

“The goal is to have this be a short-term strategy connected to structural change,” Harden said.

Still, attracting lenders could be difficult for CPS. The district has a junk bond rating status, which is similar to having a bad credit score. Additionally, its financial difficulties and challenges to find more revenue are well-publicized.

Any short-term borrowing the district does now is more likely to have high interest rates, which could mean costly debt payments in the coming years — potentially impacting classrooms in the future as revenue is diverted to pay off debt. Asked if it’s worth the risk of incurring high interest rates and failing to secure long-term revenue solutions, such as more state money, Harden said, “Yes” — but that failure shouldn’t be an option.

“I could make a just rationale for incurring [a high interest rate] in lieu of what would happen in terms of job loss, the atrophy that would occur in schools,” Harden said. “That domino effect is so significant that I would argue it pales in comparison to what we would incur in interest.”

The Chicago Teachers Union, a strong ally of the mayor’s, has advocated for a similar solution: borrowing now and finding sustainable revenue in the future, such as pushing the state to hold a special legislative session and impose greater taxes on the state’s highest earners.

Several board members and other organizations, however, have also advocated for not reimbursing the city for a pension obligation of $175 million, which CPS is not legally obligated to do but began paying back under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, as well as having the city provide more TIF-related dollars to avoid borrowing.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Board of Education chooses City Hall advisor and former principal as interim CEO

2025-06-11T23:11:24+00:00

The Chicago Board of Education picked City Hall advisor and former principal Macquline King Wednesday as the interim CEO of Chicago Public Schools.

King’s record at CPS came under scrutiny last week after the Chicago Tribune revealed she’d been investigated multiple times as a principal and was found to have failed to implement certain district protocols around student safety. King did not face formal discipline.

The vote was close: Eleven board members — one elected and 10 appointed — voted for King, while eight voted no. Elected board member Ebony DeBerry abstained. Asked why she abstained, she said she did not feel her constituents would support her voting for King, and that a “no” vote wouldn’t have changed the outcome.

The board also disagreed over discussing the vote in public. Elected board member Jennifer Custer called for a public discussion, but that motion failed with 12 no votes.

Board members have been split for weeks on who should lead the district as the board searches for a permanent CEO. At one point, the mayor’s chief of staff Cristina Pacione-Zayas was floated as a possibility but was not officially considered after board members said they wanted to stick to their commitment to hiring someone with a superintendent’s license.

Outgoing CPS CEO Pedro Martinez’s last day is June 18 and he will begin a new job July 1 as Massachusetts’ new education commissioner. The previous Board of Education fired Martinez in December without cause following high tensions, largely rooted in budget decisions, between CPS and the mayor’s office, as well as the Chicago Teachers Union.

The interim will serve until the board hires a permanent CEO. The board’s search for a new permanent leader, being led by Alma Advisory Group, is underway. The board’s goal is to hire someone by the end of September, according to appointed board member Anusha Thotakura.

The board appeared to whittle its choices down from five people three weeks ago to King, who has been an education policy advisor for City Hall since 2022, starting under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot; Carmona, the district’s current chief portfolio officer; and Nicole Milberg, the district’s current chief of teaching and learning. All three have superintendent’s licenses.

Thotakura said she didn’t feel King’s personnel record was disqualifying because she was never formally disciplined. She said she liked that King had relationships both in and outside of the district.

“We right now need a leader that can get us through the next few months, through passing a balanced budget and through a strong and successful opening of the next school year,” Thotakura said. “We are looking forward to Dr. King’s leadership, her experience in and outside of CPS, to provide the district with the stability and the continuity that we need to get us through the next few months.”

According to a press release from the Board of Education, King has “spearheaded interagency collaboration to facilitate migrant student enrollment and expand early childhood access. She has fostered strong relationships with labor partners and monitored legislative bills impacting public education.”

King will be immediately tasked with resolving the district’s $529 million budget deficit. Asked how she’s considering closing that deficit, King told Chalkbeat she first needs to understand the details, consider various ideas around the budget, and work with board members and senior CPS leadership to find a solution.

King said applying for interim CEO was solely her decision, not the mayor’s, but she’s not interested in the permanent job at this time. In 2020, she applied for the permanent CEO role that Martinez eventually got, she said.

“I always chose to lead in schools that were challenging, and right now the district is in a very challenging position, so I don’t shy away from challenges,” King said. “It’s been a theme of my career.”

After a brief job at a private school, King became a CPS teacher in 1994 at Robert Nathaniel Dett Elementary School, according to employee records obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. In 2007, King became principal at Alexandre Dumas School. Six years later, in 2013, King became principal at Courtenay Language Arts Center in Uptown.

During her tenure at Courtenay, King was highlighted for her participation in a leadership program for new school leaders. Her first year as principal at Courtenay was when the school merged with former Stockton Elementary. Following the merger, some teachers and parents described part of the school as a “war zone” that was marred with student fights, and they accused school leaders, including King, of not doing enough to quell the fights or log incidents, according to a DNAinfo story at the time. A parent leader, however, said King had a “daunting task” in overseeing the thorny school merger that CPS was advised to hold off on but approved anyway, the news report said.

Chalkbeat filed a Freedom of Information Act request for all personnel records for each finalist.

While King’s personnel records did not show any formal discipline, the district did on two occasions write memos about how she should improve.

In April 2015, King failed to immediately report allegations of two school staffers injuring a student to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services or in CPS’s internal reporting systems, as required, according to an investigation conducted later that summer. CPS later gave King two “directives for improvement,” including reminders that allegations of abuse must be reported immediately to DCFS and CPS.

About six months later, two students participating in Courtenay’s after-school program were found in a bathroom with their pants pulled down and looking at each other’s “private parts and butt,” according to an investigative memo about the incident. The after-school provider — Youth Guidance — changed its protocols to require staff to accompany children when they went to the bathroom. But the investigation, which centered on King and several other school staffers, found that staff “did not do anything” to ensure that Youth Guidance was following its new protocols “or that the involved students were being kept separate from each other.”

In December 2015, a child fell and injured their arm at the school, but neither the school nurse nor King notified the student’s emergency contacts, and other staffers failed to ensure the student received timely medical care, according to that investigation.

In August 2019, CPS discovered that a person who had started volunteering at Courtenay the year before King became principal did not have a background check. CPS discovered the issue after that volunteer applied to be a security officer at Courtenay and a required background check found they had a criminal background, which wasn’t further detailed in the records obtained by Chalkbeat. In a formal nondisciplinary memo, the district informed King that she must always ensure employees have background checks.

King told Chalkbeat that it was “fair” for board members and the public to be concerned about the investigations without more context. She said she worked at “challenging” schools, and some of the investigations demonstrated a need for more staffing so that she and her team were equipped to follow all district procedures.

“I feel like the incidents that were reported in the news are incidents that demonstrate the need for support for principals and not punishment,” she said. “So each of the incidents that are noted, there [is] no documentation of support for schools.”

King said a lack of support for principals is why principals unionized and are currently bargaining with the district over their first contract. King has been vocal about the principals union and a desire for more support for school leaders.

Several board members have said King’s personnel history was concerning.

“There are parents on the board who have kids who go to their schools, and I am baffled that they’re willing to allow a leader with that kind of record to sit there and make some of these decisions when they have a true stake in the game,” said Custer, who supported Carmona. “I don’t know how they’re excusing it away.”

Neither Carmona’s nor Milberg’s personnel records included disciplinary or investigative memos.

Carmona has worked for the district since 2001. He was initially a bilingual teacher and eventually became a principal at Robert Healy School in 2010. In 2016, Carmona left to take a job as superintendent of a private, nondenominational Christian school in Milwaukee, according to his employee records and LinkedIn profile. He came back to CPS in 2019 to lead Network 10 schools on the Southwest Side before becoming the district’s chief portfolio officer, a role that oversees the district’s charter, options, and contract schools.

Under Carmona’s leadership, the district has recommended shorter renewal lengths for charter schools than past administrations. He also advised the board as it took the unprecedented, high-profile move this year to save five of seven Acero charter schools that Acero had planned to close.

Milberg taught in Newark, N.J. and Washington, D.C. before coming to Chicago Public Schools in 2009. She became assistant principal of Ellen Mitchell School in 2010 and eventually became the principal in 2012. In 2018, she was tapped to become chief of schools for Network 6 schools on the city’s west and southwest sides. She became CPS’s chief of teaching and learning in 2023.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago school board conducts interviews for interim CPS leader

2025-05-23T01:40:02+00:00

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Five people are currently in the running to become interim Chicago Public Schools CEO, including multiple people within CPS and a candidate from within the mayor’s office, according to several Chicago Board of Education members.

The contenders don’t include the mayor’s chief of staff, who was reportedly being considered but is not on the list of people the board plans to interview, Chalkbeat has learned from board members who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to discuss private conversations. Chalkbeat was unable to confirm the name of every candidate.

The board must decide in less than a month who will replace outgoing schools chief Pedro Martinez.

Board members will interview candidates starting this week and plan to vote on an interim CEO by the time Martinez leaves June 18.

The district’s temporary leader will serve until a permanent replacement is found. That person will immediately be handed the difficult task of closing a half-a-billion-dollar deficit to balance a roughly $10 billion budget for next school year.

Earlier this month, district officials said they’re creating a budget plan that assumes CPS will receive $300 million from either the city or the state — both unlikely scenarios. The mayor and labor groups have slammed the hopeful budget plan. If those dollars don’t come through, schools could see significant cuts later this summer ahead of the 2025-26 school year.

In February, the board unanimously passed a resolution requiring both the interim and permanent CEO to have a superintendent’s license. The board also unanimously passed a resolution in April laying out a commitment to consider public feedback as it chooses a new CEO. While such a resolution isn’t required, the board said in a statement that it “believes it’s important to formally express its unity and commitment to a collaborative approach.”

The board plans to host community meetings in each district and will also interview teachers, students, principals, staff, union leaders, and “community partners,” according to the April resolution. The board will publish online a summary of the feedback it receives.

The board scheduled district meetings from 6:30-8 p.m. May 15 through June 5 to gather feedback about what a permanent CEO should be like. Each meeting is open to anyone in the public. The remaining meetings are:

District 6B: May 27 at National Teacher’s Academy, 55 W. Cermak Road.
District 6A: May 28 at Pritzker Elementary School, 2009 W. Schiller St.
District 4: June 2 at The Nettlehorst School, 3252 N. Broadway.
District 10: June 5 at Marsh Elementary School, 9822 S. Exchange Ave.

In a lengthy job description, the board laid out the qualities it wants to see in the district’s new leader. The wish list calls for a candidate experienced in public education who can make good on the goals set in CPS’s five-year strategic plan, achieve financial sustainability, has “political acumen” and can navigate city and state politics, build a strong leadership team, and work with the community.

About 50 people attended a meeting Thursday held in District 7 on the Southwest Side at the Arturo Velasquez Westside Technical Institute. Attendees discussed several questions, including what skills are most important for a CEO to have and what are the most important areas of improvement for their schools.

Alma Advisory Group, which is helping run the CEO search, helped organize and run the meetings, including Thursday’s. Alma barred the media from observing or recording those roundtable discussions.

Before the meeting started, teacher Lucy Murguia said she attended the meeting because she wanted to learn more about the CEO search. Murguia, who teaches at Farragut High School, said she wants the new district leader to have teaching experience.

“Sometimes people with that position have not been in a classroom, so it would just be nice if they knew what teachers go through,” Murguia said.

Mayor criticized for role in interim CEO search

The search for the interim leader, however, has already drawn some heat.

At least one board member — President Sean Harden — had floated the idea of hiring the mayor’s chief of staff Cristina Pacione-Zayas as the interim, according to multiple board members. As of earlier this week, Pacione-Zayas’ resume was not included in the list of people the board would interview for the job, board members said.

Earlier this month, the Chicago Tribune reported that Harden, who was appointed by the mayor, was attempting to pave the way for Pacione-Zayas to become the interim choice by getting board members to change the resolution requiring the interim CEO to have a superintendent’s license. Pacione-Zayas has a doctorate in education policy but does not have that license.

The news led some to criticize Mayor Brandon Johnson and Harden, saying they were trying to install someone to lead the district who would carry out Johnson’s agenda. The mayor, who supported the establishment of an elected school board, still appoints a majority of people on the Board of Education. He will lose that power during the next election cycle in 2027, when the board will be fully elected.

In a brief interview last week with Chalkbeat, Harden did not comment specifically on efforts to hire Pacione-Zayas but said he wanted to ensure that the board doesn’t limit itself when looking for someone to fill in temporarily. He said the board’s goal is still to have a permanent leader with “the sincere appreciation and understanding of the classroom.”

“I actually think it’s pretty wise of the board to assess where it is now and to determine that we have to give ourselves room and flexibility to address the demands of today, and we can do so without it compromising our value system,” Harden said. “What we need on June 19 is someone who can walk straight in, create the landscape for us to bring in the next leader and be successful.”

Multiple board members said they still want the interim choice to have a superintendent’s license.

Anusha Thotakura, a mayoral appointee who co-sponsored the superintendent’s license resolution, said the board is “looking at folks who have superintendent’s licensures, and unless there is a strong case to be made about why we would need a wider candidate pool, I think many board members are committed to the resolution.”

Elected board member Jennifer Custer said they’ve garnered “some really strong candidates,” most of whom already work for CPS. She said she felt CPS candidates are “probably a good thing considering they have knowledge of the institution.”

“We’re just hoping we can find the best person to fill in in the meantime,” Custer said.

Asked if she’s confident the board will have someone in place by the time Martinez leaves, Custer said, “Yes.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

For sale: 20 old Chicago school properties

2025-05-12T10:00:00+00:00

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The buildings have sat empty for 12 years.

Several are architecturally significant with striking details and character taking up multiple city blocks. But many are in rough shape, with copper stripped from the pipes, broken windows, and graffiti covering walls. One had to be torn down after an extra-alarm fire last year.

Now, Chicago Public Schools aims to sell the former schools, putting 20 properties out to bid once again, with the hopes of seeing them repurposed and the possibility of bringing in around $8.2 million and avoiding spending more on future upkeep.

“Our goal is not to sell them for the highest dollar amount, really. It’s to find the most responsible, compatible use,” said Stephen Stults, director of real estate for CPS. “What we get paid, of course, helps with our budget challenges. But they’ve been sitting there long enough, and we need to do everything we can to try to get them repurposed.”

The solicitation for bids, which are due May 30, includes mostly school buildings closed in 2013. Each property includes a minimum bid and all properties have schools on them with the exception of one on the Near West Side.

That property, the site of the old Dett Elementary, has a minimum bid of $1.3 million and sits about five blocks from the United Center in an area poised for a $7 billion development plan, called the 1901 Project, a nod to the sports stadium’s address.

The city demolished the school building last fall after a fire broke out in late May. Prior to the fire, CPS put the building on the market and received just one bid for $1, which was “below what the district was willing to accept.” Demolition cost the district $1.25 million.

The former Dett Elementary building, 2306 W. Maypole Ave., sits vacant on Chicago’s West Side. Dett’s building closed and the school relocated to Herbert Elementary, 2131 W Monroe St., in 2013 when the Chicago Board of Education shuttered 50 schools.

The old Dett Elementary School being demolished at 2306 W. Maypole Ave. in Chicago.

All of the properties have deed restrictions that do not allow them to be used as a K-12 charter or school or for the sale of liquor or tobacco products.

Stults said CPS spends between $100,000 and $150,000 to maintain and secure each vacant school per year. That’s at least $2 million annually for the past 12 years — or $24 million. The ongoing expense comes as CPS is currently considering hundreds of layoffs in order to close a $529 million deficit for the coming school year.

Even though many vacant schools are not in great condition, Stults said the “bones of the buildings” are good. Demolition may be expensive, but so is rebuilding a core structure. After the deadline, he said the district will consider all bids and select the two “highest and most responsible” to present to the school board, as required by state law. Stults anticipates bringing some building sales to the board before the end of the calendar year.

If there is no demand for certain vacant schools, he added, the district plans to reach out to sister agencies, such as the Chicago Park District, to see if they’re interested in the properties.

Vacant schools are a visible reminder of the 2013 closures, which disproportionally impacted Black children from low-income families and led to further population loss. Many community groups and neighbors near these properties have called for reinvestment in these public assets for many years.

Efforts to sell and repurpose old CPS schools a mixed bag

Following the mass school closings in 2013, then-mayor Rahm Emanuel and CPS CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennet appointed a committee to develop guidelines for school repurposing and community development. Their early 2014 report laid out potential uses for each vacant school and recommended a process for repurposing.

CPS put 47 buildings up for sale and sold two dozen properties in subsequent years for a collective $38 million. Some have been redeveloped into luxury housing or private schools. One was torn down to make way for 30 new single-family homes and another was rehabbed into a union hall.

More recently, the former Emmet Elementary in Austin opened as a gleaming workforce training facility after a more than $40 million renovation supported by city, state, and philanthropic money. The former Overton Elementary in Grand Boulevard on the south side slowly transformed into a community hub with weekend market events and a community garden.

Ghian Foreman, a managing partner with the Washington Park Development Group, which has owned the building since 2015, said they will begin renovations to convert the building into offices later this year as soon as the city grants the permits.

“It’s harder than you think it is,” Foreman said. “This has been a really long process of learning. You have to really be committed, and you have to ensure that you have the resources to see it all the way through.”

Many vacant schools shuttered a decade ago have garnered interest from buyers and community proposals. But actual redevelopment has stalled for myriad reasons.

Some schools up for sale now had buyers previously, but the sales never went through. For example, the school board approved a bid for the old Henson Elementary in 2018, but the local aldermen at the time held it in a City Council committee. The building remains vacant. The school board in 2018 approved a bid for the old Morgan Elementary in Chatham from the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 241. But the project never came to fruition.

Some schools have been sold and are off the district’s books, but remain vacant and undeveloped.

One notable example is the old Von Humboldt school, which still sits vacant after being sold by the school board in 2015 for $3.1 million to the nonprofit IFF. The group planned to convert the old school in gentrifying Humboldt Park to a mixed-use building with affordable apartments and market-rate townhomes built on part of the parking lot. But IFF eventually sold the property to Newark, New Jersey-based RBH Group, which promised to convert it to a “Teachers Village” with subsidized housing for teachers, similar to projects it’s done in Atlanta, Newark, New Jersey, and Hartford, Connecticut.

Von Humboldt Elementary was one of 50 Chicago Public Schools closed in 2013. It still sits vacant, but there's plan to convert the school into housing for teachers.

Ald. Daniel La Spata, 1st Ward, put brakes on the project in 2019, but it eventually got approval from the City Council in 2020. The city approved $18 million in tax-exempt bonds in 2022 and last fall, the Chicago Housing Authority committed 61 vouchers worth $20 million over 20 years. Today, the historic school built in 1884 sits waiting for activity.

Local elected officials influence vacant school sales

What to do with school real estate is another area of governmental entanglement between the city and the Chicago Board of Education.

By state law, the City of Chicago or the Public Building Commission hold the title “in trust for the use of schools.” The sale of old schools must be approved by the City Council in order for the deed to be transferred to a new owner. It also must be approved by two-thirds of the Chicago Board of Education, which now means 14 members must vote yes.

In the bid materials, interested buyers are encouraged to contact the local aldermen and local school board representatives for the properties they’re interested in purchasing.

Ald. Jeanette Taylor, who represents the 20th Ward on the south side, plans to hold meetings later this month to get feedback on repurposing the schools in her ward. Taylor is the City Council’s chair of the Committee on Education and Child Development and also participated in a hunger strike to keep Dyett High School open roughly a decade ago.

Parkman Elementary in the Fuller Park neighborhood is vacant and boarded up. It is one of multiple old schools in the 20th Ward. Ald. Jeanette Taylor will hold community meetings later this month to discuss repurposing the public assets.

School board member Che “Rhymefest” Smith, who was elected to represent District 10 on the south side, said he hasn’t heard from any prospective buyers yet. He doesn’t want to prescribe any uses for the vacant buildings in his district but just hopes that investors would tune in to what communities in these neighborhoods want and need. He also thinks any money the district makes from the sales should be poured into schools in those neighborhoods.

“I would like to see any revenue benefit local schools rather than disappearing into the district bureaucracy,” he said.

When asked if she’d been contacted by anybody hoping to buy vacant schools, Therese Boyle, the elected school board representative for District 9 on the south side, said: “Not a soul.”

But she said what to do with these vacant properties is a critically important question for communities, especially given the district’s looming deficit.

“We need every penny for the operation of the schools that are open,” Boyle said.

Boyle, a retired school psychologist, worked inside the old Wentworth school building now up for sale when it was closed in 2013. She remembered how difficult it was for students and staff to move to a new building and said it’s awful to have an old school sitting empty in a neighborhood.

Michilla Blaise, who was appointed to the school board by Mayor Brandon Johnson to represent District 5 on the west side, said she’s been talking with district, city, and county officials about what to do with the old vacant schools. She said it’s important to do something because right now, they’re just reminders of neighborhood disinvestment for the people who live around them.

Foreman, the community developer that owns the old Overton school, echoed that sentiment. For the 10 years he’s owned the old school, he’s allowed the community to use the gym to play basketball and workout. He had to stop that in the past year to prepare for construction and said there have been break-ins recently, but not from people looking to steal things.

“They were young people who wanted to come and play in the gym,” he said.

Even though financing Overton’s redevelopment has been a big challenge, Foreman questioned the argument often made by city officials that it’s too costly to repurpose these properties or make them available to the community while trying to sell them or even demolish them for use as a park.

“What’s more expensive?” he asked. “What we pay the police in overtime or opening up a gym for the kids to play basketball?”

Mila Koumpilova contributed reporting.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

‘We’re gonna sue’: Chicago mayor says Trump threat to cut funding over DEI is ‘unconstitutional’

2025-04-04T19:22:52+00:00

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Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson threatened to sue the Trump administration if it follows through on a threat to withhold billions in federal education funding to states and districts over diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts.

In a letter Thursday, Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights with the U.S. Department of Education, told state education leaders they must certify within 10 days that their schools do not engage in any practices that the administration believes illegally promote diversity, equity, and inclusion.

“We’re gonna sue. It’s unconstitutional to disrupt freedom of speech,” Johnson said. “We’re not going to be intimidated by these threats, it’s just that simple. Whatever it is that this tyrant is trying to do to this city, we’re going to fight back.”

The latest threat comes after Trump’s education department already targeted Illinois and Chicago schools for equity efforts. In February, the department opened an investigation after a Virginia-based group filed a complaint challenging Chicago Public Schools’ recently-released Black Student Success Plan. In March, two conservative groups filed a Title IX complaint against Illinois, CPS, and a suburban district over its LGBTQ+ policies and the education department promptly began an investigation.

CPS received $1.3 billion in federal funding this academic year, $400 million of which flows to schools with high percentages of low-income students. The $1.3 billion in funding is about 13% of the district’s annual budget. The Trump administration specifically threatened to withhold these dollars, commonly known as Title I, in addition to other money earmarked by Congress to support specific populations in public schools.

Illinois education officials also said late Thursday they will “never waver” in helping all students “from every community, background, socioeconomic status, gender, and race – which is consistent with federal and state laws and our values.”

Illinois received $6.4 billion from the federal government this academic year for public education, $1.2 billion of which went to schools serving large percentages of students from low-income families.

Federal money for public schools, which are governed by local school boards and primarily funded by local property taxes and states, was already projected to decrease this year with the expiration of COVID relief dollars.

Illinois schools got roughly $7 billion in federal COVID relief funding over the past four school years. Chicago received about $2.8 billion of that money, which helped pay for existing and new staff, academic recovery programs, limiting class sizes, and growing its universal preschool program. A 2024 Chalkbeat spending analysis found an average 7% of Chicago’s school budgets came from COVID dollars.

The federal pandemic relief money helped Chicago schools cover a structural deficit that is once again plaguing the district’s budget. CPS typically begins its budgeting process for the coming school year in the spring, and distributes proposed budgets to principals and local school councils in April or May.

CPS did not respond to a request for comment on how a potential loss of federal funding could impact its budget, which was $9.9 billion this school year. Officials have previously estimated a deficit of about $500 million for the next academic year.

The school district must also grapple with the costs of a new contract with the Chicago Teachers Union. The two reached a tentative agreement Monday, but CTU members still must ratify the deal and the school board will need to approve it alongside a budget amendment.

Despite the looming financial pressures, Johnson said he would not “stand idly by” and that the Trump administration would “meet the muscle of working people, and it starts right here in Chicago.”

Johnson, a former union organizer and former social studies teacher, also pointed to the tentative agreement with the teachers union for provisions protecting teachers’ ability to teach Black history and protections for LGBTQ+ students and staff.

There is significant uncertainty around what practices the education department considers illegal. Guidance issued earlier this year says that schools wouldn’t be penalized just for teaching Black history but programming that “acts to shame” students based on their race or “accuse them of being oppressors” could create a hostile environment.

Congress allocates federal money to local public schools and the education department distributes it. The department can incentivize and penalize districts, but withholding federal funds is easier said than done. Public schools are largely locally controlled and decisions around curriculum, infrastructure, and programming are the jurisdiction of local school boards.

“You cannot withhold funding based on curriculum and I think we have to hold the line on that,” said Elizabeth Todd-Breland, a history professor at University of Illinois at Chicago and former member of the Chicago Board of Education. “I understand that that will include a legal fight, and that is a fight worth fighting.”

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org .

Seven Chicago school board members say they oppose reimbursing city for disputed pension payment

2025-03-22T23:33:10+00:00

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Seven Chicago School board members say they oppose a plan to allow Chicago Public Schools to reimburse the city for a highly disputed pension payment — kneecapping for now the city’s efforts to close its budget books.

The declaration from the seven members — in a letter obtained by Chalkbeat and sent to board President Sean Harden on Saturday — means the city does not have enough support from the Board of Education to get the $175 million it is seeking from Chicago Public Schools. Reimbursing the city would require a vote from the board to amend CPS’s budget, and such an amendment needs two-thirds approval — or 14 yes votes — from the 21-member board.

The board president does not vote unless there is a need to break a tie. Harden did not immediately return a call for comment. A spokesperson for the mayor’s office could not immediately be reached.

“We cannot in good conscience make payments towards things for which we have no sustainable means of raising revenue,” said the letter signed by elected board members Jessica Biggs, Therese Boyle, Jennifer Custer, Angel Gutierrez, Carlos Rivas Jr., Ellen Rosenfeld, and Che “Rhymefest” Smith. The group has so far emerged as a faction of the board that has sometimes been critical of policies favored by Mayor Brandon Johnson, who appointed 11 of the 21 board members.

The pension reimbursement has been a major subject of debate between city and school district officials for months. For several board members, the idea of making cuts, borrowing money, or restructuring debt to cover the payment — which has been floated by City Hall and, more reluctantly, an independent consultant — has been a nonstarter.

“As a body entrusted to govern the Chicago Public Schools, its teachers, staff, and students, it is important to make decisions that are in the best interest of the district and in line with our fiduciary responsibilities,” the letter said. “Any terms brought forth that suggest more borrowing and the addition of more debt to the district is not financial best practice and creates further risk to the district.”

The issue centers around a pension fund the City of Chicago is legally obligated to fund, which covers, in part, retirement for CPS staffers who are not teachers. CPS began contributing to the pension fund under an agreement with former Mayor Lori Lightfoot. Johnson continued that practice, but CPS CEO Pedro Martinez has resisted reimbursing the city this fiscal year as the district faces financial challenges.

That resistance has become so charged that it helped cost Martinez his job.

In the letter, the seven board members say they will partner with the city in lobbying the state so CPS can levy taxes in order to cover the pension payment in the future.

“We see an opportunity to work together to create more responsible budgeting on these issues in the future, and look forward to those conversations,” the letter said. “We understand that the financial entanglement between the City and CPS are vast and intricate.”

The City of Chicago must close its current budget by the end of this month and needs the reimbursement from CPS or must turn to another fix, such as dipping into its reserves, which the city argues could result in a bond rating downgrade and make it harder to borrow in the future.

The district appears close to settling a new contract with the Chicago Teachers Union, and Martinez has said he wants to ensure the district has the funding to pay for additional labor costs. CPS — which did not budget for pension payment or union contract costs — would need to receive more funding from another source, make cuts, or refinance its debt in order to make the payment, according to the outside consultant’s report.

The city has provided the district with an additional $139 million in surplus Tax Increment Financing, or TIF, dollars, which come from special taxing districts meant to spur development. The district was set to amend its budget last week in order to accept the additional funding and earmark it toward the pension reimbursement and labor contracts with teachers and principals. That additional money is not enough to cover all of the district’s upcoming costs.

However, amid ongoing contract negotiations and pushback from several board members who don’t want to reimburse the city, Harden tabled the amendment.

The letter says the listed board members will vote yes on a budget amendment that allocates the $139 million toward new union contracts for teachers and principals.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Consultant lays out limited funding options for Chicago’s school board ahead of consequential vote

2025-03-18T20:00:00+00:00

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A highly anticipated report from a consultant hired by the Chicago school board confirmed what its members already knew: There are no great options to secure more funding as the district tries to pay for a new teachers contract and weighs a pension reimbursement to the city.

The five-page memo from consulting firm Baker Tilly outlines three options: cuts, including staff furloughs, debt refinancing, and more city money from special taxing districts. All of these potential solutions have already been floated by either Chicago Public Schools or Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration.

Baker Tilly’s analysis also revealed another challenge facing CPS: The school district must find $200 million in savings before June 30, when the current fiscal year ends. That’s because the district is expecting less tax revenue and spent more than planned on special education, transportation, and its buildings, according to the memo.

It’s the latest twist in the task facing the Chicago Board of Education just three months after its members were sworn in. Addressing CPS’ immediate financial challenges will be one of the first significant decisions the 21-member board, which is half elected and half appointed, makes as it shifts away from mayoral control.

School Board President Sean Harden, who was appointed by the mayor, hired Baker Tilly in February for a cost not to exceed $35,000 as tensions grew about how to solve CPS’s ongoing financial troubles, which include paying the City of Chicago $175 million toward a pension fund that includes CPS staffers who aren’t teachers.

In an interview with Chalkbeat, Harden said the district has been working for several months to close that $200 million gap. He said CPS is looking at options that don’t involve cutting staff or furlough days — the latter of which could have direct consequences for students who would miss out on learning and could violate state laws around the minimum number of school days each year.

CPS did not immediately return a request for comment.

“The reality is we have constraints in terms of what we can actually do and what will meet our timetable,” Harden said. “We just have to do the work; there is no shortcut to this.”

Harden said he’s been working “intimately” with district staffers, who have been combing through every option. The complex idea of restructuring or refinancing debt must also be done within the constraints of the law, Harden said.

The Baker Tilly report comes two days before the Chicago Board of Education is set to vote to add $139 million in city funds to its budget and commit that money toward paying pension obligations the city has been demanding before the city must close its books on March 30. The vote would also commit the new dollars to paying for new labor contracts with the unions representing teachers and principals.

But the new revenue will not cover the pension payment and the new labor contracts. Johnson told reporters Tuesday that the Board of Education “has options” that have ”not been articulated from” CPS CEO Pedro Martinez.

“We are working hand in glove with the Board of Education as they have to wean off the dependency of city government and prepare to be an independent body,” Johnson said. “This transition is going to take a lot of work, and we’re putting that work in.”

As a candidate and union organizer, Johnson opposed having CPS pick up a portion of the city’s payment to its municipal pension fund, which covers CPS staff who are not teachers. But as mayor, he has held firm that CPS cannot cut staff and must both reimburse the city $175 million for the pension payment and pay for new collective bargaining agreements with teachers and principals, which are still in negotiations. He reiterated that stance Tuesday.

However, Martinez has resisted the mayor’s demands for months, insisting the district does not have the money for both the pension reimbursement and added labor costs. That refusal has, in part, cost him his job.

The risks of cutting costs

The memo, authored by Baker Tilly principal Brock Bowsher, said cuts are a risky choice. Shaving the district’s budget now to meet the pension and contract obligations — such as by cutting staff or reducing vendors — “could be highly challenging, at best” because doing so could significantly impact students and school operations and could damage the board’s reputation. For example, CPS would have to institute 10 to 11 districtwide furlough days to cover the $175 million pension payment, Bowsher wrote, based on the firm’s conversations with the board.

He wrote that staff layoffs could also impact ongoing labor negotiations. Contract talks with the Chicago Teachers Union have reached their most tense point as the deal boils down to a handful of key issues, including preparation time for teachers.

In a letter to Martinez Monday night, CTU President Stacy Davis Gates pushed CPS to reach a tentative deal on a contract before the board’s Thursday meeting “instead of choosing a path to protracted confrontation.”

The union gave the school board its “last, best, and final offer” on March 4. The two sides continue to meet and say publicly that a deal is near. The union wants an agreement before the budget amendment is voted on Thursday. Historically, the school board waits until the contract is settled before doing a budget amendment.

CTU invited members to a webinar Wednesday night to discuss next steps. The union has been petitioning at schools in recent weeks and the next step would be a strike vote. Once a vote is taken, the union must give 10 days notice of its intent to strike. A strike would also have immediate consequences for students, staff, and families.

Refinancing is an option, but with unclear consequences

As City Hall recently suggested, Bowsher said another option in front of CPS is to refinance its debt, which would require “a more in-depth analysis” that is outside Baker Tilly’s scope.

The different types of borrowing all come with some uncertainties, such as the state of the financial market, interest rates, and if these options can come to fruition in time for this fiscal year, Bowsher wrote. It’s also unclear if CPS can legally use those options with its current financial situation.

“Bond issuances can generate immediate cash flow or savings; however, this may result in additional interest costs and also increased future debt service payments, and thus potential future budget shortfalls,” he wrote.

Justin Marlowe, a municipal finance expert at the University of Chicago, echoed the report’s words of caution: All of the debt refinancing options in the memo carry risk and possible higher interest costs for the district in the long-term, in return for what’s likely a modest amount of dollars freed up in the short term. That’s especially the case after the past few weeks of market volatility caused by uncertainty over the Trump administration’s tariff policy — and particularly for a junk borrower such as CPS.

“All of these options have been explored, and none of them are desirable,” Marlowe said. “I get that it’s a tradeoff they might have to make, but it’s very bad financial management, and it saddles taxpayers with higher long-term costs.”

Joe Ferguson, president of the nonpartisan watchdog The Civic Federation, said board members should vote only after they publicize any legal opinions from their attorneys about the options presented by the city, including borrowing and refinancing their debt.

New school board remains divided on solving money troubles

Elected school board member Che “Rhymefest” Smith, who represents south side neighborhoods along the lakefront, told Chalkbeat Tuesday that he hadn’t carefully reviewed the Baker Tilly memo yet, but the takeaway is clear: There are no good ways for CPS to secure additional dollars this spring.

“At the end of the day, we’ve got to stop wasting taxpayer money to get information that we already know,” he said.

He said the board should have instead listened to district officials and experts, such as those at the Civic Federation, when they cautioned against CPS taking on more debt. He says he remains unwilling to vote for an amendment that commits CPS to reimbursing the pension payment — “not if it puts our children and our schools and administrators at risk, and not if it means going deeper into debt.”

Board member Jennifer Custer, who represents the northwest pocket of the city, said the report outlined options that have already been shared with the board. Custer, who has expressed concerns about having to cover the pension obligation this year, said she will also vote no on the budget amendment as it’s written.

For Custer, the report confirmed that each option “would have future repercussions.”

“I just don’t think that’s the best practice for the district or any municipal body when thinking about how they want to manage their finances,” Custer said.

Asked if the district and the board can find solutions in time to potentially pay the pension payment and settle the union contract, board President Harden said he and staff are working “every day without any real pause.”

“We are aware of the board meeting being Thursday, so we’re working with those fixed times in mind,” Harden said. “But no one is panicking.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago City Council members pressure school board to pay up — or risk losing other financial support

2025-03-14T20:14:22+00:00

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Chicago aldermen and City Hall officials suggested the city could withhold other funding for Chicago Public Schools if the new school board doesn’t reimburse the city $175 million to cover a portion of a pension payment for some school staff.

Ald. Jason Ervin, who represents the West Side and is chair of the powerful committee on budget and government operations, said that while CPS has no legal obligation to reimburse the city, City Council also has no obligation to provide the school district with funding for school construction projects or waive water and sewer fees, as it currently does.

Those and other entanglements between the city government and the school system were laid out in a 2023 report required under the state legislation that paved the way for Chicago’s transition away from mayoral control to a fully elected school board in 2027.

The scene highlighted the complexity of the shift in governance, but also foreshadowed the political conflicts that could play out in the years to come.

“There’s an old African proverb that says: When the elephants fight, the ground gets trampled,” Ervin told school board members at the second of two public hearings Friday. “We share constituencies. If one loses at the expense of another, we’re both losers in that calculation.”

The city must close its books for 2024 by March 30 and officials have said they’ve already made a full payment to the municipal pension fund. If the Chicago Board of Education does not come through with a $175 million reimbursement, the city risks ending the year in the red. Facing that prospect, the city’s chief procurement officer has asked vendors who do business with the city for a 3% discount on services, WGN reported.

A letter urging the district to pay up was circulated by Ervin and Ald. Jeanette Taylor, chair of City Council’s committee on education and child development Thursday and had been signed by 28 aldermen as of Friday.

Ald. Byron Sigcho-Lopez, an ally of Mayor Brandon Johnson, told school board members Friday that “every dollar spent on this pension payment is coming out of money for public safety, infrastructure, public health, and sanitation.”

Jill Jaworski, the city’s chief financial officer and a parent of a CPS high school student, said aldermen have asked her about canceling some or all of the roughly $319 million in city financing for ongoing school capital projects.

“They feel the commitment was made to make this payment, and if it is not made, they are concerned about why we continue to support CPS in the manner that we do,” Jaworski said.

Yesenia Lopez, one of the elected school board members, said it’s important for the school board to “continue those relationships and build trust” with the City Council as the two become separate government entities.

“What does this set precedent for moving forward? What in the future is the city going to be asking us to also help contribute to — the many items that the alderman stated that the city is already contributing to,” Lopez said.

City Hall suggests CPS refinance debt

The budget amendment that the new 21-member, partially-elected school board is scheduled to vote on next Thursday would add $139 million in unexpected revenue from the city in surplus dollars from special taxing districts. But it includes three possible ways to spend the new money: Reimburse the city, cover the costs of a new Chicago Teachers Union contract, or cover the potential costs of the principals’ first union contract. Both labor contracts are still being negotiated.

All of those expenditures would cost more than $139 million, but CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said cuts, furloughs, and layoffs are “off the table.”

The amendment requires a two-thirds vote to pass, meaning if seven school board members were to vote no, the amendment would fail.

As a potential solution to afford both a reimbursement to the city and looming labor costs, the Johnson administration has been pushing CPS to take out a short-term loan or refinance existing debt, which it floated earlier this week.

Jaworski laid out the refinancing option to school board members Friday, but acknowledged it would be “a bridge scenario.” She said her team’s analysis indicated a refinancing could free up about $250 million immediately, but cost the district about $50 million in interest down the road.

Elected board member Therese Boyle, who represents the far south side, raised concerns that state lawmakers would frown upon CPS doing any refinancing or borrowing. She noted that earlier this week state Rep. Curtis Tarver (D-Chicago) filed a bill to reinstate financial oversight of Chicago schools.

“We already have so much debt, and our debt payment every year is so much of our budget,” Boyle said. “What kind of a message does this send to the state? That bill that was filed last week saying they want to reinstate the School Finance Authority. Does it look like we can not handle our budget ourselves, and we’re just borrowing, borrowing?”

CPS’ Chief Financial Officer Miroslava Mejia Krug said the school district would need to wait and see what the market conditions are if it were to try refinancing.

As the nearly four-hour hearing wound to a close, appointed board member Michilla Blaise urged everyone to work together to find a solution.

“It’s way political, I guess, because of history, for lots of reasons, but I really do believe that … everybody here cares deeply about children and schools,” Blaise said. “I just want to say I’m really glad we’re having this conversation.”

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago’s fight over school staff pensions: 4 big things you need to know

2025-03-13T00:17:57+00:00

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Chicago’s new school board is considering an amendment to the school district’s $9.9 billion budget that aims to address a short-term budget quagmire.

The decision made by the 21-member, partially elected governing body could have long-term implications as Chicago Public Schools moves away from 30 years under mayoral control.

The budget amendment on the school board’s agenda for its March 20 meeting accepts an additional $139 million in unexpected revenue, but does not spell out what the board will spend the money on. It lays out three possibilities: paying the yet-to-be determined costs of a new contract with the Chicago Teachers Union, funding an inaugural collective bargaining agreement with the union representing principals, and giving the money to the city as a contribution to the retirement fund that supports non-teaching school staff.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration is pushing for the latter, which would continue a practice started under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot of having the Board of Education pitch in on these pensions. The city must balance its books by the end of this month, and Johnson’s allies on the board have expressed agreement with the mayor.

But Johnson continues to face resistance from CPS CEO Pedro Martinez and district leadership, who are staring down financial challenges of their own, including a deficit of at least $500 million dollars next school year. They and at least a few new school board members have argued it’s more prudent to put the money toward labor contract costs and funding classrooms today, not helping the city make a pension payment.

The issue has become so politically controversial that it contributed to the resignation of the previous Board of Education and the firing of Martinez, who will leave in June. Indeed, the fight over the municipal pension payment is the “single, largest and, in the moment, most critically important” financial entanglement between CPS and the city, says Joe Ferguson, president of the Civic Federation, an independent, non-partisan government research organization.

Ferguson said it’s “critically imperative” that the school board and City Hall get to work on a long-term solution before the school board becomes fully elected in 2027. A new state law addressing the issue might end the drama, but legislators haven’t taken it up so far.

Two-thirds of the school board — or 14 members — would need to vote yes to approve the budget amendment.

Here’s what to know about this disagreement and the options officials have.

What is the municipal pension payment?

The Municipal Employees’ Annuity and Benefit Fund, or MEABF, supports city workers, staff of the Chicago Housing Authority, and non-teaching staff at Chicago Public Schools when they retire.

More than half of the fund’s members are current or former CPS employees — a percentage that has grown over time. CPS budget officials have noted that while 60% of the pension fund’s beneficiaries are current or former CPS employees, they account for only about one-third of the fund’s liabilities.

Even so, under state law, the Chicago city government is solely responsible to make annual payments to the fund, not CPS.

This year, the city is legally on the hook to pay that municipal pension fund $955.7 million, according to budget city documents. That’s far more than the roughly $165 million annual payment it was making just a decade ago.

Like most pension funds in Illinois and Chicago, the municipal fund has massive unfunded liabilities. Put simply, for every dollar it owes to present and future retirees, only about 25 cents is available. To fix this, the city is now required to pay more every year so that there’s enough money to pay retirees in the future.

In 2015, then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel introduced a record property tax increase that was approved by City Council to meet these growing pension obligations. The following year, the city imposed annual increases to a water-sewer tax that would be dedicated to the municipal retirement fund.

Facing a ballooning payment, Emanuel’s successor, Lori Lightfoot, implemented an intergovernmental agreement with her appointed school board in 2020 to have CPS reimburse the city for an increasing portion of the required annual payment given that school district employees make up more than half of the fund’s members. Since then, the Board of Education has made four pension payments; the most recent one in early 2024 was $175 million.

For the past year, the mayor’s office has pushed CPS to once again contribute $175 million toward the municipal pension payment — and the City Council passed a budget with that assumption.

But so far the school board has not budgeted that payment this year. Nor has it approved an intergovernmental agreement to do so.

What options does the City of Chicago have?

The city’s 2025 budget proposed by Johnson and approved by City Council in mid-December assumed CPS would, once again, kick in $175 million.

The $17.1 billion spending plan includes a $1.13 billion payment to the MEABF, more than the required amount of $955.7 million, which is calculated based on what’s needed to cover future benefits. That’s because it also includes a $168.7 million voluntary advance payment to the MEABF, which is roughly $6 million short of what the city wants from CPS.

These additional payments are similar to paying off additional principal on a mortgage. They also started under Lightfoot. However, they are not required by state law.

Senior mayoral aides said this week the advance payment is a priority for the city because it saves on long-term costs. They also said they don’t consider CPS’s $175 million contribution as going toward the advance payment.

But if CPS does not come through with the $175 million contribution, the city could drop the advance payment. That could be met with mixed reactions from credit rating agencies, said Justin Marlowe, director of the Center for Municipal Finance at the University of Chicago. Some agencies might downgrade the city, while others could be more sanguine about it.

They could also dip into reserves, which Ferguson noted would have negative consequences.

“The city’s in a position where it is adding to the storm cloud of another [credit] downgrade,” he said.

Not making the advance payment or dipping into reserves or any other changes to the city’s budget would require 26 City Council votes.

The mayor already had a difficult time getting his budget approved last fall. His administration’s initial proposal, which included a property tax hike, did not go over well with the City Council. A revised budget without that tax hike narrowly passed 27-23.

What options does CPS have?

It’s been clear since the CPS board approved a $9.9 billion budget passed last summer that the district would need to amend its spending plan once officials finished negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union and the district’s new principals union.

For months, the mayor’s office has suggested CPS take out a loan to cover new contract costs and still kick in a portion of the municipal pension payment. More recently, Johnson’s office has suggested the district could issue municipal bonds at relatively low interest rates.

But the district has asserted that it cannot legally borrow money and show those loan proceeds as revenue in order to balance its budget. If the district is pressed to pay for both increased labor contract costs and a contribution to the municipal pension fund, CPS leaders have said they may need to make mid-year cuts or resort to layoffs or furloughs.

Senior mayoral aides continue to argue against cuts that would impact classrooms.

In its initial budget, CPS expected to get $159 million in surplus tax revenue from special development districts. An additional surplus declared by the mayor adds $139 million more to that number. The latter is the source of the new revenue in the budget amendment the Board of Education will vote on later this month.

But the additional infusion of cash isn’t enough to cover all of the district’s looming expenses. Last fall, Martinez testified before the City Council the district would need $484 million from those taxing districts to make ends meet.

Martinez said last Thursday in an email to staff and families his team will recommend to the board to prioritize spending the additional $139 million on labor contracts only — not the municipal pension payment.

CPS has limited taxing authority. It can only raise property taxes annually up to a state-imposed cap, which is 5% or the consumer price index, whichever is less. It has done that every year in recent history.

The school district has a worse credit rating than the city although the city’s rating is not much better and was also recently downgraded. But Marlowe, the municipal finance expert, said at the end of the day, it’s all the same property tax base.

“It is probably more cost effective from a taxpayer perspective, for the city to play a larger role,” Marlowe said. But he added that its important for both CPS and City Hall to do their due diligence to determine the least costly option.

“They have to make those pension payments. That’s not negotiable. So somebody’s going to have to blink and decide that the money is going to flow from from one side to the other,” he said.

What’s a long-term solution for this pension issue?

The city and the Chicago Board of Education could split responsibility for funding the MEABF longer term via two options: a stronger intergovernmental agreement, or a change to state law.

The current dispute and the fact that there is no intergovernmental agreement this year shows the limits of the first option, said Ferguson.

“If it were legally enforceable, this already would have been resolved,” Ferguson said.

Signing a new intergovernmental agreement every year is also subject to politics. Chicago will have school board elections every two years and mayoral elections take place every four.

“There’s going to be this kind of ad hoc, piecemeal thing, I think, until there is a true philosophical reckoning with: What is the relationship between the city and CPS going to be financially in a new world with a very different kind of CPS board?” Marlowe said.

A change to the state’s pension code is “the cleanest, most permanent, most enforceable” option, Ferguson said.

But that idea has its own political baggage. Illinois lawmakers have historically been reluctant to help Chicago with its pensions or financial challenges. They are also focused on revising changes made to the pension code a decade ago.

“I don’t think that there’s much appetite in Springfield for the state to play referee,” Marlowe said.

Senior mayoral aides said they are having multiple conversations in Springfield about CPS finances, but declined to speak specifically about changes to the pension obligations.

A CPS spokesperson said they are not aware of any proposed legislation to change who is responsible for the municipal pension fund. District officials said if lawmakers were to shift any responsibility to the school district, they would need to consider how to fund these payments.

This story was been updated to include additional comments from a municipal finance expert.

Reema Amin contributed.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

As big costs loom, Chicago’s school board plans to amend its budget. But questions remain.

2025-03-06T01:49:45+00:00

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This story was updated to include a comment from Chicago Board of Education President Sean Harden.

Chicago Public Schools is proposing a budget amendment to the school board that would increase the district’s operating budget by $139 million to address looming expenses for the district — but could open the door to other solutions, such as budget cuts or “other entities” taking on debt for CPS.

The increase to the current $9.9 billion spending plan represents a historically large influx of cash from the City of Chicago, which declared a surplus from Tax Increment Financing, or TIFs, which are special taxing districts designed to spur development. The district’s budget already includes $159 million in previously allocated TIF funds.

The proposed budget increase falls short of the $175 million city officials expect CPS to contribute to the pensions of non-teaching staff. It also may not be enough to cover looming costs related to a teachers contract, which is still being negotiated.

The amendment will likely cause fault lines among the 21-member board, which has disagreed on how to solve the district’s money problems. One board member who spoke to Chalkbeat Wednesday already committed to a no vote.

The amendment — which requires a two-thirds approval vote to pass — calls for the additional $139 million in TIF funds to be used for paying for new labor contracts with the two unions representing Chicago’s teachers and principals as well as the pension payment to the city.

But that money alone will not cover both of the costs, which the amendment said are still being negotiated. Acknowledging this, the amendment also says CPS will find other ways to pay for any additional costs — including through more TIF surplus funds, other local revenue, “other entities incurring debt on CPS’s behalf,” or budget cuts “beyond those needed to keep the initial approved … budget in balance.” It’s unclear who the “other entities” are. A spokesperson for City Hall said the city “will not be borrowing on behalf of CPS.”

After this story was published, Board President Sean Harden told Chalkbeat he was unaware that the final draft would include a reference to other entities incurring debt for CPS. Harden said he and district leadership “spent a lot of time making sure we’re capturing everything we need” in the amendment, but he has not spoken to anyone about incurring debt for CPS. CPS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

“That language was not approved by me,” Harden said.

Still, Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office praised the amendment.

“Mayor Johnson has maintained that Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has an obligation to its workforce and its retirees and this proposed budget amendment is in line with that obligation,” said Cassio Mendoza, a spokesperson for the mayor’s office, in a statement. “Mayor Johnson is supportive of any tools that the school district can utilize on its behalf to balance its budget without cutting teachers or resources for students.”

The district will hold hearings over the budget amendment at 10:30 a.m. on March 13 and March 14 at the board office, located at 42 W. Madison St. in the Loop.

Looming financial problems have roiled the district for months and fueled a major leadership shakeup, including the resignation of Johnson’s first, seven-member appointed board and the firing of CPS CEO Pedro Martinez. CPS leadership — which did not budget for union or pension costs — has resisted borrowing money to pay for labor negotiations or pensions, and has repeatedly said it faces at least a $500 million budget deficit next fiscal year.

In recent weeks, City Hall has turned up the pressure on CPS as it tries to balance its own books by the end of this month. Last month, city officials emailed school board members a presentation about the pension payment and included suggestions for issuing bonds to garner $242 million, according to the presentation obtained by Chalkbeat and first reported by the Chicago Tribune.

Chicago Teachers Union leaders questioned why the district and school board are discussing a budget amendment before reaching an agreement on the teachers union contract.

“We want to make sure their budget amendment is the right amendment to land a transformative contract,” said CTU President Stacy Davis Gates. “If they settle the contract before they do the budget amendment, then our math will be correct.”

School board members continue search for funding solutions

Board member Jitu Brown, who represents the city’s West Side and is an ally of the mayor’s, said he had not yet studied the amendment. Generally, he wants a solution to make both the pension payment and settle labor negotiations, but doesn’t want to “balance the budget on the backs of Black and brown children.”

“That’s looming over all of us right now,” Brown said. “One thing we don’t want is a teacher strike, so we are trying to get that settled.”

Brown said he’s open to borrowing but said he would want a relatively low interest rate, more TIF surplus funds and more state funding.

Another board member, who requested anonymity to share thoughts candidly and not undermine the public hearing, said they will vote no on the amendment because they are against being on the hook for the pension payment at a time of financial duress, as well as borrowing and cuts. Even if another entity took on debt for CPS, the district would still be on the hook to pay them back, this board member said.

“To use that money in any capacity to pay the city is making a choice to give to the city — to make them whole —over our own organization and the people who directly impact and work in the classroom and the students themselves,” the board member said.

Another board member, who requested anonymity to speak candidly, said she was taken aback by the mayor’s office’s PowerPoint presentation on how to solve the pension issue. On Tuesday, she said she is torn on how to solve the district’s budget issues and is trying to get “as much information as I can.” The district has argued that it cannot generate revenue like other districts, but at the same time, the city wants its money. She could not be immediately reached for her thoughts on the budget amendment posted Wednesday.

“It seems like the mayor’s office is trying to push a certain way for CPS to pick up the tab, while CEO Martinez and some other individuals on the board feel it’s not the board’s responsibility,” she said. “So it’s a lot of back and forth: one for the short term, but in a few months we’re gonna start talking about the budget for next year.”

Several board members are also waiting to see what outside consulting firm Baker Tilly — hired last month by school board president Harden — is suggesting the district should do.

Harden turned to the consultant amid rising tensions with City Hall and pressing questions about CPS’s financial challenges. He signed a contract on Feb. 18 to spend up to $35,000 to get an opinion from Baker Tilly on funding options to alleviate CPS’s looming deficit and to assess the risk associated with those options, according to records obtained by Chalkbeat through a Freedom of Information Act. The Chicago Tribune first reported the existence of the contract.

Chalkbeat filed a FOIA request for Baker Tilly’s analysis or any recommendations, but CPS’s FOIA office said on Tuesday that no such records exist. Multiple board members said that to their knowledge, the analysis is close to completion.

A fourth school board member, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations, said Harden told board members this week that Baker Tilly had come up with “various potential financing scenarios” but did not provide further details.

That board member and another said Harden expressed that he did not want the analysis or, separately, potential financing solutions for CPS, in writing because it would be subject to open records laws, or FOIA.

“He literally said, ‘I am FOIA’ed every single week; I don’t want this stuff out of context and open for interpretation,’” one of the board members said.

Harden said Wednesday he wants to be “very thoughtful about what gets shared” and said he would share the Baker Tilly report with board members once it’s complete. Earlier Wednesday, the board office said it expects to make the final report available to the public.

“For me it’s important that we have all our ducks in a row, we know exactly what direction we’re going in so we can speak to it intelligently without any issues related to it,” Harden said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago schools watchdog urges ‘vigilance’ against improper political activity

2025-01-08T10:45:00+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools Inspector General is urging vigilance against improper political activity by district employees and campaigns as the city is now electing school board members.

The recommendations, made in the Office of the Inspector General’s annual report, follow an investigation into former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s campaign staff emailing teachers to solicit student volunteers. That investigation found no coordination between the school district and Lightfoot’s campaign but rather “poor management and oversight.”

Eight students volunteered for the former mayor’s 2023 unsuccessful bid for a second term as a result of the emails to CPS teachers. However, none received class credit as the email initially promised, the investigation found. The inspector general also found these students all signed non-disclosure agreements without their parents’ knowledge, which Lightfoot denied knowing about and admitted was inappropriate.

Although Lightfoot is no longer in office, the inspector general’s report noted that the findings in this case raise important questions for CPS with the advent of school board elections in Chicago.

“The District must maintain vigilance against candidates and campaigns attempting to exert pressure on CPS employees and students,” the report said.

This past September, the district sent school board member candidates guidance on their ethical obligations under the CPS Code of Ethics. The email included links to a school board member’s legal and ethical requirements and a video explaining what is and isn’t acceptable political activity for CPS staff.

In the report, CPS also said the new board members appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson last fall received ethics training in October. A district spokesperson confirmed it took place on Oct. 18. Newly appointed board members were given an ethics presentation and also provided with the political activities video outlining CPS policies.

The district also confirmed to the Office of the Inspector General that students do not get credit for volunteering on campaigns. But a district spokesperson did not say how long that has been district policy.

High school students must complete a service learning project in order to graduate. But the district said service learning projects “should be linked to current academic goals and classroom curriculum and should build social, civic, and academic skills.” They cannot be “partisan-oriented” but can include lessons about elections, including raising awareness about voting or organizing a voter registration event.

The investigation of Lightfoot’s campaign emailing teachers on their work accounts began just over a month before the Chicago mayoral election on Feb. 28, 2023. Lightfoot failed to make the runoff, coming in third among a field of nine candidates. Instead, Johnson, then a county commissioner and organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union, came in second behind Paul Vallas, a former CPS CEO and education reform leader. The two would go on to compete in a runoff election that Johnson ultimately won.

The inspector general found that although Lightfoot’s campaign sent more than 7,500 emails to 247 CPS email accounts, most were more general “blast” emails sent to people who voluntarily signed up. The campaign staffer who solicited student volunteers sent 219 emails to 113 district employees whose email addresses they found by searching the internet, the report said.

Still, the inspector general report notes that the emails effectively asked CPS employees “to make a professionally and ethically fraught choice: pass along the message to students and violate CPS policy or ignore outreach from the highest elected official in the city.”

A spokesperson for Lightfoot reiterated in a statement that the former mayor was not personally involved or aware of the recruitment emails.

“As we made clear at the time, in the course of a hotly contested, city-wide campaign in the third largest city in the country, of course the Mayor herself was never involved personally in these volunteer recruitment endeavors,” she wrote. “The OIG report also notes, correctly, that this initiative, spearheaded by one staffer, did not actually have the effect of intimidating any CPS employees into doing anything unethical or inappropriate, and led to fewer than 10 volunteer signups.”

The spokesperson agreed with the OIG’s policy recommendations, but noted they weren’t in effect when the 2023 campaign was taking place.

A CPS spokesperson said the district took additional measures in June 2024 to filter out political emails sent to CPS email addresses. The district’s Ethics Office also did not get any reports of political emails sent to employee email addresses during the most recent election.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez takes legal action seeking to block potential firing

2024-12-20T21:04:59+00:00

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Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez launched a final-hour legal bid Friday to block his potential firing, alleging that board members about to consider his fate were appointed “to do the bidding” of a mayor and teachers union that have “scapegoated” Martinez.

Martinez’s attorneys made those claims in circuit court filings seeking a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction to halt his ouster.

The move came shortly before a specially called 5:45 p.m. board meeting in which members were scheduled to consider terminating Martinez. It was not immediately clear whether a judge would consider the motion and, if so, whether it would happen ahead of any potential vote.

Earlier Friday, Martinez’s legal team wrote a letter to the school board urging members to hold off on firing the CEO, who has clashed with the mayor and weathered months of speculation on his fate. Firing Martinez, the letter says, would not only breach his contract “but also the relevant Illinois law governing the Board’s actions.”

“Tonight’s purported vote is the culmination of a months-long campaign orchestrated by the Chicago Teachers Union (“CTU”) and its ally, Mayor Brandon Johnson, to improperly and unlawfully terminate Mr. Martinez based on wholly pretextual reasons,” wrote William Quinlan, Martinez’s lawyer, in the letter.

Neither the teachers union nor the mayor’s office immediately returned a request for comment.

The court filings allege that Johnson and the CTU are improperly seeking Martinez’s ouster because the CEO opposed the administration’s push, first reported by Chalkbeat, for the district to take out a short-term loan to pay for pension obligations and labor contracts, including that of CTU.

The legal filings connect efforts to fire Martinez with ongoing contract negotiations between CTU and the school district — suggesting a good outcome for the union is a motivating factor.

The attempt to fire Martinez, the filings argue, is also fueled by the looming arrival of new board members elected to join mayoral appointees on a hybrid board. The new arrivals are a mixed group, having run as CTU-backed, school choice-oriented, and independent candidates.

The board may fire Martinez with or without cause. Terminating his contract without cause would allow Martinez to stay for an additional six months and then pay him severance of about $130,000 - the equivalent of 20 weeks of his annual base pay of $340,000.

The court filings allege that the school board either intends to fire Martinez for cause based on “manufactured allegations,” or effectively fire him “by altering his job status or diminishing his responsibilities.”

Crain’s Chicago Business first reported that Johnson is considering a “co-CEO” option and has newly appointed board president Sean Harden in mind. Harden worked as deputy CEO of community affairs under former CEO Ron Huberman between 2009 and 2011, according to his LinkedIn profile.

The letter from Martinez’s lawyer to the board said the school board sent Martinez his performance evaluation for the 2023-2024 school year on Monday. The evaluation, which Quinlan described as “less than a page,” gave Martinez an overall “needs improvement” rating.

That rating stated Martinez “made no efforts” to meet one-on-one with the new board members — who Johnson appointed in early October after the entire previous board resigned en masse — and that the district’s new five-year strategic plan “did not really come from [Mr. Martinez’s] office.”

“The various alleged deficiencies identified in the letter were meritless — Mr. Martinez did meet with almost all of the new Board members and his office did ‘really’ lead the creation of the Five Year Strategic Plan,” Quinlan, the lawyer, wrote.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Mayor Johnson announces 10 of 11 appointees for new Chicago Board of Education

2024-12-17T03:12:39+00:00

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Mayor Brandon Johnson picked 10 of 11 people Monday to round out the city’s new half-elected, half-appointed school board — including some who ran unsuccessfully in Chicago’s first school board elections this November.

The new board will be sworn in Jan. 15, 2025, and will include 10 people who won in November. State law required the mayor choose the other 11 people, including a board president, by Monday.

The shift to an elected school board in Chicago has been years in the making. The process set forth in state law is complicated. Though there were 10 school board races in November, each district was split into two subdistricts. State law limited who Johnson could pick — allowing him to only choose people who did not live in the same subdistrict as winners of the election.

Johnson announced the school board appointees late Monday, just hours before the deadline.

Sean Harden, a South Side native and former CPS employee, will serve as president of the Board of Education and represent the city at large.
Ed Bannon, who ran for alderman in 2023 and served on the Dever Elementary School Local School Council, will represent District 1a alongside Jennifer Custer in 1b.
Debby Pope, a current appointed school board member and former CTU employee and retired teacher who filed campaign finance paperwork and considered running for an elected school board seat, will represent District 2b alongside Ebony DeBerry in 2a.
Norma Rios-Sierra, an artist who also works as cultural events manager for nonprofit Palenque LSNA, will presumably represent District 3a alongside Carlos Rivas Jr. in 3b.
Karen Zaccor, a retired teacher and active CTU member who finished second in a six-way race in November’s election, will represent District 4a alongside the winning candidate Ellen Rosenfeld in 4b.
Michilla Blaise, a current school board member who withdrew as a candidate one month before Election Day, will represent District 5b alongside Jitu Brown in 5a.
Anusha Thotakura, a former teacher who also lost her bid in November, will represent District 6a alongside Jessica Biggs in 6b.
Emma Lozano, a Pilsen pastor and advocate for bilingual education and immigrant rights. It is not clear which district Lozano lives in, but it would presumably be either district 7b or 8b alongside either Yesenia Lopez in 7a or Angel Gutierrez in 8a.
Frank Niles Thomas, a current board member appointed last month, will represent District 9a alongside Therese Boyle in 9b.
Olga Bautista, a current board member appointed last month, will presumably represent District 10b alongside Che “Rhymefest” Smith in 10a.

It was not immediately clear why the mayor only announced 10 of 11 picks before the deadline. State law does not spell out any impacts for partially missing the deadline.

Johnson’s picks will make up a majority of the board, giving him significant influence over a governing body that for the past three decades was exclusively controlled by Chicago’s mayor.

The mayor’s appointees included most of the current board members as well as losing school board candidates who were endorsed by the Chicago Teachers Union, a close ally of the mayor’s.

Johnson’s office announced the names after the mayor struggled to negotiate a deal with aldermen on his second city budget. Late Monday, after multiple amendments and Johnson tossing out his proposed property tax increase entirely, the City Council approved a $17.1 billion city budget by a vote of 27 to 23.

After that budget vote, as he called for more state revenue, Johnson told reporters he was looking for school board members “who understand the urgency of this moment, people who know that they have to organize and work collectively to fight for progressive revenue in the state.”

“But really the big characteristic that I’m proud that people demonstrated was a real care for the families who do the work as well,” Johnson said, adding that he also searched for people who were not “dismissive” of teachers.

The mayor’s influence over the school board may extend beyond his own picks. Four of the election winners were backed by the union, which ideologically aligns with the mayor. That means 15 of the 21 members could often vote in alignment with his policy preferences, such as avoiding school closures and sending more money to neighborhood schools.

It also could mean the board could vote to borrow money in order to cover pension obligations and labor union costs, as Johnson pushed CPS to do in the spring and summer, helping to lead to the resignation of the entire previous board.

Before taking office, school board members are required to complete state-mandated training. Last week, newly elected board members were notified by the school district’s board office that training planned for this week would be postponed, per a request from the current board. Carlos Rivas, who was elected to represent District 3 on the West Side, said the Academy of Local Leadership at National Louis University, in light of the district’s cancellation, is now providing training this week. Rivas was part of an inaugural fellowship with ALL Chicago this spring.

“At the end of the day, what’s most important is that we are prepared to govern on day one,” Rivas said.

Rivas said the school district’s board office said they still plan to hold five days of sessions with new board members from Jan. 6-10.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Mayor Johnson calls for CPS to craft ‘contingency plan’ for planned Acero closures

2024-11-13T00:14:12+00:00

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Mayor Brandon Johnson on Tuesday criticized Chicago Public Schools leadership in relation to a heated school closure proposal by the Acero charter school network and used the moment to call for greater accountability of charter schools.

Johnson, however, did not elaborate on what steps he would like to see the district take to prevent those closures. The Chicago Board of Education does not appear to have a legal path to stop the closures, according to its agreement with Acero.

While Johnson emphasized that he’s not saying CPS CEO Pedro Martinez did something wrong, he said the district needs to put together a “contingency plan” in response to the proposed Acero closures and that he and his team “haven’t seen that type of leadership” from the district.

The proposed Acero closures have added tension to the already tense relationship between Chicago Public Schools leadership and Johnson, who in September asked Martinez to resign. Martinez has refused to step down.

On Tuesday, Johnson also questioned how the Acero network — whose staff is unionized by the Chicago Teachers Union, a Johnson ally — reached its current financial situation just a year after CPS deemed it worthy of a three-year contract extension. The network has blamed the closures on a $40 million budget shortfall, Block Club Chicago reported.

“This is not about pointing the finger at someone doing something wrong — this is about how we course correct so families don’t lose out,” Johnson said.

Acero did not immediately responded to requests for comment.

In an email statement to Chalkbeat, a CPS spokesperson said the district is working with the charter network’s leadership to schedule a parent town hall, hold ongoing town hall meetings, and provide support for students.

According to the CPS spokesperson, when a charter decides to close, CPS implements internal procedures including contacting families to review options, such as neighborhood schools or schools with available seats, and providing financial support to district schools that could see an influx of students from the closed schools.

Last month, the Acero network announced that it was planning to close seven of its schools, or about half of those it operates, impacting about 2,000 students at those campuses. The network cited a $40 million budget shortfall. It’s unclear where students will enroll, but those students, like any Chicago resident, have the right to enroll in their neighborhood school.

As a charter school network, Acero is privately managed but publicly funded. It is allowed to operate 15 campuses, largely on the Southwest Side, based on conditions set out in a contract with Chicago Public Schools. Acero’s current contract was last renewed in July 2023 and runs through June 2026.

Acero’s contract allows the network to close schools but says the network must provide written notice to the district by Oct. 15, and that closures can’t happen before June 30 or the end of the school year — whichever happens last, “except in situations of an emergency where the health, safety or education of the Charter School’s students is at risk.”

CPS did not immediately say whether the network notified the district by Oct. 15. The news of the proposed closures became public Oct. 9 — which CPS CEO Martinez has said publicly is around the same time he found out.

Since the network’s announcement, Acero families and teachers have rallied against the closures and have aired their concerns with the Chicago Board of Education.

Union officials have asked the district to intervene or to absorb the campuses and keep them open for another school year. When the district declined to renew an agreement with Urban Prep charter schools in 2022, CPS officials promised to keep those schools open as district campuses. That ultimately did not happen and the two campuses remain open under an agreement with Urban Prep until June 2025.

CPS did not immediately respond to questions about the options it might be considering pursuing at this point.

The Chicago Board of Education plans to hold a special meeting Thursday during which it will vote on a resolution calling for Acero representatives to come before the board and discuss alternatives to the closures. The resolution also says that if Acero ultimately closes the seven campuses, it “shall return all unspent public funds and property,” and that the district should extend its deadline for GoCPS — the application Chicago families use to apply to various schools, including charters and selective enrollment campuses — until Dec. 15. That deadline has already been pushed back to Nov. 22.

Asked why the mayor is advocating so strongly for Acero given his past criticism of charter schools, Johnson said he doesn’t want “any family to endure that type of trauma” that comes along with school closings.

Still, Johnson invoked a long time position of his — that as privately-run entities, charter schools should get more accountability. CPS is already tasked with monitoring charter schools, setting out conditions in each operator’s contract, and deciding whether operators’ schools should be renewed.

“Part of what my task is to challenge CPS and its leadership to respond to charter operators who have these structural elements within their budgetary framework that are not sustainable long term, and that will require audits,” Johnson said. “It will require CPS digging in a little bit deeper to look at the trends that are happening.”

Tensions continue to build between Johnson, CPS

On Monday, mayor’s office staff, including Chief of Staff Cristina Pacione-Zayas, and two of the mayor’s closest allies — Alds. Carlos Ramirez Rosa and Byron Sigcho-Lopez — met with CPS staff, including Martinez, about the proposed Acero closures. Chicago Board of Education members Olga Bautista and Frank Niles Thomas were also present, according to a source with knowledge of the meeting, who was not authorized to speak to the press about private discussions.

It was a “contentious discussion,” in which mayoral staff questioned CPS leaders about when they discovered the proposed closures, whether it has combed through the charter network’s financial documents, and what CPS has been doing about the issue, the source said. Martinez said the district has engaged with Acero families and is thinking through best options, the source said.

“Pedro’s story stayed consistent with what he’s said privately and publicly: He found out when the district did around the same time they went public,” the source said.

In an interview with Chalkbeat, Sigcho-Lopez said the meeting left him “concerned with [Martinez’s] leadership style” and, like the mayor, wanting an audit of Acero’s finances.

“He had a lot of excuses, a lot of contradictions, but not a lot of answers in terms of actually what he is going to do to ensure that those 2,000 kids are not forced, you know, into a transition that is not in anyone’s interest,” Sigcho-Lopez said.

Pacione-Zayas told Chalkbeat that CPS officials were asked if the district had reached out to the Illinois State Board of Education for guidance and if the district had considered absorbing the campuses – including how it would affect their budget.

“None of that was prepared,” Pacione Zayas said. “All that was revealed to us was that they extended the GoCPS [application deadline] by seven days.”

Families use the district’s GoCPS application to apply to schools, including preschool programs, selective enrollment, and magnet schools.

CPS has reviewed the costs behind a number of scenarios, including absorbing the campuses, according to a CPS source who was not authorized to speak with the press. The source declined to elaborate whether it was a viable option and said they were unsure if City Hall was aware of the district’s analysis.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Board of Education president apologizes for antisemitic Facebook posts

2024-10-30T23:39:22+00:00

Mayor Brandon Johnson said Wednesday his newly appointed Chicago Board of Education president is “seeking atonement” for making antisemitic comments but did not call for his removal as requested by just over half of the City Council.

The mayor’s comments came less than a day after Jewish Insider reported that Board President Rev. Mitchell Ikenna Johnson crafted more than a dozen Facebook posts with antisemitic statements following Hamas’ attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which led to the death of at least 1,200 Israelis, according to Reuters. Israel has since launched a full scale offensive on Gaza, resulting in the death of 45,000 Palestinians, Reuters reported.

“I know Rev. Mitchell Johnson has worked hard as a faith leader in his interfaith work,” the mayor told reporters Wednesday after a City Council meeting. “I know he has since come forth and has apologized for his comments and how harmful that they have been to the people of the Jewish community.”

The mayor continued: “These are not sentiments that I subscribe to and I do appreciate Rev. Johnson being willing to be held accountable for statements that he has made that has caused harm.”

The mayor appointed Johnson as board president last month after the entire Board of Education resigned. He has presided over one Board of Education meeting, and the body is set to meet again for its first regular meeting on Friday, Nov. 1.

In a prepared statement, Rev. Johnson issued an apology “to the Jewish community” for his remarks, and said he has fought antisemitism throughout his career.

“The remarks I posted were reactive and insensitive, and I am deeply sorry for not being more precise and deliberate in my comments posted last year,” Rev. Johnson wrote. “Since then, I have asked for and received feedback from my Jewish friends and colleagues, who helped me be more thoughtful in the way I address these sensitive matters.”

He added that he is “committed to making sure that antisemitism and hate of any kind have no place in Chicago Public Schools.”

Since the Oct. 7 attacks, posts from Rev. Johnson — who is not related to the mayor — have ranged in extremity. Several of his posts shared support for Palestinians and called for a ceasefire in Gaza, which the Chicago City Council has also formally done as part of a narrowly passed resolution earlier this year.

In December 2023, he shared a video of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, stating, “And, like him, I believe that Israel has a right to exist just as the Palestinians have a right to exist. Further, Israel must retreat to the original land border which was illegally granted to them by the United Nations.”

Other posts have gone far further. On Feb. 20, Johnson wrote, “The Nazi Germans’ ideology has been adopted by the Zionist Jews.” In an apparent support for Hamas, Johnson also wrote that “people have an absolute right to attack their oppressors by any means necessary!!!”

Jewish Insider reports that posts Johnson reshared came from anti-Israel and Russian propaganda accounts, as well as a conspiracy theorist.

On Wednesday, the mayor declined to directly say whether he knew about Johnson’s Facebook posts when he picked him for school board.

Elected officials, at least one school board candidate, and some political groups called for the board president to step down Wednesday, including 27 alderpeople — just over half of the City Council.

Asked about the comments, Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who is Jewish, said he did not condone the remarks, and that proper vetting “doesn’t seem to have occurred here,” as reported by Capitol Fax.

“Look, can you miss things in peoples’ vets? Sure. But it feels like Facebook posts are pretty easy to find,” Pritzker said.

The board president has also faced questions about separate controversies. NBC Chicago reported earlier this month that Johnson was disbarred as a lawyer in the 1990s and that he had a lien placed on his home, in part for not paying child support.

Asked last week about those findings, Board President Johnson told reporters, “The truth is, I was suggested for this position because of my leadership capacity and my ability to get things done. That’s the truth. The good news is I wasn’t hired to be an accountant and I wasn’t hired to be a lawyer.”

School Board candidate Ellen Rosenfeld, who is running for District 4 on the north lakefront, said the “stunning lack of vetting” around the board president shows “just how far [the mayor] is willing to go to push his agenda at the expense of students and teachers.”

Chicago Democrats for Education, a political organization that opposes the Chicago Teachers Union and is backing school board candidates, said Rev. Johnson’s remarks “raise serious concerns about the safety and well-being of Jewish students and families in our city.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Mayor Johnson’s budget would send Chicago Public Schools $300 million – less than what CPS wants

2024-10-30T19:12:06+00:00

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Facing a nearly $1 billion deficit next year, Mayor Brandon Johnson proposed a city budget Wednesday that would send roughly $300 million to Chicago Public Schools.

That’s nearly $140 million more than what CPS already budgeted to receive from the city. But it’s still roughly $190 million short of what CPS wants to help cover critical upcoming costs that have been at the heart of leadership conflicts between the mayor’s office and CPS.

The makeup of the city’s budget could have a significant impact on the school district’s finances this year. It could also decide whether the district will cut spending or borrow money to cover looming costs.

District leaders, union officials, and the mayor have balked at the idea of CPS budget cuts.

“We are building a government that truly works for the people … no longer will the city of Chicago be dismissive about our young people and the children who are the future of the city,” Johnson said during his budget speech to the City Council.

The key to the money CPS wants from city coffers is surplus funding from Tax Increment Financing, or TIF. This comes from special taxing districts meant to fight blight and spur development.

Johnson’s $17.3 billion budget plan, which would raise property taxes to help the city close its deficit, includes $570 million in TIF surplus funds. By declaring a surplus, the mayor is releasing TIF dollars that have not been dedicated to any specific project. When that happens, by law, 52% of those funds — in this case, $296 million — would go to CPS under Johnson’s budget. Last year, the district received $226 million in TIF surplus funds, according to CPS.

In July, the Chicago Board of Education approved a $9.9 billion budget that assumed the district would receive $159 million in TIF funds from the city. But that budget did not include union contract costs or pensions for non-teaching staff. The latter is an expense the city used to cover until Mayor Lori Lightfoot took office. This year, the district has refused to cover the cost without the city’s help.

To help pay for those pensions and labor costs, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez has asked for an additional $325 million in TIF surplus funds, a request he says he began making in the spring. Without such help or additional revenue, district officials say they may have to turn to cuts or borrow money to cover upcoming expenses of those contracts and pension obligations.

CPS did not immediately respond to the mayor’s budget proposal. The Chicago Teachers Union, an ally of the mayor, applauded his budget plan but called for alternatives to raising taxes. In a statement, CTU President Stacy Davis Gates said that if there’s at least $500 million in TIF surplus funds, “there’s likely double that available” to be used on city services, including public schools.

Ald. Gilbert Villegas, who has criticized the mayor’s request for Martinez to resign and recent leadership turmoil at the district, said CPS should have been more responsible with its COVID relief dollars, which have buoyed the district’s finances over the past few years. The money recently expired, blowing a more than $500 million hole into CPS’s budget this year that officials closed through central office cuts and other savings.

“The reliance on the city of Chicago to help bail out CPS is really frustrating because we have no say in how they appropriate their budgets,” Villegas said Wednesday. “Basically what they’re doing is telling us, ‘We need all this revenue,’ and we have no say. This reliance on us only when and wanting to include us only when they need money is a problem for me.”

CPS has defended its use of COVID relief money, which went toward more staffing and programming for students, and says it resulted in important academic gains.

Ald. Jason Ervin, a West Side alderman who is a close ally of the mayor’s and chairman of the council’s budget committee, said the city allocates the TIF surplus funds that it is required to, and CPS always gets a chunk of that.

During Martinez’s five-hour testimony to City Council two weeks ago, Ervin sharply criticized the district for increasing its request for TIF surplus funds, arguing that such a move takes away development dollars from low-income communities like the one he represents.

“Whatever CPS needs to do to manage beyond that [money] is their decision,” Ervin said Wednesday after the budget address.

The mayor’s office has pushed the district to take out a short-term loan to cover those costs. But district leaders have so far rejected the idea, saying such borrowing would incur high interest rates, further degrade the district’s bond rating status, and saddle it with payments that will ultimately hurt classrooms.

That was one reason the previous Board of Education resigned en masse earlier this month. Johnson has appointed a new board that could still take out such a loan. They are set to meet this Friday, Nov. 1.

Alternatively, the question of how to pay for major upcoming costs could fall to the district’s new, 21-person board that will be half elected and half appointed by the mayor. The school board election is on Nov. 5, and the new board will be sworn in on Jan. 15, 2025.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago’s deputy mayor of education is stepping away to focus on health and family

2024-10-21T19:18:33+00:00

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Chicago’s deputy mayor of education, youth, and human services is taking a leave from her role amid an ongoing conflict between Mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago Public Schools.

Deputy Mayor Jennifer “Jen” Johnson told Chalkbeat late last week she would be on leave for the coming weeks. It’s not clear for how long. A spokesperson for the mayor’s office said Monday he couldn’t comment on personnel matters.

“I’m gonna be taking some time to really focus on my health and family,” Johnson said, adding that she does not want her leave to be misconstrued or used for political fodder.

Mayor Johnson appointed Jen Johnson to be deputy mayor of education, youth, and human services in May 2023. Jen Johnson formerly served as chief of staff at the Chicago Teachers Union and was a high school history teacher. In addition to CPS, her focus over the past year centered on expanding youth jobs and helping migrant students.

Jen Johnson, who is not related to the mayor, said in a June 2023 interview with Chalkbeat that she expected contract negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union to be “less painful, more inclusive, and driven by a shared set of goals.”

But talks have grown tense, in particular, with CTU taking aim at CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, who was hired under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

In an interview late last week, Jen Johnson said that the mayor’s administration “signaled all kinds of desire for partnership” with Martinez’s administration.

“We’ve really tried to operate that way, so that we can avoid the acrimony and the fighting,” Johnson said. “I don’t feel like the partnership was there.”

In recent months, the relationship between the mayor’s office and Martinez has grown increasingly tense — as the two sparred over how to cover looming costs, including a pension contribution for non-teaching staff and added expenses related to new Chicago Teachers Union and principals contracts. The conflict also comes as billions in COVID relief money from the federal government expires.

Last month, Mayor Johnson asked Martinez to resign, but he declined. The school board has the sole power to fire the district’s CEO. Earlier this month, tensions boiled over when all seven members of the mayor’s appointed school board resigned amid the turmoil. The mayor announced six of seven new members the following week.

Next month, in Chicago’s first school board election, the city’s voters will elect 10 school board members and the mayor will appoint 11.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org .

Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez asks City Council for additional $325 million in funding

2024-10-16T21:58:15+00:00

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During a sometimes tense City Council hearing Wednesday, Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez asked alderpeople for an additional $325 million in city funding amid an extraordinary leadership shakeup at the district that is rooted in budget problems.

During the more than five-hour hearing for the council’s Committee on Education and Child Development, Martinez also told alderpeople that no cuts are planned for this school year, but the district would have to resort to them if it doesn’t get additional revenue or doesn’t borrow money.

West Side Ald. Jason Ervin, who was perhaps the most critical of Martinez on Wednesday, asked the schools chief why the city should redirect funding that could benefit low-income West Side neighborhoods to “bail out CPS.”

“What I am asking for — for the record, alders — is to protect the investments that have went to our highest poverty schools, many schools on the South and West side,” Martinez replied.

Wednesday’s hearing was called because alderpeople “wanted to get some clarity around the budget,” said Ald. Jeanette Taylor, who chairs the education committee. The hearing was scheduled following the extraordinary resignation two weeks ago of all seven members of the Chicago Board of Education. Six of those members were appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson, who last month asked Martinez to resign following budget-related disagreements.

Former and current board members were invited to attend Wednesday’s meeting but declined, Taylor said. Multiple alderpeople expressed disappointment that none showed up. Ald. Scott Waguespack said the new board “better show up here” when asked in the future.

The board and the mayor’s office described the board shakeup as a natural transition as the city prepares to vote for its first elected school board members, who will be sworn in in January alongside mayoral appointees. But sources with knowledge of the situation have said the resignations were related to the board’s unwillingness to side with the mayor on a couple of key points, including to fire Martinez for cause and take out a short-term loan to help cover some large looming costs.

By state law, the mayor’s appointments for the new school board must live in areas where someone has not won an elected seat — something the public won’t know for certain until after the Nov. 5 election.

Mayor, CPS spar over how to solve the district’s money problems

At the heart of the recent leadership turmoil – and the backdrop of Wednesday’s hearing – is disagreement between the district and City Hall on how to cover major upcoming costs for the school system. That includes a $175 million pension payment for non-teaching staff and costs related to a new Chicago Teachers Union and principals contracts.

The district closed a more than $500 million deficit for its budget this year, a hole exacerbated by the expiration of billions in COVID relief money from the federal government. But it did not budget for the looming pension and labor costs, and without additional funding, would have to resort to cuts or borrow money, officials said.

Despite the acrimony, Martinez largely declined to criticize the mayor and attempted to strike a tone of unity. He said he, Johnson, and the teachers union are “frankly in alignment of visions” for a more well-funded school system and must make that case to state lawmakers when requesting more money in the future.

For now, however, Martinez asked the City Council to provide CPS additional funding by declaring a surplus of Tax Increment Financing, or TIF dollars. These funds come from special taxing districts designed to spur new development and fight blight. Chicago has dozens of TIFs with more than $2.5 billion in property tax revenue. When a surplus is declared, money that’s not earmarked for projects goes back to the local taxing bodies, including CPS. Roughly half of any surplus goes to CPS.

Martinez publicly requested city money last week but said he’s been privately asking for that money since April. The mayor’s response, he said, was to ask CPS to take out a short-term loan.

Martinez’s request for more city funding would come on top of $159 million in TIF dollars the district is already slated to get. The additional funds would cover the pension payment, as well as 4% raises for teachers, more health care benefits, an expansion of Sustainable Community Schools, and more staff, the district said. The union’s wide-ranging proposals include 9% raises, as well as calls for more staffing and additional support for students, including affordable housing access for those who are homeless.

Additional city money would help the district avert cuts, CPS officials argue. They have repeatedly pointed to improved reading and math scores at the district since the pandemic – some of the highest in the nation, according to one study – largely because of billions in federal COVID relief dollars, and why that level of funding must be maintained to build on those academic gains.

Martinez grilled on budget solutions, short-term loan

The district has so far declined to take a loan out of concerns that it will downgrade its bond rating status and saddle the district with high interest costs that would take money away from hiring “teachers, counselors, and social workers,” Martinez said.

Alderpeople probed Martinez on a range of issues, including how the district allocates funding for schools, what his strategy is for getting more money, and what it would mean for the district to take out a short-term loan to pay for ongoing costs.

Ald. Angela Clay asked Martinez how the district would cover costs next year, when it is expected to face another $500 million deficit, if the city bailed CPS out this year. Martinez said he hopes TIF districts will expire under Johnson, potentially freeing up more money for CPS. He added that he will ask for City Council “and the mayor’s help” to advocate for more state funding.

While the state has been increasing its share of funding for CPS, its funding formula says the district needs an additional $1.2 billion to be considered adequately funded. State leaders, however, have said more money than what CPS has already received is not coming.

Some alderpeople seemed reluctant to provide more money for CPS when dozens of its schools enroll fewer than 200 students. Martinez countered that schools need more resources in order to boost enrollment.

Alds. Byron Sigcho-Lopez and Ervin, both close allies of the mayor, raised concerns about shifting TIF dollars meant to improve blighted communities in their wards to help buoy CPS’s budget. Ald. Nicole Lee said she wants to give the district more TIF money, but it’s a “short-term solution” and it’s difficult to know how much will be available.

“Can’t squeeze blood out of stone,” Lee told Martinez. “We only have so much money as a city.”

A few alderpeople who have been critical of the mayor peppered Martinez with questions about the mayor’s request for a short-term loan to help cover some of the costs.

Waguespack asked what sort of response the district would get from credit agencies if a new board comes in, approves a short-term loan, and fires Martinez. Miroslava Mejia Krug, the district’s chief financial officer, said she expects credit agencies to downgrade the district’s bond rating in response.

In a statement previously provided to Chalkbeat, Mayor’s office spokesperson Ronnie Reese said Matinez “flatly refused” to adopt a budget that included labor contract and pension costs “as covered by TIFs and additional financing.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org .

All Chicago Board of Education members to resign amid tensions between Mayor Brandon Johnson and CEO Pedro Martinez

2024-10-04T22:55:50+00:00

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The entire seven-member Chicago Board of Education will resign in the coming weeks after months of tension between Mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez.

The resignations pave the way for Johnson to appoint new board members who could then carry out his wishes, including potentially firing Martinez. Johnson’s office said late Friday he will announce new appointments on Monday at 10:30 a.m.

Word of the resignations comes more than a week after the school board took no action to remove Martinez and about a month before the city’s first school board elections, which will create for the first time a hybrid board of 10 elected members and 11 appointed by the mayor. In three decades of mayoral control, no Chicago mayor has replaced all of their hand-picked members so quickly. Johnson hand-picked six of seven members last July.

The upheaval is also happening amid contract negotiations with Johnson’s former employer the Chicago Teachers Union.

In a joint statement Friday, Johnson and the current appointed school board announced all current members would “transition from service” later this month.

“None of the members leaving the current Board planned to continue onto the hybrid Board, and none are running for election. With the unprecedented increase in Board membership, transitioning new members now will allow them time to orient and gain critical experience prior to welcoming additional elected and appointed members in 2025,” the statement read.

Johnson said this week that he never discusses personnel issues in public. But he told reporters Wednesday, “I was elected to fight for the people of the city and whoever is in the way, get out of it.”

In an interview with Chalkbeat, Jen Johnson, deputy mayor for education, youth, and human services, said the mayor’s office “did not ask for resignations.”

“We knew that none of these board members were running [for election] or going to stay, and so we collaborated to ensure that there was a shepherding, a passing of the torch, as we approach this new board,” Johnson said, adding that all seven board members signed on to the statement the mayor’s office sent to the press.

Earlier this month, the mayor asked Martinez to step down — which he publicly later denied doing. Nonetheless, Martinez refused to resign and the school board has declined so far to fire him.

Board members have declined to comment publicly on Martinez’s clash with Brandon Johnson, but the board has in recent months backed Martinez in a couple of decisions that defied the mayor’s wishes. That includes adopting this year’s budget, as well as declining Johnson’s request for CPS to take out a short-term loan to cover some upcoming costs.

The board members stepping down are Board President Jianan Shi, Elizabeth Todd-Breland, who was appointed by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Mary Fahey Hughes, Tanya Woods, Mariela Estrada, Michelle Morales, and Rudy Lozano Jr.

Shi and Todd-Breland declined to comment further Friday. The other members have not returned emails or calls asking for comment on the resignation rumors this week.

The resignations will pave the way for Johnson to appoint new people to fill the vacancies on the board, who could then vote to approve a short-term loan and fire Martinez. The next school board meeting is Oct. 16, one of few remaining scheduled meetings before the new partially-elected, 21-member school board is sworn in on Jan. 15, 2025.

“The board certainly will have the same authority, to evaluate the CEO against the objectives, and they will, you know, have to certainly tackle the incompleteness of the budget,” Deputy Mayor Johnson said.

Johnson did not directly answer when asked if it is the mayor’s hope that the new board will fire Martinez and approve a loan.

The mayor “will work with this new board just as he did with the current board to ensure we are protecting investments in our schools and that we are not cutting and using the truly chaotic solutions of past administrations, which harmed students in communities for generations,” she said.

In a statement, CPS CEO Martinez commended the board members “for their steadfast dedication to ensuring greater equity in our system, emphasizing our collective responsibility to improve the quality of education for those who are furthest from opportunity.”

If the mayor’s intention is to install a new board in order to fire Martinez, it would “be a group that has never evaluated [Martinez], has never worked with him,” according to a source familiar with the situation who was not authorized to speak with the press. “They don’t know any of his work, they haven’t been part of any of these conversations.”

That source also noted that new board members typically have an orientation, which could be difficult to wedge in before the board’s first meeting.

In order to conduct business, the school board must have a quorum, which board rules define as “a majority of the full membership of the Board of Education then serving.”

Deputy Mayor Johnson declined to specify the exact date of departure for each current board member, calling the latter a “personal decision” for each person.

A CPS central office staffer, who was not authorized to speak with the press, said the board “doesn’t want to undermine the mayor publicly” and feels board members were pressured to leave for not adhering to the mayor’s wishes. Another source familiar with the situation, also not authorized to speak with the media, questioned the official explanation.

“The mayor’s office will try to spin this as a transition,” the source said. “There is no credible explanation for why seven people would all leave a month or two ahead of time to facilitate a transition.”

The mood in the CPS central office was “like a funeral home” Friday as news of the resignations broke, according to the central office staffer, who said many people were sad to see the board departures.

“You could tell they really care about what’s going on at the district,” the staffer said, adding that they have worked with multiple CPS boards. “They have a sense of responsibility that I think I haven’t seen in the past.”

Multiple board members had been in serious discussions to resign as of at least Sunday, three sources told Chalkbeat.

As rumors of resignations floated earlier this week, Gov. J.B. Pritzker said he hoped the school board would not resign before new members are elected. Friday morning, former Chicago school board member and once interim-CPS CEO Jesse Ruiz put out a statement thanking current board members and urging them to “stay the course.”

“Despite all the pressures I know you all are under, I truly hope you continue to provide the steady leadership, governance and oversight that is critical for our public institutions to operate in the best interest of ALL its stakeholders,” Ruiz wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

The school board shakeup likely won’t have an immediate effect on schools, students, and educators, said Jeffery Henig, professor emeritus of politics and education at Columbia University’s Teachers College, who has studied mayoral control of school boards.

The resignations “will create a potential embarrassment” for the mayor, but also give Johnson a chance to “step in strongly” and make swift decisions that he thinks are necessary, Henig said.

The turmoil could, however, create long-term problems for the new board, which may be tasked with replacing Martinez, hiring a permanent replacement, or addressing the issue of borrowing to cover costs, he said.

“This dramatic gesture by the current board could set into motion enough turmoil and public positioning and open vying for leadership in one faction [of the school board] versus another, that it would make it harder for the new board to set an even course at the beginning,” Henig said.

Some candidates running for school board in the November election began issuing statements.

Kate Doyle, a candidate in District 2, said she was “disappointed to see leaders step away” at a critical time and that if elected, she would “work to ensure that decisions are made transparently and with the long-term success of our students in mind.”

Tensions between Martinez, Johnson building for months

In its year-plus tenure, the Johnson-appointed Board of Education has pursued and approved policies that line up ideologically with the mayor. That includes making a commitment to prioritize neighborhood schools, moving away from student-based budgeting for schools, and barring police officers from school campuses.

Martinez and his administration worked in tandem with the board to develop and implement those changes. But the school board has had some frustrations with his performance, WBEZ reported last week. According to documents related to his annual evaluation, board members felt blindsided or unprepared in certain circumstances. Still, CPS told WBEZ that the board and Martinez “have worked collaboratively throughout our tenure to have open dialogue, fostering a respectful and professional relationship.”

“It’s true that the board has been frustrated with Pedro along the way,” said the source familiar with the situation. “But I do think that, in my knowledge of the situation, there has been this relentless pressure to fire Pedro for cause and do it quickly, and the board is not comfortable doing that.”

According to Martinez’s contract, the board would need to provide six months notice before firing him without cause. If the board fired him for just cause, such as criminal activity, he would have to leave immediately. Martinez could sue the district if he believes he was wrongfully terminated.

At the heart of the tension between Johnson, his school board, and Martinez is the district’s budget, which faced a half-billion-dollar deficit before CPS made cuts to close it. That deficit existed largely because billions of federal COVID dollars that the district used to beef up staffing and invest in new programs, such as tutoring, expired this week.

The district’s $9.9 billion budget approved in August did not set aside dollars for the new teachers contract, which it is currently negotiating. It is not unusual for the school district to amend its budget once a contract deal has been reached. WBEZ recently reported that the district has outlined several options, including the “last resort” option of furloughs and layoffs.

Johnson criticized the budget plan, which included the same amount of funding for schools but resulted in other cuts, including of support staff who CPS said will be reassigned or paid for the rest of the year.

The district also did not include a $175 million pension payment for non-teaching staff that CPS began paying in 2020 when Johnson’s predecessor, Lori Lightfoot, was in office. Johnson opposed that cost shift before he became mayor, but has now asked CPS to continue paying it as he works to close a $223 million deficit in the city’s current budget and a nearly $1 billion deficit projected for 2025.

Johnson was expected to deliver his city budget proposal in a speech to City Council on Oct. 16, but earlier this week the mayor’s office announced Johnson would deliver his budget on Oct. 30, a week after the school board is scheduled to meet.

Over the summer, Johnson asked CPS to take out a short-term loan to help pay for the cost of the pension payment and the added expenses of contracts for the teachers and principals unions. Martinez and the board refused, in fear that taking on such a loan would saddle the district with high-interest rates and deepen its looming deficit for years to come.

The board’s departure so close to the election will likely turn up heat on school board candidates, said Henig, the Columbia professor who has studied mayoral control.

“If the candidates haven’t been forced to address this, there’s gonna be a lot of pressure on them to address this,” Henig said.

Union negotiations turn up heat on Martinez

The conflict is compounded by ongoing contract negotiations between the district and the Chicago Teachers Union, where Johnson worked as an organizer before his foray into politics. The union’s wide-ranging proposal package asks for 9% raises, more staffing, and more support for students, but the district has said its financial challenges remain – and less than 10% of the CTU proposals could create a $4 billion deficit for the district by the 2029-30 school year..

The union further turned up the heat on school district officials after saying it obtained a list of potential co-locations between 140 schools. The district, Martinez, and the Board of Education have said they have no plans to close schools. In letters to staff and families earlier this month, Martinez said the list was created as part of its analysis for the five-year strategic plan, and that it led district leaders and the board to affirm that they did not want to close schools.

The union’s House of Delegates recently passed a vote of no-confidence in Martinez.

Under state law, no school closures can happen in Chicago until Jan. 15, 2025. After the union’s claims over the past couple of weeks, the now-outgoing board passed a resolution Thursday, which Martinez prompted, that calls for no school closures until 2027.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago school board doesn’t fire CEO but does commit to no school closures until 2027

2024-09-27T02:49:10+00:00

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Despite weeks of pressure from Mayor Brandon Johnson and the teachers union, the Chicago Board of Education did not remove Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez from his post during its Thursday meeting.

The school board did unanimously pass a resolution put forward by Martinez that said it will not close schools until 2027. That vote came at the end of what was an often tense public meeting that drew many supporters and opponents of Martinez.

In a statement issued earlier this week, the district said the board — which was appointed by Johnson — would not take action on Martinez’s contract. But the veracity of that statement came into question after Board President Jianan Shi said the board had not approved it.

On Thursday, Shi did not directly comment on the mayor’s request for Martinez to resign. He said the board “cannot and will not and won’t discuss confidential or personnel matters publicly.”

Before the board adopted the resolution, Shi also addressed recent claims from the Chicago Teachers Union about school closures that have helped fuel a push to fire Martinez. Shi said there was no plan to close schools, which drew applause.

The conflict between Johnson and Martinez reflects a fundamental rift over how the district should navigate a time when federal COVID relief dollars are running out and major deficits loom.

Tensions between the two surfaced this summer when Johnson criticized the district’s new budget. The CPS budget includes cuts to help eliminate a budget deficit but does not include a $175 million payment to a municipal pension fund that covers non-teaching staff and other city workers.

The latter was something Johnson — before he became mayor — had criticized his predecessor Lori Lightfoot about. But now, the refusal by CPS to pay for some pension costs has helped inflate the deficit in the city budget that Johnson now oversees.

Johnson pushed CPS to take out a short-term loan to cover the costs of the pension payment, as well as union contracts with the teachers and principals unions. But CPS and Martinez declined due to fears about debt.

These tensions have been exacerbated by contract negotiations that began this summer between the union — where Johnson was an organizer — and CPS. Johnson remains a staunch ally of the union, which has proposed 9% pay raises, more classroom staffing, additional support for students, and access to affordable housing for homeless students, among other things.

Last week, Johnson asked Martinez to resign, and Martinez declined. In an extraordinary public move, Martinez wrote an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune saying that he wants to maintain stability for the district and described the talk of closures as an effort to undermine him.

Rather than discuss Martinez’s job status, Shi tried to draw attention Thursday to the district’s efforts to provide more resources to schools “farthest from opportunity.”

Claims about school closures are ‘misinformation’ says Martinez

On Thursday, Martinez did not address his future. But he reiterated that the district has no plans to close schools and again described the claims about closures as part of a “misinformation campaign.”

Jackson Potter, vice president of the Chicago Teachers Union, stopped short of calling for Martinez’s resignation on Thursday. But he said during the meeting that schools would be better off if Martinez “could exert a fraction of the energy and chutzpah you’ve exercised to defend your job” toward ensuring schools had more funding.

The union recently said it had obtained a district analysis listing dozens of new school co-locations. But CPS said the analysis ultimately led the district to decide against closing schools.

Still, those reassurances have failed to quell all concerns. Jitu Brown, a longtime activist and school board candidate on the West Side who has been endorsed by the teachers union, led a press conference with a few community organizations before Thursday’s meeting during which they displayed what they said was the list of co-locations. Brown said they got them from a reliable source but declined to say who. (Neither the union nor the district has shared the list with Chalkbeat.)

Brown said the list reminds him of school closures under former Mayor Richard Daley.

“Every year that Mayor Daley and his appointed school board closed 15 schools, closed 8 schools, closed 10 schools, they always told us, ‘These are just ideas,’ so they must be out of their rabid mind if they believe that we don’t think this is serious,” Brown said.

The district has said it is considering a co-location at just one school: Velma Thomas Early Childhood Center on the city’s South Side.

At least a dozen people from the Velma Thomas community, including parents and teachers, sharply criticized the district and Martinez on Thursday for not taking swift action to buy the school’s building, which they said is up for sale. The church that owns the building offered it to CPS but said the district declined to purchase it, the McKinley Park News reported in May.

Martinez did not address that claim, but said “no decisions have been made” and won’t be until they engage the school community. A teacher interrupted, “You’re letting them sell the building!”

Separately, several people spoke both in favor and against Martinez. Natasha Dunn, a CPS parent who is part of Black Community Collaborative, said “despite his faults,” she credited CPS for launching a working group to explore how to better support Black students.

Ald. Gilbert Villegas, Ald. Silvana Tabares, and Ald. Nick Sposato all spoke in support of keeping Martinez. Sposato wore a “Vote For Pedro” T-shirt — a reference to the movie “Napoleon Dynamite.”

But Ald. Byron Sigcho Lopez strongly criticized Martinez, in part because of the claims around closures.

“It is time the Board of Education holds CPS accountable,” he said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org .

Chicago Board of Education will consider promising no school closures until 2027

2024-09-25T02:31:38+00:00

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The Chicago Board of Education is slated to vote on a resolution that commits to no school closures until 2027 — a response to a Chicago Teachers Union assertion that CEO Pedro Martinez is planning closures, which he has staunchly denied.

The vote on the resolution, which Mayor Brandon Johnson’s appointed school board will consider at its Thursday meeting, comes days after Johnson asked Martinez to resign. In an op-ed for Chicago Tribune published Tuesday, Martinez said he will not step down — and described the talk of closures as a tactic aimed at undermining him.

The resolution is worded as a recommendation from Martinez that the board will be asked to approve. But in the Tribune piece, Martinez said both he and Board President Jianan Shi are asking the board to approve the resolution. In a letter to staff and families, Martinez said the resolution has the board’s “enthusiastic support.”

Asked Tuesday night if Shi partnered with Martinez on the resolution, Shi – in his first public comments since news of Johnson’s resignation request — said Martinez proposed it. Asked if he would vote to approve it, Shi said, “As a former organizer, educator, I have no intention of closing schools.”

If passed by the board, the resolution would place a moratorium on school closures until the end of the 2026-27 school year. Currently, state law prevents Chicago from closing schools until Jan. 15, 2025, when the city’s new, partially elected school board will be sworn in.

In an email, Mary Ann Fergus, a spokesperson for Chicago Public Schools, said the resolution is binding, “but, of course, it could be reversed by future Boards.”

In his letter to staff and families, Martinez wrote that the resolution was an effort to “put to rest” what he described as a “misinformation campaign.”

“I’m disappointed that this misinformation campaign is out there, because I know it has caused unnecessary stress and worry for many in our school communities,” Martinez wrote.

Johnson’s request for Martinez’s resignation raised questions over whether the school board might move to fire Martinez at Thursday’s meeting. On Tuesday evening, a CPS spokesperson initially sent reporters a statement purporting to be from the district and the board that said there was no plan to take action on the CEO’s contract or to secure a loan at the meeting. The statement also said that “there have been an unfortunate series of rumors aimed at discrediting CEO Martinez and his leadership team,” and that any reference to school closures “is a tactic to provide more chaos and uncertainty, to steal precious time away from delivering a world-class education to our children.”

Soon after, Shi tweeted that he hadn’t seen the statement before it went out, and told Chalkbeat that the statement “caught me off guard. This was not a Board of Education statement.”

Minutes later, the district spokesperson sent out an email saying the earlier statement was incorrectly labeled and came from CPS only.

Shi declined to say whether he agreed with the statement and wouldn’t comment on Johnson’s request for Martinez to resign, saying he cannot discuss personnel issues.

Martinez’s reassurance fail to sway union leaders

School closures are a political third rail in Chicago, where in 2013, former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s decision to close 50 schools is still painful for many Chicago residents.

Last week, the union said it had obtained a school facilities analysis that included a list of 70 schools that could be consolidated with 70 others. Citing this document, the union’s House of Delegates passed a vote of no confidence in Martinez.

Martinez has said he would not close schools during his tenure as head of CPS. In a letter last week to staff, Martinez said the school board requested the analysis, and that the district conducted it to help create a five-year strategic plan, which places more focus on bolstering neighborhood schools. Martinez has said the analysis led the board and CPS officials to decide that closures were unnecessary.

Despite Martinez’s assurances over the past week and the planned resolution, union leaders continued to press the issue of possible closures at a public bargaining session at Cameron Elementary on the West Side Tuesday evening.

The session was focused on the union’s demand to expand the number of campuses participating in the Sustainable Community Schools program, a joint district-union initiative that gives extra funding to schools to enlist community nonprofits, beef up after-school programs, and strengthen parent engagement, among other things.

The school district has offered to expand the program from 20 campuses now to 45 within four years, a more modest expansion than the union and Johnson’s administration have sought.

At the session, union Vice President Jackson Potter held up a list of schools flagged for possible consolidation as part of the facilities analysis. He noted that some Sustainable Community Schools are on the list, and questioned whether efforts to transform them could be moot if they end up shuttered down the road.

Bogdana Chkoumbova, the district’s chief education officer, again categorically denied that officials are eyeing closures.

“This referenced list was never made as a recommendation nor was it ever considered as a next step or follow up by anyone,” she said, “There never was a plan to close schools.”

CTU President Stacy Davis Gates countered that staff vacancies and large class sizes in some schools were undermining them, potentially setting them up for closure down the road.

“I am looking at the schools on the list and seeing how they’ve been starved for resources,” she said.

Gates and Potter pressed officials on possible staffing cuts to help balance the district’s almost $10 billion budget, which did not include any dollars for teacher and principal contract costs when the school board passed it earlier this summer.

District officials acknowledged that staffing shortages continue to be an issue. But they argued the district — which added 6,000 positions, including about 2,500 teachers, in the past four years — is on the right track.

“The bottom line is that there are more qualified educators in CPS than at any point before,” said Ben Felton, the chief talent officer.

He said there is no plan to lay off district employees midyear, though he did not rule out the need for such cuts later as enrollments shift.

Budget issue creates rift between mayor and Martinez

Tensions between the mayor and CPS became clear after Johnson told reporters that he was unhappy with the CPS budget, which had a slew of cuts to close its deficit.

Johnson’s desire to oust Martinez came after Martinez and the board declined to cover a chunk of pension payments for non-teaching staff, a move that helped widen a city budget deficit.

When the Johnson administration pushed CPS to take out a short-term loan to help pay for the pension costs, as well as the costs of new teachers and principals union contracts, Martinez and the board balked.

In an internal memo obtained by Chalkbeat, CPS leadership said taking out such a loan would be fiscally irresponsible, could result in a further downgrade of its bond ratings, and would worsen the district’s long-term debt. Martinez publicly confirmed those concerns in his Tribune op-ed.

During the bargaining session, district and union officials joined in praising the community schools model and professing a desire to expand it. But at a press conference afterwards, Davis Gates again took aim at Martinez, calling him a “clown show CEO” standing in the way of a mayor, teachers union and school board in agreement about pumping more dollars into schools and transforming them.

“He can just sign on the dotted line and then we can work together to win more funding for our schools,” she said.

CPS officials canceled their press conference.

In a statement Tuesday, City Hall spokesperson Ronnie Reese did not directly address the resolution.

“As an organizer, Mayor Johnson fought against school closures and participated in a hunger strike to save neighborhood schools,” Reese said. “His vision for public education in Chicago calls for investments in our students — not layoffs and harmful school actions that have traumatized families and communities across the city.”

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Mila Koumpilova is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Amid contract negotiation standoff, the Chicago Teachers Union invokes school closures

2024-09-19T22:43:21+00:00

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The Chicago Teachers Union is escalating a fight with CEO Pedro Martinez as its contract negotiations drag on, with the union accusing the schools chief of plotting to close or consolidate underenrolled schools.

Martinez says there are no such plans, and that the district’s recent analysis of its buildings led to the conclusion that closures were unnecessary. State law bars Chicago from closing public schools until Jan. 15, 2025.

“Let me reiterate: I will not recommend that any schools be closed during my leadership of CPS,” Martinez wrote to district families this week.

But CTU has doubled down, arguing that the existence of the analysis — which neither CTU nor the district would provide to Chalkbeat — is a problem. Jackson Potter, the union’s vice president, told Chalkbeat Wednesday that school board members should consider removing Martinez over the analysis, calling the schools chief a “huge barrier to our collective success.”

The back-and-forth is a sign that the union is looking to put additional pressure on the CEO as negotiations continue. Martinez, appointed by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, is already on shaky ground, with Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former CTU organizer and close ally of the union, reportedly considering ousting him. And in a city where the shuttering of roughly 50 campuses a decade ago still touches a nerve, the union’s allegations are eye-catching — even if it’s unlikely the schools chief would pursue politically unpopular closures under a mayor and school board that oppose them.

The war of words over closures comes as the district faces looming budget deficits and after Martinez has clashed with both the mayor and the union. The CEO recently rejected an appeal from Johnson to take out a high-interest short-term loan to cover a $175 million employee pension payment and the cost of the teacher contract. Meanwhile, the union has lambasted Martinez for limited progress in the talks over the CTU’s slate of proposals, the union’s most far-reaching and costliest to date.

In a statement to Chalkbeat, CPS spokesperson Mary Ann Fergus reiterated that there are no plans to close or consolidate schools.

School board President Jianan Shi and Vice President Elizabeth Todd-Breland did not respond to requests for comment.

The facilities analysis: what we know

Although the arrival of migrant families helped push enrollment up last fall, CPS has grappled for years with enrollment declines that have left many of its campuses underenrolled, especially on the city’s South and West sides. How to best address the issue of shrinking schools is a challenge districts across the country are facing post-pandemic, amplifying fears of possible closures.

In a letter to families earlier this week, Martinez said the district conducted a neighborhood-by-neighborhood facilities analysis to inform a new five-year strategic plan that prioritizes efforts to prop up neighborhood schools. In separate communication to staff, he said the school board requested the study.

In his letters to parents and staff, Martinez said the district would not consider a consolidation plan without first consulting families and residents. He noted that the district is currently looking into two specific moves: a new home for the Velma Thomas Early Childhood Center and moving the seventh and eighth grade from Kelvyn Park High School to three neighborhood elementary schools.

Officials have also pointed out the state moratorium against school closures in Chicago, which expires in January on the same day a partly-elected school board will be sworn in. Johnson’s administration and his appointed school board have said unequivocally that they have no appetite for closing campuses, though they opposed a bill in Springfield that, in part, would’ve extended the moratorium to 2027.

Despite Martinez’s reassurances, union officials have repeated their claim that the district is considering closing schools, including during public comment at the school board’s Wednesday meeting.

Potter said the analysis CTU obtained included a detailed list of roughly 70 schools that could be consolidated with 70 other campuses. He also said the union has internal budget slides that reference consolidation as one option for addressing the district’s financial woes, with staff furloughs as another possibility.

“Why would a CEO have a list of 140 consolidations? Why would that be generated in such a detailed manner if they weren’t considering it?” Potter said. “That’s a waste of time and resources.”

Fergus, the district spokesperson, reiterated that the district reviewed facility usage as part of ongoing work related to the Education Facilities Master Plan and its annual capital plan.

By state law, Fergus said, CPS is required to post guidelines by Oct. 1 for “school actions,” a term used to describe changes to a school. She said only co-locations – when schools share a building – would be considered and can only be explored by CPS once a school community has requested it.

As negotiations continue and city budget looms, more pressure on Martinez

The backdrop to this fight is the ongoing contract negotiations.

After months of little progress, the district and union brought in a mediator to oversee the contract talks last month. At the bargaining table, the district has offered teachers raises of up to 5% in the next four years, which officials say will bring the average educator salary to more than $110,000 by the end of the contract, along with benefit increases at no cost to teachers and other concessions. But the district has balked at the union’s proposals to codify class sizes and staffing minimums in the contract, among others. The two are scheduled to bargain in public next Tuesday.

Also looming is pressure on Johnson to close a $223 million deficit in the City of Chicago’s current budget and close next year’s nearly $1 billion gap. Both gaps in the city’s budget, which covers city services such as police and fire, public libraries, and streets and sanitation, exist partly because the school board passed a $9.9 billion budget this summer that did not include money for the pensions of non-teaching staff. The CTU once sharply criticized Lightfoot when she passed on this same pension payment to the school district during her tenure.

Johnson suggested CPS take out a high-interest, short-term loan, but district leaders, backed by the school board, have said short-term borrowing to cover those costs would only add to CPS’s already substantial debt. Reports that Johnson was laying the groundwork to remove Martinez emerged in August amid this disagreement.

The union has made its displeasure with Martinez clear, arguing that district officials – and Martinez specifically – have failed to lobby state lawmakers and the governor aggressively for additional funding.

Potter said union leaders to his knowledge have not spoken with board members about removing Martinez. But he noted that since reports first came out that Johnson was planning to oust the schools chief, the district and union have made more headway at the bargaining table — “improvements in the pace and seriousness of bargaining.”

Still, he said, “If every time we make incremental progress at the bargaining table it’s because we have to threaten Pedro Martinez’s job, that’s not a healthy standard. It’s an impossible one.”

The CEO still has the support of many school leaders. Earlier this month, roughly 460 principals and assistant principals wrote to the school board arguing that after years of leadership turnover, Martinez is making progress in leading the district and his removal weeks into a new school year would cause significant disruption for students and staff.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org .

Is Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson trying to replace CPS CEO Pedro Martinez?

2024-08-15T01:18:58+00:00

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This story has been updated to include a comment from CPS and the Board of Education.

Chicago Public Schools staff and students could face a rocky start to the school year amid reports of a possible shake-up of the district’s top leadership.

According to WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times, Mayor Brandon Johnson is reportedly looking to replace Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez, who has overseen CPS since September 2021 and recently pushed back, alongside the Chicago Board of Education, against directives from City Hall.

The news comes less than two weeks before the start of a new school year and as Chicago is about to be center stage hosting the Democratic National Convention.

But three sources close to CPS who spoke on a condition of anonymity in order to speak candidly told Chalkbeat that Martinez is focused on doing his job and has not expressed interest in quitting.

Ultimately, Chicago’s Board of Education is tasked with hiring – and firing – a CEO. Historically, Chicago mayors have selected who they want to serve as CPS CEO and then had their pick voted on by board members, who were also appointed by the mayor.

The mayor’s office declined to comment about plans to oust Martinez.

In a statement, CPS and the Board of Education said, “The Chicago Board of Education, CEO Martinez, and Chicago Public Schools leadership are focused on preparing for a smooth start to the school year on August 26. We’re excited to work together with our school leaders, educators, and parents to continue to put the needs of our students first and build on our academic growth of the past two school years.”

One source close to CPS heard earlier this month that City Hall had drafted a list of potential replacements for Martinez but was not aware of the mayor’s team conducting interviews with anyone. And another source said that while the board has been aligned ideologically with the mayor’s office, it does not seem to have the appetite to fire Martinez right now.

If this board doesn’t act, the decision could ultimately be left to a new slate of people after Chicago’s first school board elections happen this November. That board will consist of 11 mayoral appointees, and another 10 members who will be elected from across the city.

The tensions between the mayor, CPS leadership, and the Chicago Teachers Union on the eve of a new school year are a stark contrast to harmonious spirit one year ago, when Johnson, Martinez, and CTU President Stacy Davis Gates visited schools together on the first day of classes.

Ald. Jeanette Taylor, who chairs the City Council’s Committee on Education and Child Development, said she had no idea that Johnson was looking to replace Martinez until Wednesday morning when a longtime City Hall newspaper reporter called her.

“I did not know, but I understand,” Taylor said. “Did the man do what he was supposed to do? Did he do his job? Did he put CPS in a better place than it was when he got there? For me, no.”

Still, Taylor said the timing is bad with the school year about to start and it’s “not a good look” given that CPS is currently bargaining with the Chicago Teachers Union.

Ald. Gilbert Villegas, past chair of the City Council Latino Caucus, which lobbied former Mayor Lori Lightfoot to pick a Latino to lead the school district, said he felt Martinez has done a good job and has been a “voice of neutrality” during the bargaining process with CTU.

“There has to be someone in the room that’s making sure that taxpayers are being heard and their issues are being considered here, and it’s just, it just doesn’t make sense that in the middle of negotiations you want to replace the CEO because he’s providing information that you don’t like,” Villegas said.

In recent weeks, the board passed a budget put forward by CPS leadership that Johnson did not approve of. That $9.9 billion spending plan approved last month closed a $505 million deficit through cuts and other savings. But it didn’t include any funding to pay for an eventual new contract with the teachers union or with the district’s new principals union. It also doesn’t include money to pay $175 million in pension costs for non-teaching staff that the city used to cover until the Lightfoot administration. A Johnson spokesperson has previously said they expect CPS to cover the $175 million in pension costs.

The board and CPS also rejected the Johnson administration’s recommendation to take out a short-term loan to pay for additional expenses, including the cost of new teachers and principal contracts and the pension payment. City Hall has continued to push CPS to take that loan and to cover the pension payment, according to one of the sources close to CPS. That source said Wednesday’s news felt disappointing to read about “when we’re all trying to do the right thing for CPS and for the students going forward.”

Negotiations between the district and Chicago Teachers Union, a close ally and former employer of Johnson’s, have become increasingly tense. CTU leadership has directly blamed Martinez for the lack of movement, saying Martinez lacks “the vision” to make the union’s proposals possible.

The 700-plus proposal package covers a variety of issues, including 9% raises for teachers and other members, additional staff to schools, and more support for students and their families in need, such as housing assistance. During a public bargaining session Tuesday, CPS said just 52 of the union’s proposals would cause the district’s deficit to balloon to $3 billion next fiscal year, roughly $2.5 billion more than what the district is already anticipating.

After that bargaining session, Davis Gates expressed frustration about the district’s deficit analysis related to the union’s proposals. Asked if the mayor’s office should reprimand CPS for defying Johnson’s wishes, Davis Gates pointed to other situations where the board has aligned with a mayor’s will, such as the notorious “Willis Wagons” created in the 1960s under former CPS CEO Benjamin Willis to avoid integrating schools or the decision under Mayor Rahm Emanuel to close 50 schools.

“You gotta ask Pedro why he doesn’t comply with the transition report that the mayor’s team said yes to,” Davis Gates said, referring to a report outlining the mayor’s vision for schools that closely aligns with policies CTU supports. “I can’t answer why they are not subordinate.”

Martinez and the board have carried out several policy changes Johnson favors, including moving away from student-based budgeting, stripping schools of on-campus police, and committing to rethinking the school choice system.

Martinez could resign on his own, though it’s unclear if he would still be eligible to receive severance in that case. If the board fired him without cause, he is entitled to severance equal to 20 weeks of pay, or close to $131,000, and would need six months notice, according to his contract with CPS.

Taylor said paying out Martinez’s contract will be costly, but keeping him could be too.

“Our kids cannot afford for us to keep trying to figure it out and fighting amongst each other,” Taylor said. “We wonder why our city is in chaos, because we [are] in chaos.”

Mila Koumpilova contributed.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org .

Chicago Board of Education passes $9.9 billion budget for upcoming school year

2024-07-25T21:55:04+00:00

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The Chicago Board of Education passed a budget Thursday for the coming school year, following weeks of tension and opposition that reached as high up as the mayor’s office.

That budget, however, will likely be amended after the district finishes negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union and the district’s new principals union. It does not currently account for increases to teacher salaries.

The $9.9 billion budget boosts overall funding for schools, but it also includes cuts to central staff and administrative costs to help close a roughly half-billion-dollar deficit, including for central staff and administrative costs. It also includes a $611 million capital budget, which largely funds repairs and updates to school facilities.

While the district will freeze about 200 positions and cut 45 other roles, it will also add another 800 school-based staff positions, with just over 60% of those for teachers. Roughly half of those positions are for serving students with disabilities, said Mike Sitkowski, CPS’s budget director.

Sitkowski said the deficit is expected to be at least $500 million by next fiscal year, which starts July 1, 2025 – and that’s without accounting for the cost of bargaining agreements with unions.

One by one, board members praised the budget plan but also raised concerns about the need for more funding down the road and acknowledged the pushback they’ve heard, including that losing staff can feel disruptive for schools.

“Is this budget perfect? No, but in my time here, it is the budget that has most equitably distributed the funds that we do have,” said Vice President Elizabeth Todd Breland, who was also on the Board of Education under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

School communities received their campus staff allocations roughly a month ago, and some have been bracing for the impact of tighter budgets this fall. The budget includes a new way of funding schools by giving more weight to student needs than enrollment numbers. The new formula has resulted in fewer overall positions at at least 150 schools, while many others saw more positions, according to a Chalkbeat analysis.

The district’s budget drew rare opposition from Mayor Brandon Johnson, who said he supported efforts to fill the deficit but did not support cuts to staff. At one point, Johnson’s office pushed the Board of Education to borrow up to $300 million to cover costs of union agreements and pension costs that the city shifted to the district a few years ago. CPS balked at that suggestion, arguing that such a move would result in a high-interest, short-term loan that could further damage the district’s bond rating.

The Chicago Teachers Union has protested the budget for weeks during multiple rallies, including before Thursday’s meeting, to push back against staff layoffs and to call on the state and federal governments to send more money to Chicago Public Schools. CPS has promised to find laid-off teachers new jobs or cover their salaries for the upcoming year.

The state increased funding for CPS this year, but the district is still $1 billion short of what the state’s formula considers adequate funding.

One of those teachers is fourth grade teacher Michelle Ludwig, who taught at Christopher Elementary School before losing her job last month, costing her students “a teacher who genuinely cares about them and with whom they’ve built trusting relationships,” Ludwig told the board Thursday. She said she has not yet found a new position.

“There should be vacancies based upon retirement and personal choice, but not because the district decided to devalue teachers,” Ludwig said.

Dozens of people in red CTU T-shirts gathered outside Jones College Prep in the South Loop, where Thursday’s meeting was being held, with multiple signs, such as “Equitable Funding,” “$1 billion short,” and multiple signs criticizing CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, who the union says has been shortsighted in crafting the budget proposal.

CTU Vice President Jackson Potter told school board members that this is a ripe time to pressure the state for more money, given that Gov. J.B. Pritzker is being considered as a running mate for presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris, who has called for more teacher pay. And, he noted, the Democratic National Convention will be in Chicago.

“I think we can be heroes if we can get the decision-makers to the table to agree that this is a priority,” Potter said.

Kids First Chicago, an parent advocacy group, has suggested different ways to raise revenue and save money, including by advocating for more state funding, raising property taxes, and gradually consolidating the Chicago teacher pension system, which is funded by CPS, with the state’s pension fund for teachers, which is funded through the state budget, not local districts.

Those recommendations were endorsed by the Civic Federation, a nonpartisan government watchdog group, which warned that the district does not have a long-term solution for its deficit. The deficit next fiscal year is projected to increase to $933 million if the district provides a 4% raise for teachers and principals and picks up a $175 million payment to cover the pensions of non-teaching staff.

Sitkowski acknowledged those long-term challenges, noting that the deficit for next fiscal year, which begins July 1, 2025, is projected to grow to at least $500 million. He said the district will need more funding going forward to close those gaps.

District leaders have argued that the city should step in to cover the pension cost of non-teaching staff as it has in the past. The budget approved by the board Thursday included the pension expense, but also assumes there will be revenue from City Hall to cover the cost. It’s not clear if Johnson’s office will take it on when the city puts together its budget later this year.

Separately, after months of development, the board passed a new safety policy for schools that removes police officers staffed by the Chicago Police Department from campuses. The plan, known as Whole School Safety, pushes schools staff to implement alternatives to discipline, such as restorative justice practices.

The presentation to the board was almost celebratory. Students and advocates who worked with CPS to create the plan were asked to stand up as board members praised their advocacy over the past few years to revamp how the district approached school safety.

A recent study found that schools that had already removed officers saw a slight drop in high-level disciplinary violations.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago’s Mayor Johnson suggests CPS borrow to cover pension, contract costs

2024-07-12T22:15:54+00:00

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Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration floated a plan for Chicago Public Schools to borrow up to $300 million to help pay for increased salary and some pension costs next year, Chalkbeat has learned.

But CPS leadership balked at the idea — calling it a “fictional or phantom revenue source” — and pushed back on City Hall’s request, according to an internal memo obtained by Chalkbeat and multiple sources familiar with their discussions.

The internal CPS memo, dated July 8, outlines the risks of borrowing to pay for hypothetical 4% raises for teachers and principals and cover a $175 million pension payment that was shifted to the school district by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

If the district covered those raises and pension payments, the district’s projected deficit would grow to $933 million for next fiscal year, the memo said. Borrowing $300 million to pay for expenses this year “only shifts the problem” to the following year and will mean higher costs to pay off debt down the line, the memo said.

The mayor’s office did not comment on the suggestion to borrow money, but said in a statement that the district has limited options to close its budget gap. It said the mayor supports the “cost-saving measures and operational efficiencies,” but is not supportive of cuts to critical staff and is having conversations to solve the district’s financial challenges.

Loan suggestion comes amid CPS budget challenges

CPS had roughly $9.3 billion in outstanding debt as of June 1, and its debt-service obligations already divert hundreds of millions of dollars away from classrooms every year. Officials included more than $800 million in debt payments in the district’s proposed $9.9 billion operating budget announced earlier this week. The proposal would close a $505 million shortfall — driven largely by the end of federal COVID money — through cuts at the district’s central office and staffing, as well through restructuring some existing debt and federal grants.

The proposed budget does not include any new borrowing, or factor in the costs of new bargaining agreements that are being negotiated now, including with the Chicago Teachers Union.

Johnson blasted that budget proposal Thursday. In a statement Friday, his office said he supported how the district proposed to close its budget deficit and called the new school funding formula “promising,” but said there is “still more work to be done.”

The teachers union called the budget proposal “an act of make-believe.” The Board of Education is expected to vote on the budget proposal later this month.

Johnson, the teachers union, and CPS had unsuccessfully pushed state lawmakers to provide more money to the district in order to help close its funding gap. While state funding for Chicago schools has increased since 2017, CPS would need another $1 billion to be considered “adequately funded” under the state’s school funding formula. However, the internal memo notes that in the past, CPS used deficit spending “as a strategy to increase pressure on the state for additional state funding, but it never worked.”

A district spokesperson declined to comment on the loan suggestion, except to say that CPS has not taken on a loan to balance its budget.

“We will continue to collaborate with City leaders, our labor, civic and community partners, to find solutions to the long-standing public education funding challenges so we can best support our students’ continued success,” CPS spokesperson Mary Ann Fergus said in a statement.

The union also took issue this week with the district’s overall proposed budget.

“As we review this budget proposal, it is clear that CPS leadership has failed to take steps to guarantee our students and their families what they need to dream, achieve and thrive,” CTU President Stacy Davis Gates said in a statement Wednesday.

Earlier in the month, the union decried layoffs of at least 330 of its members amid a new approach to how the district funds its schools. Those members will likely be rehired at other schools, but the layoffs caused disruption for teachers and school communities, CTU said.

The union did not comment specifically on the issue of a loan. In a statement, Vice President Jackson Potter said CPS CEO Pedro Martinez is “shirking his responsibility” to build a budget that provides a quality education, especially for families on the South and West sides, and the union expects CPS, the city, and state “to find real solutions and work together to craft a budget that provides stability, equity, and quality.”

The principals union said in a statement that City Hall’s suggestion for a loan “is not the answer.” The union also expressed concern that officials are estimating an $8 million cost for its contract, given that negotiations are ongoing.

The union said that the current budget is partly driven by the burden of previous borrowing, and that budget obligations “should not be satisfied on the backs of our students.”

Past pension cost shift at center of disagreement over borrowing

City Hall’s suggestion that CPS borrow money is tied in part to pension payments for the retirement of CPS staff that are not teachers through the Municipal Employees’ Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago, according to the July 8 CPS memo. The city used to cover this cost through its own budget, but Lightfoot began shifting that cost to CPS, starting with a $60 million payment in 2020, a move that Johnson and the CTU criticized at the time.

Now, under Johnson as mayor, City Hall wants CPS to cover $175 million of the pension payments, the memo says. That’s the same amount the district contributed last year.

In addition to the pension payments, the suggested borrowing would help cover $120 million in increased costs associated with a new Chicago Teachers Union contract. Another $8 million would be for costs related to the first contract under Chicago’s new principals union, the memo says. Both contracts are still in negotiations.

In all, under City Hall’s proposed loan plan, the district would take on $284 million in new expenses to be covered with borrowed money that would be paid off over the next 20 years.

In the memo, which analyzes City Hall’s proposal for the Board of Education, district officials warned that while borrowing money could solve an immediate problem, the district is still projecting deficits in future fiscal years.

Taking out a loan could also damage the district’s already low bond ratings, the memo said. Even with recent rating upgrades, CPS is still “the largest junk bond issuer in the United States,” according to the memo.

A low bond rating is similar to a bad credit score. It makes it more expensive for the district to borrow money to fund its capital budget, which is used to improve or build new school facilities, the memo said.

“This could be thought of as putting your credit card payments that you can no longer afford on your mortgage payments,” the memo said. “It allows cash to be freed up for other expenses, but it seeds a costly legacy of future amounts of larger debt to be paid back and it does not solve the issue of being fiscally responsible.”

The memo is accurate about the impact of taking out a loan to cover operating costs, said Joe Ferguson, president of the Civic Federation, a nonpartisan government watchdog organization, who is also Chicago’s former inspector general.

Additionally, it’s not clear how CPS would balance its budget in future years, given the increased borrowing costs, Ferguson noted. The type of loan described in the memo is akin to a payday loan, where interest rates are very high, he said.

“One of the ironies here is that, CPS — long derided and criticized for irresponsible practices — in this moment is endeavoring to be the responsible actor,” by closing its deficit through various cuts and debt restructuring, Ferguson said.

Chicago Public Schools has a long history of borrowing to pay expenses, including risky bond deals during the 2000s that saddled the system with more long-term debt. The Chicago Teachers Union became a vocal critic of the district’s borrowing practices after the Chicago Tribune’s reporting on the issue in 2014.

When the district faced deficits between the 2014 and 2017 fiscal years, CPS borrowed money to cover operating expenses since administrations at the time didn’t want to cut costs. The district owes $3.7 billion in principal and interest payments for that borrowing, the memo said.

The recently proposed budget is about 75% larger than a decade ago, when CPS had a $5.6 billion operating budget. Johnson has lobbied board members to approve the loan plan, but the board “is remaining firm in their pushback,” according to one source with knowledge of the conversations.

Chalkbeat Chicago Bureau Chief Becky Vevea contributed.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools and Chicago Teachers Union to hold first public bargaining session

2024-06-13T23:40:00+00:00

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Chicagoans will get a window into collective bargaining between the city’s public school district and its teachers union at a first-of-its-kind meeting Friday night.

Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union will hold a public bargaining session at Marquette Elementary in the city’s West Lawn neighborhood on the South Side. As of midday Wednesday, registration to attend in person had reached capacity, but officials said it will be livestreamed on YouTube.

But at Friday night’s session — held on the first weekend of summer break — the two sides do not plan to discuss any provisions of the current CTU contract, such as those dealing with class size limits, pay raises, or other benefits. Instead, they plan to discuss “healthy, safe, and green schools.”

Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former teachers union organizer, made “green schools” part of his education platform last year. School facilities are typically dealt with in the district’s capital budget, which had its own series of public hearings already this year.

Tonight’s meeting is another sign of a more friendly relationship between the two parties.

The CTU’s current contract expires on June 30. Last week, CPS posted their opening proposals online and sent an email to parents sharing more information about how they will approach labor negotiations. CTU has posted their proposals online for members to access using a passcode, and the Illinois Policy Institute, a conservative think tank, published a copy of the union’s ideas to their website.

While there is a lot for the two sides to sort out, one thing seems certain: Chicago’s new, partially elected school board likely won’t have much say over the teachers union contract during board members’ first few years on the job.

Though the length of the contract won’t be discussed Friday, the dueling proposals put forward by both sides would lock a new contract in place that would last through the first two rounds of school board elections.

CPS is proposing a five-year contract that would expire on June 30, 2029, while CTU is putting forward a four-year deal expiring on May 1, 2028.

Ten new school board members will be elected from 10 districts on Nov. 5, 2024. Those 10, plus 11 appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson, will be sworn in on Jan. 15, 2025. In November 2026, 20 members will be elected from 20 districts and the school board president will be elected at-large.

The current contract is a five-year deal that began after a 12-day strike in 2019, but negotiations between CPS and CTU occurred multiple times during the COVID pandemic around schools returning to in-person learning. The previous contract covered three school years starting in 2016, and the one negotiated in 2012 ended up being four years.

It’s common for public sector labor agreements to extend through one or more election cycles, said Robert Bruno, a professor of labor and employment at the University of Illinois.

“Things like school board elections, things like a mayoral and city council elections, really should not be first and foremost,” Bruno said.

“They should bring a package forward that says, ‘This will be good for the district, it’ll be good for students, and it’s affordable, and teachers, our employees will be supportive of it,’” Bruno said.

A CPS spokesperson said the district wants a five-year contract “to ensure stability and predictability” to allow the district “to more effectively plan our academic and operational programming, supports, and services.”

A CTU representative said school board elections did not factor into their proposal for a four-year contract. The representative added that the union supports giving parents and communities more say over the public school system through an elected board.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

What’s going on with Chicago’s Near South Side High School plan?

2024-05-20T17:35:24+00:00

This story was originally published by Block Club Chicago.

A controversial plan for a new Near South Side high school appears to have stalled.

Families on the Near South Side and Chinatown have been asking for a dedicated community high school for years, as many families say students are forced to travel across the city to attend selective-enrollment schools that offer classes and extracurriculars nearby high schools lack.

In 2018, plans to convert National Teacher’s Academy, 55 W. Cermak Road, into a high school were scrapped after outcry from families and NTA staff. Instead, a $150 million school was proposed for the former Harold Ickes Homes site near 24th and State streets on the Near South Side.

That plan was met with criticism from Bronzeville and Chinatown neighbors who opposed building the school on public housing land. It has also drawn accusations of backroom deals and prompted backlash toward Chicago Public Schools, the Chicago Housing Authority, and City Hall leaders.

Now, officials are being quiet about the status of the school, and a website that served as an information hub for the proposed high school has been taken down.

“We’ve been given no update yet, but as far as I know, everything is pretty much still status quo. I’m still committed to making this happen,” Ald. Nicole Lee (11th) told Block Club.

A Board of Education vote to approve a capital budget for the project was originally set for June 2023 but was pulled pending further review, sources said at the time. It’s unclear what the next steps are.

In a statement, a CPS spokesperson said the website was “currently paused,” but more information would eventually be shared.

“The Near South High School proposal is still under review as the District develops long-term strategies and objectives through work on the CPS Educational Facilities Master Plan and Five-Year Strategic Plan,” district officials said in a statement.

Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office did not respond to requests for comment. During his campaign, Johnson pledged to enforce a moratorium on building anything on public housing land, but it is unclear whether he supports the school proposal.

A month after the stalled school board vote, Johnson replaced all but one board member and named Jianan Shi school board president. Shi, previously with parent advocacy group Raise Your Hand, was part of a coalition of residents calling for the high school to be built elsewhere.

The proposed site for a new CPS high school is a vacant lot at 24th and State Streets, where the former Harold L. Ickes Homes sat.

The story so far

Near South Side neighbors and elected officials have long fought for a community high school in the area, saying the lack of options for the growing population has forced students to travel up to two hours to other neighborhoods.

But many of those proponents have pushed CPS to consider other sites for the school. They suggested The 78 megadevelopment, or a plot between 17th and 18th and Canal and Stewart Avenues. They also suggested repurposing Jones College Prep into a neighborhood school.

The Illinois Answers Project reported last year that CHA, CPS, and city officials had homed in on the Harold Ickes Homes site by July 2021, maintaining to the public there were no other viable locations for the school.

School board members narrowly voted in September 2022 to buy the land at 23rd Street and Wabash Avenue for $10.3 million for the school. They also approved a land swap deal with the CHA: The district would lease land at 24th and State for the high school, and the housing agency would get the deed for the Wabash land to complete the Southbridge residential development, allowing some of the families displaced by the demolition of the Ickes Homes to return.

The school would accommodate 1,200 students from the community, 30% of them Black. It would be a feeder school for nine surrounding elementary schools: Armour, National Teachers Academy, Drake, Healy, Ward J, Holden, Smyth, Haines, and South Loop.

An ad hoc committee consisting of parents, community leaders, and district staff was formed in November 2022 to guide CPS families through the process. The following month, the City Council approved $8 million in tax-increment financing dollars to buy some of the land involved in the swap. The ad hoc committee launched a series of virtual meetings in January 2023 to get community input and was to meet twice a month ahead of the scheduled board vote.

People Matter co-founder Angela Lin talks ahead of a 2022 protest opposing the controversial proposal to build a new $150 million high school on Chicago's Near South Side.

Following the land swap, Rep. Theresa Mah vowed to withdraw the $50 million in state funding she helped secure because of the city’s refusal to compromise with neighbors who wanted to explore alternate sites.

Mah told Block Club earlier this month she hasn’t had a chance to speak with Johnson’s administration on the issue, but she remains firm on finding a compromise that doesn’t involve using public housing land.

“I want to revisit it, and I still believe we should consider another site because it doesn’t make sense to stick with a site so many are opposed to,” Mah said. The funding for the school will be reappropriated in the meantime, she said.

Other opponents were concerned about the siphoning of resources from other nearby high schools, including Wendell Phillips and Dunbar Vocational Academy — two predominantly Black schools that have suffered budget cuts in recent years.

Organizers from the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization, Lugenia Burns Hope Center, People Matter, and the Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community held a series of City Hall protests and town halls after the land swap agreement, some of them calling on former Mayor Lori Lightfoot to do away with the plan altogether.

“We have not heard any news,” said Grace Chan McKibben, executive director of Coalition for a Better Chinese American Community. “We are in the process of trying to figure out who in CPS we should talk to about this. It is unclear who is leading the planning of the Near South high school, or if anyone is.”

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson pushes education agenda with ‘urgency’ during first year in office

2024-05-14T11:00:00+00:00

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On a recent Tuesday morning, Mayor Brandon Johnson visited classrooms at Kelvyn Park High School in Hermosa to present certificates of recognition to teachers for Teacher Appreciation Week.

Flanked by an alderman and the chief of finance for the teachers union, Johnson posed for photos and created a scene rare to find before last year: The mayor standing side-by-side with teachers, some wearing bright red Chicago Teachers Union shirts.

The scene was an indicator of the pivotal role education has played in Johnson’s agenda in office.

When Johnson, a former middle school teacher and Chicago Teachers Union organizer, was elected last year, it was no surprise education would be a central priority.

The union catapulted Johnson into office, and his win was the result of a decade of CTU organizing against how previous mayors approached public education. Instead of a system in which schools compete for students and parents choose the best option no matter how far they may have to travel, Johnson promised to focus on bolstering neighborhood schools, many which have seen declining enrollment and fewer resources.

As Johnson hits the one-year mark in office, his appointed school board has overseen a change in the district’s funding formula and directed district leaders to come up with a new five-year strategic plan, to be voted on this summer, that would rethink the city’s school choice system, which includes charter, selective enrollment, and magnet schools that require applications for admission.

“We have to fund our schools based upon the need,” Johnson said in a February 2023 video interview with Block Club Chicago. “Every single school should have a social worker, counselor and nurse as the bare minimum.”

But Johnson faces a big challenge in carrying out his education agenda: Chicago Public Schools is facing a projected $391 million budget deficit next fiscal year and has provided little detail on how it will close the gap. Federal COVID money is running out and he must bargain a new contract with the teachers union.

Johnson’s agenda also called for free public transit for students, housing for the district’s 20,000 homeless students, and creating up to 200 more Sustainable Community Schools – a partnership with the CTU that provides wraparound services at needy schools. None of these promises have seen any progress.

Still, education may be the one area where Johnson has made progress during his first year in office, said Dick Simpson, professor emeritus of politics at University of Illinois at Chicago and a former alderman.

“In comparison to, say, his other problems — solving crime, for instance — he is much further along on the school agenda,” Simpson said.

The speed with which Johnson can deliver on his education promises is important because he will soon lose exclusive control over the Chicago Board of Education, as the school board begins to transition to a partially elected body this November.

In an interview with Chalkbeat, Johnson said his focus on education “has more to do with the urgency that families are calling for.”

“We’re talking about decades upon decades of school closures, the defunding of our schools, the attack on veteran educators, particularly Black educators,” Johnson said. “So our urgency is really centered around the needs of our young people and the needs that our families have.”

Mayor Brandon Johnson visits the classroom of English teacher Noe Castro at Kelvyn Park High School with Principal Keith Adams and Ald. Felix Cardona Jr. (31st) in Hermosa on May 7, 2024.

Bolstering neighborhood schools, but not without backlash

Johnson’s plans to bolster neighborhood schools kicked into gear last December.

Just before winter break, the board of education passed a resolution aimed at boosting neighborhood schools and rethinking Chicago’s school choice system, which encourages kids to enroll in public schools outside their attendance zones. Half of all elementary students go to schools that are not their zoned neighborhood schools and more than 70% of high schoolers do.

Johnson has described the choice system as a “Hunger Games scenario” that forces schools to compete for students and resources and results in less investment in neighborhood schools. The resolution said the choice system “reinforces, rather than disrupts, cycles of inequity” and must be replaced with “anti-racist processes and initiatives that eliminate all forms of racial oppression.”

Though many selective enrollment and magnet schools were created under court-ordered desegregation, many still lack the diversity of the city and are largely segregated by race and class. A couple dozen are integrated, but serve more white and Asian American students than the rest of the school district.

The board’s resolution did not change any current policies or suggest the closure of any schools. Board members emphasized that public feedback would drive any changes, such as to admissions policies. Board members have, however, said they plan to scrutinize charter schools more.

The resolution was praised by advocates who have long pushed for more investment in neighborhood schools and the Chicago Teachers Union.

Johnson “ran on equity,” said Stacy Davis Gates, president of the Chicago Teachers Union. “He said that our school district had to be more equitable, and the resolution that came from the Board of Education is speaking to the inequity and their efforts to ameliorate inequity that are often disproportionately experienced by neighborhood schools.”

Mayor Brandon Johnson meets students as he tours Kelvyn Park High School in Hermosa on May 7, 2024.

But the resolution also sparked backlash from families whose children attend schools of choice, including those already frustrated that CPS was not providing bus service to general education students, largely those attending selective and magnet schools.

Those concerns pushed state lawmakers to file a bill that is up for a final vote this week, which would prevent the district from changing admissions policies for selective enrollment schools – something the current board signaled it may do. The bill would also prevent CPS from cutting funding for selective enrollment schools or closing any school until 2027, when the school board will be fully elected. The bill is supported by powerful state lawmakers and Gov. J. B. Pritzker.

Johnson said the bill would prevent the board from taking actions to help create “real equity” and would prevent the district from balancing its budget. He began rattling off the relatively small percentages of Black students at some of the city’s most sought after selective enrollment high schools and noted how those figures were higher about two decades ago.

“What I’m troubled by is that you have a school district that is hypersegregated and that stratification has continued to grow because you haven’t had leadership like mine directing the school board and the Chicago Public Schools to commit to real equity,” Johnson said. “So is Springfield intervening to protect segregation?”

Simpson noted that Johnson has “a more strained” relationship with the legislature and Pritzker, meaning he doesn’t have a lot of clout to fight for what he wants.

Mayor Brandon Johnson pats the head of kindergartner Triston during a back-to-school event at Jackie Robinson Elementary School in Bronzeville on Aug. 21, 2023.

CPS changes funding formula

In March, CPS announced it would change how it distributes money to schools, delivering on another major promise Johnson made on the campaign trail to end student-based budgeting, which provides schools a set dollar amount for every child enrolled.

The new funding formula will now give every school a base level of staff and discretionary money based on need, which principals can use flexibly. This “needs-based” formula is meant to break a cycle in which underenrolled schools in underinvested neighborhoods lose money because they’re losing students.

That change, too, has drawn a fresh batch of concerns.

Parent leaders at selective enrollment and magnet schools said their budgets provide for fewer staffers next year under the new formula. Some Local School Councils are voting against their budgets for next year.

CPS officials have said that overall funding to schools remains the same as last year but individual schools could see changes. The district is looking for cuts at the central office to address the $391 million deficit, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez has said. CPS has not yet released school budgets for next year to the public.

The union also raised concerns about the formula, saying it lacks guaranteed positions, such as teacher assistants, and said some neighborhood schools have also seen cuts. Davis Gates blamed Martinez – not the mayor – for those flaws, because she said he is not explaining the changes well to the public or lobbying the state legislature hard enough for more money to prevent staffing cuts to some schools.

Mayor Brandon Johnson hugs art teacher Meredith Kachel at Kelvyn Park High School as he surprised her for Teacher Appreciation Week. Johnson visited the school with Principal Keith Adams and Ald. Felix Cardona Jr. (31st) in Hermosa on May 7, 2024.

Sylvia Barragan, a spokesperson for Chicago Public Schools, said “multiple staff members” have visited Springfield throughout the session to advocate for more funding, and Martinez has pushed for more funding “for well over two years in Springfield, at our Board of Education meetings and beyond.”

CPS officials have said that no type of school is being disproportionately impacted. But Martinez has acknowledged that they are working to fix concerns at individual schools.

Mayor inconsistent on police out of schools

Some education-focused organizations have criticized the mayor’s administration for pushing big changes through or flip-flopping on commitments without properly engaging the public.

Hal Woods, director of policy and advocacy for Kids First Chicago, shared some examples. For one, the board publicly posted its resolution stating its intent to rethink school choice two days before the board voted, leaving little time for the public to digest it, Woods said. The district is currently holding hearings to collect feedback for the next strategic plan.

Parents and schools have also demanded more information about why the district is changing its funding formula, Woods said. He added that the former formula wasn’t working for many schools, but the district hasn’t shared enough about the new formula or its impact on schools.

Woods also said the mayor could be more clear with communities on his position to remove police from schools. Johnson supported getting rid of campus police on the campaign trail but later said local schools should have the power to choose whether to have school resource officers. Then in February, the mayor backed the school board when it voted to unilaterally remove officers from all campuses by next school year.

School police officers in the hallways of Lane Tech High School in Chicago.

“There’s plenty of data that shows how police in schools impact youth mental health, right, and the disproportionate impact on Black students and Latino students, but … they’re kind of making a decision based on their values without kind of educating the public on why they’re making that decision,” Woods said.

Johnson said “he will talk to anyone” and rejected the idea that his administration isn’t transparent enough. He pointed to the handful of board of education meetings that have been held at high schools in the evening instead of downtown during the day. He believes some of that criticism comes from people who “have had unfettered access” to previous mayors, and there are “people who now have access who were shut out before.”

“I’ve said all along,” Johnson said, “there’s plenty of room at the table for everyone.”

Fulfilling other promises before school board shifts

There are several promises Johnson hasn’t made progress on, including expanding Sustainable Community Schools, a CPS partnership with the teachers union that pairs needy schools with community organizations that provide wraparound services to families. Each program costs about $500,000.

While Johnson has shifted focus toward neighborhood schools, his administration is struggling to support the 8,900 migrant students and families who have arrived in Chicago from the southern border since at least August 2022.

As a candidate, Johnson promised to invest more money in bilingual education. Between August 2022 and last August – five months after he was elected – the number of bilingual-certified educators grew by 90, according to CPS. Between last August and the end of April, that figure grew by another 106 teachers.

CPS and the city also opened a welcome center to help migrant students enroll in school and access other resources. CPS said it helps direct families to schools with the proper resources when they are struggling with enrollment.

Mayor Brandon Johnson speaks at a press conference at Roberto Clemente Community Academy before the opening of a pilot CPS welcome center for newly arriving families on July 17, 2023.

Still, the union, lawmakers, and families have reported that many schools are struggling to meet the needs of migrant children, most of whom are learning English as a new language and are homeless. Those challenges include lacking enough staff to help children with specialized English instructions.

Johnson again blamed state lawmakers for their efforts to protect selective enrollment schools, saying it would “prevent us from having the type of budget, autonomy, and flexibility to invest in those schools” that lack resources to help English learners.

Johnson also hasn’t gained ground on providing the district’s 20,000 homeless students with housing — a bold promise tied to a signature campaign promise to pass the Bring Chicago Home referendum. That ballot measure, which would have used a tax on property sales over $1 million to help fund housing for homeless families, failed in March.

Ultimately, Johnson’s education legacy and the fate of his preferred policies will depend on what the future elected school board does, Simpson said.

“I do think the new school board, as it begins to take shape, will revisit these issues and either move forward with the general direction of Johnson and the current school board, or will roll them back to an extent,” he said.

It could also depend on the ongoing financial challenges for Chicago Public Schools. Asked how he will achieve his goals in the absence of more money from Springfield, Johnson said he’s exploring other “measures and steps that we can take as a city.” When pressed for details, Johnson’s office declined to elaborate.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Election results show Chicago voters reject ballot measure aimed at helping homeless

2024-03-22T15:15:21+00:00

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A city ballot measure aimed at reducing homelessness and increasing affordable housing failed Tuesday, a setback for efforts to serve the growing number of Chicago Public Schools students facing housing instability.

The “Bring Chicago Home” initiative was voted down 54 percent to 46 percent, according to unofficial results released Thursday.

The measure backed by Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former school teacher and union organizer, would have raised a one-time tax on real estate transfers for purchases over $1 million.

Chalkbeat reported last week that 21,855 students currently enrolled at CPS were considered Students in Temporary Living Situations, or STLS. That’s up from 14,317 such students last February. The district’s homeless student population has been around 5% for the past decade, which is twice the national average.

While the vast majority of those students are classified as “doubled up,” living with another family temporarily, the number of students living in shelters or out of a car, park, or other public place more than tripled in the last year — from about 2,000 last February to nearly 8,000 this February.

Backers of the ballot initiative estimated the increase could have generated roughly $100 million annually for the city to fight homelessness.

Chicago Public Schools would not have directly received any of the increased revenue, but advocates and the mayor said the money could fund homelessness prevention, affordable housing, and other city-run housing assistance programs that would benefit students and their families.

Supporters of the initiative called the results disappointing and vowed to “keep fighting for housing justice.” Opponents said they also want to make Chicago a better place to live and support solutions that boost the “supply of naturally occurring affordable housing.”

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago student homelessness is rising. Could a tax change backed by the mayor help fix that?

2024-03-14T19:55:36+00:00

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Derrianna Ford lived with her grandmother on Chicago’s north side growing up, but when the older woman lost her home, Ford and her siblings had to relocate to the south side for about a year.

They moved from the city’s West Ridge neighborhood to the South Side during her freshman year at Mather High School. Ford said she had to wake up at 4 a.m., take a bus to the southernmost stop on Chicago’s Red Line, ride almost the entire 26-mile route north, and then get on another bus in order to get to school by 8 a.m.

During the week, she would occasionally stay with a friend closer to school to avoid the long commute.

“This is so normal to us,” Ford said. “You don’t see yourself as struggling because you’re used to it. You don’t see it as homelessness.”

These days, Ford, now 20, is searching for a place of her own. But she has another goal. She’s knocking on doors to help pass a ballot referendum in Chicago on March 19 that advocates say could put a real dent in reducing homelessness.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former teachers union organizer and middle school teacher, promised in his education platform and transition plan to house the city’s homeless, with a focus on more than 20,000 students in Chicago Public Schools currently facing housing instability. In the last year, the number of CPS students in unstable housing situations — which can disrupt or derail students’ academic progress — has risen by roughly 50%.

To address that, Johnson and his allies are pushing to increase a real estate transfer tax on sales of property sales worth more than $1 million to generate an estimated $100 million annually to fund services for the homeless and affordable housing.

Some progressive groups, including the Chicago Teachers Union which helped propel Johnson to office, have been advocating to increase the city’s real estate transfer tax to help the homeless since Rahm Emanuel was mayor. The effort — dubbed Bring Chicago Home — is something Johnson emphasized often on the campaign trail last year.

“The people of Chicago voted for me because I said that I’m going to address homelessness,” Johnson said Wednesday. “Bring Chicago Home is an opportunity to address homelessness.”

A document obtained by Chalkbeat outlining Johnson’s first-term goals suggested his administration hopes to help house 10,000 students and their families.

But opponents of the initiative challenged the ballot question’s legality in the courts, even asking the Illinois Supreme Court to block the measure, which the court declined to do Wednesday. Still, some groups, including the nonpartisan budget watchdog Civic Federation, are concerned the mayor and City Council have not been specific enough about how the money would be used.

“This is the mayor’s signature item,” said Ald. Brendan Reilly, who represents much of downtown and opposes the referendum because it lacks specifics and could have unintended consequences on rental property and commercial real estate. “He’s put a lot of political capital into it and right now the Chicago electorate gets to give him a report card. I think this is as much about the policy as it is about a commentary on his agenda.”

Chicago Public Schools would not directly get any of the estimated $100 million in revenue that a change to the real estate transfer tax would generate. CPS officials did not comment on the ballot initiative, but said the district will continue to support homeless students and protect their rights under federal law.

More Chicago Public Schools students identified as homeless

The number of students in temporary living situations enrolled at Chicago Public Schools has hovered around 5% for at least the last decade — twice the national average. Recent data indicates the problem is getting more acute as the numbers climb.

District data shared with Chalkbeat from the end of February indicated 21,855 students currently enrolled at CPS were considered Students in Temporary Living Situations, or STLS. That’s up from more than 14,317 such students last February. CPS data includes any student categorized this way at any time during the school year, and once a student is marked as such, they keep that status for the remainder of the year.

The vast majority — around 16,000 students — are classified as “doubled up,” meaning they are living with another family temporarily, like Ford was while a freshman in high school.

But the number of CPS students listed as living in a shelter, hotel or motel, or living out of a car, park, or other public place more than tripled in the last year — from about 2,000 last February to nearly 8,000 as of Feb. 29. The jump has coincided with the ongoing influx of migrants arriving from the southern border.

Chicago grappled with students facing homelessness or housing instability long before the COVID pandemic and recent wave of migrants. A 2021 study from the University of Chicago Inclusive Economy Lab analyzed nine years of district data between 2009 and 2018 and found that, over the course of their K-12 experience, about 13% of CPS students experienced housing instability.

The report noted that research shows homeless students come to school less often, have lower academic achievement, and are more likely to drop out. At the same time, school districts like CPS “have limited capacity to connect students to housing supports.”

Cook County Commissioner Tara Stamps, the daughter of a longtime housing activist, saw this “heartbreaking” reality up close during the more than two decades she spent as a classroom teacher, including working alongside Johnson at a school serving the Cabrini Green public housing complex.

One time, she said, a single mom of one of her students had no place to stay, so Stamps and the school’s security guard “called and called and called around” to help them find housing.

Stamps, who now also works for the Chicago Teachers Union, said past administrations have emphasized academic achievement and improving test scores without prioritizing the conditions students faced that affected those scores: “There is no [academic] progress … if a baby doesn’t know where they’re going to sleep at night, if they don’t know where they’re going to eat.”.

Federal law requires school districts to support students facing housing insecurity. Some districts also get money through competitive grants to support homeless students. Students identified as such are entitled to transportation, the right to enroll without a permanent address, and the right to continue attending the same school through the end of the academic year even if they move.

But few districts have been directly involved in finding families housing.

With the help of federal COVID money, some schools across the country have added staff to help families with housing, others have provided emergency hotel stays and even propped up shelters inside schools.

Alyssa Phillips, an education attorney with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, which has been advocating for Bring Chicago Home for several years, said the city needs a consistent revenue stream to tackle homelessness, along with input about what works from people experiencing homelessness and service providers.

“I think the most important thing is having that continuous funding,” Phillips said.

Federal COVID money for homeless set to expire

During the COVID pandemic, housing instability rose across the country. Homeless students were disconnected from schools and districts struggled to identify how many students were entitled to additional support and resources.

Chicago Public Schools received about $10.1 million in federal pandemic aid to serve homeless students, as part of roughly $800 million distributed nationally to states and school districts.

The city and school district created a program to give $500 stipends to families in Students in Temporary Living Situations, using money from the initial 2020 wave of federal COVID relief dollars. It’s not clear how many families received the money, and district officials deferred to the city, which administered the program.

Ald. Maria Hadden, who represents Chicago’s north lakefront and is a supporter of the Bring Chicago Home initiative, said the city also used some of its share of federal COVID dollars to provide rental assistance to thousands of people. She recounted helping one family in her ward with a CPS student with epilepsy avoid an eviction because they were able to get six months of rental assistance.

But soon, federal COVID money is drying up. Expenditure data obtained by Chalkbeat shows most of the school district’s share of federal COVID money has been spent, primarily for school staff.

If the ballot initiative to raise the real estate transfer tax on property over a $1 million is approved, Hadden said, the city could revive, continue, or expand pandemic-era programs, like rental and mortgage assistance and rapid rehousing efforts for people living in tent encampments.

Mayor Brandon Johnson is greeted by supporters after he spoke while dozens rally for the Bring Chicago Home resolution outside the Thompson Center before a City Council meeting on Nov. 7, 2023.

Political ‘slush fund’ or nimble revenue stream?

Ford and others continue to knock on doors to garner support from voters who will ultimately decide whether Chicago should have a graduated real estate transfer tax.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Teachers Union is gearing up for another round of contract negotiations with a mayor more amenable to their views than his two predecessors. During contract negotiations in 2019, the union pushed to include provisions around affordable housing. But then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the union contract was “not the appropriate place for the City to legislate its affordable housing policy.”

Leaked contract proposals for upcoming contract talks include two focused on affordable housing: mortgage and rental assistance for teachers, and a vocational program that would have students build affordable housing.

Whatever happens with the teachers union contract, Johnson is forging ahead with a plan to borrow $1.25 billion dollars to fund affordable housing and other development. On Wednesday, the mayor said he’ll soon name a new chief homelessness officer. And he directed the city’s Department of Family Support Services to work with CPS to match the district’s most vulnerable students with housing. The two agencies meet weekly, a spokesperson confirmed.

If voters approve the ballot initiative, the City Council would still need to pass an ordinance spelling out how to appropriate the revenue.

Reilly, the downtown alderman, said that “anyone who has a soul” cares about the homeless and wants to find solutions. But he worries that if the tax is approved, the revenue could quickly turn into a “slush fund” for political allies of whomever is mayor.

“There’s no guarantee that any of this money lands with helping the homeless people,” Reilly said. “It’s just going to be a big stack of money that a whole lot of people are gonna wanna fight over.”

Emma Tai, campaign director for the Bring Chicago Home Ballot Initiative, said the revenue would be legally dedicated to fund affordable housing and services for the homeless. A draft ordinance for implementing the change to the transfer tax would create a 15-member panel appointed by the mayor and approved by City Council to make recommendations annually based on the “most pressing needs.”

“The idea is for the funds to be nimble,” Tai said, noting that during the height of the pandemic, there was a critical need to provide housing to domestic violence victims, whereas now that pandemic-era eviction moratoriums have ended, there’s a need for emergency rental assistance. The idea is that the panel’s recommendations would take such shifts into account.

For young people like Derrianna Ford, who experienced housing insecurity as a student and is searching for an affordable apartment now, the issue boils down to one thing: “stability.”

This story has been updated to more accurately characterize Tai’s comments about how housing needs have shifted in Chicago.

Chalkbeat reporter Reema Amin contributed reporting.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools is in new era for negotiations with the CTU. What could it mean for schools?

2024-03-06T22:24:06+00:00

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When former Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey thinks about the dynamics between City Hall and the union, he flashes back to 2011. That’s when then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel defended a decision to cancel pay raises for teachers by saying they got other types of salary boosts, while “our children got the shaft.”

The stinging quip illustrates how contentious contract negotiations and the relationship between the CTU and city officials were back then, ultimately leading to a weeklong teachers strike in 2012, said Sharkey, who currently sits on the union’s executive board.

After years of thorny relationships with district officials and mayors who did not align with the union on how to improve or support schools, the CTU is expected to begin bargaining this spring over a new contract with a district that now answers to Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former middle school teacher who rose to power as a CTU organizer.

“This is going to be a struggle because the culture in Chicago with the public schools and the teachers union is a culture of ‘No,’ and ‘Make me,’ and ‘OK,’” current CTU President Stacy Davis Gates said during a City Club speech Tuesday. “That’s different from what we are embarking on this time. We’re saying, ‘How might we?’ That’s a different question.”

In a statement, CPS spokesperson Damen Alexander said the district “looks forward to negotiating a fair contract that balances both the interests of the District’s hard-working educators and our duty to be fiscally responsible.”

A City Hall spokesperson declined to comment for this story.

The latest contract talks will come amid massive change for Chicago Public Schools. The first-ever school board elections will take place this fall and a 21-member partially elected board will take office next January. And bargaining will happen as the district attempts to fill a projected $391 million budget deficit for next year, after four years of being buoyed by $2.8 billion in federal COVID relief dollars that will soon run out.

Amid those challenges, the union has a strong ally in office.

The CTU was Johnson’s largest campaign donor, and Davis Gates introduced him at his victory party.

Before the union propelled one of its own into the mayor’s office, the teachers union regained some bargaining power in 2021 when state legislators passed a law that restored its right to bargain over a broader set of issues — such as class size or the length of the school day — which had been restricted since 1995.

Still, Johnson signaled on the campaign trail that he would face “tough decisions” as mayor in negotiations with the CTU and wouldn’t be able to meet all of the union’s demands.

“So who better to deliver bad news to friends than a friend?” he said during a mayoral forum last year.

But the Johnson administration has already overseen policy changes the union counts as victories, including expanded parental leave for CTU members, a promise to remove school resource officers by next school year, and a commitment to rethink school choice policies.

The union’s House of Delegates, made up of hundreds of educators across the city, is scheduled to vote Wednesday on proposals crafted by the union’s various committees and developed as a response to what CTU members said they wanted to see in the next contract, according to the union.

Those proposals include a wide range of ideas, from pay raises and housing assistance for teachers to providing affordable housing and support for homeless students and their families.

While union officials acknowledge that things are different this time around, they have also emphasized that Johnson does not “have a magic wand” and pushed back against the idea that the union will get everything it asks for.

“I think it is ridiculous for anyone to think that the Black man on the fifth floor who comes from the progressive movement has fairy dust to sprinkle to end this quickly,” Davis Gates said in an interview with Chalkbeat last month. “There is an entire bureaucracy that has been hired and trained to tell the Chicago Teachers Union, ‘No.’”

Joe Ferguson, president of Civic Federation, a nonpartisan government watchdog group, said the mayor can’t meet all of the union’s demands because “the money isn’t there for it.” He said the public deserves to hear from the board and the mayor on where they’ll draw the line.

“Where those boundaries are, nobody can say,” Ferguson said.

Past tensions between CTU and City Hall prompted strikes

Over the past decade, contract negotiations between CPS and the CTU have resulted in two strikes that garnered national attention and inspired education labor fights around the country.

In 2012, after months of simmering disagreement and the city skipping a raise for teachers, the union went on strike for seven days at the start of the school year. Emanuel had pushed for a longer school day and embraced education reform ideas sweeping the country at the time, including a new way to evaluate teachers, which the union strongly opposed. He also refused to bargain over issues like class size, which at the time, state law did not require CPS to do.

An 11-day strike happened in 2019 under then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who the union had initially expected to align with more than Emanuel. The union was fighting for “common good” ideas that exceeded the scope of a teacher’s daily duties but were meant to improve students’ and families’ lives, such as ensuring that every school had a nurse, social worker, and librarian. The contract ultimately locked in some of those demands, as well as other wins, such as a $35 million fund to help reduce class sizes, but ultimately, the long strike left many teachers and families frustrated.

Those sour dynamics appear to be gone with Johnson’s election, said Robert Bruno, professor of labor and employment relations at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, who co-wrote a book about CTU’s 2012 strike.

“Both parties believe that the other party understands and would be respectful of each other’s perspectives, which certainly wasn’t the case with the two previous mayors or even the previous CEOs — and we’ve gone through a few of them in Chicago,” he said.

Sharkey noted that Johnson’s priorities include many ideas the union agrees with and gave rise to, such as creating more sustainable community schools that provide wraparound services to families. His campaign platform also closely mirrored a document CTU first put out in 2012 titled “The Schools Chicago’s Students Deserve,” which was updated in 2018 and most recently, in 2022.

In general, the union has found that working with the district has been easier and more receptive since Johnson has taken office, according to Sharkey and Davis Gates.

But Davis Gates said she expects plenty of disagreement because she still feels that the agency has a bureaucracy “that cannot collaborate, that does not say yes, and has a difficult time understanding how to partner with us.”

Union again pushing ‘common good’ demands

The union is expected to push for cost-of-living raises that keep up with or exceed inflation and a more uniform overtime pay policy, according to proposals leaked to conservative think tank Illinois Policy Institute, which a CTU spokesperson confirmed are real. The union also wants changes to the teacher evaluation process, including to codify that evaluations cannot be used for layoffs.

Proposals also include codifying health care policies, such as gender-affirming care, paid parental leave for employees, abortion coverage, and access to weight loss medical care, such as bariatric surgery.

In a more novel demand, the union will also push for housing assistance for its members, but the leaked proposal doesn’t include more details on how that would be done. Under Emanuel, the city offered assistance to police officers who wanted to buy homes in the areas they worked in, but few officers took advantage of the program.

In the classroom, the union is expected to renew a push to give elementary school teachers more preparation and collaboration time during the school day, Sharkey said. That was a major demand in the 2019 contract negotiations that largely did not come to fruition – and could again be difficult to secure this time around given the complicated logistics of tweaking a school day.

Union officials also expect proposals around bilingual services for students, including on attracting staff and expanding access to bilingual training for teachers, and retaining more special education staff. Both bilingual and special education are teacher shortage areas.

Davis Gates said they’ll continue demanding a librarian and nurse be staffed at every school.

Separately, union officials are expecting to push for more common good items, Davis Gates said. This will include creating a career and technical education program that would involve building houses for homeless students and their families, according to the leaked proposals.

Common good proposals will also include creating more sustainable community schools, Davis Gates said. The union is also interested in pushing for more “green” – or energy efficient – schools, such as by installing more solar panels. The district is already planning to purchase 50 electric school buses.

CPS’s budget deficit could complicate negotiations

Contract talks will begin as the district plans for its budget next year, which is projected to be $391 million in the hole. That could make costly union proposals a tough sell for the district.

District officials have for months publicized the budget deficit as federal COVID relief dollars run out. The district can either cut programming or find more money, which officials want to do by demanding more funding from the state.

Bruno, the labor expert, said it is a good sign the union agrees that Springfield should provide more money, because that means all negotiating parties agree on a solution to a significant problem.

However, Ferguson, from the Civic Federation, has little hope that more money is coming, in part because of what appears to be a “frayed” relationship between City Hall and Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office. Pritzker recently proposed a budget that provides the same increase to K-12 funding as last year. And because CPS’s deficit is driven by the loss of COVID relief dollars, this year’s negotiations are “a fairly unique stew,” he said.

“There have been deficits being faced in the past [and] constraints on funding sources, but none that have come in this particular context, where not only is there a question of, where is more money coming from, but it also comes at a moment when we all know that recent existing streams are going to end,” Ferguson said. “And it has also been made abundantly clear by Springfield, by the governor, that there is no money to be gotten from the state.”

Union officials said they don’t yet know the price tag of their proposals, and they don’t expect to propose “money-saving” ideas. But Sharkey said they’ll have ideas on how the district can fund their proposals “and would expect the board to try to work with us on that.”

Asked how the district’s financial picture will impact its approach to negotiations, a CPS spokesperson pointed to the district’s budget deficit and said the district must be “fiscally responsible.”

Even with financial challenges, Sharkey said he expects the union and the district to work out disagreements in a more timely manner, unlike past negotiations that were “unproductive for months.”

Davis Gates said CTU continues to see its contract as “leverage for the common good,” has “high expectations” for upcoming negotiations, and is hoping for more agreement that will finally deliver on the CTU’s push to get schools more resources.

At the City Club speech this week, in a room full of business leaders, educators, and philanthropists, Davis Gates said she expects people to be skeptical that the mayor is going to “give CTU everything it’s asking for.”

“I hope he does,” she said.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

These Chicago middle schoolers have big ideas for improving their neighborhood

2024-02-01T21:35:08+00:00

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Standing next to a 3D model of the Altgeld Gardens neighborhood spread across a conference room table, eighth grader Rondell Sims gave a call to action to a room of city officials and classmates.

“As development comes to our community, you all will be advocates alongside in creation of a plan that is for us, by us,” Rondell said during a presentation on Wednesday inside the Altgeld Gardens Chicago Public Library Branch.

Rondell and his fellow middle schoolers at Aldridge Elementary were laying out a vision for the future of Altgeld Gardens that would include a grocery store, a new recreation center, public art by a planned new public transit stop, and a museum to honor Hazel Johnson, the “mother of the environmental justice movement” who lived in the neighborhood and fought against air pollution and toxic conditions in the community.

“You can’t really speak on something that you don’t live,” Rondell said after the formal presentation ended. “I feel like by us adding these things to the community and making more things that will be better for the people that’s in the community is just amazing. It will give a better name for our community.”

The project — that allowed middle schoolers to play the role of city planner and propose changes to their community — is the culmination of more than two years of collaboration between Aldridge teachers and the Field Museum.

“The work that we do in schools can’t just be isolated to grades,” said Principal Afua Agyeman-Badu. ”I wanted them to see the power that exists within them to make decisions and create a plan about what it is that they want for this place.”

Built in 1945 by the Department of Housing and Urban Development to house Black veterans returning from World War II, Altgeld Gardens is a planned community made up of mostly three-story townhomes operated by the Chicago Housing Authority.

The neighborhood — near the site of the old steel mills and the Pullman factory — sits 19 miles from Chicago’s Loop at 130th Street and has no access to the city’s public transit system, which ends at 95th Street. City officials have been talking about extending the Red Line for decades, but the project now appears on the cusp of becoming a reality.

Agyeman-Badu said the Red Line extension project is a learning opportunity for Aldridge students.

“I want them to be able to one day see when the ribbon is cut for them to see their ideas as a part of that plan for the Red Line extension,” Agyeman-Badu said.

Raven Mayo, Aldridge’s middle school science teacher, said the students have been working on this project since sixth grade and it’s evolved over time. The news of the Red Line extension prompted engaging discussions in class when students questioned why the community doesn’t have access to public transit and is isolated from the rest of Chicago.

“This created an opportunity for them to share their gripes in a productive way,” Mayo said. “Like this is what we deserve, just like the rest of the city.”

“The kids are speaking, they have a voice, their voice matters, their desires matter, they’re the future.” Mayo said. “In the next five years, they’ll be working adults, and they need to have access to get it downtown and to be a part of the workforce in Chicago.”

Bill Mooney, chief infrastructure officer for the Chicago Transit Authority, and other city officials attended the presentation on Wednesday to give feedback and take notes.

“This is one of the coolest things I’ve been able to participate in my 26 years at CTA.” Mooney said. “We are in a unique moment. Not often does what’s right, and what’s possible align.”

He urged the students to keep fighting to bring their ideas to fruition. The Red Line extension project cleared a hurdle last fall in the process to secure nearly $2 billion in federal funding, but the final award won’t be determined until late 2024. It’s not expected to be completed until 2029.

Jasmine Gunn, a city planner for the Far South Region with Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development, said often community meetings draw an older demographic, so it was refreshing to see the youth perspective.

“They’re gonna be living in this community longer than any of us,” Gunn said. “To start any development, we need the vision and seeing their vision is really great. I’m actually trying to set up a field trip for our staff to come look at the presentation.”

Eleanor Sweeney, an educator with The Field Museum who works with the Aldridge students, said students are more likely to be engaged with learning when there’s a connection to their own lives. They also have so many good ideas.

“If anyone is making decisions about the future of their neighborhood, consult your local middle schoolers,” Sweeney said with a smile.

Terrence Perry, an eighth grader who worked on the public art piece of the project, said he’s hopeful that city officials will pick up some of their ideas.

“Once everybody sees it? They’re gonna be like, “Oh, I get what they’re trying to do,’” Terrence said. “A lot of people are gonna want to move out here.”

He stood near the 3D model on the conference room table and pointed to a tiny display near his home. It read: “Power and peace starts within me.”

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Many of Chicago’s migrant students may be entitled to bus service. But are schools telling them?

2024-01-19T19:06:28+00:00

After six months in a downtown shelter, Daniela and her 11-year-old son, Luis, faced a dilemma: The city had given them until Feb. 1 to find another place to live, which would mean moving farther away from the school the fifth grader was attending.

The family, which migrated to Chicago from Venezuela, secured an apartment in South Shore with the help of Catholic Charities. Chalkbeat is using pseudonyms in this story out of privacy concerns for the interviewed families.

But their new apartment is more than 13 miles south of Luis’ school, Ogden International School of Chicago’s Jenner campus — which could mean an hour-plus commute by public transit for Luis and his mother, who had planned to look for a job.

Daniela’s predicament is one many parents could face as Chicago enforces a new rule requiring migrant families to leave shelters after 60 days. She is one of about 3,000 migrants who arrived between January and July 31 of last year and began receiving 60-day eviction notices in early December 2023, according to a press release from City Hall. If families haven’t secured permanent housing, they must get back in line for a spot at a city shelter.

But many migrant families in shelters might not know the rights their children have to district-provided transportation — or even that they can remain in the same school despite moving — if schools are not informing them, or there’s no one to help translate conversations between school staff and families.

Every school has a liaison for homeless students who is supposed to inform homeless families of their rights, a district spokesperson said. Those liaisons, along with principals and staff with the district’s Office of Cultural and Language Education, tell newcomer families how to apply for transportation services, the district said. Each school also posts a list of homeless students’ rights in English and Spanish near the main office, the district said.

Until Daniela spoke with a Chalkbeat reporter, she didn’t know that the federal McKinney Vento Homeless Assistance Act allows homeless students to stay in the same school even if they move, such as to another shelter, and requires school districts to provide transportation. It also allows students such as Luis, who have found permanent housing, to stay at the same school until the end of the school year. No one at the school had told her, she said.

In fact, federal law says that districts “shall presume” that keeping homeless students in their original school is in their best interest unless that’s against their parents’ or guardians’ wishes.

After publication of this story, CPS provided Chalkbeat additional details about how schools are informing families of their rights under the law. They said every newly arrived family gets an enrollment packet, both in English and Spanish, that includes information about the rights of homeless students, according to the district.

Staff at the district’s Office of Language and Cultural Education also help these families fill out an application for homeless students, which “provides families with the first opportunity to review the process and ask questions,” the district said. Schools have a 24/7 translation line that staff can use to communicate with families who don’t speak English. CPS said it fulfills its legal obligation to provide transportation to homeless students by providing them with CTA cards.

The goal of the federal law is to provide stability for homeless students. One 2015 study found that New York City students who transferred schools were more likely to be chronically absent, and of those students, those who were also homeless were more likely to repeat the same grade.

Daniela also didn’t know Chicago Public Schools allows parents of younger homeless students like Luis to apply for yellow bus service if they can’t accompany their child on the commute. Or that CPS policy requires schools to inform families who are homeless of their transportation rights and options.

“We’re not, as a district, transporting any newcomers,” said Kimberly Jones, CPS’s director of transportation, in late November during an interview with WGN. On Tuesday, a district spokesperson said the transportation department does not see students’ immigration status, but still called Jones’ statement accurate, in that she’s unable to identify any students on bus routes based on their immigration status.

But district officials have indicated they are tracking immigration status internally. At a City Council Education Committee meeting in late November, a district official testified that CPS had enrolled at least 4,000 migrant students.

This year the district is exclusively busing students with disabilities and homeless students due to a driver shortage and as it’s under state watch to shorten commutes for students with disabilities. District officials have said migrant students are largely homeless, meaning they’re living in shelter, doubled up with others, or in public places.

Of the roughly 8,700 students the district is currently busing, just 128 are homeless, the district said. Another nearly 4,000 students who would typically qualify for transportation this year are receiving stipends, with just 18 of them homeless.

The school did give Daniela and her son free CTA cards for the school commute to and from their shelter, a service it is providing as part of its legal obligation to provide homeless students with transportation. But, “they did not provide the option for yellow bus service,” she said.

Ogden-Jenner did not respond to Chalkbeat’s request for comment. The district also declined to comment specifically on Daniela’s experience.

Schools must inform families of their rights, advocates say

CPS policy also allows families of young children who are homeless to apply for “hardship” transportation, which provides yellow bus service for children who are in kindergarten through sixth grade. Caregivers must fill out paperwork to prove they have a conflict that does not allow them to assist their child in getting to school. Examples of “hardship” include work, job training, schooling of their own, a conflict with shelter rules, court orders, or another “good cause,” according to CPS’ website.

The 60-day shelter rule is “going to require families to move more often, and it makes it more challenging to get to the school of origin and stay stable in their school of origin,” said Patricia Nix-Hodes, director of the Law Project of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. “If they are eligible for hardship transportation, they should be getting it.”

“The onus isn’t on the family who is newly arrived to Chicago to figure out what services might be available for transportation,” Nix-Hodes said.

School liaisons for homeless students often have other duties in schools, which may make it difficult for them to keep homeless families adequately informed, Nix-Hodes said.

In addition to informing families of their rights, the liaisons should also help families figure out if they’re eligible for bus service and with filling out any required paperwork, Nix-Hodes said.

Other families are in the dark about transportation rights

Edgar, a friend of Daniela’s who is also getting ready to move from shelter, also did not know he could apply for bus service so that his 8-year-old daughter could travel without him from their new home to her current school, Ogden Elementary.

Edgar is moving from the same shelter as Daniela to the same South Shore apartment building with his family. When he informed Ogden about their upcoming move, staff offered to find a school close to his new home — but they didn’t mention that he could apply for bus service to help get her to Ogden, he said.

Daniela's son, Luis, left, poses with Edgar's daughter, right, on Wed., Jan. 3, 2024 in Chicago, Illinois.

After learning the information from a Chalkbeat reporter, he went back to Ogden to ask about bus service. The school confirmed that service was available but “these are things that take time to approve,” Edgar explained in Spanish.

Instead, with Ogden’s help, he plans to enroll his daughter at a school that’s a 12-minute walk from their new home. While his daughter is OK with leaving Ogden, she’s sad about leaving her English class, he said. Ogden did not return a request for comment, and CPS didn’t respond to questions about Edgar’s experience.

Schools shouldn’t encourage homeless families to “move schools when their living situation changes,” Nix-Hodes said.

The law allows homeless students to stay in their same school because school stability is good for children’s academic performance and social-emotional health, especially when they’re coming to the United States from another country, Nix-Hodes said.

Gwen McElhattan, a social worker with nonprofit Chicago Help Initiative, which provides meals, clothing, and other services to homeless families, has received questions from many migrant parents on how to enroll their child in school. The city has created a “welcome center” for migrants at Roberto Clemente High School, which is supposed to help families with school enrollment and other resources. But McElhattan said that many people don’t know it exists — and doesn’t sense that many designated people are informing families of how to navigate school enrollment.

“They don’t know about it because they’re migrants — they don’t always know everything that’s happening,” said McElhattan, adding that their primary concerns are food and shelter. “They’re just trying to survive. They have children – they’re just trying to keep going.”

Luis, Daniela’s son, said he likes his teachers at Ogden-Jenner and he’s made some friends. But he’s had a tough time understanding lessons because there’s often no one who can help translate, he said. Because of the language barrier, there are days that he doesn’t want to go to school, his mother said.

Still, Daniela would prefer to keep her son enrolled at Ogden-Jenner if she can get busing because she senses it’s a good school. By state standards, it is: The school earned the Illinois State Board of Education’s second-highest rating for academic performance.

Daniela has not yet talked with the school about what happens next or what her options are.

It’s difficult to communicate with staff, she said. “En la escuela allí no hablan español” — At the school, they don’t speak Spanish.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago charter school advocates urge Mayor Brandon Johnson to back school choice

2024-01-18T04:31:09+00:00

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Charter school advocates delivered 2,000 letters to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office on Wednesday, urging the mayor to keep school choice alive, after his hand-picked school board signaled they may try to shift more resources toward neighborhood public schools.

Charter proponents are concerned about the future of their schools under a new mayor who campaigned on a pledge to boost neighborhood public schools — just as dozens of charters are up for renewal and a city moratorium on closing schools ends next year.

For roughly two decades, Chicago Public Schools has operated a system in which families can apply to myriad charter, magnet, test-in, or other district-run schools.

Having options for school was critical, said Myisha Shields, a parent of three former charter school students, during a news conference Wednesday at City Hall.

“My five babies, my Black babies — they’re gonna go where I choose for them to go, because that’s the choice that I was given,” she said. “I really don’t need Mayor Johnson’s help in choosing anything for my children.”

Shields, who lives near Marquette Park on Chicago’s South Side, said she has three children who attended charter schools and are now all pursuing nursing degrees.

She credits Noble Schools for the success of her eldest, who pushed through “severe learning disabilities” to get straight A’s at Alabama A&M University, where she’s a senior. Shields said her other two daughters are in their freshman and sophomore years at the University of Illinois Chicago. Shields said her kids wouldn’t have had the success they’ve enjoyed if they’d gone to traditional public schools.

“Her self esteem at one point was so low, but now it’s as big as City Hall,” she said of her eldest.

Myisha Shields, far right, delivers thousands of letters to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson's office from parents, administrators, and alumni in support of school choice programs on Wednesday.

Noble Schools is one of 47 charters up for renewal during the 2023-24 school year. More than half of Chicago’s roughly 51,000 charter school students are enrolled at one of Noble’s 17 campuses across the city.

“We are calling for Mayor Brandon Johnson and his CPS board to demand a fair charter renewal term that protects school choice,” Shields said “If charters are not treated fairly, please believe: We will be at your door every day. This is not the last time you’ll see this face.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for the mayor said: “The Johnson administration believes in investing in neighborhood schools so that all of Chicago’s families have the choice to send their children to fully-funded, well-resourced, and celebrated schools in their community. As a former public school teacher, Mayor Johnson knows first-hand the harm that sustained disinvestment has on Chicago’s communities and youth. Furthermore, as the father of three CPS students, the Mayor is personally invested in ensuring the success of Chicago’s public school system.”

During the renewal process, district officials scrutinize charter schools’ academic performance, financial practices, and compliance with other standards. Chicago Board of Education members vote on the final renewal terms.

CPS spokeswoman Sylvia Barragan said in a statement that district leadership and the Chicago Board of Education “do not make charter renewal or revocation decisions lightly.”

The board voted last month on a resolution to move away from school choice and ensure “fully-resourced neighborhood schools, prioritizing schools and communities most harmed by structural racism, past inequitable policies and disinvestment,” according to the resolution.

It was the first time the board formally stated it wants to move away from its embrace of selective admissions and enrollment policies, because it “reinforces, rather than disrupts, cycles of inequity,” according to the resolution.

In response to worried charter and school choice advocates, Chicago Board of Education President Jianan Shi said during an Agenda Review Committee meeting on Wednesday that the resolution “is, again, about prioritizing neighborhood schools, creating pathways from K-12 and (helping) schools and neighborhoods farthest from opportunity, so that we are not sorting our children and favoring those with more means.”

He added that it’s “not directing us to close selective enrollment schools.”

Even before Johnson took office, former Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration started a trend of shorter charter renewal periods. Johnson, a former educator and organizer for the teachers union, historically opposed charter expansion and said during the mayoral election runoff campaign that charter school expansion “forces competition for resources and ultimately harms all schools.” But he also has said he does not oppose charter schools.

This story was updated after publication to include a comment from the Chicago mayor’s office.

A medida que entra en vigor la regla de refugio de Chicago para familias migrantes, aquí hay tres derechos de los estudiantes que deben conocer

2023-11-29T19:50:01+00:00

Esta historia fue traducida por Claudia Hernández de la Revista Borderless. Suscríbase al boletín de Borderless aquí.

Los educadores y defensores de Chicago están preocupados por cómo el nuevo límite de 60 días del alcalde Brandon Johnson de las estadías en refugios para familias migrantes afectará la asistencia y la estabilidad de los estudiantes migrantes.

La nueva regla llega en un momento en que la ciudad ha tenido problemas para albergar a los migrantes. Más de 22,000 personas han llegado desde la frontera sur desde agosto del 2022, muchas de ellas huyendo de la agitación económica y política en los países de Centroamérica y Sudamérica. Los funcionarios de la ciudad y el estado han prometido aumentar los esfuerzos para ayudar a las familias a reasentarse y encontrar una vivienda más permanente, un compromiso que se da justo cuando un programa de asistencia para el alquiler operado por el estado ya no se aplicará a los inmigrantes recién llegados que ingresan a los refugios, Block Club Chicago informó.

Unas 50 familias ya han recibido los avisos, y otras 3,000 los recibirán el 4 de diciembre.

Los defensores dijeron que perder el refugio podría significar más ausencias entre los estudiantes migrantes que no tienen hogar, formalmente conocidos como estudiantes que viven en situaciones de vivienda temporal. Esa designación incluye a los niños en refugios, que viven con otra familia o que viven en un lugar público. A partir del 31 de octubre, las tasas de asistencia promedio este año escolar para los estudiantes sin hogar son 5 puntos porcentuales más bajas que sus compañeros con vivienda permanente, según datos de las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago compartidos con la Coalición de Chicago para las Personas sin Hogar.

La estabilidad escolar está relacionada con el éxito académico. Un estudio del 2015 que examinó a estudiantes de la ciudad de Nueva York encontró que los niños que se cambiaron de escuela tenían más probabilidades de ausentarse crónicamente o perder al menos el 10% de sus días escolares. Los estudiantes crónicamente ausentes que también se encontraban sin hogar tenían tres veces más probabilidades de repetir el mismo grado que los estudiantes sin hogar que faltaron menos de cinco días a la escuela, encontró el informe.

“Estamos hablando de niños que han estado aquí durante dos meses, que han entrado en una rutina, tal vez han hecho algunos amigos, tienen una sensación de control finalmente, donde pueden obtener dos comidas calientes al día, estamos hablando de enviar a esas familias de regreso al lugar de su llegada en autobús”, dijo Gabriel Páez, un maestro bilingüe en el West Side, sobre la nueva regla del alcalde.

Sesenta días es un “tiempo muy corto” para encontrar vivienda, especialmente para los recién llegados con barreras lingüísticas que están lidiando con casos de asilo o que aún no han sido autorizados a trabajar, dijo Patricia Nix-Hodes, directora del Proyecto de Ley de la Coalición de Chicago para las Personas sin Hogar.

Si las familias no tienen una vivienda permanente en puerta, pueden regresar a la “zona de aterrizaje”, el área del centro de la ciudad donde la mayoría de los autobuses dejan por primera vez a los recién llegados, y pueden solicitar una nueva ubicación en un refugio. Las familias pueden permanecer en su refugio bajo “circunstancias atenuantes”, como un problema médico, si hay frío extremo o si han obtenido un contrato de arrendamiento con una fecha de mudanza que comienza más tarde de cuando deben abandonar el refugio, dijo la oficina del alcalde.

Un portavoz del alcalde declinó hacer comentarios. En un comunicado, un portavoz del distrito dijo que está trabajando con la ciudad y las escuelas para “garantizar que los estudiantes recién llegados, la mayoría considerados estudiantes en situaciones de vivienda temporal (STLS), puedan tener acceso a una educación de Pre-K-12 dentro de nuestro sistema que ofrece los servicios adecuados, incluidos los servicios para aprender inglés”.

Los niños sin hogar tienen ciertos derechos consagrados en la ley federal destinados a mantener su estabilidad en la escuela, incluida la capacidad de permanecer en la escuela a la que han estado asistiendo.

Aquí hay tres derechos educativos que las familias que viven en viviendas temporales deben conocer a medida que entra en vigencia la nueva regla de refugio de la ciudad:

Los estudiantes sin hogar tienen derecho a permanecer en la misma escuela

Los estudiantes que viven en refugios temporales y que se han inscrito en la escuela local o en una escuela cercana tienen derecho a permanecer en la misma escuela, incluso si se ven obligados a abandonar el refugio después de 60 días.

Esto es cierto para cualquier estudiante que se quede sin hogar. La ley federal protege su derecho a permanecer en su llamada “escuela de origen”.

Al igual que cualquier otro estudiante de las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago, los estudiantes sin hogar pueden inscribirse en la escuela local del vecindario en su nueva comunidad simplemente entrando. Además, como cualquier otro estudiante, pueden aplicar a escuelas selectivas o magneto, pero la fecha límite para aplicar a estas escuelas para el próximo año académico ha pasado.

Los estudiantes migrantes también pueden ser referidos por otras agencias de la ciudad, como el Departamento de Servicios Familiares y de Apoyo, para recibir ayuda para la inscripción de la oficina central del distrito, incluso en el Centro de Bienvenida Piloto de la ciudad en Clemente High School en el West Side.

En ese caso, el distrito inscribirá a los estudiantes en función del lugar donde viven, las necesidades de los estudiantes, como los servicios del idioma inglés, y “la capacidad y los recursos existentes en la escuela”. Si hay problemas de espacio en una escuela, el distrito “puede ayudar con una asignación escolar alternativa”, dijo un portavoz.

Una vez que 20 o más estudiantes con el mismo idioma nativo se inscriben en una escuela, la ley estatal requiere que inicien un programa de Educación Bilingüe de Transición. Dichos programas requieren instrucción tanto en inglés como en el idioma nativo, como el español.

El distrito ha presupuestado $15 millones para contratar más maestros bilingües, coordinadores de programas bilingües y “otros recursos para apoyar a los estudiantes de inglés”, dijo un portavoz.

Los estudiantes sin hogar tienen derecho a transporte

Los estudiantes sin hogar también tienen derecho a recibir transporte a la escuela, incluso si se mudan. Y, de acuerdo con las pautas de CPS, su escuela debe informar al estudiante y a los padres sobre los servicios de transporte. Si un estudiante encuentra una vivienda permanente, todavía tiene derecho a transporte hasta el final del año escolar.

De acuerdo con las pautas de CPS, los estudiantes sin hogar que necesitan transporte deben recibir una tarjeta CTA dentro de los tres días posteriores a la solicitud. Los niños de preescolar a sexto grado pueden recibir una tarjeta adicional para que uno de sus padres pueda acompañarlos en el transporte público.

Los estudiantes sin hogar no necesitan papeleo para inscribirse

Las escuelas deben inscribir a los estudiantes que no tienen hogar, incluso si no tienen los registros que normalmente se necesitan para inscribirse, como la vacunación o los registros escolares anteriores, prueba de tutela o prueba de residencia, según el distrito.

Es posible que las familias que huyen de la violencia doméstica o la agitación política no hayan traído documentos importantes, dijo Nix-Hodes.

Depende de la escuela identificar “sensiblemente” que una familia que busca inscribirse no tiene hogar sin violar su privacidad, agregó Nix-Hodes.

Reema Amin es una reportera que cubre las Escuelas Públicas de Chicago para Chalkbeat Chicago. Ponte en contacto con Reema en ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago district official says adding busing this year will be tough as driver shortage persists

2023-11-29T03:16:15+00:00

Chicago Public Schools officials expressed doubt Tuesday that they will be able to provide busing to general education students for the rest of this school year.

“It’s very difficult to make a pivot within midyear to be able to add transportation now,” Charles Mayfield, the district’s chief operating officer, said during a hearing of the City Council’s Committee on Education and Child Development.

Mayfield’s comments come as the school district is still working to shorten bus rides for more than 100 students with disabilities to comply with state law.

In response to questions from aldermen about the state of student transportation, district officials cited a shortage of drivers as the core reason they’ve limited bus service so far this year to students with disabilities whose individualized education programs require transportation and those who are living in temporary housing. Both groups are legally entitled to receive bus rides to school.

About 5,500 general education students who were previously eligible for bus transportation were not offered busing this year — mostly those who attend magnet and selective-enrollment schools. The district is instead offering those families CTA passes, including a companion pass for a parent or guardian. Many parents have complained about the change, with some saying it’s hard to meet their work obligations and get their kids to school. It has led some families to transfer children out of their schools.

The district had already announced that it wouldn’t be able to expand busing to general education students for the rest of this semester. Officials have promised an update on transportation in December, before the new semester begins.

As of mid-October, the district said it had created bus routes for about 8,100 students, mostly children with disabilities.

Mayfield told aldermen that the district has now hired 715 drivers, compared with about 680 in July — meaning it has 54% of the drivers it needs. That’s only a small increase, he said, even though the district has held dozens of hiring fairs and worked with its bus vendors to increase hourly driver pay rates by $5 since last year.

“We just haven’t seen much traction with being able to build that pipeline back for drivers,” he said.

Officials added that the number of students with disabilities has grown by about 20% from last year, and the district is regularly receiving new transportation requests.

Chicago Public Schools has been under state watch since last November for failing to get students with disabilities on bus rides shorter than an hour each way. Last year, the district reported that 3,000 students were on rides longer than an hour, with 365 on rides lasting more than 90 minutes each way.

This year, with transportation for general-education students sharply limited, the district has touted an improvement in travel times for students with disabilities. As of Monday, 116 students with disabilities were commuting more than an hour to school, according to Mayfield’s presentation. That is, however, an increase from August, when 47 students with disabilities were on routes longer than one hour.

The state opened another investigation in September after advocates and parents complained that students with disabilities whose individualized education programs include transportation are being denied their federal right to a “free appropriate public education.”

The complaint alleges “widespread … delays and denials” across CPS and an “unnecessary administrative burden,” because families have to request transportation even after they’ve already been deemed eligible, according to a copy of the complaint obtained by Chalkbeat.

Looking ahead to next year, Mayfield said the district will be discussing various strategies to make bus transportation “more efficient.” The options could include creating regional bus pickup sites and adjusting school start and dismissal times. He emphasized that those decisions would be made in collaboration with unions.

“Candidly, there will be some decisions that will need to be made, because we’re not seeing that driver population come back,” Mayfield said.

Becky Vevea contributed reporting.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

As Chicago’s shelter rule for migrant families takes effect, here are three student rights to know

2023-11-27T12:00:00+00:00

Chicago educators and advocates are concerned about how Mayor Brandon Johnson’s new 60-day limit for shelter stays for migrant families will impact attendance and stability for migrant students.

The new rule comes as the city has struggled to house migrants. More than 22,000 have arrived from the Southern border since August 2022, many fleeing economic and political upheaval in Central and South American countries. City and state officials have promised to boost efforts to help families get resettled and find more permanent housing, a commitment that comes just as a state-operated rental assistance program will no longer apply to newly arrived immigrants who are entering shelters, Block Club Chicago reported.

About 50 families have already received the notices, and another 3,000 will get them on Dec. 4.

Advocates said losing shelter could mean more absences among migrant students who are homeless — formally known as students living in temporary living situations. That designation includes children in shelter, living doubled up with another family, or living in a public place. As of Oct. 31, average attendance rates this school year for homeless students are 5 percentage points lower than their peers with permanent housing, according to Chicago Public Schools data shared with the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

School stability is related to academic success. A 2015 study that examined New York City students found that children who transferred schools were more likely to be chronically absent or miss at least 10% of their school days. Chronically absent students who were also homeless were three times more likely to repeat the same grade than homeless students who missed fewer than five days of school, the report found.

“We’re talking about kids who have been around for two months, who have gotten into a routine, maybe made some friends, have some sense of control finally, where they can get two hot meals a day — we’re talking about sending those families back to the bus landing spot,” said Gabriel Paez, a bilingual teacher on the West Side, of the mayor’s new rule.

Sixty days is a “very short time” to find housing, especially for newcomers with language barriers who are dealing with asylum cases or have not been authorized to work yet, said Patricia Nix-Hodes, director of the Law Project of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.

If families don’t have permanent housing lined up, they can return to the “landing zone” — the downtown area where most buses first drop off newcomers — and can request a new shelter placement. Families can stay in their shelter under “extenuating circumstances,” such as a medical issue, if there is extreme cold, or if they’ve obtained a lease with a move-in date that starts later than when they must leave shelter, the mayor’s office said.

A spokesperson for the mayor declined to comment. In a statement, a district spokesperson said it is working with the city and schools to “ensure new arrival students, who are nearly all considered Students in Temporary Living Situations (STLS), can get access to a Pre-K-12 education within our system that offers the appropriate services, including English Learner services.”

Homeless children have certain rights enshrined in federal law aimed at maintaining stability for them at school, including the ability to stay at the school where they’ve been attending.

Here are three education rights that families living in temporary housing should know about as the city’s new shelter rule takes effect:

Homeless students have the right to stay in the same school

Students living in temporary shelters who have enrolled in the local school or a nearby one are entitled to stay at the same school even if they’re forced to leave the shelter after 60 days.

This is true for any student who becomes homeless. Federal law protects their right to remain in their so-called “origin school.”

Just as any other Chicago Public Schools student, homeless students can enroll in the local neighborhood school in their new community by simply walking in. Also like any other student, they can apply to selective or magnet schools, but the deadline to apply for these schools for next academic year has passed.

Migrant students may also be referred by other city agencies, such as the Department of Family and Support Services, to receive enrollment help from the district’s central office, including at the city’s Pilot Welcome Center at Clemente High School on the West Side.

In that case, the district will enroll students based on where they live, the students’ needs — such as English language services — and “existing capacity and resources at the school.” If there are space issues at a school, the district “can assist with an alternate school assignment,” a spokesperson said.

Once 20 or more students with the same native language enroll at a school, state law requires they launch a Transitional Bilingual Education program. Such programs require instruction in both English and the native language, such as Spanish.

The district has budgeted $15 million to hire more bilingual teachers, dual-language program coordinators, and “other resources to support English learners,” a spokesperson said.

Homeless students have the right to transportation

Homeless students also have the right to receive transportation to school even if they move. And, according to CPS guidelines, their school must inform the student and a parent about transportation services. If a student finds permanent housing, they are still entitled to transportation until the end of the school year.

According to CPS guidelines, homeless students in need of transportation must receive a CTA card within three days of requesting one. Children in preschool through sixth grade can receive an additional card so that a parent can accompany them on public transit.

Students in those grades can also apply for school bus service if a caregiver can’t accompany them to school because the parent has work or education conflicts, a mental or physical disability, or the shelter won’t allow parents to leave during the hours of dropoff and pickup.

Citing a driver shortage, the district this year has limited school bus service to students with disabilities and those who are homeless. As of October, 113 homeless students qualified for busing, but it’s unclear how many of them opted instead for a financial reimbursement.

Homeless students don’t need paperwork to enroll

Schools must enroll students who are homeless even if they don’t have records normally needed to enroll, such as immunization or previous school records, proof of guardianship, or proof of residence, according to the district.

Families fleeing domestic violence or political turmoil may not have grabbed important documents, Nix-Hodes said.

It’s up to the school to “sensitively” identify that a family seeking enrollment is homeless without violating their privacy, Nix-Hodes added.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Meet the teens advising Chicago’s mayor on education

2023-08-28T11:00:00+00:00

In many places, young people are shut out of governmental decision-making. But in Chicago, a group of teenagers have a seat at the table, advising the mayor on issues ranging from public safety to neighborhood development.

The 32-member Mayor’s Youth Commission was started by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot in the fall of 2019 and became a formal advisory body before she ended her term. Mayor Brandon Johnson’s transition team recommended creating a youth department in the long-term.

Commission members, who range in ages from 14 to 19, can serve up to two years and meet at least once a month to discuss policy with city leaders and community groups. They receive a yearly stipend of up to $500.

This year, the commission released a New Ideas report, detailing project proposals from each working group — education, neighborhood development, public health, and public safety. The education working group recommended creating a database of postsecondary and employment resources. The group plans to implement this database into the city of Chicago’s My CHI My Future app.

Some members of the mayor’s youth commission ended their terms this August. With a new mayor in office and a new round of members joining the commission, Chalkbeat talked with the previous chair and vice chair of the working group centered on education.

These interviews have been lightly edited for length and clarity.

Debbie Mojekwu

Debbie Mojekwu, the education working group’s chair for 2022-23, ended her second term with the commission this month. She hails from the Beverly neighborhood, graduated from Jones College Prep earlier this year, and will be attending Yale University this fall.

What are some issues in the education system you feel motivated to change?

I’ve come across a lot of students who don’t have as much academic confidence as they should, and I feel like that’s mostly in minorities. It has to do with schools not having enough funding and just not as many resources.

I genuinely feel like if someone took these children and truly believed in them and showed that they believed in them through having adequate resources, having teachers, having counselors and more spaces for them to talk — if we had all these things across schools in Chicago, academic confidence wouldn’t be too much of an issue.

It’s never just the child, it’s also on the system.

What specifically made you want to choose the education working group?

I also had a lack of academic confidence throughout elementary school. I truly believed that my intelligence was tied to my skin color.

There was a time where I wouldn’t do any of my work, I just genuinely wouldn’t try at school because I didn’t see value in it. And I think also I had this sort of fear that if I tried and failed, then it would have confirmed my beliefs at the time.

Later on finally finding that academic confidence, I realized how powerful that could be. And I found that in representation, in my family and other Black leaders that I’ve seen in social media. I would say that that happened sophomore year of high school. So I feel like it took a long time to find that.

I began tutoring students with this program called Chicago Teen Mentors … I came across a lot of students that – you can hear it in just the language they use, that there’s some insecurity there, and hesitance, and fear of being wrong.

Being in that space, it kind of made me want to do more within education. These students primarily came from underfunded schools, and they were predominantly Hispanic and Black. And a part of me just felt, like, I wanted to change that.

What has your experience being chair of the education working group been like?

It’s genuinely been such a transformative experience. We’ve gotten to meet with so many community leaders, the mayor being one of them.

At the end of the day, I learned they’re just normal people. They have the same fears and anxieties that we all share. And they all have some common goal in bettering Chicago.

And working alongside the mayor’s youth commission — I see this group being some of Chicago’s greatest leaders. I’ve never met more educated people in my life than in the Mayor’s Youth Commission. And they made me want to learn more about the problems we have in our city and ways to change.

What’s next for you?

I’m going to Yale. I haven’t planned out all my extracurriculars, but I think I’m going to continue with hosting workshops for kids. I’m part of this program called Innoverge, we host STEM workshops. I am a molecular biology major, so I think a lot of my work will be with STEM.

I’ll probably find out more about New Haven, Connecticut and see what I want to help with there. One of the extracurriculars that interests me at Yale is you can work in a prison, and basically teach courses to prisoners who want to learn.

What is your advice for the next group of people on the education working group or on the Youth Commission in general?

I would say, just don’t be afraid to speak up. I feel like a large part of my first term, I never really spoke during our meetings and I didn’t speak during our roundtable discussion because I still had fears about public speaking. But when you’re in that space, no one judges you. Everyone values every single opinion, no matter how insignificant you think it may seem.

Also I would say, even though the meetings are once a month, you definitely should make this program a priority for you. I think when commissioners don’t really show up to meetings and they don’t really contribute to the work we’re doing, you’re also missing an opportunity. So I would say use this opportunity as best as you can, and stay on top of things.

Norah Al-Hallaj

Norah Al-Hallaj served as the vice chair of the education working group for the 2022-23 term. She will spend another year advising the mayor in her second term, though she does not yet know her title. Norah is from Bridgeport and is a senior at St. Ignatius College Prep.

What made you want to join the education working group?

Education has always been a big part of my life. I love to learn. And I’ve been pretty blessed – I attend private school and I have for all of my life. I know that the CPS system is not the greatest and there’s a lot of areas in Chicago where education is not as full as other places.

I wanted to be able to address that and look for solutions and work towards allowing people to have the same resources that I had. So it was more about extending the privileges I’ve had.

What work on the commission are you most proud of so far?

This was the first year we published the New Ideas booklet, and we recently were able to get a physical copy of it, and I felt such pride.

It’s one thing to talk in these meeting rooms about plans and hear everyone else’s ideas, but to see the whole commission come together and publish this was just a really cool process.

I read the New Ideas report and I saw the education working group released a push for more postsecondary resources. Can you tell me what brought you to want to focus on that?

We all kind of realized that a lot of resources exist, especially in a big city like Chicago. And what I mean by resources is internship programs, scholarship opportunities, testing for ACT/ SAT, Common App help, financial aid, that kind of thing.

And they exist, but the problem was they were so scattered – especially on the Internet – that students and parents who weren’t familiar with the process had a lot of trouble finding and accessing this plethora of resources. So we wanted to find a way to consolidate and create a detailed but very accessible platform for these resources.

What are your priorities for the next year?

My priority is definitely getting this platform for the resources up and running. I want to see that in the next couple months. And I also want to focus more on having town halls for youth voices.

I would love to see (a town hall) for the college application process. A lot of CPS students really freak out, because there’s so many kids in a lot of these schools – you become lost when it comes to getting help and getting your questions answered. So I would love to see town halls or panels and actual events where people can go and feel a lot more confident in themselves walking out.

What is the importance of having youth voices connected to the city government?

I’m 17, so I can’t vote. And I know plenty of people have very intelligent opinions and perspectives and ideas for city government, and how to make it more effective and better serving for underage individuals.

And the problem with that, is that we can’t vote. We can’t attend most city hall meetings that are held during the school day. And that is where I see the mayor’s youth commission come in, where we can go into our communities and round up these opinions and bring them to central government.

Max Lubbers is a reporting intern for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Max at mlubbers@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago closed 50 schools 10 years ago. What’s happened since then?

2023-07-25T10:00:00+00:00

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Demetrius Hobson’s voice piped through the loudspeaker into every classroom at Matthew Henson Elementary School on Chicago’s West Side.

It was just before 3:45 p.m. on June 19, 2013. In a few minutes, the bell would ring to dismiss classes on the last day of the school year at Chicago Public Schools.

Hobson had arrived the previous year, fresh out of Harvard’s principal leadership program, with endless energy and new ideas. He had been ready to transform the 250-student school that served mostly Black students from low income families in North Lawndale and was “gearing up for the long run.”

Now, he had to do something no principal wants to do.

“Good afternoon, Matthew Henson Elementary School, and congratulations,” Hobson intoned. “This is our final few minutes as a school.”

That day would mark the largest mass closure of public schools in the nation’s history, as Henson and 49 other Chicago schools shut their doors for good. Some 17,000 students and 1,500 staff would scatter to schools across the city. Many others would leave the district altogether.

The promise made at the time by then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel was that the students would go to better schools, and the district would save money by offloading expensive-to-maintain aging buildings.

“I know this is incredibly difficult, but I firmly believe the most important thing we can do as a city is provide the next generation with a brighter future,” he said in a statement after the school board voted on the closures. “I am confident that … our children will succeed.”

The moment capped months of raucous public hearings, days-long marches, downtown protests, and even arrests of activists who demanded Emanuel and his hand-picked school board reverse course.

On that June day, as Hobson and others said good-bye to their schools, questions hung in the air: What would happen to neighborhoods being disrupted? Would buildings get new life or fall into disrepair? Would Emanuel’s promise of better futures for students come to fruition?

Henson security guard Kelvyn Cockrell was not as confident as the mayor.

“I just hope and pray that somehow this works,” he said, standing outside the school’s main office on the last day of school.

Nearby, Mia Bonds, then a soft-spoken eighth grader and the valedictorian of her class, helped a teacher pack up a box.

Boxes are stacked inside of a classroom on June 19, 2013, the last day of school at Matthew Henson Elementary in North Lawndale. It was one of 50 schools shuttered under what would become the largest mass closure of public schools in U.S. history.

She would be moving on from Henson anyway, heading to Whitney Young High School, one of the district’s top test-in high schools. But for her brother, then a second grader, the closure would mean being reassigned to Hughes Elementary a few blocks west.

“I don’t think it’s fair,” Bonds said at the time. “I want people to remember that Henson was not just a school — it was like a family.”

Before the bell rang at Henson for the last time, Hobson searched for words of comfort as he spoke to the students over the intercom:

“I want you to remember that education is the key to unlock the golden door to freedom,” he told them. “And I want you to know that every day at Matthew Henson Elementary School, education is liberation.”

A principal and his students ‘find community somewhere else’

About a week after the last day of classes, Hobson says he got a phone call from a district official telling him the school was about to be officially mothballed.

“Get to the school, get your things,” Hobson recalled the official saying. “We need to lock the doors and turn in your keys.”

Henson was one of 46 buildings that would be emptied out. Desks, chairs, books, bulletin boards, and everything else would be moved out — taken to other schools, warehoused, sold, or simply thrown away.

Chicago Public Schools would pay an Ohio-based logistics company to manage all the stuff from the shuttered buildings — a contract that would eventually double from $8.9 million to $18.9 million. Years later, metal desks, solid wood chairs, and other relics from the school closings would end up for sale on Craigslist.

The three-story, mint green and tan brick building once called Henson would be put up for sale the following year.

After his school closed, Hobson needed a break. At the time, he didn’t want to walk into another school building and start over again. He told his wife, ‘If I go back into another school, it’s going to be a school I start.’”

But near the end of that summer, Hobson said, Chicago Public Schools called again: Would he mind stepping in as interim principal at another school?

He was still on district payroll, so he took the job in Woodlawn. But midyear, Hobson was asked to go to Earle Elementary in Englewood, a school that had been designated as a welcoming school for Goodlow Elementary, another closed school.

In some of the buildings that welcomed displaced students in the fall of 2013, the transition was tough and sometimes even chaotic.

“They took two low-performing schools and put them together,” said Darlene O’Banner, a grandmother of four children at Goodlow and later Earle. “They were setting us up for failure.”

The shuffling of students was a monumental task for the district. Officials spent millions of dollars on additional staff, new iPads, and building repairs at roughly 50 schools designated to welcoming students from closed buildings. But instead, some of the students scattered. Just over three-quarters of students attended the welcoming schools that were designated to take them in. The rest fanned out to 200 other schools across the city, WBEZ reported at the time.

Hobson’s time at Earle turned out to be brief: He had gotten a job offer to open a new school. In San Francisco.

So Hobson and his wife packed up and moved West, where he would become the founding principal of a new public middle school named after that city’s first Black mayor, Willie L. Brown.

Many of those impacted by the closures also moved away. Data obtained by Chalkbeat showed that roughly a third of the students who attended closed schools transferred out of CPS. Some families and advocates said the loss of an anchor institution, like a school, would lead to more displacement and disinvestment in the segregated Black neighborhoods, not less.

Bonds started freshman year at Whitney Young, one of the city’s top high schools that accept students based on their test scores and where they live. It was far more diverse and less segregated than Henson, which served mostly Black children from low-income families. The year Bonds enrolled, the student body at Whitney Young was 30% white, 24% Black, 27% Latino, and 15% Asian American.

“I feel like I needed to be in a more diverse type of schooling,” she said. “I saw Whitney as an escape. So I was there early, leaving late.”

Her brother enrolled in third grade at Hughes, the school where Henson students were assigned. It was closer to their apartment, Bonds said, but they “just liked Henson better.”

“Once you close schools down like that, people have to find that community somewhere else and adapt,” she added. “In this situation we were forced to, it wasn’t like a choice.”

Vacant school buildings and new starts in and outside Chicago

By 2017, Henson’s building still sat vacant. The windows were boarded up. Litter blew across the cracked blacktop. The marquee outside the front door was blank, no longer emblazoned with the school’s name.

The marquee outside of Henson Elementary in North Lawndale is now blank. The school has sat vacant and boarded up since 2013, despite interest from a nonprofit housing developer.

The district had managed to sell only a handful of the shuttered schools — most on the north side — to luxury housing developers or private schools. They repurposed a few as district offices or transferred them to other city agencies and put the remaining 30 out to bid for a second time.

In May 2018, the Board of Education had an interested buyer for Henson’s property, which sits across six parcels. The Single Room Housing Assistance Corporation offered $55,000 and put forward a plan to convert the school into 80 mini-studio apartments for low-income people, including veterans, single mothers, and people with disabilities.

There were a lot of similar proposals — and dreams — for the vacant buildings left behind in the wake of the historic closings. A “teacher’s village” with a mix of housing and retail. A women’s center and artist incubator. A community center for formerly incarcerated people. Affordable housing for seniors.

Calhoun Elementary, one of 50 schools that Chicago Public Schools closed in 2013, is still vacant.

The old Genevieve Melody Elementary building at 412 S Keeler Ave. sits vacant. Windows are broken and inside classrooms, there is graffiti on the walls. The building was mothballed in 2013 when Melody relocated to Delano Elementary, 3937 W Wilcox St., which was closed.

The old Delano Elementary in West Garfield Park became the new Melody Elementary in 2013. It was one of about a dozen closures in which Chicago Public Schools relocated students from the school staying open to the building of a school being shut down.

The old Charles Earle Elementary building, 6121 S. Hermitage, closed in 2013. A Wisconsin-based developer purchased the building in 2017 for $200,000 with plans to convert it into affordable housing for seniors. It remains vacant.

The front entrance of the old Charles Earle Elementary building, 6121 S. Hermitage. In 2021, the new owner announced plans to convert the building into affordable housing for seniors.

The playground at the former Arna Bontemps Elementary, 1241 W 58th St., which closed in 2013, is overgrown and scribbled with graffiti.

A message is spraypainted on the side of the former Arna Bontemps Elementary school, 1241 W 58th St., which closed in 2013.

The old Laura S. Ward Elementary building at 410 N. Monticello Ave. in Garfield Park was closed in 2013. The school relocated to 646 N Lawndale Ave. in Humboldt Park and took over the old Martin A. Ryerson Elementary building.

Students play on the playground of the old Martin A. Ryerson Elementary, 646 N Lawndale Ave., in Humboldt Park closed in 2013. It is now home to Laura S. Ward Elementary.

The old Martin A. Ryerson Elementary, 646 N Lawndale Ave., in Humboldt Park closed in 2013 and is now Laura S. Ward Elementary.

The playground is locked and overgrown at the old Genevieve Melody Elementary building at 412 S Keeler Ave. The building was mothballed in 2013 when Melody relocated to the old Delano Elementary, 3937 W Wilcox St.

Faraday Elementary School, 3250 W Monroe St., used to be Garfield Park Elementary. In 2013, Chicago Public Schools shut down Garfield Park and relocated Faraday to this building, merging the students from both into one school.

The basketball court next to Henson Elementary, 1326 S. Avers Ave., in North Lawndale is empty on a hot June day 10 years since the school closed in 2013.

The marquee at Nathan Goldblatt Elementary School, 4257 W. Adams St., in West Garfield Park still has notes on it from the last time it served students in 2013.

The gate around Nathan Goldblatt Elementary, 4257 W Adams St., in West Garfield Park is locked. The school has gotten little to no interest from buyers when Chicago Public Schools has put it up for sale.

The site of the former William King Elementary, 740 S. Campbell Ave., is now home to 30 single-family, new construction homes built in 2020. The property was sold to a developer in 2017 for $1.5 million at a time when the Chicago Board of Education was approving multiple bids on vacant closed schools.

Hobson, in the meantime, was trying to bring a new school to life nearly 2,000 miles away.

He was “working day and night” to recruit students for a new STEM middle school in San Francisco, hiring staff, applying for grants, and designing curriculum with the district leadership.

But in late 2018, Hobson returned home to Chicago once the school opened. He remembers thinking: “‘Maybe I should just start over? Go back to the classroom. See what that feels like.”

Bonds, who had graduated from Whitney Young in 2017, became the first in her immediate family to go to college.

“A lot of people urged me to go. They said I needed to leave the west side of Chicago,” she said. “Every college I applied to I got accepted.”

She chose Northern Illinois University. “Nearby, but far enough away.”

Her brother finished elementary school at Hughes and enrolled at a Noble charter high school.

Data obtained by Chalkbeat show 59 percent of second graders from closed schools, like Bonds’ brother, are still enrolled across the district. It’s one of the cohorts of closed school kids who remained enrolled at slightly higher rates than comparison schools that were also on a list of 129 schools being considered for closure in 2012-13, but were ultimately spared.

But the closures had thrown other students off course.

A 2018 study by the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research found that students impacted by the closures had academic outcomes that were “neutral at best, and negative in some instances.” For example, students from closed schools initially had lower reading and math scores. Reading scores recovered, but the gap in math scores persisted.

The school district had promised a five-year moratorium on school closings after 2013. When it ended in 2018, CPS closed four high schools in Englewood. But in exchange, it built a new state-of-the-art STEM high school.

Still, Chicagoans questioned if the district would return to an annual cycle of closing a handful of schools every year, as it did prior to the 50 closures.

How school closings were decided remains ‘hurtful’

On a hot June day this year, exactly 10 years and three days since the last day of school in 2013, the entrance to Henson was still blocked by boards on which someone had painted a mural.

It read: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

The front entrance of Henson Elementary in North Lawndale is boarded up, but painted with a colorful mural.

A City of Chicago Empowerment Zone sign, with Mayor Richard M. Daley’s name on it, hung above the mural. A weathered and crumpled piece of yellow paper from the Department of Water Management was stapled to the side, asking the owner to contact them within 10 days so workers could access the water meter and avoid a shutoff.

Chicago Public Schools still owns the building. There have been no micro-studios for veterans, single mothers, or disabled people.

The sale approved by the school board to the Single Room Housing Assistance Corporation never went through. Former alderman Michael Scott Jr. held it in the City Council’s Committee on Housing five years ago.

The blacktop where an inflatable bounce house stood on the last day of school was cracked and faded. Near a side entrance, a few men in their thirties were sitting on buckets, smoking. One swept broken glass off the ground and into a garbage can.

The blacktop behind Henson Elementary in North Lawndale where students used to play. A last day of school celebration was held here on June 19, 2013, before it was shut down by the school district.

Hobson has driven by Henson’s building a few times. One time before the pandemic, he remembers turning the corner to see Henson’s green and tan building.

“I was surprised to see how disheveled the building, the environment was,” Hobson said. “You could see vestiges of night parties, you know, bottles, and food bags, and everything just kind of collected on the stairs.”

The story is the same for many vacant schools. Approvals have stalled and some projects have languished as they wait for financing.

Hobson is back in the classroom now, teaching middle school social studies at an elementary school on the West Side closer to downtown than Henson was. It’s also named William Brown STEM Elementary, but after a different William Brown than the school he started in San Francisco.

It’s harder to know where the 252 students who were at Henson are today. One Henson student featured in a WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times series said after fourth grade when the closure happened, he went to three different elementary schools and three different high schools in Chicago and the suburbs before getting his high school diploma at an alternative school.

Data provided by the district did not break down outcomes by school.

But data obtained separately by Chalkbeat Chicago shows that about 60 percent of Henson’s kindergarten through second grade students — those still likely to be enrolled — were at district schools during the 2022-23 school year.

Of all the students who attended schools that closed in 2013, fewer graduated and more dropped out when compared to the rest of the district. But these outcomes were similar to schools that were also on the chopping block in 2013, raising questions about whether the closures resulted in a better education for students.

Hobson said he still occasionally thinks about what it would’ve been like to “be a fly on the wall” in the rooms where the school closings decisions were made.

“Now that we can see on the other side, based on the data, there was no real transformation for the children,” Hobson said.

“What we were told and what actually happened are two different realities.”

As for Bonds, she moved back home to North Lawndale this summer after finishing her master’s degree at NIU. Her family is still in the same apartment about six blocks from Henson. She’s working for After School Matters this summer, as she has for the past several years. And next year, she’s doing City Year, an Americorps program that stations full-time mentors in high-need schools.

Looking back now, Bonds said the historic mass school closings weren’t “the end of the world.” People adapted. But it still felt like “a numbers game” that made communities like hers feel “powerless to a system.”

“It wasn’t like it was super detrimental,” Bonds said. “It was just hurtful.”

Her little brother is now entering his senior year at the same Noble campus he started at and is on track to graduate, she said.

Most Chicago students enrolled today have not experienced their public schools closing down for good. The kindergarten students of 2013 are set to graduate in 2025 — the same year state legislators have given the city’s school board permission to close schools again.

Mila Koumpilova and Samantha Smylie contributed reporting.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

ABOUT THIS STORY

I first met Demetrius Hobson and Mia Bonds at Henson Elementary on June 19, 2013, when I spent the day at the campus as a reporter for WBEZ, Chicago’s NPR station.

I was the age Mia is now. Just starting out in my career. Like many others, Chicago’s 50 school closings impacted my life in ways I’m not sure I realized until many years later. It shaped how I think about my work as a journalist and the responsibility I have to those who share their stories with me. It changed how I think about systems and structures.

In the years that followed, I stopped covering education and became a city politics reporter. I got married. I had two kids. Yet every time the name of someone I met or interviewed or the name of one of the closed schools came across my radar, my eyes and ears would perk up. Although I no longer covered education, I kept track of what was happening to the shuttered schools. I often updated a spreadsheet not thinking it would ever lead to anything. (Spoiler: It did.)

In thinking about how to mark the 10-year anniversary of this moment, in my current role as Chalkbeat’s Chicago bureau chief, I went back to my old files and re-listened to much of what flowed in and out of my tape recorder that year. I thought a lot about where all the students, parents, teachers, and activists were now. (One got elected mayor.) I reconnected with some. I talked to new people. I revisited past research. I filed multiple information requests.

I went back to Henson on a hot day in June, exactly 10 years and 3 days since that last day. I cried. And then, I wrote.

This story does not have all the answers. No story does. It seeks — once again — to add information to the public conversation around an important policy issue and to elevate the stories of those most impacted. As Mia said to me in our recent conversation: “The story is the people.”

Chicago opens school enrollment center for migrant children and families

2023-07-17T20:28:56+00:00

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Recently arrived migrant families on Chicago’s West Side will get help with enrolling in school, receiving free school supplies, signing up for public benefits, and getting vaccinated at a new “welcome center” run by Chicago Public Schools and the city.

Mayor Brandon Johnson and city and district officials unveiled the new center at Roberto Clemente Community Academy, a high school in the city’s Humboldt Park neighborhood, on Monday. Officials said the center is a pilot effort — possibly the first of several such facilities across the city.

They also called it a centerpiece of a broader plan they have promised for better serving migrant families across the city, though the center will only help smooth the transition into the district for those living in the Humboldt Park and West Town neighborhoods.

The center, which will work with families by appointment only starting later this week, is estimated to cost roughly $750,000, according to CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, who described it as a “very small investment” from the district’s operating budget.

More than 10,000 migrants have arrived in Chicago since August, many sent on buses from Texas by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. Roughly half are staying in temporary shelters, including police stations. Hundreds of school-aged children are among the new arrivals, though the school district has not shared exact numbers. Helping these families find permanent housing and easing children into local public schools are key challenges facing the Johnson administration.

The Chicago Teachers Union, which helped carry Johnson — a former union organizer — to victory in April, had criticized district officials for not doing more to support newly arrived migrant students. Union leaders said some schools were overwhelmed by an influx of such students and scrambled to provide translation and other basic services.

District leaders have said they were working on a detailed, comprehensive plan for helping migrant students, to be released before the first day of school on Aug. 21. That bigger plan is still to come, Martinez said Monday.

Johnson said the area around Clemente was one of the city’s most densely populated with newcomer immigrants.

“We’re going to stand on the shoulders of our ancestors, and we’re going to bring people closer together to make sure that the families who have been here have the full force of government and families who wish to call Chicago their home also have the full force of government,” Johnson said at the Monday press conference.

Martinez balked at saying exactly how many migrant students enrolled in the district this past school year — it’s in the thousands, he said — or how many the district expects to serve in the fall. That latter number is too fluid, he said, but he promised to have an update at the start of the school year.

Johnson said his office will track “outcomes with this center” in order to improve how it operates and also use it as a model to potentially expand to other neighborhoods.

At the new “welcoming center” on the high school’s second floor, families will make their way through several classrooms to get a string of services, officials said. Children will get an English language screening, receive free supplies, and get assigned to a school.

Martinez said the high school students will be assigned to Clemente while younger children will be enrolled at one of eight nearby elementary schools — Chopin, De Diego LaSalle II, Mitchell, Moos, Pritzker, Sabin, and Talcott.

“These are migrant families who come here to seek their dream, and we’ll be part of that dream,” said Martha Valerio, the community coordinator at Clemente, standing in front of a table piled with coats, running shoes, and backpacks. “We are all going to receive them with a warm smile.”

Families will meet with a social worker and get help signing up for medical, dental appointments, and public benefits, such as food assistance and Medicaid.

“These are the types of services we have to provide across the entire city,” Johnson told journalists in front of the center.

According to WBEZ, some migrants are now living in tents, rather than police stations or crowded shelters, as they wait for permanent housing. School-aged migrant children are eligible to be classified as Students in Temporary Living Situations – a status that protects children without permanent housing.

Meanwhile, some teachers have been volunteering their time this summer to get students ready for school.

Earlier this month, the police department opened an investigation into sexual misconduct allegations against officers, including one accused of impregnating a recently-arrived teen, at a west side police station. The investigation prompted city officials to move migrants out of police stations.

Johnson said at the Monday event that the investigation is ongoing, with an update slated for Tuesday.

Reema Amin contributed.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Calling all youth: Chicago’s Mayor Johnson wants your ideas for his first city budget

2023-07-14T19:22:46+00:00

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is looking to the next generation for help on his first city budget proposal.

The former middle school teacher and union organizer is holding a budget roundtable discussion exclusively for Chicagoans ages 13 to 24. The July 25 event on the ninth floor of Harold Washington Library is an addition to the usual round of July budget engagement meetings.

The city is offering a perk: Five young people who participate, who are at least 16 years old, will be randomly chosen to win two four-day Lollapalooza passes.

In a statement, Johnson said the roundtable “allows our young people the opportunity to chart their own path in fulfilling that vision for hope, and become stewards for their own futures and eventual leadership of our city.”

The invitation comes as Johnson is stepping up efforts to get young people more involved in government decision making. His transition team recently recommended the creation of a paid youth council — which would resemble an existing youth commission created by his predecessor Lori Lightfoot.

City officials are inviting youth to share ideas directly with the mayor on various elements of the city’s budget, including affordable housing, homelessness, community development, arts and culture, mental health, safety, and infrastructure. But schools are not included on that list.

The Chicago Public Schools budget, which must be approved by July 1, already has been passed for the upcoming school year. The school board last month approved a flat $9.4 billion, with roughly half going directly to schools.

But financial challenges loom, with school district officials expecting a budget shortfall of $628 million by the 2025-26 school year with the depletion of federal pandemic relief funds. As Chicago shifts to an elected school board, the district may also have to pick up more costs currently paid by the city.

The next city budget will cover the 2024 calendar year. The City Council is required to pass a budget by Dec. 31 — but historically does so before Thanksgiving, and planning starts in summer. From June to September, the city’s budget office reviews departmental expenses and solicits public feedback. Mayors submit their budget proposals to the City Council by Oct. 15, which also includes a public hearing.

Typically, the mayor’s office releases a budget forecast in August. But in a rare move before leaving office, Lightfoot and her financial team released a midyear budget forecast that projected a relatively small shortfall of $85 million.

Doors to the youth budget discussion will open around 4:45 p.m., and the event will start at 5:30 p.m. City officials said there will be limited seating for adult chaperones, who cannot participate in the discussion. Youth can register here.

Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s transition team releases its recommendations for schools

2023-07-07T15:38:52+00:00

Create a paid youth council to guide school decisions.

Help about 20,000 homeless students find housing.

Grant full college scholarships to Chicago students looking to become teachers, as a way to cultivate more Black and Latino educators.

These are just a few of the recommendations made by a transition committee convened by Mayor Brandon Johnson to help set his administration’s priorities. The 223-page document released Thursday includes an ambitious progressive education agenda for the former middle school teacher and union organizer who took office in May.

Two of the mayor’s new appointees to the Chicago Board of Education — its new president, Jianan Shi, and member Michelle Morales — served on a subcommittee that set goals for improving the city’s public schools and other services for children and youth.

Many of the committee’s recommendations, such as providing affordable housing for student families, echo bargaining table demands and other goals of the Chicago Teachers Union, which helped carry Johnson to victory in this past spring’s mayoral race. The recommendations also include ending district budgeting based partly on campus enrollments, staffing all district schools with librarians and clinicians, and reviewing whether custodial services, which the district outsources to Aramark, should be brought in house.

Some recommendations reflect more recent goals that educators and in some cases district leaders have laid out. Amid a shift away from a “four-year college for all” mindset in Chicago and elsewhere, the transition report argues that all schools, including International Baccalaureate high schools and middle schools, should offer some trade and vocational programs.

A few of the recommendations are ones that the district is already pursuing, such as regularly surveying students and staffing counselors in all buildings.

Although the report does not attempt to estimate the cost of the school district transformation it envisions, the recommendations almost certainly involve major new spending. At a time when the district is bracing for more financial uncertainty, the report urges the Johnson administration to aggressively explore new funding sources to pay for a costly agenda that calls for significantly expanding the academic, social-emotional, and other services that schools provide to students.

“This new and holistic approach is more important than ever in a district that continues to see BIPOC students disproportionately impacted by violence, the school to prison pipeline, economic disparities, and dropping enrollment,” the report said.

Here are five messages the transition committee conveyed in its report:

1. Give students more of a voice in their education — and pay them to weigh in

The report calls for creating a permanent youth council, with paid members, to offer input on district decisions. Such a council would resemble an existing advisory body that former Mayor Lori Lightfoot launched, made up of teens who receive a stipend for their service to the mayor’s office. The city should also host regular youth summits and survey students to get feedback on their educational experience, the report argued.

“I am a huge proponent of youth voice,” Morales told reporters this week. “We know that youth who are civically engaged, feel their voices are heard, and feel part of the decision-making at school then feel ownership over their schools.”

The report also suggests paying school board members. That recommendation comes ahead of the city’s transition to an elected school board, and would require a change to state law. The report also suggests changing state law so undocumented residents can serve on Chicago’s elected board.

2. Rapidly increase the number of full-service community schools to 200

On the campaign trail and since his election, Johnson has vowed to dramatically expand the district’s Sustainable Community Schools program, a partnership with the teachers union in which community-based organizations provide after-school and other wraparound services at 20 schools. The transition committee report echoes that goal — and puts some numbers to it.

It says the city should aim to expand the program to 50 of the district’s roughly 500 campuses in the near term — and to 200 in the long term, with an eye to eventually having all district schools function as community hubs through partnerships with local nonprofits and other organizations. And, the report says, the district should create a department to oversee that rapid expansion.

3. Provide free Wi-Fi, laptops, and public transit to students

Following widespread complaints about busing amid a national driver shortage, the report says the district must take a close look at how it provides transportation to its students, including bus driver pay and best practices in other districts. The goal is that no child should have to commute longer than 30 minutes. This past school year, some students experienced commutes of more than 90 minutes one way.

In the long term, the report says, public transit should be free to all students, and all should receive free computers and access to the internet.

4. Replace federal COVID relief dollars that are running out

The mayor’s education agenda and the recommendations of the transition committee will require major new investments — at a time when the district faces rising employee pension costs, declining enrollment, and a looming deadline to spend its federal pandemic recovery aid.

The city must figure out how to keep its finances stable as that federal money goes away, the report stresses. Some possibilities: a cannabis tax, donations from major corporations and other businesses, and tax changes to ensure “the wealthy pay their fair share.” And, the report says, the city should reverse a move by Lightfoot to make the district pay millions of dollars in staff pension costs that the city used to cover.

In media interviews this week, Shi and Morales said the new board will do a deep dive into district spending, with an eye on finding possible savings in administrative costs and other expenses.

“We want to dismantle a learning system built on scarcity,” Shi said.

5. Provide more help for homeless and migrant students

The report charges the mayor’s office with making a plan to find housing for some 20,000 students who don’t have a stable place to live. That’s a goal that the Chicago Teachers Union tried to enshrine in its contract with the district during tense negotiations in 2019 — one that Lightfoot criticized as being outside the district’s scope.

The transition committee, by contrast, said the task should be a top priority for the new mayor. It suggests looking at strategies used in other cities, such as Boston, which the report said has gotten involved in the push to secure affordable housing for families. Roughly 1 in 4 Black students experience homelessness while attending school in the district, the report said.

The district also needs a specific plan with measurable goals for better serving newly arrived migrant students, the report said. Johnson administration officials have said they are planning to open a “welcome center” for newly arrived migrant students at Roberto Clemente Community Academy High School.

The report also suggests granting students and district employees excused absences to attend immigration appointments and formally factoring the language and other needs of migrant students into the city or district budget.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Jen Johnson, Chicago’s new deputy mayor for education, has a long to-do list. First up: Youth jobs, migrant families.

2023-06-22T19:51:17+00:00

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s deputy for education, youth, and human services Jennifer “Jen” Johnson has a packed agenda for the coming months.

Her first two orders of business since stepping into her new role in May: Boost the number of teens landing jobs through the city’s summer youth employment program. Help spearhead a more collaborative city response to the arrivals of migrant families, connecting some children to summer school and other programs.

But Jen Johnson, the former chief of staff for the Chicago Teachers Union (no relation to the mayor), says she is also eager to dramatically expand the district’s Sustainable Community Schools program, a partnership with the teachers union in which high-poverty schools team up with community-based organizations to beef up services for students and transform campuses into neighborhood hubs.

Expanding these types of schools was a campaign promise of Mayor Johnson’s, himself a former teachers union leader.

And as the district and union tackle negotiations over a new labor contract, Jen Johnson will find herself on the opposite side of the table from where she sat during highly contentious contract talks in 2019 and later over reopening school buildings during the pandemic.

In an exclusive interview with Chalkbeat, Jen Johnson, a former high school history teacher, spoke about the promise and pressure of attacking that high-stakes to-do list.

This conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and length.

What excites you about your new role in the mayor’s office?

I am incredibly honored to have been asked to take this on. My passion comes from working with young people. I’m most excited about those additional levers that I get to push — and the additional collaborators across departments and agencies — to impact the lives of young people. I’m a classroom educator at heart. I always knew I wanted to be a teacher from when I was very young. I come from a family of educators. And I have a deep belief that young people are incredible. Their leadership is something that I’m excited to continue to cultivate.

What keeps you up at night?

It’s just the anxiety of all of the challenges and problems that the city is facing. My portfolio is very wide. I work with eight departments or agencies. The problems that we’re trying to address are systemic. Every day, I’m trying to move the chess pieces in the right direction because the challenges are so deeply impacting families. We need an investment in our schools and in our communities. I am trying to approach the work with a lens of accessibility. The mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities also falls within my office. Every community is touched by the agencies that I’m working with, and every single one has critical work to do. So the anxiety is, “Can we get it done? How quickly? What resources do we need to identify to do so?”

During the election campaign, Mayor Johnson talked about his interest in expanding Chicago’s Sustainable Community Schools model as a way to bring more resources and support to students in high-need schools. How many such schools do you envision, and how can the city scale up this model?

I think the vision and the dream is to work toward a Sustainable Community Schools district. That obviously will take enormous resources. So we are going to have to be sober and honest with our finances. We are going to have to work closely with Chicago Public Schools and ensure Chicago Public Schools is working closely with the Chicago Teachers Union. I’m hopeful that we can get to a phased approach where we are ramping up, but it’s too soon for me to predict an exact number. But the vision is to continue to grow that model where parents, students, community members, staff, and administration are working in partnership to make decisions in a just way that brings resources to students and families and makes schools a community hub. We think that that strategy builds confidence, it builds trust, and it will help school communities with enrollment ultimately.

Speaking of Sustainable Community Schools, Miguel del Valle, who is stepping down as school board president, recently called for evaluating and holding more accountable the district’s community partners in the Sustainable Community Schools program. Do you see a need for that as well?

Look, we live in a world where people expect and deserve data. They expect and deserve transparency in what is happening in their school communities. So I’m fully in favor of ensuring that students, families, educators, and the community understand what resources, programs, and supports are being put into schools, including the Sustainable Community Schools. I don’t think it’s fair to single out just Sustainable Community Schools. We have to be more transparent with how we’re talking about what investments are going into schools wholesale because that will help us tell the story of where more investment is needed. What I’m not in favor of is continuing to have to justify providing programs, resources, staffing, and services that all of our students deserve. Our young people deserve a librarian. Our young people deserve an after-school program. Our young people deserve a health clinic in their school. I’m not interested in revisiting the 25-year history of research on whether community schools work, but research is very clear that this model is the way we should do school.

Why were youth jobs one of the first orders of business when Mayor Johnson took office last month? How will this administration achieve his goal of doubling them?

The mayor is a parent. He has three active children, and he and his family ensure that they are engaged in high-quality programs that keep them busy and happy. The mayor understands that not all young people have access to programs and jobs that do the same for them. He knows that young people who have opportunities to have paid work will be occupied and have fun; they will learn skills that will transfer back into the school and hopefully will transfer into interest that drives them forward with their future plans. He understands that it’s an important lever on curbing young people from engaging in behavior that is destructive.

We have been working very quickly and closely with the Department of Family & Support Services, with our budget department, with our sister agencies and departments. One Summer Chicago is a critical program. We think that it can do more. So all of those partners are working together right now to increase the number of students who are placed in slots. We also have corporate partners working with our departments to identify opportunities for young people to work. So this is really an all-hands-on-deck moment. We do expect to see a bump this summer, and then we’re going to be working really hard to maintain and continue that increase.

Chicago Public Schools is going into contract negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union. How will the Johnson administration ensure the two sides arrive at a contract that meets the needs of educators, students — and taxpayers?

The mayor has been clear that he is an educator, so he knows how critical investing in our Chicago Public Schools is. He is also a parent, and he is the mayor for the entire city. So we’re going to balance all of the priorities we have to balance, in terms of investment and fiscal responsibility, but we’re going to do it in a collaborative manner. We will be able to have more honest, upfront conversations with the union and with the district about the needs and about the barriers. And with Mayor Johnson in office, he has excellent relations across all levels of government. So I am hopeful that the process will be less painful, more inclusive, and driven by a shared set of goals.

How will the school district and the city step up services for newly arrived migrant students?

The issue of supporting our asylum-seekers is one that cuts across many departments in this city. I have continued to support making sure that young people who are part of our migrant families are connected to their school communities as soon as possible. There are young people who have been connected with summer programming this summer. But the solutions don’t just live in one department. There is increased, deeper collaboration across the schools, the Department of Family & Support Services, the mayor’s office, and myriad others. There’s a lot of evaluation going on of what’s working right now. I also expect we are going to bring on a new deputy mayor who will be fully focused on this issue.

Typically, newly elected mayors have replaced appointed members of the Chicago Board of Education. Four of seven members’ terms are expiring this month. Do you have any updates about Mayor Johnson’s school board appointments?

We’re working on it, and you’ll know as soon as we’re ready to share.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Applications for the Chicago Mayor’s Youth Commission are open

2023-06-14T20:13:40+00:00

Chicago teens looking to give advice to Mayor Brandon Johnson and his administration can apply to serve on an advisory group that provides input on key issues affecting the city’s young people.

Johnson’s predecessor, Lori Lightfoot, launched the Mayor’s Youth Commission in the fall of 2019. She made it a formal advisory body as part of a flurry of executive orders in the days before she left office in May.

In its upcoming term, city officials say, the 32-member commission will focus on four areas: education, public health, public safety, and neighborhood development.

Members will meet monthly to weigh in on city initiatives, plan youth outreach campaigns, and more — adding up to a commitment of five to 10 hours a month. In exchange, they’ll get public transit passes and a stipend, though the amount was not immediately clear.

The application deadline is July 1. Any Chicago resident ages 14 through 19 can apply on the city’s website.

The application site says the mayor’s office is seeking teens who have “a strong connection to their community, a passion about issues that impact youth, and interest in collaborating with City leaders to impact Chicago’s future.”

The current advisory group, whose term will end in August, recently released its annual New Ideas report.

Youth commissioners serve up to two years. Interested teens can email mayorsyouthcommission@cityofchicago.org with questions.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools staff to get 12 weeks paid parental leave

2023-06-08T21:42:42+00:00

Chicago Public Schools employees will soon have 12 weeks of fully paid parental leave — putting the district in line with city policy and well ahead of most other school systems across the country.

Parental leave became a campaign issue in January during the mayoral election, when the Chicago Teachers Union accused former Mayor Lori Lightfoot of reneging on plans to extend the city policy to teachers. A CPS spokesperson at the time said the union and district were “actively working” to update the policy.

Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former CTU organizer and teacher, announced the new leave policy on Thursday standing alongside CPS CEO Pedro Martinez and CTU President Stacy Davis Gates.

“It will ensure that once they return from leave, they come back refreshed, energized and ready to lead the next generation of young Chicagoans into success,” Johnson said.

Martinez said the exact details are still being worked out, but the plan is to roll out the new policy before the start of the 2023-24 school year. A working group has begun meeting, according to the mayor’s office. Once finalized, the policy will go before the Chicago Board of Education for a vote. All new and revised policies must be posted online for public comment for 30 days.

Currently, teachers have two weeks of leave with the ability to use short-term disability if they are the birthing parent. Davis Gates told Chalkbeat in January that teachers usually cobble together leaves using those benefits, sick and personal days, and unpaid time off allowed under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act. They also try to time pregnancies so they give birth when school is not in session.

“There are a lot of summer birthdays if you have teacher friends and that’s for a reason,” Davis Gates said Thursday.

Chicago will become an outlier nationally in providing teachers paid leave. According to the National Council on Teacher Quality, less than a quarter of nearly 150 school districts they reviewed, including the 100 largest, offer paid parental leave, but most offer fewer than 30 days.

While the details of the policy are still being worked out, Martinez estimated it could cost an additional $10 million annually. The district’s most recent budget was $9.5 billion.

“I think it’s a worthwhile investment,” Martinez said. “Because the reality is we lose teachers when they start having children, and that creates other challenges for us.”

Tiffany Childress Price, a teacher and mom of two, said the new policy is critical for retaining and recruiting high-quality educators.

“Becoming a parent was the best thing to happen to my teaching practice,” Childress Price said. “The way that I have seen other people’s children has transformed my empathy for struggling children and struggling families.”

Parental leave has historically been negotiated during contract talks in Chicago and elsewhere. Today’s announcement signals the policy will no longer be used as a bargaining chip. But Johnson bristled when asked what this says about how he might negotiate with his friends and former colleagues.

“This is not a gift to the CTU, this is a policy for the people of the city of Chicago,” Johnson said.

The union’s current contract is set to expire on June 30, 2024. Davis Gates and Martinez both said paid parental leave is no longer something that should be negotiated.

“It really is more of a policy for how we treat all of our employees,” Martinez said.

“When it is at the negotiating table, it gets crowded out by other things,” Davis Gates added. “We shouldn’t be trading parental leave for class size or class size for parental leave.”

All three touted today’s announcement as evidence of a more collaborative relationship between the mayor, the school district, and the teachers union. The energy is a stark contrast to the fraught labor relations under Chicago’s previous two mayors. Tensions between CTU and Lightfoot prompted an 11-day strike in 2019 and two actions during the height of the COVID pandemic.

The union also went on strike in 2012 for seven days after then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel rescinded a contractually-promised raise and pushed to unilaterally lengthen the school day and year.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Looking for a summer job? Applications for One Summer Chicago are open until Friday.

2023-06-05T21:15:00+00:00

Update: City officials extended the deadline to apply to Friday, June 9. This story has been updated to reflect the change.

Chicago teens looking for a summer job can now apply online through One Summer Chicago — the city’s youth employment program, which has seen a decline in participation in recent years.

Applications opened Feb. 28 and are due June 9. The program will run for six weeks, from June 26 to Aug. 4, and any Chicago resident ages 14 to 24 is eligible to apply.

Last summer, 20,544 youth participated in the program, which offers jobs, internships, service learning, and career exploration programs, according to a new report released by the Department of Children and Family Support Services. Just over 16,000 teens worked jobs and internships, while others enrolled in programs aimed at career exploration and service learning.

Those numbers have yet to recover from a steep drop in participation in 2020 — when summer programs were virtual or hybrid. Roughly 20,000 youth got jobs through One Summer Chicago during the first summer of the COVID pandemic, compared to more than 30,000 in 2019.

Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot had hoped last summer would see a rebound, calling for a “summer of joy” when the application opened.

Mayor Brandon Johnson promised to double the number of youth employed during his first 100 days in office. Summer jobs and youth employment more broadly were key issues in the mayoral runoff election between Johnson and former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas.

Summer teen employment dropped across the country in 2020, but rebounded in 2021, according to a Pew Research Center analysis of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Still, the number of teens with summer jobs has been declining in recent decades. Prior to 2000, more than half of American teens worked summer gigs. Now, it’s around a third, the report found.

In addition to One Summer Chicago, Chicago Public Schools offers a wide range of summer programs — including academic catch-up required for students who failed certain grades — that got a big boost with federal COVID recovery money.

For more information about One Summer Chicago, the city has a list of frequently asked questions online.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

From middle school teacher to Chicago mayor: Brandon Johnson sworn in to city’s top office

2023-05-15T20:30:33+00:00

Brandon Johnson, a public school parent, teachers union organizer, and former middle school teacher, has been officially sworn in as Chicago’s 57th mayor.

Johnson defeated former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas in a runoff election on April 4 after both candidates surpassed incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot during a Feb. 28 general election, dashing her hopes of a second term.

“We get to write the story of our children’s and our grandchildren’s future,” Johnson said during his inaugural address Monday at the Credit Union 1 Arena at University of Illinois at Chicago on the city’s Near West Side. “What will that story say?”

As the last mayor with control of Chicago Public Schools, Johnson will oversee the city’s transition to an elected school board, which he lobbied for as an organizer with the Chicago Teachers Union. In his speech Monday, he once again promised to double the number of youth jobs, provide “child care for all,” and partner with school district leadership to “provide every single child with a world class education that meets their needs.”

“Let’s create a public education system that resources children based on need and not just on numbers,” Johnson said.

“Let’s have a system that respects its parents, educators and school employees,” he said. “Where the president of the Chicago Teachers Union and SEIU Local 73 and the CEO of the Chicago Public Schools can work together to advocate for more resources for all of our children.”

Roughly three hours after taking the oath of office, Johnson signed four executive orders — one which directs the budget office to find available money to pay for youth employment this summer and year-round. It also tasks his new Deputy Mayor of Education Jen Johnson to identify entry-level jobs “suitable for young people” within city departments and agencies. Chicago’s youth unemployment rates increased during the pandemic, hitting Black young women particularly hard, according to a new report released last week.

Johnson’s own story from middle school teacher to mayor began more than a decade ago. He left the classroom in 2012 to join a grassroots effort by the Chicago Teachers Union to build political power in order to improve the conditions beyond the classroom walls that impact students and their families, such as housing affordability, poverty, crime, and environmental racism.

“I’m struck by how much work it took to bring us to this moment,” Johnson said, with CTU president, Stacy Davis Gates, and vice president, Jackson Potter, seated behind him on the stage.

While running for mayor, Johnson promised free public transit for students, an expansion of child care programs and health clinics in schools with available space, and an increase in support staff, such as social workers and counselors.

Johnson’s election signals a national shift on education within Democratic politics away from an emphasis on high-stakes accountability and market-based school choice. That view of reform, at times, also vilified teachers and their unions and came with legislation that stripped teachers of their bargaining rights and tried to tie job security to student test scores.

The Chicago Teachers Union began to push back on that thinking in 2010 with the election of the late Karen Lewis as CTU president. Their movement gained momentum and national attention going on strike in 2012, protesting mass school closures in 2013, and electing the first teacher to City Council in 2015. The CTU’s activism galvanized unions in other cities.

In a narrow election in 2018, Johnson upset an incumbent to win a seat on the Cook County Board of Commissioners, a position he officially resigned on Friday.

Mayor Brandon Johnson shakes hands outside Michele Clark Magnet High School in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood hours before taking the oath of office.

Prior to taking the oath of office on Monday, Johnson stopped at several schools on Chicago’s West Side, including DePriest Elementary, Michele Clark Magnet High School, and Leland Elementary. A drumline and crowd of students, teachers, and elected officials greeted him outside Michele Clark.

Torrence Bell, 15, held up a poster congratulating the new mayor and stood along a fence outside the front entrance, where dozens of elected officials gathered, including Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, City Clerk Anna Valencia, and Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle.

“He’s a Black male, you know, I’m a Black male, so it’s really very inspiring for me,” Bell said.

Up the street, outside Leland Elementary students cheered and chanted for the new mayor, shaking his hand as he walked through the playground before getting in a black SUV to head to the inauguration ceremony.

“He’s one of our own,” said Alesia Franklin-Allen, acting principal at Leland. “That’s a great asset to have in a leader. He knows the needs of the schools.”

Speaking outside Michele Clark Magnet High School, current union president Davis Gates said she felt like the “personification of joy.”

“We deserve a mayor who’s going to invest in our children, who is going to practice justice and equity, not just as a value, but as a policy imperative,” Davis Gates said. “I am so very happy for us right now.”

Students from Leland Elementary on Chicago’s West Side wait to meet Mayor Brandon Johnson Monday morning before he took the oath of office.

Ten years ago this month, Davis Gates said, she and Johnson were in Springfield lobbying lawmakers to stop then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel and his appointed Chicago Board of Education from closing 50 schools. Ultimately, the board voted to close those schools, which became a galvanizing moment for the CTU. After the May 22, 2013 vote, then-CTU president Karen Lewis said the union would start training people to run for office.

“Clearly, we have to change the political landscape in this city,” Lewis said at the time.

Davis Gates choked back tears Monday morning as she recalled that moment.

“I’m so happy that teachers and clinicians and paraprofessionals believed their union who said that we could bargain for the common good, that we could be in coalition with the community, that we could transform Chicago,” Davis Gates said standing outside Michele Clark High School before heading downtown for the inauguration. “This is so amazing. And my only regret is that Karen is not here.”

A few hours later in his inaugural address, Johnson nodded to Lewis, calling her his “mentor and dear sister.”

“We all are here because of the work of giants who came before us and without whom this day would not be possible,” he said.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Teachers Union chief of staff named city’s deputy mayor of Education, Youth, and Human Services

2023-05-11T18:55:11+00:00

Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson, a former teachers union organizer, has named chief of staff at the Chicago Teachers Union and former high school history teacher Jennifer “Jen” Johnson to be the city’s next deputy mayor of Education, Youth, and Human Services.

Jen Johnson replaces Jaye Stapleton, who was appointed to the job last year after outgoing Mayor Lori Lightfoot promoted Sybil Madison from deputy mayor of education to chief of staff.

Johnson taught at Lincoln Park High School from 2003-2013 and left the classroom around the same time as Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson, who will be sworn into office Monday. The two are not related.

Both were part of a grassroots movement led by the teachers union focused on social justice, community organizing, and pushing back against top-down school reform policies, including the closure of public schools and the expansion of privately-run, often non-unionized charter schools.

“These appointments reflect our policy priorities and strategic goals as we set a bold agenda for the next four years,” Mayor-elect Johnson said in a statement. “Together we can achieve our vision for sustainable, thriving communities, responsive services for our children and most vulnerable, and a budget that illustrates our values as a city.”

Chicago Teachers Union chief of staff Jennifer “Jen” Johnson has been appointed to be the city’s next deputy mayor of Education, Youth, and Human Services.

Jen Johnson’s appointment is a signal Chicago Public Schools could enter a period of labor peace with the teachers union for at least the next four years. At the bargaining table, she has sat across from past deputy mayors, who have historically served as the mayor’s representative in negotiations.

On the campaign trail, Brandon Johnson faced repeated questioning about how he would handle contract talks with his former employer, to which he replied during one debate: “Who better to deliver bad news to friends than a friend?” The current CTU contract expires in 2024.

A spokesperson for the mayor-elect declined Chalkbeat’s request to interview the new deputy mayor Thursday.

As CTU chief of staff, Jen Johnson supports and represents 30,000 rank-and-file educators and union leadership. Recently, she spoke with Chalkbeat about the district’s rollout of a universal curriculum bank called Skyline. She applauded the effort, but said the union does not believe it should be mandated as that would take away teacher autonomy.

Jen Johnson has been at the bargaining table multiple times over the past several years and gave updates to the press and the public during the negotiations over virtual and in-person learning in 2020 and 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic and during an 11-day strike in 2019.

Chicago remained fully remote longer than many school districts, returning in-person on a hybrid basis in the spring of 2021.

During talks in the summer of 2020, Jen Johnson said the district’s proposal for a six-hour virtual school day was not age-appropriate for the youngest students and lacked an infrastructure to serve students with disabilities and English learners.

“You have too much screen time and not enough prep time,” she said at the time. “You can’t impose in-person school on at-home learning.”

In a speech at a labor conference in 2012, Jen Johnson called herself a “born Michigander” whose dad also taught high school history for 34 years in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She said her grandfather taught high school English in Winnetka, a wealthy suburb north of Chicago, and mentioned that her mother wrote a book in 1970 “about her experience being the only white student in an all-Black public high school called Marshall on the West Side of Chicago in 1966.”

“I knew from a very early age that I wanted to be a history teacher and that I wanted to work in public schools,” Jen Johnson said at the time.

According to a press release from the Mayor-elect’s transition team, Jen Johnson has sat on the boards of the Illinois Federation of Teachers Executive Board, Grow Your Own Illinois, and the Illinois State Board of Education State Educator Licensure and Preparation Board.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago mayor looks to turn old South Shore High School into migrant shelter as more buses arrive

2023-05-02T18:37:22+00:00

City officials want to shelter migrants at the old South Shore High School building amid a “humanitarian crisis” that’s pushed Chicago’s shelter system to its limits.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office will host a meeting 6 p.m. Thursday at the former high school, 7627 S. Constance Ave., to discuss housing asylum seekers at the property. To register to attend the meeting, click here.

The meeting is scheduled just days after Lightfoot wrote Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and criticized Abbott’s plan to resume bussing migrants to Chicago this week.

Lightfoot spokesperson Cesar Rodriguez and Ald. Michelle Harris (8th) declined to comment Monday on plans for the old South Shore High School.

Rodriguez did not answer when asked whether the city is committed to opening a shelter at the former high school, nor how feedback from this week’s meeting would inform the city’s plans.

Rodriguez instead texted Block Club a statement late Monday which broadly praised the city’s work to “connect new arrivals with assistance and support.”

“We don’t have any details to share at this time,” Rodriguez said three days before the scheduled meeting.

“We will continue collaborating with community-based organizations and local and community leaders to support those in need while also addressing the concerns of the local communities.”

Harris instructed her staff to refer questions about the shelter plans to the Mayor’s Office, as it’s “their meeting” and not the alderperson’s, a staffer told Block Club Monday afternoon.

Migrants were temporarily stationed in the hallway near the O’Hare CTA Blue Line station before being taken to shelters on a bus on April 26, 2023.

The Police Department signed a lease to operate a temporary police professional development center at the former high school for at least two years, officials announced in 2020.

The school building was vacant from 2014 — when students moved into South Shore International College Preparatory High School — until the police training center opened.

Rodriguez did not answer questions about whether the training center is still in operation, why the former school is suitable for a shelter, or what other South Shore properties have been identified as potential shelter locations, if any.

The Lightfoot administration’s short-notice rollout of a migrant shelter in neighboring Woodlawn sparked months of outrage, as well as community organizing to ensure asylum-seekers had the resources they need as they moved into the neighborhood.

City officials last fall denied their intent to open a shelter at the old Wadsworth elementary school, then “blindsided” neighbors by confirming shelter plans in December.

Woodlawn residents criticized city leaders for sharing details only once the Wadsworth shelter was a “done deal.” Lightfoot’s family and support services commissioner apologized to neighbors for the shelter rollout, saying it “caused a lot of confusion,” though the mayor denied there was “any lack of transparency.”

A CTA bus carrying migrants arrives to the shelter at the former Wadsworth Elementary School in Woodlawn on Feb. 2, 2023.

Abbott, a Republican, began busing asylum seekers and other migrants to Democrat-led cities on Aug. 31 to protest federal immigration policies. Since then, officials in Texas and other states — including Colorado, which has a Democratic governor — have sent more than 8,000 migrants to Chicago.

Texas will resume busing migrants to Chicago this week, Lightfoot said. The mayor blasted Abbott’s actions as “inhumane and dangerous,” as Chicago is unable to help the new arrivals, she said.

“We simply have no more shelters, spaces or resources to accommodate an increase of individuals at this level, with little coordination or care, that does not pose a risk to them or others,” Lightfoot wrote to Abbott. “To tell them to go to Chicago or to inhumanely bus them here is an inviable and misleading choice.”

Many migrants have come to the United States from Venezuela, which has struggled with political and economic upheaval. Some migrants have been isolated from basic resources like housing, food, and jobs during their rapid relocation to Chicago upon arriving to the U.S.

Some migrants have stayed at Chicago police stations in recent weeks, while others slept last week at O’Hare Airport after a San Antonio shelter gave them one-way plane tickets.

This story was originally published by Block Club Chicago.

Chicago police will enforce Millennium Park teen curfew after youth gatherings turned violent

2023-04-18T18:47:56+00:00

A curfew for minors at Millennium Park is back, and bag checks at beaches will be enforced after youth gatherings this weekend downtown turned violent, police said Monday night.

The announcement comes after two teens were wounded in shootings downtown and a third on the Near South Side as large groups gathered.

The meetups came as Chicago saw 70- and 80-degree temperatures and many people gathered outside to enjoy the weather. Videos on social media showed hundreds of young people gathered Friday night near 31st Street Beach, and other videos showed more large groups of people Saturday night downtown.

The videos showed people fighting, jumping on cars, and running in and out of the street.

Nine adults and six juveniles were arrested at the gathering Saturday, officials said. Most of the people arrested faced a reckless conduct charge, but two people were charged with possession of a stolen vehicle, police said.

A 16-year-old was also charged with unlawful of a weapon, police said.

“We encourage our young people to be safe and responsible as they enjoy their weekends, but anyone engaged in criminal activity will be arrested and held accountable,” police department officials said in a statement.

As a result of the incidents, police said they will implement additional security measures downtown, including bag checks, enforcing a controversial Millennium Park curfew, and “working closely with youth and outreach workers for when these gatherings occur.”

“Resources include an increased police and command staff presence at these gatherings citywide. Our Strategic Decision Support Centers (SDSCs) will also be monitoring all activity and police cameras to assist in the proactive reallocation of resources when necessary,” police officials said.

A Mayor’s Office spokesperson confirmed Monday the curfew at Millennium Park is being enforced.

That park’s curfew, rolled out last summer after a 16-year-old boy was shot and killed at The Bean, bans people younger than 18 from being in the park without an adult after 6 p.m. Thursday-Sunday.

Those younger than 18 trying to enter the park after 6 p.m. must be accompanied by someone 21 or older. Each adult can accompany no more than four minors at a time, according to the park’s rules.

Those entering the park will also be subjected to bag checks by park security, who regularly check IDs.

Separately, a 10 p.m. citywide curfew is in effect daily for people 17 and younger. The citywide curfew was moved up last year as the city struggled with shootings.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot and City Council faced heavy criticism for the changes — and data shows the curfew had little effect on crime — but officials argued the changes were necessary.

“We strongly encourage parents to accompany their teens or have them remain under the supervision of a responsible adult,” police said.

This story was originally published by Block Club Chicago.

Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson’s win reflects local and national shifts on education

2023-04-12T20:35:00+00:00

The direction of public education in Chicago changed last week when voters elected a teachers union organizer and former middle school teacher to be the city’s next mayor over a former schools chief and education consultant.

Brandon Johnson, 47, clinched victory with 52% of the vote over Paul Vallas, 69, and will be sworn in as mayor on May 15.

He comes to the job with more experience in public education than most, if not all, previous mayors. Johnson will also be the first mayor in recent memory to hold the title of a public school parent. And he’ll be the last with the power to appoint the school board.

But most significantly, Johnson brings a teachers union-friendly perspective that rejects many of the education ideas that once dominated Democratic politics and defined Vallas’ career: a focus on accountability for schools, teachers, and students, market-based school choice, and top-down decision-making from the mayor. Support from Democrats for those ideas began to erode years ago, making Johnson’s rise part of a bigger national shift.

“The former bipartisan ground that the Paul Vallas-esque reformers used to occupy, where do they stand anymore?” said Sarah Reckhow, a political scientist at Michigan State University who studies education policy. “The ground has shifted beneath them.”

Brandon Johnson announced his bid for Chicago mayor on Oct. 27, 2022. His win over Paul Vallas on April 4, 2023 marked the culmination of a years-long effort by the Chicago Teachers Union to influence public policy beyond the classroom.

Johnson’s win is also a win for local progressives, who see it as the culmination of years of effort. His education agenda — which closely mirrors policy papers put out by the Chicago Teachers Union over the past several years — calls for more funding for traditional public schools, higher pay for teachers, and additional social services for students.

Emma Tai, executive director of United Working Families, which endorsed Johnson and helped turn out the vote with an army of field organizers, said Johnson’s victory comes after a “years-long journey” of “sustained, aspirational” organizing.

“Both (Donald) Trump’s secretary of education and (Barack) Obama’s secretary of education endorsed Paul Vallas and he lost,” said Tai. “A working-class majority defeated a bipartisan, wealthy donor consensus on public education. And I think that any Democrats with national aspirations or presidential aspirations need to pay pretty close attention to that.”

Johnson’s victory follows a decade of growing union strength

The start of Johnson’s political career can be traced to the summer of 2011, when he left the classroom to become an organizer with the Chicago Teachers Union.

For more than a decade prior, Chicago had been a testing ground for a vision of school improvement that relied on accountability and pushed publicly-funded, privately-run charter schools as engines of improvement.

In this worldview, held by Democrats and Republicans alike, teachers unions were seen as stubborn barriers to progress, intent on preserving an adult-centered status quo.

When Johnson became an organizer, Rahm Emanuel, Obama’s first chief of staff, had just been elected mayor and Illinois lawmakers had passed a new law reforming teacher tenure and limiting the Chicago Teachers Union’s ability to strike. It was one of dozens of laws passed across the country — in red and blue states alike — aimed at weakening the collective bargaining rights of teachers.

That did not sit well with classroom teachers.

A year earlier, a high school chemistry teacher named Karen Lewis had been elected as the new president of the Chicago Teachers Union on a platform promising to oppose charter school expansion, stop neighborhood school closures, and take on high-stakes testing and accountability.

The headquarters of Chicago Teachers Union sit on Chicago’s Near West Side.

Lewis and Emanuel became foils on the future of public education in Chicago — and nationally. They battled over seemingly everything — how long the school day and year should be; how teachers should be evaluated and compensated; and eventually, whether or not 50 public schools should be shuttered.

Though Emanuel succeeded in shuttering 50 schools, Lewis said the “fight for education justice” would “eventually move to the ballot box.”

“Clearly, we have to change the political landscape in this city,” Lewis said on the day the school board voted on the school closures in 2013.

That moment galvanized more than just the teachers union. Tai, now the head of United Working Families, said those closures prompted her to get into politics.

“I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t want them to be able to do this anymore,’” Tai said. “What’s it going to take so that I never have to be at a Board of Education meeting again, watching as Black parents are dragged out by white jacketed security guards while they’re crying? I never want to have to see that again.”

Johnson was one of the boots on the ground for the teachers union during this time, convening groups of teachers from schools on the South and West Sides and building coalitions with community organizations.

He helped elect City Council members in 2015 and supported Jesus “Chuy” Garcia’s bid for mayor when Lewis was sidelined by a brain tumor. In 2018, Johnson ran for a seat on the Cook County Board of Commissioners and won — a victory Lewis applauded in a letter to teachers when she resigned as CTU president.

But in 2019, the union’s endorsed candidate for mayor, Toni Preckwinkle, lost to outgoing Mayor Lori Lightfoot in a landslide. That fall, teachers went on strike for 11 days and although the union secured some significant wins, the protracted fight left some teachers and parents frustrated. Still, this spring, the union’s existing leadership won re-election.

Chicago Teachers Union members rallied outside City Hall on the 11th day of their strike in 2019.

Johnson’s ascension to mayor is now an ironic — and perhaps fitting — end to three decades of mayoral control over Chicago Public Schools, a major priority of the union’s. In an interview last week, Johnson told Chalkbeat that he still supports eventually relinquishing control to an elected school board now that he’s been elected.

“Anyone else would say, ‘Well, now that we have it, we’re good because we have our mayor. So let’s keep it. Let’s keep mayoral control,’” he said. “That would miss the moment … We still believe that democracy is the best form of governance for our public school system.”

Mayoral campaign becomes an indictment of education reform

The union had tried and failed twice in the last decade to put an ally in the mayor’s office. But Vallas was a different kind of opponent, and the union capitalized on growing skepticism among Democrats about his education record.

He rose to prominence in 1995 as the first CEO of Chicago Public Schools after the state legislature handed control of the system to then-Mayor Richard M. Daley. He became a leading advocate for and adopter of the education-reform playbook touted by both Democrats and Republicans throughout the early 2000s.

Defenders of Vallas say he fixed entrenched problems and improved outcomes for students. But others, including the CTU, say he left a “trail of destruction” in the places where he worked — which Johnson supporters highlighted during an event on the city’s South Side just weeks before the election. Vallas supporters disrupted that event and called their claims “completely untrue.”

Still, Johnson’s campaign continued to focus on Vallas’ complicated schools legacy, even releasing a two-minute ad with parents from New Orleans and Philadelphia talking about teachers being fired during Vallas’ time leading those districts.

Paul Vallas represented a different kind of opponent for the Chicago Teachers Union, which had tried twice to put an ally in the mayor’s office.

Peter Cunningham, founder and board chair of Education Post and former assistant secretary at the U. S. Department of Education, said Vallas — and his record on education running school systems in Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Chicago — were mischaracterized and unfairly maligned. Vallas advocated for more than just school choice and high-stakes accountability, he said. For example, he started a program that still exists to provide Chicago Public Schools students with free eye exams and eyeglasses and developed a school-based teen pregnancy program. He built more than 70 new school buildings — including the one where Johnson eventually taught middle school.

“I would not say the reform movement was a failure in any sense,” Cunningham said. “I would say that it had considerable successes.”

And even though Johnson’s campaign criticized Chicago’s system of school choice that Vallas helped to build, he has taken advantage of it for his three children, two of whom attend a magnet elementary school and one who attends a neighborhood high school that is not his zoned school. That’s a reflection of the way Chicago Public Schools has been reshaped by the changes of the last two decades in ways that are likely to outlast any mayor.

“We’ve seen a lot of improvement in Chicago over the last 15 years,” said Elaine Allensworth, Lewis-Sebring director of the UChicago Consortium on School Research, which has studied Chicago Public Schools since 1990.

More students are graduating high school, going to, and finishing college. Student learning accelerated between 2009 to 2014 — with students gaining six years worth of education in five — according to research out of Stanford University. Out-of-school suspensions have decreased.

“No matter what you think about the reforms of the last 30 years, that’s not the question,” Cunningham said.

“The question is: What do you want to do in the next 10?”

The work beyond the classroom walls begins

The vision laid out by the teachers union more than a decade ago will come to fruition on May 15 when Johnson is sworn in as mayor.

Now, he will have the chance to tackle the issues beyond the classroom, beyond the school building, beyond the district administration. As he moves from an outsider advocating for a certain ideology to decision maker, Johnson will face the realities of governing a city known for its provincial politics, despite being dominated by Democrats.

Johnson will be responsible for a police department grappling with reforms mandated by the federal government and a public health department still dealing with a global pandemic. He’ll oversee multiple city agencies that determine when libraries are open, whether trains run on time, how businesses are licensed, and how to manage garbage pickup and alley rats.

Chicago Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson spoke at a City Club of Chicago luncheon during his campaign for mayor.

Allensworth said educators have an “innate sense” of how those different sectors — such as transportation, public health, and safety — all impact public schools.

“I do hope that having that knowledge will help him be a good strong coordinator of all those different services in the service of young people in Chicago,” she said.

And although Chicago Public Schools has seen a lot of improvement, the pandemic stymied some of its progress. Chicago’s scores on the nation’s report card last year dropped in math and flat-lined in reading. Long-standing gaps between students of color and their white peers remain. The district’s handling of students with disabilities is being monitored by the state, after a 2018 report found it delayed and denied services to those children.

“There’s so much more work to do,” said former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who led Chicago Public Schools from 2001 to 2008 and now heads a nonprofit focused on violence prevention.

Duncan endorsed Vallas and in doing so, didn’t mention education or schools. In an interview with Chalkbeat, he said the mayoral election was as much about education as it was about public safety, noting that when students drop out of high school, they’re more likely to be shot and killed.

“The consequences here in Chicago for educational failure are pretty staggering,” Duncan said. “This is absolutely about education. It’s absolutely about breaking cycles of poverty and helping people have upward mobility and enter the middle class.”

Now, he said the city needs to rally around Johnson. And he applauded the former teachers union organizer for promising to double the number of youth summer jobs from 30,000 to 60,000 and make that employment program year round.

Johnson has also promised to fund the city’s public schools based on need, not enrollment, which has been declining for the past decade. With schools slated to get their budgets this month, it’s not clear if the formula for doling out money will change in time for next school year. He’s vowed to continue investing in support staff — such as social workers, school nurses, and librarians — which Chicago Public Schools has already started doing using federal COVID recovery money.

He’ll have to negotiate a new contract with his former employer, the Chicago Teachers Union, and decide whether to keep current district leadership, including CEO Pedro Martinez, in place.

Tai, with United Working Families, said Johnson’s win does not mean their work is finished.

“I don’t think it’s ever really over,” she said. “But it’s a game changer, a conversation changer, and once again, Chicago’s in the center of it.”

Patrick Wall contributed reporting.

This story has been updated to correct Peter Cunningham’s title.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Q&A: Chicago’s Mayor-elect Brandon Johnson on how being a public school parent will guide him

2023-04-06T18:30:05+00:00

Brandon Johnson took an unconventional path to becoming Chicago’s next mayor.

A decade ago, Johnson, 47, was teaching middle school at Jenner Academy of the Arts, which served mostly low-income Black students from the Cabrini-Green public housing complex. In 2012, he became an organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union, and in 2018, he was elected to the Cook County Board of Commissioners.

Now he will be the first mayor in recent memory with children in Chicago Public Schools and the last to have control of the school system before it transitions to an elected school board.

Chalkbeat Chicago sat down with Johnson for a brief interview Thursday. The following has been edited for length and clarity.

How did you talk to your own children about becoming Chicago’s mayor?

I spoke with my children about them being children. Not about me running for mayor. Our conversations were more about, “What are the things that are important to them? What are the areas of support they need from me and their mother?” We had a thoughtful conversation about their own personal desires. And that conversation led into: “Daddy’s running for mayor. You all are an important part of Daddy’s story. But you’re not running for mayor. Daddy’s running for mayor.”

It was important for me to sort of lay some of the foundation around making sure that my children know that whatever adventure that I take on, it’s attached to my purpose, and that they too will have to find their purpose. I spoke to it and in the biblical sense. As Jesus said, “We don’t bury our talents. We double, we multiply them.”

It got them thinking more about their purpose, their talents, their gifts, and how they will make a contribution to society by utilizing their gifts. The transition from running for mayor and the conversation about being mayor was pretty similar. Obviously, there’s more details around security, but my children are chill.

You will be the first mayor in recent memory that has children attending the Chicago Public Schools, and I wonder what you think of that?

I think about that (in the context of) the question about my ability to negotiate contracts particularly for the Chicago Public Schools, because I am now responsible and tasked with negotiating from the perspective of the public schools, right?

The question came up repeatedly about my ability to do that. I’m going to be negotiating that not just as a mayor, but as a parent. I want parents and students to win a good school system, not a contract. That negotiation is actually far greater now as mayor of the city of Chicago having children in the public schools.

I’m not calling for a system to be better so that other people can experience it. I’m calling for a system to be better that works through the lens of someone who trusts the system to provide the education that will ultimately prepare (my children) to fulfill their purpose. I’m going to take the lived experience of not just as a teacher, as an organizer, but as a parent.

What were the things that were frustrating for me and my wife? I’m confident that whatever we were frustrated about, there are countless other parents who have that same frustration. That will be the impetus behind whatever decision is being made or whatever dynamics are being negotiated.

How do we not only help children fulfill their purpose? How do we make sure that parents that rely on this system for their children have an experience that is not just pleasant, but that motivates parents to continue to trust and believe in this system?

What do you think the election result and your win say about how Chicagoans feel about the approach to public education policy in this city under previous mayors?

I believe that my election sets us up to fulfill a promise of what public education should be about. There’s more of an acceptance and agreement around a system that is not just equitable and just, but a system that works for every single family in the city of Chicago.

That’s the message that they accepted — that you do not necessarily have to subscribe to a stratified system, where there are winners and losers, (but that) every parent who gets what they want out of the Chicago Public Schools.

If you talk to most parents, it’s a relief. Why? Why is it a relief? Why do parents make sort of the internal motion of: “Whew! I don’t have to worry about my child’s education!”? If that’s the response of parents where they have like this relief, generally speaking, then what’s the opposite response? When you don’t get what you want or need for your children?

This election is about really eliminating these pressure points. Where you can still be curious and searching juxtaposed to “Oh, my gosh, thank God we don’t gotta worry about that.” Do you understand what I’m trying to say? I hope so.

I think so. You’re saying that because we have a system where you “win” admission to a school, then you’re happy and relieved, but if you don’t, you are just in the struggle?

We want to eliminate the struggle and the pressure of: “How do I get to a release point where I can take a deep breath?” Because that in of itself is very hostile and traumatizing, as well. There’s this dynamic of you got to be grateful because you could be at this other place.

What are we saying? We literally have places in the city of Chicago that people dread going or they’re in fear of having to attend or somehow they’re going to lose the quality of instruction or won’t be offered the fulfillment of what education should be about.

I believe people have accepted that Brandon Johnson believes that public education is far more dynamic than a bubble sheet. It’s about the fulfillment of purpose, and what is available within our public school system that sets up all of our children to be able to find their purpose, discover their purpose, and be good to live it out.

You’ve been part of a movement, built by (the late CTU President) Karen Lewis, to kind of turn the tide in Chicago when it comes to public education and mayoral control of Chicago Public Schools. What do you think about being the last mayor with control of the city’s public schools?

Karen really loved the opera. As I understand opera — and I’m going down a rabbit hole here — there’s always tragedy and triumphs, right? That’s my general frame. And I know that’s a real simplistic way to look at an incredible art, so please be gentle, I do not want to piss off opera lovers. But there’s this tragedy. There is this tension. And then you start to get to a point where there’s going to be a very dramatic end to something that would have otherwise been a constant state of tragedy.

That’s how we look at mayoral control. And to know that our movement has culminated at the very time (mayoral control ends) and we are actually really true to our word. Because anyone else would say, “Well, now that we have it, we’re good. Because we have our mayor. So let’s keep it. Let’s keep mayoral control.”

And that would be a flat note, as Karen would say. That would miss the moment. I think it’s actually quite the crescendo of the movement that pushed the political dynamics around public education, and particularly the harm of mayoral control.

Even with us being in a position where we could impose our ideology onto an entire system, we are still saying that even with us having the ability to direct traffic, we still believe that democracy is the best form of governance for our public school system. So I think it’s an incredible crescendo to our movement.

You will have some chances to appoint members of the Chicago Board of Education. Do you have any shortlist of names? Do you plan to keep any current school board members?

Well, I don’t have a shortlist of names. What I do have, though, is a commitment to a process that is committed to equity in the distribution of the seats that I have the ability to assign. We will provide a process that allows for real community input. An equitable education really requires a dynamic, diverse makeup of experiences that I believe will be necessary to have the type of democratic structure that the city of Chicago has already united around.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago 2023 mayoral election: Brandon Johnson defeats Paul Vallas

2023-04-05T04:26:20+00:00

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization covering public education in communities across America. Sign up for our free Chicago newsletter to keep up with the city’s public school system and state education policy.

Brandon Johnson, a teachers union organizer, county commissioner, and former middle school teacher, will become Chicago’s next mayor after winning 51.4% of the vote to defeat former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas in a runoff election.

Johnson’s win marks a stunning achievement in the grassroots movement started by Chicago Teachers Union leadership roughly a decade ago to focus on issues beyond the classroom, such as affordable housing, public health, environmental justice, and police reform.

“We have ushered in a new chapter in the history of our city,” Johnson said. “Whether you wake up early to open the doors of your businesses, or teach middle school, or wear a badge to protect our streets, or nurse patients in need, or provide child care services, you have always worked for this city. And now Chicago will begin to work for its people.”

Brandon Johnson’s supporters celebrate during the winning mayoral candidate’s watch party.

Bankrolled by the teachers union and other labor groups, Johnson broke through a field of nine candidates, securing about 21% of the vote, finishing second to Vallas, who captured 33% of the vote in the first round of voting on Feb. 28. Incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot finished third with 17% of the vote — dashing her hopes for a second term.

With 99% of precincts reporting, preliminary results posted by the Chicago Board of Elections had Johnson with 51.4% to Vallas’ 48.6%.

The two have spent the last five weeks knocking on doors, holding events, debating one another, visiting churches, and collecting endorsements in an effort to sway voters who may have picked another candidate or didn’t vote on Feb. 28. The narrow results illustrate how contentious and divisive the campaign had become and was a stark contrast to the Lightfoot’s runoff landslide in 2019.

“It’s clear based on the results tonight that the city is deeply divided,” Vallas said in a concession speech Tuesday night. “Even though, of course, we believe every vote should be counted, I called Brandon Johnson and told him that I absolutely expect him to be the next mayor of Chicago.”

Former principal of Whitney Young Magnet School Joyce D. Kenner, a Paul Vallas supporter, was holding out hope for a Vallas victory.

Johnson offered an olive branch to those who didn’t vote for him.

“To the Chicagoans who did not vote for me, here’s what I want you to know: that I care about you, I value you, and I want to hear from you. I want to work with you, and I’ll be the mayor for you too,” he said.

Both candidates’ deep ties to education propelled them into politics — though the two have been on opposite sides of the debates over public education policy in the past two decades and presented contrasting visions for the future of Chicago Public Schools.

Vallas, a torch bearer for school choice and charter schools who has supported voucher expansion, faced criticism and applause for his complicated schools’ legacy. Johnson taught at Jenner Academy of the Arts and Westinghouse College Prep before becoming a union organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union. His education platform, which aligns closely with the teachers union, promises more staff, free transit for students, and green schools.

Now, Johnson will be the last mayor to have control of the city’s public schools, a perhaps fitting irony for someone who advocated for an elected school board. He will oversee a number of challenges facing the nation’s fourth largest district including declining enrollment, closing pandemic-related academic declines, and the transition to an elected school board.

“On education, the contrast was clear,” said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers, the parent union of the CTU. “Brandon wants to ensure parents have a say, teachers can teach, and students can learn without the intrusion of those who measure their success by closing schools rather than strengthening them.”

Former Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey said Johnson’s victory is a vindication of the union’s massive organizing push over the past decade. He said members threw themselves into campaigning for Johnson in a big way, from knocking on doors to making art for his campaign materials.

“There was an outpouring of creativity and organizing in this election,” he said. “It turned out it was just enough.”

Throughout the campaign, Johnson has faced questions over whether he would be impartial in negotiations with his own union, to which he responded: “Who better to deliver bad news to friends than a friend?”

“Brandon is going to have to govern,” Sharkey said. “I don’t think the CTU gets to decide what it wants. Brandon is a remarkable person who has a lot of principles and deeply believes in governance.”

As Johnson took the lead, the crowd at his election night watch party at the Marriott Marquis downtown pumped their fists and cheered. The volume of the dance music went way up, and supporters danced, snapped selfies, and hugged.

Nina Hike, a science teacher at Westinghouse College Prep and a teachers union leader, said the ground game that the union built was crucial. Teachers turned out to volunteer and campaign for Johnson in full force, she said.

Hike estimated she spent hundreds of hours phone banking, knocking on more than 500 doors, recording a podcast attacking Vallas’ education record, and talking with news reporters.

Wallace Wilbourn Jr., a middle school social studies teacher at DePriest Elementary in Austin on Chicago’s West Side, knocked on doors for Johnson and hosted a canvassing event in his East Garfield Park living room. Early on election night, he was taking deep breaths as the two candidates remained neck-and-neck with razor-thin margins.

“The whole city has been working toward this one progressive goal,” Wilbourn said.

Brandon Johnson was a middle school teacher before rising in the ranks at the Chicago Teachers Union. He was elected to Cook County Commission in 2018.

The CTU called Johnson a “protege” of the late former union president Karen Lewis, who almost ran for mayor herself in 2015 before being diagnosed with a brain tumor.

“You don’t have a Brandon Johnson without a Karen Lewis,” said CTU president Stacy Davis Gates said. “She transformed the political debate in our city. She showed Chicagoans how to stand up and demand what their schools and their city need and deserve. Tonight affirms Karen’s dream of a city that works for us all, not just a privileged few.”

At the Vallas election night party at the Hyatt Regency, his supporters held on to hope even as the results showed Johnson taking the lead. Joyce D. Kenner, former principal of Whitney Young Magnet High School who endorsed Vallas, said she did not expect the race to be so close.

Paul Vallas, alongside his family, speaks to his supporters after conceding the race to Brandon Johnson.

Beverly Miles, a former aldermanic candidate and Vallas supporter, said she was “expecting a landslide for Vallas.”

Miles said she thought Johnson was “a nice guy but I don’t think he’s the right guy.” Despite being a county commissioner, she felt he hadn’t done enough for the West Side.

“We knew it was going to be a nail-biter,” Ald. Tom Tunney said earlier in the night when only about 1,000 votes separated the two.

Chicago Board of Elections spokesperson Max Bever said earlier in the day there were still thousands of vote-by-mail ballots outstanding. The Chicago Board of Elections has until April 18 to count all ballots and certify the results.

The early voting and vote-by-mail numbers are double what they were in 2015 and 2019 and Monday’s early voting turnout set a municipal record, according to the Board. Turnout in the first round of voting on Feb. 28 was around 35%, with 566,973 people casting ballots out of roughly 1.6 million registered voters.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org. Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org. Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Like the candidates themselves, donors in Chicago’s mayoral race have deep education ties

2023-03-31T23:36:51+00:00

Like the candidates themselves, the people and organizations giving big money in Chicago’s mayoral election have strong ties to public education — and the debates around it for the past two decades.

Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas’ campaign has been propelled by wealthy business executives, while county commissioner and union organizer Brandon Johnson has been fueled by labor unions.

The Chicago Teachers Union is Johnson’s biggest donor, while Vallas has received six-figure donations from wealthy individuals with ties to school choice and education reform, including some who have charter schools named after them. Vallas, a torch bearer for school choice and charter schools, has supported voucher expansion. Meanwhile, Johnson’s progressive platform aligns closely with the teachers union’s vision for the district.

While a full accounting of campaign donations and spending won’t be available until after the election, a Chalkbeat Chicago analysis of Illinois State Board of Elections records shows Vallas has received at least $15 million since October and Johnson has collected more than $10 million since October 1, 2022.

Johnson’s campaign fueled by labor unions and educators

Johnson received the backing of the Chicago Teachers Union, his largest donor, before officially launching his campaign last fall. Since then, the union’s Political Action Committee has donated almost $2.2 million to his campaign, according to state board of elections records.

The union has poured millions into aldermanic and mayoral campaigns in recent years as a way to influence broader policies that affect public schools. Some rank-and-file CTU members have filed a complaint against union leadership, alleging members’ dues were being funneled to the union’s political action committee, according to WTTW’s Paris Schutz.

A handful of other labor unions are among Johnson’s other top donors. The parent unions of the CTU — Illinois Federation of Teachers and American Federation of Teachers — each gave $940,000 and $2.1 million respectively. The country’s other largest teachers union, the National Education Association, donated $50,000, and its Illinois counterpart gave $75,000. Several political committees connected to the unions that represent special education aides, classroom assistants, school bus aides, child care workers, and nurses, have collectively donated more than $2 million, according to a Chalkbeat analysis.

United Working Families, a progressive group and CTU ally, has also donated almost $47,000 in in-kind contributions, usually in the form of staff help, to Johnson’s campaign and the national Working Families Party donated $70,000.

Aside from labor unions, Johnson’s campaign coffers have mostly been filled by smaller individual donations — many from teachers and educators. For example, he received $20,000 — one of his largest individual gifts — from Elizabeth Simons, a former bilingual education teacher, who now chairs the board of the Heising-Simons Foundation. The foundation provides grants to organizations aimed at strengthening early childhood education for low-income families.

Attorneys who have represented the Chicago Teachers Union at the bargaining table donated to Johnson. Robin Potter, mother of union Vice President Jackson Potter, gave $6,000 and Robert Bloch’s law firm donated $5,000.

Others who have advocated for more funding for public schools gave to Johnson, as well. Cassie Creswell of Illinois Families for Public Schools gave $5,000, and National Education Association President Rebecca Pringle donated $2,000. Kenneth Williams-Bennett, father of CPS graduate Chance the Rapper, also donated $8,000 to Johnson. Williams-Bennett was previously an aide to late Chicago Mayor Harold Washington, then-U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, and former Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Chance donated $2.2 million to Chicago Public Schools in 2017, as the school district was fighting for more state funding.

Vallas backed by wealthy donors with ties to education reform

Vallas’ campaign war chest is bigger than Johnson’s and has been throughout the campaign. The former district CEO has seen an infusion of cash from corporate business executives, many of whom have ties to charter schools and other education organizations.

One of his largest individual donors is Paul J. Finnegan, co-founder and co-CEO of Madison Dearborn Partners, a private investment equity firm in Chicago. Finnegan has donated $400,000 since October. He is a past chairman and current local advisory board member of Teach for America. Finnegan also sits on the board of CDW Corporation, a technology and services provider for businesses, governments, and school districts, including Chicago Public Schools, which has ramped up purchasing in recent years using COVID-19 recovery dollars.

According to tax filings from 2019, the Finnegan Family Foundation supports dozens of education nonprofits, including Teach for America and the Academy for Urban School Leadership, and charter schools networks, including Noble, LEARN, KIPP, and Intrinsic.

Golf resort owner Michael Keiser, who also sits on the local advisory board of Teach for America, and his wife, Rosalind, have donated $400,000 to Vallas’ campaign since October. He also made a $500,000 donation last summer, shortly after Vallas announced his bid. Finnegan and Keiser are also supporters of the University of Chicago’s Urban Education Institute.

Other six-figure donations include Craig Duchossois, executive chairman of the Duchossois Group, has donated $760,000. The Duchossois Family Foundation has given grants to After School Matters, according to the foundation’s website.

Citadel executive Gerald Beeson has donated $300,000 since October. Beeson and his wife have an ongoing scholarship for students at Big Shoulders Fund, which provides support to Catholic elementary and high schools in low-income communities.

Two of Vallas’ top donors helped open charter schools in Chicago that now bear their names. Donald Wilson, CEO of DRW Holdings, supported the opening of the Noble Network of Charter Schools 12th campus — DRW College Prep —on the West Side in 2012. He has donated a combined $350,000 to Vallas’ campaign since January.

Joseph Mansueto, a billionaire entrepreneur and owner of the Chicago Fire soccer team, donated $250,000 to Vallas’ campaign. In 2017, he donated $18 million that largely funded the construction of Noble’s 17th campus in Brighton Park, now named Mansueto High School.

Deborah Quazzo, a controversial ex-Chicago school board member, and her husband donated $7,500 and $10,000, respectively, to Vallas’ campaign, as first reported by WBEZ. Quazzo left her seat after the Sun-Times reported on her business dealings with the district. The district Office of Inspector General said Quazzo violated Chicago Public Schools’ ethics code, according to the Sun-Times.

Even though they have not given direct donations to Vallas’ campaign, two political action committees focused on school choice and education reform are backing his candidacy by running ads for his platform and against Johnson.

On March 23, the American Federation for Children, a group founded by former U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, donated $65,000 to the Illinois Federation for Children PAC. On the same day, the group gave $59,385 to a political strategic media firm Go Big Media, for digital media supporting Vallas, records show.

INCS Action Independent Committee, which supports candidates who are supportive of charter schools, spent $258,000 on television ads and $359,000 on digital media opposing Johnson, as first reported by WTTW.

INCS Action has received most of its funding since October from James S. Frank, who gave the committee a collective $1.5 million. Frank is on the boards of the Illinois Network of Charter Schools and Chicago Public Education Fund, in addition to Teach for America’s local advisory board. He has donated $225,000 directly to Vallas since January.

Campaigns have until April 17 to file a full accounting of their fundraising and spending activities through March 31.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago schools are at a crossroads. The new mayor will determine the district’s next steps.

2023-03-28T23:01:03+00:00

Public education in Chicago is about to enter a new era, defined by the person elected mayor on April 4.

Voters will choose between Brandon Johnson, a former middle school teacher turned county commissioner who is also an organizer with the Chicago Teachers Union, or Paul Vallas, a former city budget director and Chicago Public Schools CEO turned education consultant.

Either candidate would bring more knowledge and experience in Chicago Public Schools to the job than most, if not all, previous mayors. It’s nearly impossible to untangle their identities from the debates over public education policy during the past two decades that have left Vallas and Johnson with different perspectives on critical education issues.

“You have two people who really come to this position largely as a result of their work in education,” said Robert Bruno, professor of labor and employment at University of Illinois.

Johnson has roots as a labor organizer and progressive politician focused on improving the lives of working class and low-income people. Vallas is a technocrat and policy wonk who built a career as a “fixer” and “turnaround specialist” for large, complex school systems.

Those experiences will shape their responses to the once-in-a-generation challenges and opportunities facing the nation’s fourth largest school district. The next mayor will write the final chapter in Chicago’s story with mayoral control, appointing school board members as the district shifts toward an elected school board. He will grapple with declining enrollment as federal COVID recovery money runs out and will negotiate the next Chicago Teachers Union contract.

Perhaps most importantly, the next mayor will shape how more than 300,000 students are educated — after three years of pandemic disruption and decades of inequity.

Chicago Teachers Union organizer Brandon Johnson faces former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas in an April 4 runoff for Chicago mayor.

The challenge ahead: Moving to an elected school board

Chicago’s era of mayoral control will end in 2027, when the next mayor is up for re-election. Vallas or Johnson’s first term will be a period of transition in which he will oversee the school system and still appoint more than a dozen school board members, ahead of and during the transition to an elected school board.

If voters pick Johnson, his election would be the crowning achievement in a decade-long grassroots battle waged by the Chicago Teachers Union against mayoral control and many of the controversial policies that came with it, like school closures and charter expansion. Johnson opposes adding charter schools and closing small district schools, of which Chicago has a growing number.

Vallas would bring a long history of expanding school choice and remaking big-city school districts. He’s signaled his approach wouldn’t precisely mirror the past, though, and recently said Chicago had enough charter schools.

They have also expressed different priorities for future board member appointments. Vallas has said he would endorse candidates for school board who align with his vision for the district. He also told Chalkbeat that he would work with the school board “as an equally elected official that is representing the needs of the community that elected them.”

Johnson, who advocated for the legislation creating the school board, has said he wants it to represent Chicago’s diverse neighborhoods “who are deeply invested and knowledgeable” about the communities they serve.

“We cannot have uber rich, arch-conservatives usurping the power that working people in Chicago fought so hard to win,” he told Chalkbeat in a questionnaire published earlier this year.

Reversing enrollment declines in a changing city

Chicago has lost more than 100,000 students since Vallas was schools chief.

When he left the job in 2001, there were roughly 435,000 students. Now, there are just over 322,000. Because schools are largely funded based on enrollment, this trend puts pressure on the district’s budget, even as Illinois has overhauled and increased funding for public education.

Creg Williams, a Vallas supporter who worked with him in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans, said the mayoral hopeful has experience re-enrolling students. After Hurricane Katrina hit, public school enrollment dropped from 65,000 students to 25,000, according to Louisiana state records.

“When we got to New Orleans, there were no student records, there were no teachers, there were no students,” Williams said. “We drove up and down streets, recruiting children who were walking up and down the streets with no place to stay, no schools to go in.” (Enrollment did increase under Vallas’ tenure in New Orleans, but it did not return to pre-Katrina levels.)

Chicago’s declining enrollment, like many cities across America, is driven not by a natural disaster but rather by declining birth rates and a confluence of factors pushing people to leave the city, including the loss of public housing, gentrification, crime, and past school closures.

These are problems the school system cannot fix by itself. City Hall, which has control over zoning, tax policy, and economic development, will play a key part.

Both candidates have talked a lot about making the city a place families want to live, but offer different paths for getting there. Vallas says neighborhoods need to be safe above all else and is proposing a crime-fighting strategy that staffs up the police department and keeps school buildings open on nights and weekends. Johnson has promised not to raise property taxes and wants to grow jobs for both the parents of public school students, and for teens and young adults.

Working with fewer federal dollars and a looming fiscal cliff

Those promises will cost money, and the next mayor will need to find it.

Last week, district officials warned that Chicago Public Schools is facing $600 million-plus budget deficits beginning in 2026, when a $2.8 billion windfall of COVID recovery money ends.

“These issues have been papered over by federal support, but we need to confront them head on,” district CEO Pedro Martinez said recently.

Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez recently warned school board members that the district is projecting annual deficits starting in 2026.

Johnson has said he will not raise property taxes, a primary source of funding for local schools. Vallas has not ruled out property tax increases, but has talked about pushing more money down to individual schools and cutting costs at the central office.

The mayor has other options.

Johnson has talked about getting state lawmakers to ramp up funding increases to the state’s funding formula so Chicago and all districts get to so-called “adequate funding” more quickly.

He – and district officials – have also suggested pushing the state to kick in more for Chicago teachers pensions, which have been underfunded since the mid- to late-2000s. Chicago Public Schools began skipping annual payments to the pension fund in 1995 under Vallas, and did so until 2004. When the 2008 financial crisis hit, state lawmakers again allowed the district to skip pension payments. Today, the fund is less than 50% funded and requires much larger annual payments, which also puts pressure on the district’s budget.

The next mayor could also undo decisions made by current Mayor Lori Lightfoot to shift costs for police in schools, crossing guards, and non-teaching staff pensions from the city’s budget to Chicago Public Schools. Neither candidate has signaled they would reverse those cost shifts.

Bargaining a high-stakes contract

The Chicago Teachers Union’s current contract expires in 2024. If history is any guide, negotiations will begin this winter under the leadership of the new mayor. Two of the last three contracts were settled only after teachers went on strike, and the next mayor will be under considerable pressure to avoid another one.

It’s clear from Johnson’s education platform that he would approach the demands of the teachers union as an ally.

“Now more than ever, we need a partner in City Hall willing to work with school communities to ensure smaller classes, adequate staffing for special and bilingual education and a school nurse in every school,” the union said in a recent press release. “Brandon Johnson is that candidate.”

Throughout the campaign, Johnson has faced questions over whether he would be impartial in negotiations with his own union, to which he recently responded: “Who better to deliver bad news to friends than a friend?”

Vallas has said he would be at the bargaining table with the teachers union if elected. He’s touted his experience negotiating contracts across multiple school districts, including two four-year deals in Chicago in the late 1990s. The city’s chief labor negotiator, Jim Franczek, recently told the Chicago Sun-Times those contracts provided “stability, flexibility, and predictability” to the school system, which had seen multiple work stoppages in the 1980s and early ‘90s.

“It wasn’t as if the Chicago Teachers Union were a bunch of pansies back then,” Franczek said. But even he acknowledged that the current teachers union is a different kind of bargaining partner now.

Since 2010 – under the leadership of the late former CTU president Karen Lewis — the CTU has pushed to negotiate more than just “bread and butter” issues like pay and benefits, to include broader social justice issues like affordable housing, homelessness, and environmental justice.

That broader approach to bargaining contributed to labor strife with newly-elected Lightfoot in 2019, when teachers went on strike for 11 days. Ultimately, the union secured significant wins to increase support staff, pay, and benefits.

Protesters with the Chicago Teachers Union march in downtown Chicago on Oct. 31, 2019.

Former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan alluded to that strike in his recent endorsement of Vallas — arguing that the CTU went to war with Lightfoot after she defeated the union’s preferred candidate for mayor in 2019. The teachers union has been clear in their dislike for Vallas, highlighting what they say is a “record of failure” and a “path of destruction” he’s left behind in the public school systems he led.

Vallas has not been shy about his disagreements with the teachers union. But he said the 2019 strike and the COVID-related work stoppages could have been avoided and has vowed to bargain in “good faith.”

Deciding how to measure school and student performance

Early in the pandemic, district officials halted the annual school ratings based on test scores, attendance, and other metrics. And last spring, district leaders announced the old system, known as the School Quality Rating Policy, would no longer exist.

The decisions have prompted a broader conversation about how schools should be measured — or if they should at all — that will continue under the next mayor.

For some, the pause on high-stakes accountability has been a welcome reprieve. The teachers union and others have argued it put too much emphasis on test scores and penalized schools serving high-need populations. A low rating could turn off prospective new families, contributing to a cycle of declining enrollment and continued disinvestment.

But for others, the lack of a system for measuring quality can leave parents and the public wondering: How are students and schools doing?

For two years, the district, the union, and several stakeholders, including Kids First Chicago, have been working together to develop a new, more “holistic” accountability policy. Hal Woods, the chief of policy at Kids First Chicago, said the school board is expected to vote on it next month.

“A new mayor might come in and say, pump the brakes,” Woods said. “Obviously, we hope not.”

It’s not likely Vallas would do that. He created Chicago Public Schools’ first accountability system — putting more than 100 schools on probation for poor academic performance before the federal No Child Left Behind law required districts to do so.

Johnson is likely to be more skeptical. He has said the district does not need its own rating system since the state already has one, and has said schools need more support and resources, not accountability.

The new policy, Woods said, aims to do just that.

“It should be a tool to diagnose where extra support is needed and what that support looks like,” Woods said. “That could be financial, it could be other forms of support.”

Chicago students and schools are facing a pivotal moment. Test scores have fallen. Mental health concerns are rising, particularly among young girls. Additional social workers, counselors, and school staff worry the extra resources still won’t be enough.

The city’s next mayor will have to face these challenges — and decide how to respond.

Mauricio Peña contributed reporting.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Comparing Chicago’s 2023 mayoral candidates on 5 key education issues

2023-03-21T17:10:53+00:00

Chicago voters are facing a choice between two mayoral candidates with vastly different backgrounds and views on education.

Former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas has a long record managing urban school districts as an appointed bureaucrat. His opponent, Brandon Johnson, is a former middle school teacher and Chicago Teachers Union organizer.

The next mayor will be the last to have control of the school district before it transitions to being governed by an elected school board. The city’s runoff election will be held on April 4.

Here is a side-by-side breakdown on where Vallas and Johnson stand on five key education issues:

Mila Koumpilova contributed to this report.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org. Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Vallas supporters disrupt Johnson event focused on Vallas’ schools leadership

2023-03-17T00:19:35+00:00

A press conference denouncing Chicago mayoral candidate Paul Vallas’ record running public schools devolved into a shouting match as his supporters interrupted an event for his opponent at Rainbow PUSH Coalition Thursday morning in Kenwood.

Supporters of Chicago Teachers Union organizer and county commissioner Brandon Johnson gathered ahead of the city’s April 4 runoff election to warn voters of what they called a “trail of destruction” Vallas left in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans — a narrative Vallas’ supporters said was “totally untrue.”

The dust-up underscored the stark differences between Vallas and Johnson — and highlighted a divided electorate. Both candidates are working to shore up support in majority-Black communities on the city’s South and West sides, where current Mayor Lori Lightfoot performed well in the Feb. 28 election.

Parent and activist Melissa Francis traveled to Chicago from New Orleans to share her experience navigating her hometown’s post-Katrina school system, which Vallas led from 2007 to 2011.

“Paul Vallas has never had families in his best interest,” Francis told the crowd of Johnson supporters. “Many citizens of New Orleans recognize Paul Vallas as a scammer.”

Others called Vallas “a thief and a liar” who left “a trail of destruction” in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans.

“He comes into our communities and pillages them and leaves,” said Gema Gaete, an activist who was part of a 19-day hunger strike in Little Village when Vallas ran Chicago Public Schools from 1995 to 2001. “We’re here to remind everybody that we don’t forget and he will be held accountable.”

As they began chanting “Vallas, Vallas, Vallas,” Johnson supporters bellowed, “We want Brandon,” in repetition.

Some Johnson supporters called Vallas backers “sellouts” and a few people got into one another’s faces. But the clash quickly ended and the Vallas supporters left the building.

On the sidewalk across the street, Vallas supporters held their own press conference to defend his education record and countered with their own experiences working with him in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans.

“Folks who are trying to paint him as a GOP, trying to paint him as a racist, it’s just totally untrue,” said Michael Johnson, CEO of the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County in Madison, Wisconsin.

“We weren’t being antagonists or anything like that,” said Caliph Muab-El, an organizer with the Midwest Coalition for Stopping Violence, the group that held the counter press conference in support of Vallas. “We just want to get the message across that there is a different side to this whole story that they’re painting.”

Vallas’ legacy in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans has been the longtime subject of scrutiny. Johnson and other candidates have criticized his record in Chicago for putting schools on academic probation and not paying into the teachers’ pension fund. State law at the time allowed Mayor Richard M. Daley’s administration to use money earmarked for pensions to cover operating costs, as long as the fund remained healthy.

When Vallas left Chicago, the Philadelphia School Reform Commission hired him to run schools there after the state took over the public school system. He made dramatic changes, but left the system with a deficit.

Philadelphia City Councilwoman Kendra Brooks said school closures and destabilization of that city’s schools pushed her into politics.

“It was triggered by having someone as CEO come into our city, sell off properties, sell off buildings, steal money that is still unaccounted for, and walk away,” Brooks said.

Creg Williams, a former Chicago principal who was Chief of High Schools in Philadelphia under Vallas and also worked with Vallas in New Orleans, countered Brooks’ take on what happened in both cities.

“Paul did not devastate the community. The community was devastated when we arrived,” Williams said. He noted that in both Philadelphia and New Orleans, state lawmakers dictated some of the policies Vallas and other district officials put in place.

“There are stipulations in the law that you have to follow,” Williams said. “No matter what the people say, or no matter what you feel, or what you may want to do, you still have to follow those stipulations.”

In New Orleans, Vallas faced criticism over “lack of transparency, inattention to the most disadvantaged students,” according to the Times-Picayune. Ultimately, student test scores improved at schools converted into charter schools, but at district-run schools, progress was uneven, according to New Orleans magazine.

If elected mayor, Vallas said he wants to keep school buildings open on nights and weekends, push more funding down to individual schools, and support a system of choice for families. Johnson’s platform emphasizes staffing all schools with enough teachers, counselors, social workers, nurses, and librarians and bolstering youth jobs programs.

Mauricio Peña contributed to this story.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

How former teacher Brandon Johnson organized his way to the doorstep of Chicago City Hall

2023-03-14T23:41:10+00:00

Brandon Johnson has knocked on a lot of doors in the last decade.

A former rank-and-file teacher turned Chicago Teachers Union organizer, Johnson has met with thousands of teachers, pounded the pavement on behalf of dozens of candidates, and lobbied state lawmakers.

Still, he had little to no name recognition as he launched his bid to become Chicago’s next mayor.

“A few months ago, they said they didn’t know who I was,” Johnson told a crowd of supporters when he made it to the mayoral runoff election on Feb. 28. “Well, if you didn’t know, now you know.”

Although Johnson may not have been famous in Chicago politics before he ran, he didn’t come out of nowhere. Johnson is the product of a grassroots movement led by the CTU over the last decade that has focused on issues beyond the classroom, like affordable housing, public health, environmental justice, and police reform. The outcome of Johnson’s race will be an important signal about the strength of that movement.

His progressive message broke through in a field of nine candidates, and he got about 21% of the vote — enough to secure a spot in next month’s runoff election.

Now, Johnson will go head-to-head in the April 4 election with former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas, who got about 33% of the vote in February. The two candidates have very different visions for the future of the city’s school system. The district faces challenges disentangling its finances from the city as it transitions into an elected school board, declining enrollment, and academic disparities that widened since the beginning of the COVID pandemic.

Vallas has garnered support by touting his reputation as a “fixer” who can lead in difficult times. But he has faced scrutiny on the campaign trail over his complicated history with public schools in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans.

Robert Bruno, a labor education professor at University of Illinois and longtime observer of the Chicago Teachers Union, said to some degree, Johnson’s journey from classroom teacher to political candidate came as a reaction to policies put in place by Vallas and like-minded officials.

“I think maybe Paul Vallas helped to create the conditions that made Brandon Johnson inevitable,” Bruno said.

Those conditions have prompted the CTU — and all of its organizing power — to try to put an ally into the mayor’s office before. In 2015, the union helped U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia push then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel into a runoff, only to have him fall short with 44% of the vote. And in 2019, the CTU backed Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who made it to the mayoral runoff, but lost in a landslide to Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

In order to win on April 4, Johnson will likely have to more than double the number of votes he got on Feb. 28. That will be difficult, but not impossible, Bruno said.

“If he’s doing the work as an organizer, then he has to be contributing to the mobilization and the high engagement that you see, “ Bruno said. “And that might be his secret weapon.”

A middle school teacher joins a labor movement

Last fall, Johnson announced his candidacy for mayor, steps from where he taught middle school social studies. Decades earlier, Jenner Elementary Academy of the Arts served students from the nearby Cabrini-Green public housing complex. Now, it is a campus of the Ogden International School after a 2018 merger.

Tara Stamps, a former teacher who now works for the union coaching new teachers, recalled Johnson’s days at Jenner.

“He was very patient,” Stamps said. “He has a very calm demeanor. Brandon is not easily riled and you kind of need that when you’re going to be working with middle school kids.”

These qualities are important for a leader at a critical time for the city, Stamps said.

Stamps was Johnson’s mentor at Jenner and remembered advocating for him during the hiring process. He proved to be committed and connected to his students, and a necessary role model at the mostly Black school, Stamps added.

On the campaign trail, Johnson has shared his own memories of Jenner, such as the time students were displaced when the city leveled Cabrini-Green.

He’s also shared the time one of his students at Jenner told him: “You should be teaching at a good school.”

The comment caught Johnson off-guard. It also served as a call to action for him to address the lack of affordable housing, food insecurity, and gun violence — traumas that students carry into the classroom.

Along the campaign trail, Johnson has called for fully funded schools for all students and families regardless of ZIP code. “Every single child in the city” should get to have their needs met, Johnson said late last month.

After Jenner, Johnson spent about a year teaching at Westinghouse College Prep in East Garfield Park, a test-in selective enrollment high school in one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods. But then Johnson decided to start solving those problems students faced outside of schools. So in the summer of 2011, Johnson, current CTU President Stacy Davis Gates, and other educators joined an organizing initiative at the union.

They helped to get buy-in from rank-and-file members at school buildings, create partnerships with like-minded unions and community organizations, and worked to bring parents into their movement.

“Many of us became teachers to change the world,” Davis Gates said. “We wanted young people to have a good opportunity at dreaming and reimagining and transforming. And all of us have been committed to that dream as educators.”

Davis Gates said Johnson helped usher in a type of “common good” unionism that their work is about more than wages and benefits for school staff. Led by then-CTU President Karen Lewis, the union pushed a progressive agenda that focused on the broader socioeconomic challenges that affect students and families.

In announcing his campaign for mayor, Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson recalled his time as a middle school social studies teacher and the displacement his students faced as the city demolished Cabrini-Green.

Johnson hit the ground running as an organizer just as the union began strengthening its political identity, Stamps said. “He was very active” organizing members in school buildings, she added.

“We were breaking ground on this new kind of unionism,” Stamps said. “[It] not only just involved its members, but brought the community in as partners in this fight for a city and a school system that Chicagoans deserved.”

In 2012, the Chicago Teachers Union carried out its first strike in 25 years. The strike, which CTU used to highlight policies members said were hurting public education, attracted international attention. It also “reshaped the educational landscape in Chicago and across the country,” Johnson said in a statement emailed to Chalkbeat Chicago.

“Karen Lewis herself said it was a battle for the soul of public education, and about protecting the most democratic institution in America,” he said.

Bruno, the University of Illinois professor, said the strike is seen as a success by labor groups, in part because of the coalition-building done by organizers like Johnson.

From being educators to knowledgeable union stewards to informed about city and state laws, organizers have a diverse set of skills, Bruno said. “They’ve got to be really good coalition builders” because they’re trying to get people to take action, he added.

Since being hired by the union, Johnson has organized CTU members at schools primarily on the South and West sides. He’s also worked with community organizations and families who reside in those neighborhoods. It’s a job he still holds today, though the union said he’s been on leave since last November.

According to the union, while on leave, Johnson earns no salary, but like other CTU staff members on leave, Johnson “is allowed to utilize his unused accrued paid time off.”

That work, which is central to Johnson’s career trajectory, has also attracted skepticism. Some observers have said Johnson would be beholden to the CTU in a way that would not be good for taxpayers. Even fellow progressives who have been supported by the CTU, like Garcia, have raised questions about those ties.

“Will Brandon, if he’s elected mayor, be able to say that he is impartial?” Garcia, who ran for mayor but failed to reach the April 4 runoff, said in an interview with the Sun-Times ahead of the Feb. 28 election.

Garcia — who as of publication has yet to throw his support behind Johnson in the runoff — went on to question whether he would make the best decision for children and taxpayers.

Johnson has promised not to raise property taxes, but has proposed a slew of new taxes, mostly targeting corporations and wealthy individuals. He has also pushed back against the criticism, saying that he is grateful for the support from working class families, and that he would be a mayor for all of Chicago.

Electoral politics become crucial to the union’s mission

To the CTU, the policies put in place by Vallas and subsequent district leaders destabilized the public school system. That perspective prompted a new frontier for the union: electoral politics.

After 50 schools closed under then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel, Lewis took those grievances to voters and made the education system’s needs clear, Davis Gates recalled.

Johnson was a key part in those political campaigns. He helped organize members and allies’ campaigns for city council in 2015 and the state legislature in 2020.

Those efforts bore fruit. In 2015, Susan Sadlowski Garza, a school counselor, became the first CTU member elected to City Council. Union ally Carlos Ramirez-Rosa also won his aldermanic race. In 2019, Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez and other CTU allies were elected to city council seats.

And in the intervening period, Johnson decided to test his own appeal to voters. In 2018, Johnson won a seat on the Cook County Board of Commissioners, representing Chicago’s West Side and near western suburbs.

Not everyone in the union supports its focus on electoral politics. Some, for example, have said the union donated too much to candidates without a full accounting. Still, last spring, CTU’s leaders were reelected to their posts.

Johnson is the first rank-and-file member to ascend from organizer to CTU political director to mayoral runoff candidate since the union set out to get its members into elected office more than a decade ago. His rise matches Lewis’ vision of the union having political agency in every level of governance, as well as her policy priorities.

“We followed Karen’s lead and here we are today,” Davis Gates said. “We have an elected school board. We have our bargaining rights back. Our pensions are being funded.”

Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson will face off against former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas in the April 4 runoff election for Chicago mayor.

In his statement, Johnson said he views union organizing as key to developing a “coalition of people with interest and commission vision to bring that vision to life.”

“We have real issues in our city — the need to invest in people, the need for a public safety plan that works, the need to ensure schools are stable and predictable, and the need to grow our economy,” Johnson said.

His organizing experience, he argues, will help Chicago meet these goals.

The prospect of an organizer leading Chicago is promising to union members like Lori Torres Whitt, a 36th ward aldermanic candidate.

“I want a mayor who’s going to work with me, and make decisions for us with us,” Whitt said. “And that’s what you get with an organizer.”

Chicago High School for the Arts teacher Megan Pietz feels as though an organizer will leave the door open when it comes to making decisions.

“I feel like Paul Vallas is someone who closes that door,” Pietz said. “Being an organizer also means being willing to listen to and engage in a conversation, to engage in a discussion.”

Johnson performed well on Chicago’s Northwest and North sides, as well as some portions of the south lakefront, according to election results. But now he will have to persuade a divided electorate on the South and West sides of the city that voted for Lightfoot and Garcia.

Stamps said if anyone can do it, Johnson can.

“We earn the votes,” Stamps said. “We do the work. We out-organize and we out-work people. We knock on doors. We do the phone banks. We do the pop-ups. We do whatever is necessary to carry our message to the people. Because, ultimately, you want a people-powered campaign.”

Becky Vevea contributed to this story.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago mayoral election 2023: How Johnson, Vallas answered 10 important education questions

2023-03-01T18:23:38+00:00

Chicago voters will head to the polls once again on April 4 to vote for a new mayor, choosing between two candidates who are vastly different when it comes to public education.

Brandon Johnson is an organizer with the Chicago Teachers Union and Paul Vallas is the former CEO of Chicago Public Schools. Both are Democrats, but their views vary widely on everything from school choice to measuring academic performance to how campuses are funded.

Whoever wins will take office in late May and will get to appoint a school district CEO and seven school board members to oversee the nation’s fourth largest school district, its $9.5 billion budget, 635 schools, and the education of 322,000 children. They will also be the last mayor to have control of Chicago Public Schools before the district transitions to being governed by an elected school board.

Chalkbeat Chicago asked candidates 10 important questions about the city’s public schools in January — some of which came directly from our readers. Explore Johnson and Vallas’ answers below.

Chicago Public Schools is no longer the nation’s third largest school district after a decade of enrollment decline. The loss of students has had significant impacts on neighborhood high schools in particular. How will you address declining enrollment?
What are your plans to address learning loss and social emotional gaps that have emerged during the past three years of the COVID pandemic?
The Chicago Board of Education will expand from 7 appointed members to 21 elected officials over the next four years. How will you ensure parents, students, and teachers are fairly represented on the new school board? And how will you work with the elected board?
The Chicago Teachers Union’s contract ends next year. There was an 11-day strike in 2019, a rocky return to in-person learning in 2021, and five days of canceled classes in January 2022. How do you plan to avoid a strike in the next contract negotiation with CTU?
Chicago Public Schools stopped rating schools and holding students back during the pandemic. Both accountability policies are under review. How do you think schools should be measured, judged, or rated?
What are your thoughts about Chicago Public Schools’ student-based budgeting model, which ties a school’s funding to how many students are enrolled?
The Illinois legislature created a tax-credit scholarship program in 2017 to expand school choice. After a one-year extension, the program is scheduled to sunset in 2025. Do you support continuing the state’s tax-credit scholarship program? Why or why not?
During the early days of the pandemic, students with disabilities had limited or no access to academic accommodations written in their Individualized Education Program. Many students were unable to receive or renew IEPs to meet their needs. What will you do to ensure that students with disabilities are being identified without delay and getting the resources they need to catch up in school?
Are you for or against trade/vocational education? How would you reactivate trade school curriculum and would it be available in all schools?
Describe a high quality school. (How many staff work there? What are students taught? What programs or extracurriculars are offered? What support services are available? What does the facility look like? What is the schedule?) How many CPS schools meet your definition of a high quality school?

Chicago voters will now pick between former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas (left) and Cook County Commissioner and teachers union organizer Brandon Johnson (right) in the mayoral runoff election on April 4.

Chicago Public Schools is no longer the nation’s third largest school district after a decade of enrollment decline. The loss of students has had significant impacts on neighborhood high schools in particular. How will you address declining enrollment?

JOHNSON: If you recall, that decade began in 2013 with the greatest closure of Black and Latinx schools in Chicago’s history. If we can build sustainable community schools alongside quality affordable housing, we will reverse the trend. We must also tackle the violence epidemic with more holistic measures that provide resources and trauma intervention for students and families.

Mayors Rahm Emanuel and Lori Lightfoot have both presided over precipitous declines in pre-kindergarten enrollment. This is not simply a result of demographic change, but the district moving to an online, centralized application process for preschool that is elitist and prejudiced against families with little access to technology. Enrollment also decreases due to poor program design. This is also evident in a number of special education crises – from State monitor to transportation – over the last 10 years.

Schools communities need direct investment, guarantees of staffing and program offerings. Every school should have a library and librarian, adequate clinicians and counselors, thriving arts offerings and sports programs and teams. And the mayor of Chicago has an obligation to be actively fighting in partnership for the revenue required to fulfill those basic needs for every school in the city, not just some.

VALLAS: Making the schools more attractive to parents by allowing for schools to take on specialties as well as bring back the work study program for high school students. We must also make our schools safe, so students feel comfortable in their learning environment. We must also have the dollars make it down to the school level, right now only 60% of the budget makes it to the schools. In my career I have worked to make education meaningful to students allowing a greater trust in the system by not only the students but also their parents. I would also expand the alternative schools network to provide for the educational needs for high school students too old for the traditional high school program.

Reader question. What are your plans to address learning loss and social emotional gaps that have emerged during the past three years of the COVID pandemic?

JOHNSON: Let’s remember that students and families are still struggling with the pandemic, and there is much trauma and recovery that must occur – especially among Black and Brown students and families who make up the majority of CPS students (like my own).

First, we must address the trauma that existed pre-pandemic, and acknowledge that COVID-19 exposed and exacerbated conditions around cleanliness, bilingual education, access to technology, special education services and more, that city leaders left unaddressed for decades. Asking a student to catch up on math when they are still recovering from the death of a loved one, or a classmate, is inhumane.

Students and families must have trauma support, such as weekly cognitive behavioral therapy, and students need summer jobs and engaging programming. Support student and staff mental health by infusing schools with mental health professionals like counselors and clinicians so that unaddressed trauma is acknowledged, and treated, and learning is more of the focus from day to day. Teachers and staff need adequate time and professional development to help address student needs. And educators need to be empowered with planning time to reinvigorate curriculum and work with students to ensure instructional practices and pedagogy meet students’ needs and interests.

VALLAS: The loss of learning due to the COVID pandemic has been unprecedented. We must work to ensure that our children catch up and can be competitive in their future. In order to meet the gap our children are facing I will open all school buildings through the dinner hour, weekends and summers. We need to invite community organizations to provide enrichment to students in the CPS during these off hours as well as invite retired CPS Teachers to provide tutoring and academic support to the students.

The Chicago Board of Education will expand from seven appointed members to 21 elected officials over the next four years. How will you ensure parents, students, and teachers are fairly represented on the new school board? And how will you work with the elected board?

JOHNSON: I support a map that ensures all communities in this tremendously diverse city have the opportunity to have their voices heard. This is why I worked so closely with Illinois Senate President Don Harmon and community organizations on the legislation to create this vibrant model of democracy for the first time ever in the history of Chicago Public Schools.

We need campaign finance rules to prevent those with no stake in our public schools, or our communities, from controlling our democracy. We cannot have uber rich, arch-conservatives usurping the power that working people in Chicago fought so hard to win. We need candidates who are deeply invested and knowledgeable from the communities served to have a fair chance to win races to influence the education of their children.

Democratic governance requires partnership. The city doesn’t absolve itself of any responsibility to schools just because there are democratically elected school community leaders sitting at the Board of Education. As mayor, I will continue to fight for resources in our schools, and maintain and build upon the coordinated support and services that the city has to offer children and families.

VALLAS: Like I have done all my career I will work with the elected board of education with the respect that is due to them as an equally elected official that is representing the needs of the community that elected them. In all CPS work I will put the needs of the students first and advocated with the board for any necessary resources. Before this board takes office it is important that they do not inherit a broken system, I will push the dollars to the school level and ensure that schools have the resources they need.

Reader question. The Chicago Teachers Union’s contract ends next year. There was an 11-day strike in 2019, a rocky return to in-person learning in 2021, and five days of canceled classes in January 2022. How do you plan to avoid a strike in the next contract negotiation with CTU?

JOHNSON: We need a mayor who can reasonably work with labor. We cannot have the type of leader who will promise something like, say, an elected representative school board and then fight tooth and nail to stop it from being enacted. We cannot have a mayor who, on the campaign trail, calls for a nurse and social worker in every school, then puts teachers on strike for two weeks when they ask for exactly that in writing. We cannot have a mayor who grants expanded parental leave to city workers, but blocks educators from receiving the same.

Just a shift in consistency and keeping one’s word will more than allow for a much more rational and collaborative process.

As mayor, I will be a partner in working with Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union to remove obstacles in the way of achieving excellent schools, rather than contributing to constant friction. The stakes are too high for our students and families for labor and leadership not to have a positive working relationship. And I will openly advocate and build coalitions to identify revenue sources and structures that, over time, will deliver the fully funded schools that families and communities deserve.

VALLAS: The previous CTU strike could have been avoided and we see the cost of that strike in the already exacerbated loss of learning from the pandemic. Over the course of my career I have negotiated 6 teacher contracts with teachers unions in the largest district in 4 different states that led to no strikes and members getting a pay raise. If all parties work in good faith there should be no need for a teacher strike this year which only leads to a greater negative impact of the education on Chicago’s children who are already struggling to regain confidence in the classroom.

Chicago Public Schools stopped rating schools and holding students back during the pandemic. Both accountability policies are under review. How do you think schools should be measured, judged, or rated?

JOHNSON: We cannot continue to punish schools that have suffered from decades of divestment, violence and destabilization. When a school struggles, we often give them more accountability, yet fewer resources. So any school rating formula must bring greater equity, and greater support, to ensure greater success.

Chicago Public Schools does not need its own rating structure, as the state still has and requires one. CPS’ time is better spent identifying sources of revenue to fill the gaps identified in programs, staffing, and services that we know hold schools back from meeting student needs and increasing enrollment. I live in Austin. My wife and I drive two children to Portage Park and another to Hyde Park every day because there are few schools in our community to meet their extracurricular needs. Families should not have to leave their community to find a school with a music program, a sports program, a nurse in every school, or a library with a librarian. We have to use what we already know about the strengths, weaknesses, and assets in our schools to ensure that we are directing resources to where they are needed to make every school excellent.

VALLAS: We should aspire for high standards, we cannot embrace the bigotry of soft expectations. We must set high standards, we have to measure school’s base on their improvement as a school. We must take every school uniquely and see their growth from where they were to where they are.

Reader question. What are your thoughts about Chicago Public Schools’ student-based budgeting model, which ties a school’s funding to how many students are enrolled?

JOHNSON: Student-based budgeting (SBB) and the former SQRP rating policy have had a devastating impact on our schools. SBB, in particular, has contributed to principals whose budgets are strapped to choose between keeping a veteran teacher or having a librarian and a functioning library. Schools struggling with enrollment need to have a process by which root causes are identified and resources are deployed to ensure students still have the richest possible education, and the school has an opportunity to grow its enrollment.

The state, in its evidence-based funding model, has recognized that student and community needs must drive school funding, and that all districts must be brought up to a certain level of resources to meet those needs. Yet CPS has not adopted that approach among its schools. We cannot keep supporting a system that favors choice, but does not provide schools with the same baseline resources and offerings – then punishes students who attend the less frequently chosen school.

VALLAS: The first priority is to push the funding down to the schools. We have to have the majority of the funding flow down to the local schools as of right now only 60% of the funds makes it to the local schools. My second priority is to make sure that the money that is allocated to the students encompasses the needs of the student, we need to make sure the school district is allocating Title I money directly to the school it is assigned too. This money needs to flow directly to the school with only minimal diversions because unfortunately funding due to poverty has been used as discretionary funds by the administration.

Reader question. The Illinois legislature created a tax-credit scholarship program in 2017 to expand school choice. After a one-year extension, the program is scheduled to sunset in 2025. Do you support continuing the state’s tax-credit scholarship program? Why or why not?

JOHNSON: I do not, because this is the kind of thinking that continues to reinforce unequal educational opportunities. Until every Chicago public school and big-city public school has the baseline of resources provided in suburban districts with high property tax bases, the idea of “choice” is a fallacy.

Parents with resources are able to navigate the system for their students, which I don’t begrudge. What is concerning is that families without the means, time, resources, and access to navigating these same systems have no choice at all.

I am not interested in continuing to shift unequal resources around. I am interested in leveling the playing field for all families.

VALLAS: The tax credit scholarship program is beneficial in empowering parents to pick the school that best suits their child’s needs. Whether the students attend private, parochial, public or public charter schools they are students of the City and we need to ensure quality education regardless of their zip code.

During the early days of the pandemic, students with disabilities had limited or no access to academic accommodations written in their Individualized Education Program. Many students were unable to receive or renew IEPs to meet their needs. What will you do to ensure that students with disabilities are being identified without delay and getting the resources they need to catch up in school?

JOHNSON: Teachers in Seattle last fall ratified a contract with a three adult (two teachers, one instructional assistant) to 10 student ratio to help address the needs of their special education population. Chicago must work toward something similar to address compensatory services and the particular needs of this incredibly vulnerable student population. We also need greater clinical support to properly diagnose and service the individualized education programs of these students. This includes the need to ramp up pipelines with state and local funding to hire many more teachers, special education classroom assistants, and teacher assistants to address the accumulated needs of students living with disabilities.

VALLAS: Students with disabilities are a priority even much more so after the loss of learning experienced due to the pandemic. The key to supporting these students is the availability of resources at the local school level. My administration will reallocate dollars in a way that the schools see the most benefit and allow principals to support all the students in their neighborhood schools.

Reader question. Are you for or against trade/vocational education? How would you reactivate trade school curriculum and would it be available in all schools?

JOHNSON: We need to do much better to train Chicagoans to fill the jobs that exist today. Businesses are hiring and manufacturers are hiring. There may be somewhere around 30,000 unfilled manufacturing jobs across the state, and a good number of them are here in Chicago. But we’ve abandoned vocational training in our schools. Modern manufacturing jobs require tech skills, and it is our job to give our students the skills necessary to succeed. So I am all for trade and vocational education, commonly known as Career and Technical Education (CTE), in Chicago Public Schools. CTE is essential to closing the gap between our district, and skilled trade industries and employers.

There is potential in some of the plans the district and CPS CEO Pedro Martinez have around this. With an aviator simulator in Dunbar, and making Tilden, Phillips, Chicago Vocational, and Fenger sustainable community schools with specialized and relevant trades training, we will have education and apprenticeship pipelines to create the skills and engagement necessary for a CTE corridor that will empower our Black and Latinx students to become the next generation of unionized trade workers.

VALLAS: Yes I support trade and vocational education. However I believe on a broader scale that we need to integrate a work study program into all of our high schools and make elective programs more meaningful. We need to reestablish our VocEd and occupational training programs that were in our high schools during my time at the CPS. My administration will do this by partnering with local trade unions and businesses in our city. We have to leverage these connections in ways that attract our students to take interest in these programs that offer amazing opportunities for success after high school.

Describe a high-quality school. (How many staff work there? What are students taught? What programs or extracurriculars are offered? What support services are available? What does the facility look like? What is the schedule?) How many CPS schools meet your definition of a high-quality school?

JOHNSON: We have a model that works – the Sustainable Community School (SCS) model, which calls for collaborative and effective strategy for increasing educational equity. SCS builds on the traditional community school model to prioritize specific pillars and principles to make schools the anchors of their communities, and to share leadership around meeting student, family, educator, staff, and community needs.

We also have schools that have parent mentors, community programming, and partnerships to provide additional support for mental and physical health across the district. Neighborhood schools like Kelly High, National Teachers Academy, Hanson Park Elementary (despite a horrendous facility situation), Chavez Elementary, Beidler Elementary are all vibrant school communities using culturally relevant curriculum and community partnerships to advance the academic and social/emotional needs of countless children. However, we need to do more and better. That will require greater investments in addressing the needs of homeless children, students with disabilities and all the newcomers who do not speak English as their primary language. It also cannot continue to be the case that selective enrollment schools, which provide students with the most extensive course offerings, extracurriculars and sports opportunities, serve only the wealthiest students in the system.

VALLAS: A high quality is a medium sized neighborhood school that embraces high standards and offers the students a high quality curriculum that ensures students achieve a high level of proficiency in all core areas. The ideal quality school offers key enrichment opportunities in the academic year as well as continuing into the non-traditional school hours (weekends, evenings, summers and holidays) to support students in their growth. My ideal quality school offers key wrap-around services for students to ensure they are holistically growing. This school also needs a well trained and supported local school council that broadly represents the community and can provide a vehicle for community input in school governance and supplemental activities.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago 2023 mayoral election: Former schools chief, teachers union organizer headed to runoff

2023-03-01T04:20:55+00:00

Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news organization covering public education in communities across America. Subscribe to our free Chicago newsletter to keep up with the city’s public school system and state education policy.

Chicago’s next mayor will either be former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas or Chicago Teachers Union organizer Brandon Johnson. In a stunning upset, the two defeated incumbent Lori Lightfoot and are headed for a runoff on April 4 because neither secured more than 50% of the vote.

Lightfoot called both Vallas and Johnson to congratulate them, she said in a concession speech just before 9 p.m.

“I will be rooting and praying for our next mayor to deliver for the people of the city for years to come,” said Lightfoot.

Vallas led the field of nine candidates with 34% of the vote, according to unofficial preliminary results posted by the Chicago Board of Elections Tuesday night. Johnson secured the second spot with just over 20% of the vote while Lightfoot trailed at 17% as results rolled in.

Shortly before 9 p.m., Vallas gave an impassioned speech in which he congratulated Lightfoot and thanked his supporters, saying it was because of them that he secured a spot in the April run off.

“I want to thank the voters of Chicago for making this campaign about the issues and nothing but the issues,” Vallas said.

In a speech at 9:30 p.m., Johnson said people didn’t know who he was a few months ago. “If you didn’t know, now you know,” he said, before thanking his wife and the “workers of this city.”

Lightfoot made history in 2019 when she became the first Black woman and first openly gay person to be elected Chicago mayor.

“Four years ago, I looked into the camera and spoke directly to young people of color who looked like me and to every kid who felt like I did when I grew up,” Lightfoot said. “I’m going to do that again tonight. I told you back then that anything is possible with hard work. And I want you to know that no matter what happens along the way you should always believe that because it’s true.”

With 98% of precincts reporting as of 10 p.m., U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” García had just under 14% of the vote, businessman Willie Wilson had received 9%, and the remaining candidates each had less than 3% of the vote, according to unofficial results.

Though crime and safety eclipsed education as a top priority for voters this cycle, the candidates’ ties to education run deep. The winner of this election will also be the last Chicago mayor to have control of the city’s public schools — as the shift to an elected school board begins with 10 of 21 members elected in 2024.

As an organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union, Johnson advocated for an elected school board. In 2018, he was elected to the Cook County Board of Commissioners. Johnson taught at Jenner Academy and Westinghouse College Prep before moving into a union organizing role. His education platform promises more staff and free transit for students.

Vallas led Chicago Public Schools from 1995 until 2001 as the district’s first CEO under mayoral control. He later managed the public schools in Philadelphia, post-Katrina New Orleans, and Bridgeport, Connecticut, experience he touted Tuesday night.

“I’ve had success because I’ve always had the good sense to listen to the community, to empower the community and draw my leadership from the community,” Vallas said.

During his speech, Vallas also said schools needed to be part of addressing public safety, noting his platform promises to open school buildings on nights and weekends.

His complicated legacy has served as fodder for opponents who argue Vallas would be a “disaster” as mayor. But supporters have said Vallas’ reputation as a reformer is what Chicago needs. His education plan promises to expand school choice and open school buildings on nights and weekends.

In his speech, Johnson thanked his supporters and his wife, saying he “was so freakin’ proud.” Surrounded by supporters including Ald. Pat Dowell and Ald. Matt Martin, Johnson also thanked his union backers in the Chicago Teachers Union, SEIU, and United Working Families.

“We get to turn the page of the politics of old,” Johnson said.

He said people deserved fully resourced public schools. “Every single child in the city gets to have their needs met,” Johnson said.

During his speech, Johnson attacked Vallas’ education record, saying “he has literally failed everywhere he has gone.”

The unofficial early results include more than 240,000 ballots cast during early voting and those returned by mail as of Monday night. When the polls closed, 507,852 total ballots had been cast, which is roughly 32% of all registered voters, according to Max Bever, spokesperson for the city’s Board of Elections.

Earlier Tuesday, election officials said more than 100,000 mail-in ballots had yet to arrive at the Chicago Board of Elections to be counted. Bever said election officials have until March 14 to “collect and count all stragglers.”

Early and mail-in voting rates surpassed previous years, while overall turnout lagged on election day.

In recent weeks, polls had indicated a four-way toss-up between Lightfoot, García, Johnson, and Vallas. Other candidates include State Rep. Kam Buckner, activist Ja’Mal Green, Ald. Sophia King, Ald. Roderick Sawyer, and Wilson.

In a concession speech shortly after 8 p.m. Tuesday night, Buckner said the city couldn’t keep doing the same thing and expect different results. “We need to invest in students and not undermine our neighborhood schools,” Buckner said.

Buckner was the first candidate to release an education platform, which called for funding schools based on need not enrollment. As a state legislator, Buckner co-sponsored the bill creating an elected school board. He is also a graduate of Morgan Park High School on the far South Side.

Lightfoot did not make education a central part of her 2019 campaign, but much of her time in office has been characterized by conflict with the Chicago Teachers Union and pandemic school closures that have impacted learning and student mental health.

Tuesday night, she said she was proud of her administration’s work making “record investments in our public schools, adding school social workers, nurses, and special education case managers” and their efforts to “connect youth to mental health services, housing, education, job training, and legal services.”

Though he appeared to finish fourth on Tuesday, García famously took former Mayor Rahm Emanuel into a runoff in 2015, with the backing of the Chicago Teachers Union. But this time around, he relied on other unions for support as the teachers union backed Johnson’s bid for mayor. In announcing his late entry to the race last November, Garcia, a Democrat who represents Illinois’ 4th congressional district, said it was time for the city to “double down” on education. “Your ZIP code, race, and socioeconomic status should not determine your future,” he said.

Green called for universal preschool for 3-year-olds as part of his sweeping $5 billion public safety plan on the campaign trail. His plan also called for creating 10,000 apprenticeships for Chicagoans ages 13 to 25. “I’m a father who loves Chicago and I want a better future for my kids and yours,” Green said earlier this year.

King, who represents the 4th Ward which spans the South Side, serves as the vice chair of the Committee on Education and Child Development. She recently tried to push Chicago Public Schools officials to appear quarterly before aldermen or risk losing city money that supports school construction projects, but the measure failed. King helped found Ariel Community Academy, a public school created in 1996 under then-Mayor Richard M. Daley in partnership with Ariel Investments.

Sawyer, who has served as an alderman on the South Side for over a decade, sponsored a proposal in 2020 to remove Chicago police from public schools, but it was thwarted by one of Lightfoot’s allies and did not pass. His father became mayor in 1987 after the death of the city’s first Black mayor, Harold Washington. Sawyer served on the local school council at McDade Classical School, a public selective enrollment school.

Wilson, a high-profile businessman, has focused on rebuilding from the pandemic through “educational grants, trade and business recovery.” He promised to bolster vocational programs in high schools — a move already being undertaken by the district.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

Mayoral hopeful Paul Vallas brings complicated Chicago Public Schools legacy

2023-02-27T15:44:37+00:00

What grade would Paul Vallas get for his tenure leading Chicago Public Schools? Depends who you ask.

Supporters describe the first CEO of Chicago Public Schools — and a current mayoral hopeful — as a reformer with a gift for turning around struggling school districts. But critics raise concerns about financial mismanagement, lackluster academic growth, and harsh punishments for low-performing schools.

Vallas has built his mayoral campaign around reducing crime and improving public safety. He’s also touted his record as a fixer who led public school systems in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New Orleans.

His message resonated with voters. Vallas led a crowded field of nine candidates in the Feb. 28 election, garnering 34% of the vote, according to unofficial preliminary results posted by the Chicago Board of Elections Tuesday night. Cook County Commissioner and teachers union organizer Brandon Johnson secured the second spot with just over 20% of the vote, denying incumbent Lori Lightfoot a second term.

Vallas and Johnson will face off in a runoff election on April 4.

Before Vallas became CEO, Chicago Public Schools had been labeled the “worst in the nation’’ by then-U.S. Education Secretary William Bennett. Now, the city’s schools find themselves in another tumultuous time, coming off three years marked by pandemic disruptions, labor strife, and a drop in test scores.

The years ahead will be critical for the district, which faces declining enrollment, challenges disentangling its finances from the city as it transitions into an elected school board, an increase in student mental health issues, and achievement gaps that widened since the beginning of the COVID pandemic.

Vallas unveiled an education platform in early February that includes keeping schools open nights and weekends, putting alternative schools in empty or underenrolled schools, expanding voucher programs, and creating more charter schools — recycling some policies that have fallen out of favor in recent years.

On his campaign website, Vallas touts his life’s work as restoring “broken education systems” in Chicago, Philadelphia, post-Katrina New Orleans, and Bridgeport, Connecticut.

But other candidates have taken aim at Vallas’ education record, arguing he helped create Chicago schools’ current financial problems and laid the groundwork that ultimately led to the closing of Black and Latino schools under other district CEOs.

He’s faced similar criticisms in Philadelphia and New Orleans. Vallas was hired in Philadelphia after the state took over the public school system and made dramatic changes, but left the district with a deficit. In New Orleans, Vallas closed neighborhood schools and opened charter schools. He faced criticism over “lack of transparency, inattention to the most disadvantaged students,” according to the Times-Picayune. But former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, his successor as CEO at Chicago Public Schools, lauded his efforts in New Orleans as a model for reform.

Vallas’ campaign did not respond to questions and multiple interview requests. But he has defended his record, calling criticisms “not grounded in facts” and “a sign of desperation.”

When unveiling his education platform, Vallas said test scores improved during his tenure as Chicago’s schools CEO, his administration opened 78 new schools, and secured two collective bargaining agreements with 21% pay raises for teachers. His work was praised by President Bill Clinton, Vallas added.

The most controversial part of Vallas’ record may be his decision to forgo pension payments and the most debated may be whether reforms led to enough academic growth.

Teacher pension payments paused when Vallas ran CPS

In recent weeks, opponents have criticized Vallas, arguing his decisions contributed to the city’s financial problems. Johnson, who will now face Vallas in the runoff, said he would be a “disaster” for the city.

During a speech earlier this month at City Club Chicago, Cook County Commissioner and Chicago Teachers Union organizer Brandon Johnson took aim at Paul Vallas, saying the former CEO would be a “disaster” for the city.

“It was his budgetary practices that led us into the economic despair that we have now,” Johnson said. “And now he wants to be trusted with the same budget that he couldn’t get right when he was here? That’s a real threat.”

After serving as the city’s director of budget and finance, Vallas was chosen in 1995 by then-Mayor Richard M. Daley to serve as the school district’s inaugural CEO.

Vallas was tasked with balancing the budget and improving test scores in the school district that less than a decade earlier had been named among the worst by the U.S. Department of Education.

Under Vallas, Chicago Public Schools stopped making regular payments into the teachers’ pension. With the district facing an anticipated $1.4 billion deficit, Vallas trimmed the budget by cutting central office staff and eliminated “wasteful spending” from special education and other departments, according to Chicago Magazine.

The same state law that gave Daley control of the schools also changed the tax levy that directly funded the pension system, allowing Daley and Vallas to use money once earmarked for pensions to help cover operating costs, said Chuck Burbridge, the former executive director of the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund from 2015-2020.

The legislation only required district leaders to make pension contributions if the fund fell below 90% of being fully funded, Burbridge said.

The district did begin making payments again in the early 2000s, Burbridge said, but a “pension holiday” approved amid the great recession further contributed to the Fund’s current condition.

Chicago Public Schools’ teachers’ pensions are currently under 50% funded, according to a report presented to the Board of Education last fall.

Gery Chico, who served as school board president during Vallas’ tenure, defended the decision to direct pension funds toward the operating budget. The pension fund has to be assessed annually and at the time the fund was 90 or 100% funded, Chico said.

“There was no reason to overfund the pension when you had tremendous needs in the classroom,” Chico said.

Under Vallas, Chicago’s student test scores saw marginal improvements

During Vallas’ tenure as Chicago schools chief, he implemented a series of reforms including the end of “social promotion,” summer and after-school programs for failing students, and so-called “academic probation” for low-performing schools.

Vallas faced criticism then and now for these policies being too punitive and paving the way for dramatic — and often destabilizing — changes to school communities in the name of performance. For instance, schools on probation were “reconstituted” or turned around, resulting in dozens of principals and 200 teachers being fired. After Vallas left, the probation policy he put in place was used to close low-performing schools over the course of the following decade..

Despite the drastic steps taken districtwide, test scores showed marginal improvement, according to a Northwestern study commissioned by the Chicago Board of Education. Researchers suggested improvements in high school test scores were largely due to improvements in elementary instruction. At the high school level, instruction was shallow and some high school teachers were only reaching as little as five students in their classes, according to the same study.

At the time, Vallas argued that the district as a whole had higher overall test scores and blamed teachers who resisted reform for the shortcomings, according to the Tribune.

“Test scores are always tricky,” said former Chicago Teachers Union President Deborah Lynch-Walsh, noting the high percentage of CPS students living in poverty. Lynch-Walsh, who is now supporting Vallas’ bid for mayor, said the additional after-school programs and expansion of magnet schools Vallas implemented were notable efforts at improving student achievement.

Nonetheless, Vallas resigned in 2001.

“I would like to think the school system is better off today than it was in 1995,” he said at the time, according to the Chicago Tribune. Earlier that year, Daley had expressed concern over stagnating reading scores, but applauded Vallas’ work and called him “quite simply the best” schools CEO.

Today, critics and opponents, including Johnson and State Rep. Kam Buckner, argue that mayoral control of schools under Vallas would bring back harmful policies to Chicago Public Schools.

In a debate earlier this month, Buckner derided Vallas’ title as a “turnaround specialist” calling his policies harmful. He said Vallas’ formula is one of replacing neighborhood schools in New Orleans with charter schools, not paying into the pension fund, then leaving for the next opportunity.

State Rep. Kam Buckner has said Paul Vallas would bring back harmful policies to Chicago Public Schools.

“Paul Vallas did in New Orleans what Mayor Emanuel did in Chicago: closed huge numbers of neighborhood schools in one fell swoop,” Buckner said. “It was a mistake in Chicago, it was a mistake in New Orleans, and if Vallas gets the keys to the city back, rest assured he’ll keep the closures coming until neighborhood schools like my school, Morgan Park High School, are a thing of the past.”

Before Vallas resigned as CEO, Lynch-Walsh had also been a critic of his, saying he had “left teachers out of the reform process and acted as if students’ performance would improve if only the schools got rid of bad teachers,” according to the Los Angeles Times.

Lynch-Walsh, who was elected CTU president just before Vallas resigned, wrote a letter to him at the time advocating for smaller schools and criticizing the reconstitution policy, according to Catalyst Chicago.

Now, two decades later, Lynch-Walsh says his current plan offers an “amalgam of lessons learned” from his time leading public school systems in Chicago, New Orleans, Philadelphia, and Connecticut.

Lynch-Walsh, who worked with Vallas during his brief stint as chief administrator officer at Chicago State University, believes he has the experience to meet the current challenges the school district faces in the coming years.

“He’s got a plan for those challenges and problems,” Lynch-Walsh said.

And there will certainly be challenges ahead for the next mayor when it comes to Chicago Public Schools. No matter who wins.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

Lori Lightfoot could be the last mayor to control Chicago Public Schools. How has she done?

2023-02-16T20:55:50+00:00

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot stood on a freshly-installed rubber wood floor in the gymnasium of the new Belmont-Cragin Elementary and delivered a long list of “thank-you’s” from behind a podium emblazoned with the seal of the City of Chicago.

“I can still smell the freshness and newness of this building,” Lightfoot said before using oversized scissors to cut a blue fabric ribbon at the Jan. 17 opening of the new $44 million school, a project set in motion by her predecessor Rahm Emanuel.

It is one of dozens of ribbon cuttings the incumbent mayor is doing in the weeks before the Feb. 28 election in which voters decide if she gets a second term. Lightfoot is facing eight challengers, some with strong ties to the city’s public schools, including former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas and former teacher and current teachers union organizer Brandon Johnson.

“Our job is to come, like the calvary, to the rescue with those resources so we can help you fulfill your dreams and aspirations,” Lightfoot said at the Belmont-Cragin ribbon-cutting, where she was flanked by students, teachers, and other politicians. “This new building is absolutely what that is about.”

Since 1995, Chicago’s mayor has had control over the city’s public schools — deciding where and when to construct or repair school facilities, appointing school board members and a CEO, and negotiating contracts with the teachers union.

Lightfoot could be the last mayor — or one of the last — to wield this kind of power over education in Chicago as the city begins to transition to an elected school board in 2024.

“This is a pivotal or critical time for schools,” said Dick Simpson, a longtime observer and fixture in Chicago politics and retired professor of political science at the University of Illinois Chicago. “It’s also a critical time overall in Chicago’s history.”

Unlike her predecessors, Lightfoot did not come into office four years ago promising big changes at Chicago Public Schools. She kept existing leadership in place and continued implementing outgoing Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s plan for universal pre-K for 4-year-olds. The one promise Lightfoot did make – to support an elected school board – shifted once she was in office.

Ald. Scott Waguespack, an ally of the mayor, said Lightfoot deserves credit for leading the school system through a once in a generation pandemic.

“Navigating that was something that was done partially on the fly, but also had a good set of directives that we had to stick to to make sure that the institutions survived, including CPS,” Waguespack said.

But what has Lightfoot done so far when it comes to education and what will she do with another four years?

Lightfoot prioritizes city money for school facilities

Deciding when and where to build new or repair old schools has been a core role of Chicago mayors, past and present.

Richard M. Daley’s Modern Schools Across Chicago program spent $1 billion to build 17 new facilities and renovate two others, mostly on the South and West Sides. Lightfoot’s predecessor, Rahm Emanuel, built new annexes in overcrowded areas where students tended to be more affluent and more white than CPS as a whole. He also closed 50 schools and mothballed or sold off the facilities in majority Black and Latino neighborhoods, before implementing a property tax levy in 2017 to bankroll new school construction.

The newly-constructed $44 million Belmont-Cragin Elementary at 6112 W. Fullerton Ave. sits next door to the Riis Park Fieldhouse on Chicago’s Northwest side. The project was set in motion by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and completed under Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Lightfoot harnessed city funding for school projects, but focused spending on fixing up existing facilities, repairing aging roofs, and boilers.

“We’re picking off these projects that are long overdue all over the city,” Lightfoot said. “Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez is very committed to making sure that we really invest in the infrastructure, not just band aids and trying to patch things up.”

Waguespack, who is also chairman of the City Council’s powerful Committee on Finance, said the mayor wanted to focus more money from special taxing districts known as tax-increment-financing — or TIF — districts on public schools and public parks.

A Chalkbeat analysis of finance committee records shows roughly $215.8 million in TIF money was allocated to school construction projects between when Lightfoot took office in May 2019 and today. Roughly $128.5 million was allocated between May 2015 and May 2019. Many of the projects tackled in the past four years were for long-deferred maintenance, not new construction.

In response to a Chalkbeat Chicago candidate questionnaire, Lightfoot also touted “$600 million in investments for facility improvements at neighborhood schools” in Chicago Public Schools’ 2023 budget.

A review of Chicago Public Schools’ capital plan does show larger portions of the district’s construction budget coming from “outside funding sources,” which is primarily city TIF money and state grants. However, the capital budget has declined in the last four years.

Years ago, community advocates fought to have more say over school construction decisions in Chicago, even passing a state law that created a now-dormant task force to oversee and guide school facilities planning. The city is currently under moratorium on closing schools, which will lift in 2025.

Disagreements over school construction projects have heated up recently around a plan supported by Lightfoot to build a $150 million new high school on the Near South Side, even as the district continues to lose enrollment and grapple with severely underenrolled high schools, including those that currently serve students in the area and sit just south of the site where the new school is to be built.

In an interview with Chalkbeat Chicago, Lightfoot said she sees investments in school facilities as investments in the city as a whole.

“They’ve got to be done in coordination,” Lightfoot said of the city and the school district. “They’ve got to work hand in glove and that’s really what we’ve been trying to do.”

Clashes with the Chicago Teachers Union disrupt learning

By now, it’s no secret: the mayor and the Chicago Teachers Union are anything but allies. From an 11-day teachers strike in 2019 and a delayed return to schools amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 to five days of canceled classes at the height of the omicron surge in 2022, the relationship has been on a tightrope made worse with every labor strife and a war of words.

Robert Bruno, a labor education professor at University of Illinois, described Lightfoot and CTU’s relationship as “very, very hostile,” and “difficult and strained.”

The deep level of distrust between the mayor and the teachers union is not without consequences.

The fraught relationship between Lightfoot and the union may even have complicated the district’s response to COVID and the return to in-person learning.

Chicago students stayed with remote learning longer than many other cities and states. Data released last fall showed the city’s math and reading scores on the “Nation’s Report Card” fell to what they were about a decade ago.

At the time, Lightfoot argued that a return to in-person learning would curb the adverse impact of remote learning, but the union said remote learning would protect students, their families, and teachers from severe illness and death. The push to return, the union argued, was tied to pressure from the business community.

Bruno said the mayor views the teachers union as a political body with the goal of undermining her leadership, and the union believes she’s “too beholden to corporate interest and not someone who has the best interest” of the school district’s large low-income working class and multi-ethnic population.

But the mayor’s difficult relationship with the teachers union pre-dates the pandemic. The CTU supported Lightfoot’s opponent in 2019 and when she stepped into office in May 2019, the political newcomer fresh off a landslide victory found herself in contract negotiations that dramatically fizzled out, leading to an 11-day strike in October.

Despite the acrimony, the teachers union secured $1.5 billion worth of concessions from the Lightfoot administration in a five-year contract that included raises for educators and support staff, hundreds of new staff positions, and $35 million annually to help reduce overcrowding in some schools.

Five months later, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down schools once again. Students didn’t return in-person until a year later — after an impasse over safety protocols, a threat to lock out teachers from remote platforms, and finally an agreement that made way for a hybrid model with staggered reopening starting in March 2021. But the following school year was again disrupted after holiday break, leaving parents frustrated and teachers feeling deflated.

These four years are going to be remembered as “dysfunctional,” Bruno said. “She obviously has to take some responsibility for that.”

Chicago teachers picket downtown in May 2022. Lightfoot’s conflicts with the Chicago Teachers Union characterized much of her first term.

Moving forward the person who wins the mayoral election will need “to pick up the pieces of that relationship” with the union, Bruno said.

Turning things around would not be unprecedented. Rahm Emanuel famously clashed with the teachers union early in his first term, prompting the first strike in 25 years. He reportedly used an expletive in a meeting with former CTU President Karen Lewis. But years later, she admitted their tensions had softened. After Lewis died, Emanuel told the Sun-Times that the two had even attended the ballet together.

Responding to the Chalkbeat candidate questionnaire regarding the acrimonious relationship and upcoming contract negotiations, Lightfoot wrote that regardless of their “previous differences,” her team was committed to ensuring Chicago teachers were among the “best compensated in the nation and have the resources and support they need to educate the next generation of Chicagoans.”

“Our children deserve no less,” she wrote.

Lightfoot changes tune on elected school board

While campaigning for mayor in 2019, Lightfoot supported a fully elected school board, saying parents deserved a seat at the table. Elected members should be parents with “skin in the game,” she told WBEZ at the time, and suggested requirements such as first serving on local school councils.

Lightfoot’s first appointees included a group with deep experience in education, including parents who previously served on local school councils, teachers, principals, and community advocates — a departure from her predecessors whose selections were often described as a “rubber stamp” by critics.

Lightfoot told WBEZ in 2019 there would need to be thoughtful discussions on the number of board members, criteria, and how elections for these seats were financed.

But Lightfoot’s support for a fully elected school board dwindled and she instead called for a hybrid model. As legislation moved through Springfield, the mayor criticized the bill, arguing that special interests would pour millions of dollars into the races as had happened in Los Angeles.

She also criticized the 21-seat board as a “recipe for disaster.” Nevertheless, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed the approved bill in June 2021, setting the stage for a phased-in elected school board starting in 2025. Next year, the mayor will appoint 11 seats and 10 will be elected. Another election, in 2026, would elect the 11 appointed seats, resulting in a fully elected board by 2027.

Responding to a Chalkbeat election questionnaire, Lightfoot vowed to work with Pritzker to improve the existing law to “establish clarity and ensure that our schools, teachers, and students receive the representation and resources they deserve.” She added that non-citizens, in particular, should be allowed to serve on the school board.

“Non-citizens are a significant part of CPS communities as parents, Local School Council members, and elsewhere,” Lightfoot said. “In a welcoming city, it is unconscionable that Springfield banned non-citizens from serving on the elected school board.”

Her office has created a team focused on education and human services that will work in partnership with the new school board on shared priorities, she said.

The mayor’s record on education will be an important marker in this election, Bruno said.

“As long as mayors have control over the city schools,” he said, “then it’s going to be a big determinant, I think, of how people judge their record while in office.”

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago mayoral candidates promise to raise wages for early childhood educators, but differ on how to do it.

2023-02-09T23:03:53+00:00

Chicago’s mayoral candidates say the city needs to increase wages for early childhood educators, make child care affordable for families, collaborate with local providers and state agencies to make funding easier, and even allow child care providers to move into public schools that are underenrolled.

The candidates detailed how they would reform child care and early childhood education at a forum organized by Child Care Advocates United — a professional organization in Illinois that supports early childhood educators and providers — on Wednesday night. All of the mayoral candidates except incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot attended the session.

Art Norman, a newscaster at NBC5 Chicago, and Tia Ewing, from FOX 32 Chicago, moderated the panel.

The mayor and City Council play a critical role in licensing and funding child care providers. Many candidates have promised to make child care more affordable, with few promising universal preschool for 3-years-olds.

Lightfoot continued rolling out universal preschool to families with 4-year olds in the city, expanding the plan promised by her predecessor Mayor Rahm Emannuel. However, the initiative hit bumps when the city’s early learning chief stepped down in the second year of the rollout and the early days of COVID-19 slowed down the city’s efforts.

Across Illinois, childcare providers are struggling to attract and retain workers, who are often paid less than their elementary schools peers. Parents of young children also struggle to find affordable child care, often comparing the cost to college tuition. The state has increased funding for early childhood education, but advocates say that more can be done.

At the Wednesday forum, candidates offered plans for early childhood education that included increasing the minimum wage to $15 an hour for child care providers, taxing cannabis sales and gambling for additional revenue, and working with state agencies to make it easier for all child care providers to receive funding.

All eight candidates in attendance agreed that child care providers need to be paid more.

Ald. Sophia King, who represents Chicago’s south lakefront neighborhood, proposed increasing pay for child care providers and offering incentives such as zero-interest loans for mortgages and dollar lots to prevent educators and child care providers from leaving the city.

King was a part of the push to get the city to increase minimum wage for workers to $15 an hour. Child care providers with more than three employees already have to comply with the city’s rules.

State Rep. Kam Buckner, who represents the city’s South Side in Springfield, said he doesn’t believe there is just a workforce shortage in early childhood education and child care, but an issue of where the city is putting resources. In addition to raising wages, he said the city needs to collaborate with Chicago Public Schools and the city’s community colleges to streamline a pipeline to get more workers into child care centers.

Forum moderators asked the candidates how they would work with state agencies to make accessing funding easier for child care providers and prioritize additional money for community-based organizations. Currently, child care providers in Chicago and across the state get funding from the Illinois State Board of Education, the Department of Human Services, and the Department of Child and Family Services.

U.S. Rep. Jesús Chuy García, whose district includes the city’s south west sides and surrounding suburbs, proposed creating a new city agency to look into early childhood education.

“There isn’t an overarching structure monitoring the status and effectiveness of those services,” García said at the forum. “That is how you wound up last year with the Department of Family Services cutting 4,000 slots that community providers had.”

Neighborhood advocate Ja’mal Green said there is a disconnect between city hall and providers. To fix this, he said he would hire more people from local communities, put mobile city halls throughout neighborhoods, and create resource centers in communities across the city so child care providers could be directed to available resources.

The candidates agreed that the city needs to collaborate with different organizations to ensure families know what options are available for child care.

“It’s about streamlining processes and creating collaboration. We’ve said this a few times tonight, but way too often we’ve created spaces for competition and we need to be creating spaces for collaboration,” said Buckner. “ I think the city has to lead that process and has to lead the conversation.”

Most candidates also said they would use cannabis and casino tax revenue for additional funding to support early childhood education and child care providers who are dependent on state and federal funding to survive.

Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, who released his education plans earlier in the day, said he supports using revenue from cannabis and casino tax revenue and finding ways to tax the wealthy Chicagoans.

“From a corporate head tax to a real estate transfer tax to a financial transfer tax, the ultra rich get to put skin in the game,” said Johnson. “Over 70% of Chicagoans said that the wealthy have to pay their fair share. My budget plan articulates that.”

King and Ald. Roderick Sawyer, whose district covers the city’s south side, agreed that cannabis and casino tax revenue should be used toward education, but noted that the revenue has been marked for other funding.

The city’s gambling and entertainment tax revenue will go to the city’s pension fund for city workers, while the state’s cannabis tax revenue will go to state agencies and community-based organizations to address substance abuse, mental health, legal aid, and housing. Any remaining funds go to the state’s general fund. Sawyer said that if he becomes mayor he would look into changing where the revenue goes.

In the last two questions of the night, the moderators asked mayoral candidates how they would work with the state to address accessibility for families and ensure that they understand their choices for child care and early childhood education.

Former Chicago Public Schools chief Paul Vallas proposed using underenrolled CPS schools as community centers in addition to tax revenues and tax incentives for private child care centers to make child care more affordable for families.

“Give community organizations access to schools,” Vallas said. “You see stories about schools at 20%, 30%, 40%, or less than 50% capacity, and we don’t have room to provide early childhood centers?”

Correction: Feb. 10, 2023: The story has been updated to reflect State Rep. Kam Buckner’s comments.

Samantha Smylie is the state education reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering school districts across the state, legislation, special education, and the state board of education. Contact Samantha at ssmylie@chalkbeat.org.

Mayoral hopeful Brandon Johnson promises students free transit, more staff

2023-02-08T23:19:30+00:00

Chicago Teachers Union organizer and former teacher Brandon Johnson released his formal education platform today — one of a few candidates for Chicago mayor to do so with only a few weeks left before the municipal election.

Johnson, a current Cook County commissioner, unveiled his vision for Chicago Public Schools Wednesday afternoon at a City Club of Chicago luncheon. His plan includes free bus and train rides for students on the Chicago Transit Authority, expanding opportunities for students through partnerships with City Colleges and trade schools, and having under-enrolled schools share space with child care and health clinics.

Johnson’s vision draws on the union’s decade-long push to tackle broader issues such as affordable housing and gun violence.

“Educating the whole child means dealing with the root causes,” Johnson said. “And all of the root causes are directly tied to the failures of political insiders and politicians who refuse to actually see people and recognize that poverty is one of the most isolating, awful, excruciating experiences that one could ever live through.”

His platform also calls for the overhaul of the district’s funding model, investments in bilingual educators and clinicians to better serve migrant and vulnerable students, and making school buildings greener and ADA accessible.

Mayoral opponent Kam Buckner, whose platform was released last fall, also called for an overhaul of the district’s funding model. He emphasized the need to fund schools based on need, not enrollment. Former district CEO Paul Vallas released his mayoral education vision last week. Vallas’ plan calls for school buildings to stay open on nights and weekends. He is also pushing for more school choice and wants to add more high school work study programs. Chicago Public Schools currently offers work study programs known as cooperative education.

In an email statement, Buckner said it was “good to see the field of candidates finally” presenting education plans in the last three weeks of the race.

“Chicago needs a new vision, which is why I’ve been having these serious conversations across the city for months,” Buckner said.

Johnson’s platform calls for many of the same things outlined in the union’s latest policy paper released last fall. That document was the third version of a document titled “The Schools Chicago Students Deserve” released by the union in 2012.

Johnson got into the race in late October with CTU’s backing. The union’s governing body voted a month prior to endorse him, even though he hadn’t made an announcement. The Chicago Teachers Union has donated over $764,000 to his campaign, according to Illinois’ Sunshine database.

Johnson took a moment during his speech to honor former CTU president Karen Lewis, who died three years ago yesterday after a years-long struggle with brain cancer. Lewis’s late 2014 diagnosis came as she was mulling a run for mayor against incumbent Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Sidelined by her illness, Lewis convinced Jesus ‘Chuy’ Garcia, then a Cook County Commissioner, to challenge Emanuel instead. Garcia took Emanuel into a runoff, but lost with 44% of the vote.

Garcia, now a congressman, is also running for mayor this year. A recent WBEZ/Chicago Sun-Times poll puts Garcia in a dead heat with Mayor Lori Lightfoot and former CPS CEO Paul Vallas. Johnson trails in fifth place.

Lightfoot has not released a specific education plan, but much of her first term has been characterized by conflict with the CTU. Shortly after taking office in 2019, teachers went on an 11-day strike that garnered national attention.

Then the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic disrupted schools, and concerns over in-school safety mitigation led to persistent clashes between Lightfoot and the union. Like Lightfoot, Johnson held elected office for a short time. He became a Cook County commissioner serving the city’s West Side in 2018. He has been an organizer for the CTU since 2011 and helped organize the 2012 strike, according to his campaign website.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

If elected Chicago mayor, Paul Vallas promises to open schools on nights and weekends, expand choice

2023-02-03T13:35:00+00:00

Paul Vallas is reaching back to his tenure as Chicago Public Schools CEO in his bid to become Chicago’s next mayor.

The former district leader put out an education platform Thursday that promises to keep school buildings open on nights and weekends, put alternative high schools into empty or underenrolled buildings, and create more charter and magnet schools. He also said he would work to elect school board members in line with his agenda.

Until now, Vallas has largely focused on crime and safety on the campaign trail, not education. Even as he unveiled his plan for the city’s schools, he began by talking about homicide rates.

“Our schools can become sanctuaries for our kids – a place for them to go where they can be safe and secure and where they and their families can access the additional resources they need,” Vallas said, noting that outside community groups and the park district could run programs during non-school hours.

If elected, Vallas would be the last mayor with control of the city’s public school system — bookending an era he ushered in as the first CPS CEO, a role he held from 1995 to 2001.

Chicago begins its transition to an elected school board next year, with 10 elected in fall 2024 and 11 appointed by the mayor. By 2027, the mayor will no longer appoint any of the 21 school board members. Vallas vowed to “aggressively” support candidates who agree with his vision for the public schools.

“You can either complain that the school board is elected or you can get into the game and you can work to run candidates for the school board that you think are going to support your agenda,” he said.

That agenda harkens back to policies Vallas implemented in the past that have fallen out of favor in recent years — like expanding charter schools, funding schools based on enrollment, and holding students back if they don’t meet academic standards.

As schools chief, Vallas implemented an accountability system that placed schools with low test scores on probation — a label that in some cases eventually led to the schools’ closure or the entire staff being fired. He also ended the practice of “social promotion,” which allows kids of a certain age to move to the next grade regardless of whether they passed their classes or met standards.

“Promoting kids (to) high school, when they’re reading at the seventh or eighth grade reading level is just catastrophic, and it’s going to have catastrophic consequences,” Vallas said.

Last month, the Chicago Board of Education overhauled the district’s longstanding promotion policy, eliminating the use of test scores as a factor in holding students back and once again, allowing students to move to the next grade even if they fall short of meeting academic requirements.

Other candidates have criticized Vallas for helping create financial problems for the school district.

It was during Vallas’ tenure that Chicago Public Schools stopped making regular payments into the teachers’ pension fund. According to Politifact, the same state law that gave Mayor Richard M. Daley control of the schools also changed the tax levy that directly funded the pension system, allowing Daley and Vallas to use money once earmarked for pensions to help cover operating costs.

All of the pension funds for government workers in Chicago — teachers, policemen, and firefighters — are underfunded and require hundreds of millions of dollars in payments annually in order to meet their obligations to retirees.

When Vallas was CEO, Chicago Public Schools also enrolled over 430,000 students. That’s at least 100,000 more than it does now. The city’s school-age population has dropped at roughly the same rate. Declining enrollment is felt most acutely at some of the city’s shrinking neighborhood high schools, many of which get additional funding so they can offer a full course load.

The school board is not allowed to close schools until 2025 and most candidates have said they won’t close schools or would only do so as a last resort.

Vallas said he wants to expand work study programs for high schoolers and open “Adult High Schools” inside underenrolled or empty schools to serve people over 18 without a high school diploma. During his time as CEO, Vallas expanded alternative schools through the Youth Connection Charter School network.

After leaving Chicago, Vallas led school systems in Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Bridgeport, Conn.

The Philadelphia School Reform Commission hired him in Philadelphia after the state took over the public school system. He made dramatic changes, but left the system with a deficit.

In New Orleans, Vallas closed neighborhood schools while charter schools reopened in their place. He faced criticism over “lack of transparency, inattention to the most disadvantaged students,” according to the Times-Picayune. But former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and other experts lauded his efforts as a model for school reform. Under Vallas, student test scores improved at schools converted into charter schools, but at district-run schools, progress was uneven, according to New Orleans magazine.

In Bridgeport, he was “both hailed as savior and demonized as an arrogant, inflexible dictator,” according to the Connecticut Post. Vallas left that position to run for Lt. Governor in Illinois and amid a controversy over whether he had the credentials required to run a school system in that state.

Vallas also built a career as an education consultant — moving between the public and private sectors. While still superintendent in New Orleans, his consulting group worked on contract in hurricane-ravaged Haiti and turned around schools in Chile after a 2010 earthquake.

The Vallas Group got a $1 million contract in 2012 from the Illinois State Board of Education to help with school turnaround efforts in the suburb of North Chicago and East St. Louis.

Mayoral candidate and state Rep. Kam Buckner called Vallas an “opportunist collecting titles.” Cook County Commissioner and Chicago Teachers Union organizer Brandon Johnson, who is also running for mayor, criticized Vallas for “firing hundreds of Black teachers and school staff.”

“As mayor, Vallas would be laughable at best, and unmitigated disaster at worst – especially for Black and Brown educators and families,” Johnson said in a statement.

In a statement, mayoral candidate and U.S. Congressman Jesus ‘Chuy’ Garcia blasted Vallas’ record on education.

“His entire career he has gone from city to city ruining the school systems that children and families depend on, while he made hundreds of thousands of dollars and gave questionable contracts to politically connected firms,” Garcia said.

Vallas defended his record saying it “speaks for itself” and called criticism from other candidates “a sign of desperation.”

This story has been updated to clarify why Vallas left his position as Superintendent of Bridgeport Public Schools.

Mauricio Peña contributed reporting.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

The proposed Near South High School has divided neighbors. Here’s your chance to weigh in.

2023-01-17T21:15:21+00:00

Residents who want to learn more about the proposed Near South Side high school will have several chances to weigh in at a series of six virtual meetings hosted by Chicago Public Schools beginning this week.

The first meeting runs from 6-8 p.m. Jan. 19 and will offer Spanish, Chinese, and American Sign Language interpretation. Subsequent meetings will take place Feb. 16 and March 16. Residents can register to attend virtually here.

Controversy has surrounded the plan since it was reintroduced by CPS last year. Early proponents like State. Rep. Theresa Mah withdrew support after accusing school officials and city leaders of not engaging the community in good faith. That led to a war of words between Mah and Ald. Pat Dowell (3rd), who accused the state representative of nixing the proposal because it isn’t in her district.

A coalition of residents and activists led by Lugenia Burns Hope Center and People Matter have held several community meetings — and protests outside City Hall — calling on Mayor Lori Lightfoot to come up with alternative plan. They believe the move will only further the racial divide by pulling students out of existing schools nearby and possibly result in additional school closures with the moratorium imposed by the state ending in 2025.

But advocates like freshman Ald. Nicole Lee (11th) say a new open-enrollment high school for the area is long overdue as families have been dealing with a “high school desert” for decades.

Of the three public high schools between Bronzeville and the South Loop — Jones College Prep (a selective enrollment school), Dunbar Vocational, and Wendell Phillips Academy — the latter two serve a high percentage of low-income students and rank in the bottom half of schools statewide based on standardized testing and graduation rates.

A map of where the proposed Near South Side high school would be built, which is adjacent to the Southbridge mixed-use development where 244 units would be set aside for public housing residents.

The $150 million school would be built on the former site of Chicago Housing Authority’s Harold Ickes Homes and serve 1,200 students living in parts of Chinatown, Amour Square, Bridgeport, Bronzeville, and the South Loop. Thirty percent of enrollees would be Black, the bulk of which would come from families residing in the Southbridge mixed-income development where 244 affordable units are in the process of being built.

The city council approved the use of $8 million in tax increment financing in December, several months after CPS entered a land lease agreement with CHA in July 2022. Under the agreement, the housing agency will lease 1.7 acres of the former public housing site near 24th and State Streets to the district for 99 years, reverting to CHA’s control in the event the school isn’t built.

Lugenia Burns Hope Center Executive Director Roderick Wilson told Block Club in a recent interview that the coalition will keep fighting. They’d rather see the money reinvested in existing schools.

“Neither CPS or CHA did any real community engagement to find out what the community wanted. If they were actually listening, they wouldn’t be pushing this,” said Wilson.

This story was originally published by Block Club Chicago.

Chicago officials to move 250 migrants into vacant Wadsworth school in Woodlawn this month

2023-01-13T20:06:06+00:00

After months of back-and-forth, city officials now say they will move 250 migrants into a former Woodlawn school building at the end of January, with more expected over the next two years.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration has for months planned to house migrants — mostly asylum seekers, according to city officials — at the vacant former home of Wadsworth Elementary School.

Several hundred neighbors were presented Thursday with the city’s latest plan for Wadsworth during a public meeting at Apostolic Church of God.

The city now intends use Wadsworth as a shelter for up to two years. Up to 250 single men and women will move in starting the week of Jan. 23, with more migrants housed at the campus in the coming months. Officials have not yet determined the maximum number of people to be sheltered there.

The city must use Wadsworth to house migrants as the shelter system struggles to keep up with new arrivals every day, said Brandie Knazze, commissioner of the Department of Family and Support Services.

About 5,150 migrants have arrived in Chicago since Aug. 31, when Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, began busing them to Democrat-led cities to protest federal immigration policies.

Texas and Colorado — the latter of which is led by a Democratic governor — have since sent more than 100 buses to Chicago, along with 1,500 migrants who arrived in the city separately, Knazze said.

News of the Wadsworth shelter plans was first reported in the fall. The details have changed numerous times since Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th) said in October she was briefed on housing hundreds of migrants at the former school.

Even as the city spent about $1.6 million and at least 400 work hours preparing the building for use as a shelter, Lightfoot spokesperson Ryan Johnson denied at the time Wadsworth would become a shelter.

Officials changed their tune at a late December community meeting and announced they would move 150 migrants into Wadsworth starting Jan. 6. The about-face “blindsided” Taylor, she said. She also criticized the city’s move to hold the meeting when many people were out for the holidays.

City leaders delayed the move-in date last week to convene community meetings and develop a safety plan for the Wadsworth campus after pushback from neighbors.

As city staffers discussed timeframes, public safety, site security, and other issues this week, Woodlawn residents overwhelmingly blasted the city for sharing details only once it was a “done deal” that Wadsworth would become a shelter.

The east side of the former Wadsworth Elementary School building.

About 50 neighbors variously described Thursday’s public input session following an outline of the city’s latest plans as a “slap in the face,” “ingenuine,” “condescending,” and “last-minute.”

A 26-day turnaround from initial notice to a move-in date is “extremely short,” considering the shelter could be active for two years, resident Stephanie Crockett-McLean said.

Crockett-McLean and other residents also took issue with the city’s renovations for its shelter plans after letting the property sit idle for years. The building on Oct. 14 underwent its first city inspection since 2017, the year the University of Chicago’s charter school moved out.

Officials shared more details about the Wadsworth plan at Thursday’s meeting than they had previously, which was positive, Apostolic Church pastor Byron Brazier said.

But overall, “the city has not listened to us as [it] should,” and Woodlawn residents must be the ones leading policy decisions in the neighborhood, Brazier said.

The Wadsworth shelter “is temporary, and we need to make sure it’s temporary,” Brazier said. “… We as a community will be planning for our community.”

Knazze apologized to attendees for the city’s handling of the shelter rollout.

“I know we didn’t get the ask right the first time we came before you, and for that, I am truly sorry and I apologize,” she said. “That oversight was a huge mistake, and it caused a lot of confusion, and I’m sorry.”

Moving forward, city officials will provide updates on the Wadsworth shelter to Taylor’s office every two weeks; hold monthly community meetings for the next three months, then hold meetings every other month; and invite two Woodlawn residents to sit on a citywide advisory council around the migrants’ arrival, Knazze said.

Representatives from Taylor’s office, police and state officials met privately Monday to discuss a safety strategy for the shelter, which was also announced Thursday.

The site will receive “special attention” from police, 3rd District Cmdr. Roderick Watson said Thursday. Officers will visit the site on each watch and employ community policing strategies to address any ongoing issues and trends, Watson said.

Security contractors will also be onsite around the clock, with officers stationed at every door, Knazze said.

The migrants, who are checked against national security and criminal databases upon arriving at the border, will have an 11 p.m. curfew and will be required to sign in and out of the building, officials said.

Parks and walking paths on the campus will remain open to the public, and police surveillance cameras will be installed near the school, Knazze said. The safety plan is “fluid” and can be adjusted as needed, Watson said.

A CTA bus shuttle reads “Chicago Is My Kind of Town” as migrants disembark a bus at Union Station after a 25-hour-long ride from Texas on Sept. 9, 2022.

Amid the chaos caused by the governors’ decisions to bus migrants to Chicago, residents have expressed pushback — and sometimes, explicit xenophobia — around housing the overwhelmingly Latino migrants in their communities.

At a protest in Woodlawn, one resident said, “there’s plenty of room in Little Village for their people,” according to the Tribune.

Taylor bashed city officials for throwing “a grenade into our community” with the Wadsworth shelter plans, but she urged Woodlawn residents not to view the migrants as their opponents.

“This is not about [migrants] versus us. It is not, because at the end of the day, the system has mistreated all of us,” Taylor said. “This is about making sure that this situation that was pushed upon us is safe for everybody.”

The city is not taking away funds from services for people experiencing homelessness to pay for its effort to shelter migrants, officials said.

Woodlawn residents have called for Mayor Lori Lightfoot to attend community meetings about the Wadsworth shelter. The mayor did not attend Thursday.

At a news conference earlier that day — hours before her family and support services commissioner apologized — Lightfoot defended her administration’s community outreach around the Wadsworth plans.

“We are engaged. I personally have talked multiple times with the alderman, I’ve talked with Dr. Brazier,” Lightfoot said. “Our team has been engaging with other stakeholders there for a couple of weeks now, since we made the decision that was necessary for us to open up Wadsworth school.”

“I would not say that there’s any lack of transparency — quite the opposite,” she said.

This story was originally published by Block Club Chicago.

Chicago Public Schools watchdog to investigate Lightfoot campaign’s bid for student volunteers

2023-01-13T15:55:30+00:00

One day after defending the practice, Mayor Lori Lightfoot said Thursday it was a “mistake” for her campaign to email educators at Chicago Public Schools and City Colleges of Chicago looking for student volunteers to help in her reelection bid.

The school district’s inspector general has opened an investigation, and the city’s Board of Ethics will look into whether the outreach violated the city’s ethics policy. Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union’s Illinois chapter called the emails “inappropriately coercive.”

The Jan. 10 email from a deputy campaign manager to Chicago Public Schools educators implied that students who volunteered for Lightfoot’s reelection effort would get school credit. After the outreach was first reported by WTTW, Lightfoot drew criticism from her challengers in next month’s election and from others.

After initially saying Wednesday that the request for student volunteers was “common practice,” the Lightfoot campaign said it would alert staff that “a solid wall must exist between campaign and official activities.”

“There was zero, zero, zero coordination, coercion, or anything else between the campaign and CPS on this issue,” Lightfoot said at a press conference Thursday.

Lightfoot, who was elected in 2019 promising transparency and a more accountable government, said a staffer made an “honest mistake” in sending the emails.

But City Colleges of Chicago said it raised the ethics concerns with the Lightfoot campaign after receiving similar emails in August and consulting its ethics department.

“Following the Department’s guidance, City Colleges notified the campaign of CCC’s ethics policy and purged the emails from CCC accounts,” according to City Colleges.

City Colleges said it was not aware of any subsequent campaign emails, but was looking into the matter.

During Thursday’s press conference, the mayor said she met with the staffer and explained the severity of the situation but declined to fire the staffer, calling the incident a teachable moment.

“There was absolutely no nefarious intent on the part of the staff person,” Lightfoot said.

The mayor said she apologized to Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez and Chicago Board of Education President Miguel Del Valle.

A copy of the Jan. 10 email to Chicago Public Schools employees was shared with Chalkbeat by the Chicago Teachers Union.

It’s unclear how many emails to Chicago Public Schools teachers and City Colleges of Chicago were sent out, but Lightfoot said her campaign was taking an accounting and would cooperate with investigations.

The district’s Office of the Inspector General said in a statement that it has opened an investigation into the emails “to determine which, if any, policies have been violated.”

The district’s ethical guidelines for political activity state that political campaigns should not use the Chicago Public Schools’ email system to solicit donations or volunteers.

Meanwhile, Steven Berlin, the executive director of the city’s Board of Ethics, said the matter will be on the agenda for the board’s next meeting on Jan. 23, which will be live-streamed via Zoom.

The city’s Office of Inspector General also said it’s tracking the issue, in consultation with the district.

Nora Flanagan, an English teacher at Northside College Prep, said she found out about the email from colleagues. So far she’s heard from about eight or nine teachers or staff in the building who received the email.

“In 25 years, I have never seen anything like this,” Flanagan said. “I’ve never seen this happen from any elected official, at any level.”

Teachers who received the email are scared to talk to the press for fear of retaliation, she said. Her colleagues called the emails “wildly unethical, probably illegal,” she said.

District employee email addresses are public information, and often listed on school websites, the district noted. Email addresses can also be obtained through a public records request, though there is no record of such a request from any political campaigns, the district said.

The Chicago Election Board had not received any complaints as of late Thursday morning, said spokesperson Max Bever. The election board isn’t authorized to investigate or penalize candidates over city ethics rules, Bever said.

Colleen K. Connell of the ACLU of Illinois said in a statement that the Lightfoot campaign’s email outreach to teachers was “inappropriately coercive and raises First Amendment concerns.” She noted the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that elected officials cannot use their office to pressure public employees to participate in political campaigns.

“Because the Mayor has the ultimate authority over the Chicago schools, teachers may feel coercion in this ask from the Mayor’s campaign or fear negative consequences for lack of participation,” Connell said.

She urged the mayor to make clear that no one in the city should feel compelled to participate in her campaign.

The student advocacy group Good Kids Mad City, a frequent critic of the mayor, also bashed her campaign’s move. Arseny Acosta, one of the group’s leaders, said it’s “morally wrong” to solicit students to volunteer by dangling a chance to earn credits.

“At the end of the day, this free labor would only benefit Lightfoot,” she said.

In New York City in 2021, then-mayoral candidate Eric Adams drew criticism from parents and others after his campaign reached out to educators with its own request to offer students who volunteered on the campaign school credit, according to reporting in the New York Post.

This story was updated to include a comment from Good Kids Mad City.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org. Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

Lightfoot campaign facing scrutiny for emailing teachers to recruit student volunteers

2023-01-12T15:05:03+00:00

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s campaign asked public school teachers to recruit student volunteers to “help Mayor Lightfoot win this spring,” a possible violation of the district’s code of ethics.

According to the Chicago Teachers Union, a Lightfoot campaign staffer sent an email to teachers on their work emails ending in cps.edu asking them tell students the campaign is “looking for enthusiastic, curious and hard-working young people” to volunteer 12 hours per week and said students would be “eligible to earn class credit.”

It’s not clear how many teachers received the email.

Guidance on political activity issued by the school district last April said campaigns “should not be using the CPS email system to solicit volunteers and donations” and asked staff to report that behavior to the school board’s ethics adviser.

In a statement, Chicago Public Schools spokeswoman Mary Fergus said the district “does not coordinate with any political candidates or campaigns. It has not done so to date and will not be doing so.”

A Lightfoot campaign spokesperson initially issued a statement characterizing its efforts to involve young people as a “common practice that has been utilized in city, state, and federal level campaigns for decades.”

Later, the campaign issued another statement saying its staff has been alerted that a “solid wall must exist between campaign and official activities.” The statement said contacting “city of Chicago, or other sister agency employees, including CPS employees, even through publicly available sources is off limits. Period.”

Lightfoot’s challengers swiftly condemned the move shortly after Chicago’s local public television station WTTW first reported the news.

Alderman Sophia King, who represents the 4th Ward on the South side, called it “pay to play except with unsuspecting and vulnerable victims.”

“As a teacher, I’d give her an F,” King, who previously taught at Latin School of Chicago, wrote on Twitter. “Actually she’d be expelled.”

State Rep. Kam Buckner, D-Chicago, and former CPS CEO Paul Vallas demanded investigations by the City’s Inspector General, the Board of Elections, and Chicago Public Schools’ Inspector General.

“The manipulation of teachers and children is unspeakable,” Vallas wrote in an email. “Mayor Lightfoot should be ashamed of herself for allowing her campaign to violate her own ethics policy by contacting city government employees on their official email accounts for political purposes.”

Alderman Roderick Sawyer, of the 6th Ward on the South side, said it was a “hypocritical contradiction” to her campaign promise of better government.

“I don’t know what kind of lesson Lightfoot believes she is teaching, but the extra credit must be in government corruption,” he said in a statement.

Congressman Jesus “Chuy” Garcia and Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson both said on Twitter the mayor should be more focused on fully funding schools, not recruiting from them.

Ja’Mal Green, the youngest candidate in the race, tweeted: “Young people aren’t going to vote for you with class credits, gas cards, or anything else.”

Some non-profit organizations in Chicago, including Mikva Challenge, encourage students to get involved in politics and work closely with high school teachers. In Chicago, high school students work the polls on election day, as well. But there are rules for elected officials to keep their political activities and government duties separate.

Over the summer, the Chicago Board of Education voted against a district recommendation to fire two teachers at Washington High School on the city’s Southeast side for offering students incentives to protest General Iron’s plan to move its metal scrapping operations to their neighborhood.

The current head of Chicago Principals and Administrators Association, Troy LaRaviere, also came under scrutiny in 2016 for possibly violating district policy on political activity in 2016 when he appeared in a campaign ad for Sen. Bernie Sanders during his presidential bid.

In 2015, a high school teacher running for 33rd Ward alderman was also reprimanded for offering students credit for volunteering on his campaign or others.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Nine people are running for Chicago mayor. Here’s a look at their education records.

2023-01-11T22:15:09+00:00

Get the latest news on education and Chicago Public Schools in our free newsletter, delivered to your inbox every weekday.

A drop in test scores. Declining enrollment. The COVID pandemic’s impact on student mental health. The transition to a 21-member elected school board.

These are just a handful of the challenges facing Chicago’s next mayor.

Nine people, including incumbent Mayor Lori Lightfoot, are running to lead the city for the next four years. All have some tie to Chicago Public Schools. Chalkbeat Chicago took a look at each mayoral hopeful’s track record on education.

We also surveyed readers and created a list of 10 important education questions for the Chicago mayoral candidates. Read through their answers and remember to cast your ballot on or before Feb. 28.

Here’s more information about each candidate and their records on education:

Kam Buckner

Illinois State Rep. Kam Buckner (D-Chicago) represents a district that extends from Chicago’s Gold Coast to the South Shore. He cosponsored legislation to set a minimum salary for teachers, limit police in arresting or questioning students at school, and create an elected school board in Chicago.

Buckner jumped into the mayor’s race last May and unveiled a sweeping education platform last fall outside a vacant elementary school in Garfield Park.

Standing alongside former school board member Dwayne Truss, Buckner promised to expand universal preschool to 3-year-olds; hire at least one nurse, one librarian, and one social worker per school, and do an external audit of CPS special education practices to improve services.

Buckner, the son of a school teacher and a police officer, also said he would recruit teachers from Chicago neighborhoods.

Before being elected to the Illinois legislature, Buckner sat on the board of trustees for Chicago State University and led World Sport Chicago, a nonprofit aimed at bringing Olympic sports to underserved youth in Chicago. According to WBEZ, he later oversaw the dissolution of the program in 2018.

Jesús “Chuy” García

U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García, a Democrat who represents Illinois’ 4th congressional district, is well known in Chicago politics and education. He’s served as alderman, Cook County commissioner, and Illinois state senator.

In announcing his bid for mayor last November, Garcia said it was time for the city to “double down” on education.

“Your ZIP code, race, and socioeconomic status should not determine your future,” he said.

Garcia also promised to support teachers, saying, “It’s time that we treat them with dignity and respect — and the value they have earned and deserve.”

Garcia forced former Mayor Rahm Emanuel into a runoff election in 2015 after being nudged into the race by the late Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis. This time, the teachers union has endorsed one of their own members, Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, instead.

But Garcia has a long history advocating for public schools. As a community organizer in Little Village, Garcia helped lead a 19-day hunger strike in 2001 to get a new high school built. Fellow mayoral hopeful Paul Vallas was the school district’s CEO at the time. The campus, Little Village Lawndale High School, opened in 2005 and has four schools: Infinity STEM, World Language, Social Justice, and Multicultural Arts.

Ja’Mal Green

After dropping out of the mayoral race in 2019, activist Ja’Mal Green will be listed at the top of the ballot in 2023. He also is the youngest candidate at age 27.

In a campaign video, Green champions universal preschool for 3-year-olds — a promise also outlined in a sweeping $5 billion public safety plan he released last week. That plan also calls for creating 10,000 apprenticeships for Chicagoans ages 13 to 25.

“I’m a father who loves Chicago and I want a better future for my kids and yours,” Green says in the video. He also opens up about being kicked out of nine schools that he said didn’t have the resources to meet his needs while growing up on the city’s South and West sides.

Green rose to prominence as an activist with the Black Lives Matter movement, protesting throughout Chicago after a video recording showed police officer Jason Van Dyke fatally shooting 17-year-old Laquan McDonald 16 times. In 2016, Green faced felony charges after being accused of hitting a police officer during a protest at Taste of Chicago.

Brandon Johnson

Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson entered the mayoral race last fall with endorsements from the Chicago Teachers Union and other independent political organizations.

During a kickoff rally, Johnson recalled his time as a teacher at Jenner Academy and Westinghouse College Prep, detailing conversations with students displaced by the demolition of Cabrini Green high-rises.

“I experienced the painful impact of disinvestment on my students and their families,” Johnson said. “And this personal experience seeing children endure inequity fuels my commitment to building a stronger, safer, and more equitable Chicago.”

Johnson said in October the pathway to revitalizing the city is fully funding neighborhood schools, providing students health care services, and ensuring they have affordable housing.

He promises to expand “Sustainable Community Schools” from prekindergarten to city colleges, while also providing academic, health and social support beyond the school day, according to his campaign website.

Sophia King

Ald. Sophia King, 4th Ward, represents many of the same south lakefront neighborhoods as Buckner does on Chicago’s City Council. King was appointed to the seat in 2016 by then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel and went on to win reelection in 2019.

As vice chair of the Committee on Education and Child Development, she recently pushed to have Chicago Public Schools officials appear before aldermen on a quarterly basis or risk losing city money that supports school construction projects. The measure failed on a split vote and came after Lightfoot declined to promote her to chair of the committee.

Before entering politics, King helped found Ariel Community Academy, a public school created in 1996 under then-Mayor Richard M. Daley in partnership with Ariel Investments. According to her campaign, she taught at Latin School of Chicago in Lincoln Park. King has a master’s degree in education and social policy from Northwestern University.

King has not yet released an education plan, but has outlined a public safety strategy on her campaign website that promises to invest more in schools in communities experiencing the most gun violence and vows to “enlist both public and private sector employers to hire more high school students, disconnected youth, young adults, and formerly incarcerated citizens.”

Lori Lightfoot

Current Mayor Lori Lightfoot in 2019 unveiled a 15-point education plan to transform Chicago Public Schools. It outlined her support for an elected school board; a nurse, social worker, and librarian at every school; and early childhood education zones to promote equity at public schools.

But in October 2019, just months into her tenure, union contract negotiations stalled and the Chicago Teachers Union led an 11-day strike. The two sides got stuck on teacher prep time and sick days, and also on the union’s push to discuss broader topics like affordable housing and an elected school board versus Lightfoot’s desire to focus on pay and benefits.

After backing an elected school board on the campaign trail, Lightfoot pushed for a hybrid board, allowing for the mayor to continue to appoint some seats. Ultimately, the state legislature passed a bill allowing for a 21-member, fully elected school board. The mayor had raised concerns about the size of the board, representation for undocumented families, and campaign financing.

Lightfoot finished the rollout of universal 4-year-old preschool promised by her predecessor and on her campaign website touts a continued rise in graduation rates during her first term.

Last summer, Lightfoot unveiled a comprehensive blueprint for Chicago that included hubs for Lifelong Learning. It proposed an Office of Learning, which would transform shuttered school buildings into learning hubs in every neighborhood.

The plan aims to increase education resources and coordinate existing programs across Chicago Public Schools, City Colleges of Chicago, Chicago Public Library, and other education-focused agencies and organizations.

Roderick Sawyer

Ald. Roderick Sawyer, 6th Ward, has served for over a decade, after being elected in 2011 to represent South Side neighborhoods, including Chatham, Greater Grand Crossing, and Auburn Gresham.

His campaign website does not outline a plan for the city’s public school system. On the City Council, Sawyer sponsored a proposal in 2020 to remove Chicago police from public schools, but it was thwarted by one of Mayor Lightfoot’s allies and did not pass.

Sawyer’s father, Eugene, became mayor in 1987 after the sudden death of the city’s first Black mayor Harold Washington. Growing up, Sawyer attended private school, first at Howalton Day School, a now-shuttered unique school founded during the Black Renaissance. He graduated from St. Ignatius College Prep and DePaul University and is a licensed attorney.

According to his aldermanic website, Sawyer served on the local school council at McDade Classical School, a public selective enrollment school. He also co-chairs a fundraiser to provide “financial assistance for disadvantaged African-Americans who attend his high school alma mater.”

Paul Vallas

Paul Vallas is a familiar name to Chicagoans — particularly those in education. Vallas ran Chicago Public Schools from 1995 to 2001, taking the helm after the state legislature gave control of the school system to then-Mayor Richard M. Daley. Vallas oversaw the system during an era characterized by more stringent academic accountability for students and schools and more stability with the teachers union, which had gone on strike repeatedly in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Though he finished ninth in the crowded 2019 mayoral race, Vallas is running once again with a promise to make Chicago safer and expand school choice. As CPS CEO, he oversaw the early growth of charter schools and advocated for turning around so-called failing schools.

Vallas’ political ambitions led to him stepping down from Chicago Public Schools to run for Illinois governor in 2002. After an unsuccessful bid, he was appointed as CEO of the School District of Philadelphia, where he implemented a standardized curriculum, created small high schools, sold district headquarters and updated aging buildings. After four years, he headed to New Orleans to lead the city’s new Recovery School District in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. His last job as a schools chief in Bridgeport, Connecticut ended in controversy amid a court battle over whether he had the credentials needed to serve as a superintendent in Connecticut.

He returned to Illinois and ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor alongside Pat Quinn in 2014. In 2017, then-Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner appointed Vallas to turn around Chicago State University, but the institution cut its contract with Vallas after he confirmed plans to run for mayor in 2019.

Willie Wilson

Willie Wilson, a high-profile businessman, launched his campaign for mayor last spring. His campaign focuses on rebuilding from the pandemic through “educational grants, trade and business recovery,” according to his campaign website.

Wilson told the Chicago Crusader last fall that, if elected mayor, he wants to work with state legislators to bring back vocational education to high schools, churches, and Illinois prisons. He also wants to “establish a trade school at CTA bus terminals,” according to the publication. Current Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez has talked about revamping the district’s career and technical education programs in coming years.

When running for mayor in 2019, Wilson promised to reopen all 50 Chicago Public Schools closed by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel. In an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, he called the mass closings a “racist move.”

“If I had closed 50 schools in the white community, they would have hung me on State and Madison upside down,” Wilson said at the time. He also ran unsuccessfully for Chicago mayor in 2015, for the presidency in 2016, and U.S. Senate in 2020.

This story has been updated to clarify why Vallas left his position as Superintendent of Bridgeport Public Schools.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

New high school gets more money from Chicago City Council as cost estimate climbs

2022-12-14T23:02:01+00:00

A controversial new high school is another step closer to reality after Chicago’s City Council approved $8 million in city funds for the $150 million project.

Five progressive aldermen voted against the measure on Wednesday.

The new high school on the Near South Side has faced opposition from school board members, elected officials, nearby residents, and community members who question the need for another high school as the district continues to hemorrhage students year over year.

Some have argued a new campus would exacerbate under-enrollment at nearby schools. Others have criticized the district’s community engagement efforts and the location of the site — which has long been intended for public housing.

The latest vote allocates $8 million in tax-increment finance — or TIF — money to Chicago Public Schools for the purchase of a cluster of properties near 2450 S. State St., a site previously set aside for affordable housing. The estimated cost has also climbed to $150 million, up from $120 million when the proposal was initially unveiled in spring.

City Council often dedicates tax-increment finance funds to public schools and public parks to supplement the school district’s tight capital budget. So far this year, aldermen have approved $175 million in TIF money for Chicago Public Schools.

During Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Ald. Pat Dowell, who represents the area that would include the high school, said the school would serve students who live in the South Loop, Chinatown, Douglas, and Bridgeport and would offer a diverse learning experience for those students. Those neighborhoods are a mix of Black, Asian, Latino, and white, census data show.

“I think that all children should be educated in that kind of environment where they can learn about different cultures, understand different perspectives and history,” Dowell said. “It bodes well for how you grow up and become an adult.”

Dowell acknowledged the concerns from some aldermen that the new high school would exacerbate low enrollment at existing nearby high schools, but said building a new school is “the right thing to do.”

“Come hell or high water, we’re going to see it to the end,” she said.

During a press conference after Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Mayor Lori Lightfoot argued that the school was supported by residents of Chinatown, South Loop, and Near South Side. Lightfoot cited the growing South Loop population and 90-minute commutes for Chinatown children.

Asked about the increase in cost, she acknowledged construction cost had gone up but said she was committed to getting a new high school to the finish line, citing the growth in elementary-age students in the South Loop.

“I’m confident that the resources will be there to make this high school a reality,” Lightfoot said.

Alds. Matt Martin, Rossana Rodriguez, Jeanette Taylor, Andrew Vasquez, and Byron Sigcho Lopez voted against the approval.

The district unveiled the proposed high school as part of the broader capital budget last spring. Officials budgeted $70 million for the project and said the state would kick in $50 million for the new campus.

The Chicago Board of Education in September narrowly approved the purchase of nearly two acres as part of a land swap agreement with the Chicago Housing Authority for the proposed site. It also approved a separate measure to spend an additional $5 million to plan the new high school.

The Board of Education will still need to approve funding for the construction of the high school. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will also need to approve the land swap agreement.

Board members who voted no this fall said the new high school would disrupt enrollment at nearby schools and further constrain funding to operate another school.

The plan to build the high school on the former Harold Ickes Homes angered some residents and housing advocates. The CHA promised housing for residents displaced after the public housing high-rise was torn down more than a decade ago.

During the September school board meeting, state Rep. Theresa Mah (D-Chicago), who secured state funding for a new high school, promised to withhold state funds until she was assured the district was having authentic community engagement and considering other sites.

Earlier this week, Chuck Swirsky, senior advisor to CPS’ chief executive officer, told the City Council’s Committee on Finance that the district would be aggressive in its efforts to secure the state grants for the high school.

Ald. David Moore, who voted against the proposal during Monday’s Committee on Finance meeting but in favor of it on Wednesday, reiterated concerns about under enrollment at nearby high schools. He also questioned CHA’s commitment to bring affordable housing back to the area. Since Monday’s meeting, he said he had received letters of support from two groups of residents in the area that swayed him to change his mind.

The residents support the new Near South high school, “so long as the remaining CHA Public Housing Units are built on the footprints of Harold Ickes Southbridge on site — not up the street, down the street, or around the corner,” Moore said during Wednesday’s City Council hearing.

Ald. Nicole Lee, who represents Chinatown, offered her support ahead of the vote, saying it was “a long time coming” for students in the area, many of whom leave the neighborhood for high school.

“Students today who are in the area by this neighborhood open enrollment high school, travel sometimes up to 90 minutes in each direction, costing them really valuable time to be involved with extracurricular activities to do homework,” Lee said at Wednesday’s meeting.

Ald. Walter Burnett offered his support during the city council meeting Wednesday for the high school, saying it would help bring revitalization to the area. “A new school is an economic development engine in a community,” Burnett said.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago aldermen give OK to $8 million in TIF funding to buy land for a Near South high school

2022-12-12T22:54:33+00:00

The cost of building a controversial new high school continues to climb – as a committee of aldermen voted to allocate $8 million in city funds Monday.

Members of the City Council’s Committee on Finance approved a proposal to dedicate tax-increment finance – or TIF – money to allow Chicago Public Schools’ purchase of a cluster of properties near 2450 S. State St. The site was previously set aside for affordable housing and will now be used to build a $150 million high school. Previous estimates listed the project’s total cost around $130 million.

The decision is the latest in an ongoing process to build the controversial high school at a time when Chicago Public Schools is grappling with declining enrollment. The project has prompted concerns about whether a new school is needed, with some arguing a new campus would exacerbate under-enrollment. Others have criticized the district’s community engagement efforts, and the location of the site — which has long been intended for public housing.

During the committee hearing, Ald. Pat Dowell, who represents the area that would include the high school, said the school has been in the works since 2007. The high school is an “opportunity to create a diverse high school — a model for the city of Chicago,” she said.

“What we have seen is a growing population, not just in the South Loop, but in Chinatown and Douglas,” Dowell said.

Ald. David Moore was the lone vote against the proposal. He raised concerns about how a new high school might impact nearby high schools, such as Dunbar Vocational Career Academy and Phillips Academy High School, which are under-enrolled.

“I’m very, very concerned about that,” Moore said. ”I think we have an opportunity here to elevate places like Dunbar and Phillips.”

The district unveiled the proposed high school as part of the broader capital budget last spring. Officials budgeted $70 million for the project, and noted the state would kick in $50 million for the new campus.

The board will still need to approve funding for the construction of the high school. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will also need to approve the land swap agreement.

Board members who voted no this fall said the new high school would disrupt enrollment at nearby schools and further constrain funding to operate another school.

The plan to build on the former Harold Ickes Homes angered some residents and housing advocates. The CHA promised housing for residents displaced after the public housing high-rise was torn down more than a decade ago.

During the September board meeting, state Rep. Theresa Mah (D-Chicago), who secured state funding for a new high school, promised to withhold state funds until she was assured the district was having authentic community engagement and considering other sites.

Asked whether they would be getting state funding, Chuck Swirsky, senior advisor to CPS’ chief executive officer, said they would be aggressive in their efforts to secure the grants. Deputy Mayor Samir Mayekar, Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez, and others have lobbied to garner Mah’s support, but Swirksy acknowledged that Mah was opposed to the proposed location.

Ald. Nicole Lee, who represents Chinatown, offered her support for the high school, saying it was an ideal location for her constituents and would bring much needed revitalization to the area.

On Monday, Ivan Hansen, chief facilities officer at Chicago Public Schools, said the new high school would solve a “critical need to provide the growing region of the city with a viable new neighborhood option.” He said the district has had over “30 engagement sessions” and had heard from more than 750 parents, community members, and school leaders.

In trying to allay some concerns, Swirksy said, in addition to the new high school, the district pledged to make investments to Dunbar, Phillips and Thomas Kelly High School, a school on Chicago’s Southwest Side.

No additional details on what the investments might look like were provided to aldermen before the vote.

Ald. Dowell said she would not rest until she got the new school across the finish line.

“We’re gonna figure out how to make this work with or without Theresa Mah,” Dowell added.

The tax-increment finance measure will move before the full City Council on Wednesday.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

U.S. Rep. Jesus ‘Chuy’ Garcia announces second run for Chicago mayor

2022-11-10T15:48:10+00:00

U.S. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia is officially joining the crowded race to unseat Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Garcia, a Democrat who represents Illinois’ 4th district, is a well-known name in Chicago politics and won reelection to a third term in Congress on Tuesday.

Before heading to Congress in 2019, he forced former Mayor Rahm Emanuel into a runoff election in 2015 with the backing of the Chicago Teachers Union.

This time Garcia will not have the support of the Chicago Teachers Union, which has already endorsed Cook County Commissioner and teachers union organizer Brandon Johnson.

In a video posted on YouTube, Garcia formally announced his second bid for mayor after months of speculation, saying he wanted to lead the city during a critical juncture and unite all Chicagoans.

“Now is the time to revitalize our communities, strengthen our schools, and bring safety back to our streets,” Garcia said in the video.

Garcia joins nearly a dozen candidates challenging Lightfoot, who is seeking a second term. He previously endorsed Lightfoot in 2019. Three aldermen and former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas are also among the candidates.

If he succeeds in the mayoral race, a special election would be held to elect a replacement for his congressional seat.

Flanked by supporters at Offshore Rooftop at Navy Pier on Thursday, Garcia said it was time for the city to “double down” on education. “Your ZIP code, race, and socioeconomic status should not determine your future,” Garcia said.

Garcia also promised to support teachers, saying “It’s time that we treat them with dignity and respect—and the value they have earned and deserve.”

In Congress, Garcia serves on the House Financial Services Committee, House Committee of Transportation and Infrastructure, and House Committee of Natural Resources.

Garcia and his family immigrated in 1965 from Mexico to Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood on the Southwest Side. As a student at the University of Illinois at Chicago, Garcia advocated for workers rights, according to his congressional website.

He was one of the first two Latinos elected to City Council in 1986 during a special election following a court-ordered redistricting to reflect the city’s increasing Latino population. Garcia was an ally of then-Mayor Harold Washington and his election came amid the so-called “Council Wars” — when 29 white aldermen frequently stymied Washington, the city’s first Black mayor.

Garcia served as 22nd Ward Alderman for seven years.

As a community organizer in Little Village, he helped lead a 19-day hunger strike in 2001 to get a new high school built in the community. Vallas was CPS CEO at the time. The campus — Little Village Lawndale High School — opened in 2005 and has four schools: Infinity STEM, World Language, Social Justice, and Multicultural Arts.

Garcia has also served as a Cook County commissioner and an Illinois state senator.

As of mid-October, Garcia had $180,000 in his congressional campaign fund. His mayoral campaign fund is currently empty.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

Push to get Chicago Public Schools officials to appear regularly at City Council fails

2022-11-09T19:10:00+00:00

Some Chicago aldermen want school district officials to meet with City Council quarterly, but a proposal to make that happen failed to pass Wednesday.

Under the ordinance, the measure would have temporarily withheld city money for certain school projects if Chicago Public Schools officials didn’t show up. That turned out to be a deal breaker for many aldermen on the committee, which held a virtual meeting Wednesday.

The vote was tied — and therefore, failed — with seven voting in favor and seven voting against.

“I currently have three projects in the hopper and I don’t want to get in the way of my own best interest,” said Ald. Susan Sadlowski Garza, a former school counselor and Chicago Teachers Union member. She said quarterly meetings are “not a huge ask.”

Ald. Sophia King, who is running for mayor, put forward the ordinance during a committee meeting after being frustrated with the district’s lack of response to her budget questions.

“The threats of resources being withheld could very easily be waylaid, if CPS would just show up,” King said, noting that she reached out to district chief Pedro Martinez “quietly and subtly” to try to get questions answered about the school district’s budget “to no avail.”

Chuck Swirsky, senior advisor to Martinez, called it a “harmful ordinance” that would jeopardize school construction and infrastructure projects.

“You have our numbers, and we answer each time you call and I mean no matter what time of day it is,” Swirsky said. “We wholeheartedly value the genuine relationships and partnerships that we have fostered with City Council members.”

But Chicago Public Schools officials rarely appear before aldermen in public meetings. The Committee on Education and Child Development also rarely meets, despite attempts by council members to call meetings.

It was the first time King led a meeting as the vice chair of the Committee on Education and Child Development, which has been without a leader since June when Ald. Michael Scott Jr. resigned to take a job in the private sector. Mayor Lori Lightfoot has since appointed Scott to the school board and attempted to appoint an ally and bypass King.

The discussion comes after a report, prepared by the district with help from a consulting firm, released last week outlined the costs the city could shift to the school district once it transitions to an elected school board. It outlines hypothetical cost shifts on everything from school construction funding to water bills to summer programs.

The city already started shifting costs to Chicago Public Schools in 2020 when it started requiring the school district to pay into a city pension fund that covers some school employees.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago Public Schools may take on more costs as it breaks away from mayoral control, report says

2022-11-04T18:06:13+00:00

Chicagoans will get to elect their school board members starting in 2024. But a report out this week suggests that may come with a cost.

The report, prepared by the district with help from a consulting firm, lists expenses currently picked up by other city agencies that Chicago Public Schools might have to take on as it transitions to an elected school board for the first time in the city’s history. These include water bills, rent, summer programs, and increased pension contributions, among other costs — possibly adding up to tens of millions of dollars a year.

That financial fallout might be relatively modest for a district with a $9.5 billion budget. But, the report says, it could add uncertainty to an already “fragile” financial outlook for the district.

The city does not have to cut off the school district as it shifts away from mayoral control. Some current school board members and the Chicago Teachers Union have criticized the city for already passing on some costs it has traditionally shouldered.

For example, in the past few years, CPS started paying for police officers stationed in schools, crossing guards, and a larger share of contribution toward a city-run pension fund that covers some district employees — all costs previously footed by the city. This year, the total price tag of these new expenses for the district add up to about $200 million.

The school district has had stable budgets in recent years, but after a major influx of federal COVID relief dollars runs out, the report estimates, the district could be $628 million in the red by 2026.

“CPS could find itself in a similar position by the end of this decade as it did in the middle of the last decade: having to rely upon one-time budget gimmicks and draws on fund balance to avoid significant cuts in educational services,” the report cautions.

The upcoming shift away from mayoral control would bring Chicago Public Schools more in line with other school districts, where district and city finances are completely separate.

In July 2021, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill that will phase in an elected school board with 21 members for Chicago Public Schools by 2027. In November 2024, Chicago residents will elect 10 members while the mayor will continue to appoint 11 members. In 2026, Chicagoans will be able to elect the remaining 10 seats and the president of the board.

Pritzker signed another piece of legislation in December 2021 that required the Chicago Board of Education to commission an independent financial review report assessing the district’s funding and detailing the financial agreements between the city of Chicago and Chicago Public Schools. That law specified that the report had to be sent to the Governor’s office, the Illinois board of education, Chicago board of education, the General Assembly, and the mayor’s office no later than Oct. 31, 2022.

Report tallies some hypothetical costs

The district’s ties with the city run deep after more than 30 years of mayoral control. The new report acknowledges that it likely doesn’t offer a complete list of the two entities’ financial ties.

One possible cost shift noted in the report is the city charging the school district to use water. It outlines that the city could technically start charging the school district roughly $12 million in annual water, sewer, and permit fees. Currently, these fees are waived for the city’s schools and other public and nonprofit entities, such as its community college system.

The city has also helped the district cover costs for some of its long-term debt, incurred to foot the bill for school construction and building projects. Those payments, bringing in about $142 million a year through a city tax levy, are slated to continue until 2029.

The district is already taking on some expenses the city has chipped in for historically. Chicago Public Schools has been paying a growing amount toward the Municipal Employees’ Annuity and Benefit Fund, a city-run pension program that covers district support staff and other employees. The city was handling those costs until recent years, though it did not fully cover them as it went along. This year, the district increased its contribution to $175 million, over objections from some school board members and the teachers union.

Last year, the district also took over from the city the cost of school resource officers and its crossing guard program, for which CPS budgeted $16.6 million this year.

The report notes that some of the uncertainty around these entanglements complicates the district’s broader financial outlook.

The district — serving significantly higher than average portions of students who have disabilities, are homeless, or learning English — now receives about $1 billion less from the state than what is deemed “adequate” funding based on Illinois’ own math. It also diverts hundreds of thousands of dollars in state funding to cover debt payments for past school construction and other borrowing.

The largest source of the district’s funding is local property tax revenue, but it’s somewhat limited in hiking those taxes.

Advocates call cost-shifting retaliation

In a statement about the report, the district said it will continue to advocate with state legislators and officials to fully fund the district and address the fiscal challenges that come with the district’s unique position: It is the only district in the state that covers its own teacher pension costs.

“We will work with the State to develop a thoughtful process of disentangling CPS from its historical relationships with the City and other public agencies in Chicago, as well as a process to wind down the extraordinary pandemic-era federal support to avoid a threat to structural budgetary balance,” the statement said.

Chicago Public Schools officials have sounded alarms about the district’s long-term financial picture in recent months, saying they don’t want an elected school board to inherit money troubles. CEO Pedro Martinez has lamented that, unlike other Illinois districts, Chicago Public Schools is limited in asking residents to raise their own taxes to fund the district’s operations and building costs.

Sendhil Revuluri, the Vice President of the board, said the report helps the board and the public better understand the district’s fiscal outlook, which includes projected budget deficits.

“As both a CPS parent and a board member, it’s important to me that we keep these facts in mind as we make decisions — sometimes tough ones — to ensure all our students have excellent educational experiences and we keep improving their learning outcomes,” he said in an emailed statement.

Chicago advocates pushed for an elected school board after years of being dissatisfied with a mayor-controlled school board. That advocacy intensified after former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration closed more than 50 schools across the city’s South and West sides, largely affecting families of color.

As a candidate, Mayor Lori Lightfoot supported an elected school board. But after taking office, Lightfoot came to strongly oppose that shift, arguing that special interests would dominate races for board seats.

During the 2021 spring legislative session, she teamed up with Sen. Kim Lightford, D-Maywood, to propose a hybrid school board bill. The bill didn’t move far, but the mayor made it clear she strongly opposed the 21-person elected school board. Now, some advocates who pushed for the bill are concerned that the city will try to undermine the school board.

Pavlyn Jankov, a researcher for the Chicago Teachers Union, said the city is retaliating against the district for transitioning into an elected school board by shoving these costs onto CPS.

School districts and cities “are supposed to be funding their schools and working together through governmental agreements to raise revenue for their constituents,” said Jankov. “Schools in Chicago Public Schools serve the same residents and have the same borders as the city.”

The report was prepared by the district with help from Columbia Capital Management, a financial consulting firm that works with the city, district, and other government agencies in Illinois.

The state board of education is required to review the report and provide recommendations to the General Assembly by July 1, 2023 on the district’s ability to operate with its own budget.

Rep. Delia Ramirez, D-Chicago, who sponsored the elected school board bill that passed, said the House is waiting to review and discuss the report by CPS.

“The goal here remains to ensure that every student has access to high quality public education, and our review over the coming months will be focused on that,” said Ramirez.

Correction: Nov. 4, 2022: This article has been updated to reflect that Chicagoans will vote for 10 members of the elected school board and the board president in November 2026, not all 21 seats.

Mila Koumpilova is Chalkbeat Chicago’s senior reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Mila at mkoumpilova@chalkbeat.org.

Samantha Smylie is the state education reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering school districts across the state, legislation, special education, and the state board of education. Contact Samantha at ssmylie@chalkbeat.org.

Cook County commissioner, teachers union organizer announces bid for Chicago mayor

2022-10-27T11:00:00+00:00

Cook County commissioner and union organizer Brandon Johnson announced early Thursday he is running for Chicago mayor, entering the race with backing from the teachers union and independent political organizations.

Johnson, a former teacher at Jenner Academy and Westinghouse College Prep, is one of at least eight people challenging Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who is seeking a second term. Three aldermen and former Chicago Public Schools CEO Paul Vallas are among the candidates. The union endorsement and Johnson’s union organizing background almost assures education issues will take center stage in the 2023 Chicago mayoral election.

“As a teacher, I experienced the painful impact of disinvestment on my students and their families,” Johnson said in a press release. “And this personal experience seeing children endure inequity fuels my commitment to building a stronger, safer, and more equitable Chicago.”

Before announcing his run, Johnson’s campaign saw an influx of donations.

Last week, the American Federation of Teachers announced a $1 million donation to Johnson’s campaign.

Earlier this month, the Illinois Federation of Teachers COPE donated $150,000 and the Chicago Teachers Union’s political action committee donated $60,000. At the end of September, Johnson’s campaign reported having just over $70,000 in the bank.

The Chicago Teachers Union’s governing body last month voted to endorse Johnson for the municipal election.

The union, which also endorsed rank-and-file educators Mueze Bawany and Leonor “Lori” Torres in their respective aldermanic races in the 50th and 36th wards, said the educators were “uniquely attuned to the needs of students and families.”

Johnson recently received endorsements from the 30th, 33rd, 35th, and 39th ward independent political groups.

“I continue to be humbled, and honored, by the outpouring of support I have received in coming to this decision,” he said.

The union is pushing to unseat Lightfoot, with whom it has clashed several times, including during an 11-day teacher strike in 2019 and in two actions amid COVID safety concerns in 2021 and 2022.

“Each of them believes strongly in partnership, and coalition, and is committed to representing educator values of nurture and care for children and community,” the union said of Johnson, Bawany, and Torres in a series of tweets last month.

Johnson has been a Cook County commissioner serving the city’s West Side since 2018. After teaching at Jenner and Westinghouse, he became an organizer for the CTU in 2011 and helped organize the 2012 strike, according to his campaign website.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

Plan to turn vacant Chicago school into housing gets $18 million from city

2022-10-05T19:15:00+00:00

HUMBOLDT PARK — Protracted plans to redevelop long-vacant Von Humboldt Elementary School into an 107-unit apartment complex for teachers got a boost in city funding to help move plans forward.

Newark, New Jersey-based RBH Group was awarded $18 million in tax-exempt bonds last month to bring “Teachers Village” to the shuttered Humboldt Park elementary school, 2620 W. Hirsch St., setting the stage for redevelopment.

Now, the developer is working with the city’s Department of Housing to secure more public financing to bring its ambitious project to life. The development is expected to cost $50.6 million.

“We are on track to close public financing by the end of the year and anticipate commencing construction immediately thereafter,” RBH Group’s CEO Ron Beit said in an emailed statement.

The “Teachers Village” project includes 102 apartments and five townhomes.

RBH Group received City Council approval in 2020 for its “Teachers Village” project, which is modeled after a similar development in New Jersey.

The Humboldt Park development proposal includes 102 apartments marketed toward educators and five market-rate townhomes. There will also be commercial and retail space, a “community as campus” learning center, a public plaza, and 53 parking spaces.

RBH Group agreed to reserve 52 of the apartments as affordable units, including 27 funded through Chicago Housing Authority vouchers, in response to concerns from Ald. Daniel La Spata (1st).

La Spata previously said he pushed the developer to include units for low- and moderate-income residents being priced out of gentrifying Humboldt Park and Logan Square.

Nearly three years later, RBH Group is pressing ahead with the city-approved plans, company spokesperson Lonnie Soury said. The developer made “minor modifications” to the interior layout, but those changes have been approved by the city, Soury said.

Developer RBH Group plans to convert the shuttered school into an apartment complex for teachers.

Like many other real estate developments in the city, the “Teachers Village” project has been delayed by pandemic challenges like the shaky economy and the supply shortage, said La Spata’s chief of staff, Nicholas Zettel.

“Every developer would say, to some degree, that the pandemic impacted their operations. In this case, I really think it’s true that the pandemic took a bite out of this one,” Zettel said.

Zettel and Soury stressed the project is complex and was always expected to take several years to come to fruition. The proposal was first introduced to the community in 2016.

“When you have a project like this, which involves public financing, private financing, bonds and city approval … they take a lot of work and a lot of time and the process is slower than we would all like, but certainly one that is moving along,” Soury said.

Von Humboldt was one of nearly 50 “underutilized” public schools closed by then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2013, a move that sent shockwaves through Chicago and across the country.

Von Humboldt school, 2620 W. Hirsch St., has sat vacant since 2013 when the district closed a record 50 schools.

Redevelopment of Von Humboldt is a sensitive topic among former students and parents and neighbors, who were devastated when the school was shut down.

The elementary school has a long history in Humboldt Park. The original school building was constructed in the 1880s and designed by John J. Flanders, the district’s official architect at the time, according to local historians. W. August Fiedler designed the school’s second building, which was built in 1895 and meant to address overcrowding. A third addition, designed by Arthur Hussander, went up in 1921.

RBH Group plans to preserve the school’s original exterior as part of its redevelopment.

The “Teachers Village” project is Chicago’s latest school conversion.

The former Stewart Elementary School in Uptown was redeveloped into the Stewart School Lofts in 2018, a project considered a symbol of gentrification for its high rent prices. Peabody Elementary School in Noble Square was also recently converted into luxury apartments.

This story was originally published by Block Club Chicago.

Mayoral candidate wants to fund Chicago Public Schools based on need, not enrollment

2022-09-22T20:27:40+00:00

Mayoral hopeful Kambium “Kam” Buckner is promising to transform Chicago Public Schools by funding schools based on need, not enrollment; staffing every school with a nurse, librarian, and social worker; and expanding universal preschool to all 3-year-olds.

Buckner is the first 2023 mayoral candidate to hold an event releasing his education platform. He detailed the plan outside the shuttered Laura S. Ward Elementary School in Garfield Park on the West Side, one of the 50 schools closed in 2013 by then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Buckner is one of seven people planning to challenge Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who is seeking a second term. Three aldermen and former CPS CEO Paul Vallas are among the candidates.

The Chicago Teachers Union has yet to throw their support behind a candidate. Cook County Commissioner Brandon Johnson, a former teacher and union organizer, last month said he was exploring a possible run for mayor.

If elected mayor, Buckner said he plans to change how schools within the district are funded.

“As mayor, I will continue to work with Springfield to hold CPS accountable for directing state funds to schools based on need, and not on any other criteria,” Buckner said, adding that funding should not be strictly based on enrollment.

Currently, schools get a set amount of money per student, plus a few centrally-funded positions, such as principal and school clerk. This system – implemented in the wake of the 2013 closings – has been criticized by the Chicago Teachers Union because it penalizes schools with fewer students and sets them on a downward spiral of declining enrollment and disinvestment. Others – including former CPS CEO Janice Jackson – have said the method is more equitable because money follows students.

Chicago’s schools have seen a significant decline in enrollment over the past two decades. Though this year’s official enrollment numbers have yet to be released, preliminary data posted to the city’s data portal and first reported by WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times indicates there are roughly 320,000 students in CPS. Twenty years ago, there were more than 438,000.

“We have to have a plan forward on how we maintain the number,” Buckner said. “But to bring more young people into our school system, we have to provide better options, better choices in our neighborhood schools.”

The proposed switch in how schools are funded also comes with a promise to staff every school with at least one nurse, one librarian, and one social worker. Currently, many social workers and nurses split time across two or more schools and librarians are becoming something of an endangered species in CPS, with about 90 librarians across more than 650 schools.

Chicago Public Schools has added about 90 school social workers since 2020, going from around 500 positions to roughly 590 this summer, according to a Chalkbeat analysis of staffing files posted on the district’s website. The number of nurses on staff is more difficult to track because the district hires different types of school nurses and relies on outside agencies to provide school nurses.

Buckner’s promise to expand universal preschool to 3-year-olds comes as the school district continues to recruit families to enroll their 4-year-olds. This is the first year Chicago has offered universal access to preschool, regardless of income, a push set in motion in 2018 by then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel. New York City Mayor Eric Adams has also expanded public preschool to 3-year-olds, using a windfall of federal stimulus money.

The plan outlined on Thursday also calls for an external audit of CPS special education practices to improve services, a leadership academy for principals to address morale, and targeted recruitment for teachers from Chicago communities.

Dwayne Truss, a former member of the Chicago Board of Education, introduced Buckner, who stood in a vacant lot across from the abandoned elementary school, and endorsed Buckner’s education plan. Truss previously told Chalkbeat he was asked to continue on the board after his term expired, but was replaced by Lightfoot. Truss was critical of a plan for a new high school on land intended for public housing.

Buckner declined to comment specifically about Truss’ ouster but said the school board should be composed of representative voices that reflect the community, are passionate about education, and who aren’t afraid to push back.

“Dawyne Truss is a lifelong Chicagoan,” Buckner said. “He understands the South Side and the West Side. He has worked to better education around the city for a very long time. Not listening to somebody like him is a huge detriment to all of us in the city.”

Buckner currently serves as Illinois House of Representative for the 26th District, which includes Bronzeville, Douglas, the Gold Coast, Near South Side, South Chicago, and South Shore. He has been in office since 2019.

The state representative was raised in Roseland and Washington Heights. His mother was a public school teacher for more than 30 years. She worked at Scott Joplin Elementary School in Auburn Gresham and Alcott Elementary in Lincoln Park before retiring about five years ago, he said.

Buckner previously worked as an aide for Sen. Dick Durbin and New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu. He also worked as a manager of neighborhood and government relations for the Chicago Cubs, and executive director of a youth development nonprofit World Sport Chicago.

Becky Vevea is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Chicago. Contact Becky at bvevea@chalkbeat.org.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

Former alderman Michael Scott Jr. appointed to the Chicago school board

2022-07-15T23:16:56+00:00

In a surprise move, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot replaced a school board member with a longtime City Hall ally.

Lightfoot announced Friday that former North Lawndale alderman Michael Scott Jr. would replace Dwayne Truss, whose term ended last month.

Truss said he had initially been asked to continue to serve on the board, then was notified last Thursday that he would not be reappointed. He questioned the timing of the move, noting that it comes after he called for more transparency around the construction of a new high school.

“I’m disappointed,” Truss said. “Students and families that we serve deserve real engagement and transparency.”

Lightfoot also appointed two other new members Friday to replace Luisiana Meléndez and Lucino Sotelo, who announced last month they would be stepping away from the board. The newly appointed members are Sulema Medrano Novak, a trial lawyer, and Paige Ponder, a former CPS employee and former CEO of One Million Degrees, an education organization.

Truss said the opposition to the high school and the mayor’s decision not to reappoint him to the board seem connected.

Along with other board members, Truss expressed concerns during budget hearings and last month’s board meeting about a lack of community engagement and transparency for a proposed $120 million high school on the Near South Side, which was supported by the mayor. The opposition led district CEO Pedro Martinez to pull the plan ahead of a vote during June’s board meeting.

Truss said the district was “gaslighting” board members and trying to “shoehorn engagement” around the proposed high school into a short time frame before a potential vote.

Instead of organizing true community engagement, Truss said, CPS was “organizing supporters to support the school. CPS shouldn’t be doing that.”

Asked about the timing of the replacement, a spokesperson for the mayor in an email said Truss’s term had expired “and we wish him well.”

The appointments come after Lightfoot dragged her feet for 10 months on a previous school board vacancy, appointing South Side community leader Joyce Chapman. It also marks what could be the mayor’s last round of appointments under a fully-appointed school board.

In 2024, Chicago will begin a shift toward an elected school board, which will have 10 elected members and 11 appointed by the mayor. The board will transition to a fully elected school board by 2027, with elections held in 2026.

Other board members said they were shocked by the news that Truss would not be returning to the board.

In a brief phone call, Scott Jr. told Chalkbeat he was unavailable to speak Friday afternoon.

Scott Jr.’s father, Michael Scott Sr., was president of the Chicago Board of Education under Mayor Richard M. Daley from 2001 until his death in 2009. During Scott Sr.’s time on the board, former U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan served as CEO.

Scott Jr. resigned as alderman in May to take a position with the film studio, Cinespace. Lightfoot appointed Scott Jr.’s sister, Monique, to succeed him in representing the North Lawndale community on the West Side. Lightfoot defended the move citing Monique Scott’s roots in the North Lawndale community and said it’s “lazy” of critics to call the appointment nepotism.

In a prepared statement, Scott Jr. said he was “honored and humbled to take on this new role with the Board of Education and serve students, families and staff of Chicago Public Schools.”

“This is an extraordinary opportunity to build on my father’s legacy with CPS and the continued drive to improve and expand student opportunities, experiences and outcomes,” Scott said.

Ponder previously served as an Officer of Student and Support and Engagement at CPS. During her tenure at CPS, she led initiatives to drive up the number of freshman students on track to graduate. Ponder serves on the Illinois Community College Board. Her term expires in June 2023.

“Becoming a member of such a historic board is not just an honor but a privilege,” Ponder said. “For years, I have had the pleasure of working with institutions that have prepared me for this role and I’m excited to support and find new strategies to represent our school communities.”

Novak, a trial lawyer with Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, will step down from the City’s Human Resource Board to serve on the school board.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago officials release city plan with blueprint for ‘Lifelong Learning’

2022-07-14T22:56:09+00:00

A sweeping plan that would guide Chicago’s policy decisions for the next 10 years includes a number of strategies to expand educational opportunities in the city.

The ideas proposed in “We Will Chicago” include creating an Office of Learning, setting up learning hubs in every neighborhood, and repurposing empty school buildings.

The planning document also proposes ways to improve housing, environmental issues, public safety, and economic development.

The draft, which culminates two years of research, meetings, and feedback from Chicago residents, is the first comprehensive planning document since 1966. The plan is a priority for Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

Among the policy recommendations in a section dubbed “Lifelong Learning” is a new Department or Office of Learning aimed at increasing education resources and coordinating existing programs across Chicago Public Schools, City Colleges of Chicago, the Chicago Park District, the Chicago Public Library, and other education-focused organizations.

The section was crafted through the engagement process with a group made up of everyday Chicagoans who volunteered and public officials such as Kathy Dickhut, deputy commissioner at the Department of Planning and Development.

“It’s purposely not about CPS,” Dickhut said. “The idea was to help make connections between all kinds of agencies, departments, whatever people are doing in education.”

“There was a real desire to kind of harness all the activity and get it a little bit more organized through an office,” Dickhut noted about the proposed new Department or Office of Learning.

The plan also calls for a city-funded partnership coordinator to facilitate collaborations between companies and educational institutions such as Chicago Public Schools, Chicago City Colleges, and other universities.

The draft plan notes one of the city’s looming challenges: a declining school-age population.

“We didn’t really grapple with that,” Dickhut said. “We’re acknowledging the situation and the data that exists right now. But that will be part of moving forward in the discussions.”

The citywide plan outlines the controversial decision made by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2013 to close 49 public schools on the South and West Sides amid declining enrollment. Since then, the district has lost another nearly 75,000 students. Nearly 25,000 of those students left since the start of the pandemic.

The citywide plan calls for an evaluation of existing facilities including shuttered schools, Park Districts, and other city properties to create community learning hubs in all neighborhoods, especially in Black, immigrant, Indigenous, and Latino communities. City officials would also explore the feasibility of constructing new facilities to make way for these learning hubs.

Other highlights include:

Launching an awareness campaign around lifelong learning opportunities
Creating paid internships and apprenticeships in city departments
Partnering with CPS to recruit and retain more teachers of color
Expanding funding and partnerships to support on-site or subsidized child care at workplaces
Provide on-site care at Chicago City Colleges, the Park District, and public libraries

“Most of the objectives in here focus less on specific tactics to shore up enrollment,” said Skyler Larrimore, deputy director of policy at the mayor’s office, “but more thinking about stepping back and that 50,000-foot view for each community making sure that there is robust access to resources and networks.”

The objectives and the overall draft plan, Larrimore said, were created in coordination with community members.

“The plan wasn’t just the city sort of defining the outcomes alone in isolation, but really bringing in community members from the very beginning to co-define what these goals and objectives should look like,” Larrimore said.

City officials will host public meetings in the coming weeks and months to gather feedback. Residents can also weigh in online through a survey. The plan will be presented to the city’s Plan Commission and City Council for approval in 2023.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago leaders announce 15,000 summer jobs for teens and young adults

2022-04-11T22:04:23+00:00

With summer fast approaching, Chicago leaders rolled out plans to hire about 15,000 young people for summer jobs and detailed youth opportunities citywide in an effort to engage teens and young adults in person after the pandemic sidelined programs for two years.

On Monday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and department commissioners detailed out-of-school summer programs for youth, including jobs, volunteer opportunities, and arts programs at Chicago Public Schools, Chicago Park District, Chicago Public Libraries, and other city agencies.

Since the start of the pandemic, the experiences for children and young people both in school and out of school have been “fragmented, reduced substantially, or canceled outright,” Lightfoot said.

“We are striving to return to normal this summer,” Lightfoot said. “It’s got to be a summer of joy for our youth where they are reminded that we care about them. We care about their future, and that as a city, we got their back.”

Last summer, youth programs remained virtual or hybrid, but this year’s programs will return to in-person without capacity limits. The programs, which include My Chi, My Future, One Summer Chicago, and Chicagobility are designed for young people to explore their passions and “connect with peers and caring adults,” Lightfoot added.

One Summer Chicago, the city’s signature youth summer program, will connect teens and young adults between the ages of 14 and 24 with hands-on job experience and a career coach in a variety of fields including healthcare, media, and finance. The program, which is accepting applications until June 10, runs from July 5 to Aug. 12. One Summer Chicago will pay teens and youth the city’s minimum wage of $15 per hour, Lightfoot said.

The city will prioritize youth who have traditionally faced barriers such as the digital divide in accessing the city’s summer jobs programs. The city will work with Chicago Public Schools and community partners to “meet less connected young people, and their families, where they are,” Lightfoot added.

City officials also announced the expansion of Chicago’s Youth Service Corp, a program created last summer where young people responded to specific pandemic-related needs in their community. The summer program will offer paid year-round opportunities that support city projects for 16- to 24-year-olds, officials said.

Chicagobility, a six-week career exploration program for 14- to 15-year-olds, will return this summer and engage young people with career professionals through field trips, training, and projects, said Brandie Knazze, Department of Family and Support Services Commissioner.

They will be paid a $450 weekly stipend, Knazze said.

During the summer, Chicago Public Schools will also partner with local community-based organizations to expand summer school programming. The Chicago Department of Public Health will bring back play street, a program that encourages families to stay active and healthy. Chicago Public Libraries will also offer cultural and arts programs at neighborhood libraries.

“We encourage our CPS students to take advantage of the many opportunities made possible through One Summer Chicago and gain important job experience within their own city,” CPS CEO Pedro Martinez said in a press release. “These types of hands-on experiences can serve as catalysts for future academic and career success – and in the meantime, they offer immediate financial benefits for each participant.”

In a statement Monday afternoon, Chicago Public Schools said it plans to provide “robust summer programming, free meals and other services to students during summer programs.”

The offerings include a mix of centrally-managed, local opt-in, and school-designed programs that will provide academic recovery and programs for English language learners and students with disabilities. The district will spend up to $50 million to cover the costs of summer programming.

“The goal is to ensure that all schools are able to offer the programming that is most appropriate for their local school community’s needs,” said Mary Fergus, a CPS spokeswoman.

Mauricio Peña is a reporter for Chalkbeat Chicago, covering K-12 schools. Contact Mauricio at mpena@chalkbeat.org.

Everything Chicago parents need to know about Vaccination Awareness Day

2021-11-09T23:12:03+00:00

So your children are off school Friday, and you’re scrambling to figure out the meaning of Chicago’s inaugural “Vaccination Awareness Day.” Here are eight things to know.

What is Vaccination Awareness Day? And is it just a Chicago thing?

Last week, with the arrival of the pediatric COVID vaccine under federal emergency use authorization, Chicago Public Schools suddenly announced that it would cancel school on Nov. 12, for a “Vaccination Awareness Day.” In an e-mail to parents, district CEO Pedro Martinez encouraged families to seek out vaccinations for children — and bring along teens and older adults who have not yet received a shot.

The day appears to be a Chicago invention, promoted to boost vaccination rates among school-age children. But the last-minute cancellation of Friday classes has irked parents who are scrambling for child care.

The day is among seven no-school days in Chicago Public Schools during November, including a school improvement day and a parent-teacher conference day.

What age is eligible?

The federal government last week issued emergency authorization for the Pfizer vaccine to children age 5 and older.

The doses for children are one-third of an adult dosage and use smaller needles; not all sites offering vaccines in Chicago have received their doses for children ages 5-11. So look for a site that specifically offers pediatric vaccines.

Where can I go to get my child vaccinated on Vaccination Awareness Day?

Officials said on Tuesday that about 200 sites will offer the pediatric vaccine on Friday, including pediatricians’ offices, hospitals, pharmacies, clinics organized by the health department, and schools.

Chicago Public Schools will offer vaccinations at four regional hubs: Michele Clark Magnet High School on the city’s West Side; Richards High School and Chicago Vocational on the city’s South Side; and Roosevelt High School on the city’s Northwest Side. Chicago Public Schools said it also will deploy a mobile vaccination van to multiple school sites.

Officials have encouraged parents to make appointments in advance. As of Tuesday afternoon, Friday appointments were available at three of the four regional school clinic sites and at two mobile clinic sites (Chavez Elementary, in the Back of the Yards neighborhood, and Nixon Elementary in Hermosa). Only Roosevelt High School on the city’s North Side was fully booked for pediatric vaccination appointments. (To book an appointment at a regional site, click here. To book an appointment for the mobile van or see the schedule, click here.)

The city’s teachers union will offer pediatric vaccinations from noon to 3 p.m. Friday at its headquarters on the Near West Side (1901 W. Carroll Ave.) in cooperation with Broadway Medical Center. Advance registration is requested. Click here to register.

Several community organizations also are offering single day events on Friday:

Family vaccine clinic, Arturo Velasquez Institute: 9 a.m. - noon. Register online or by phone at 773-254-1400
Little Black Pearl Pop-Up: 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. Register online or walk in at 1060 E. 47th St.
Family vaccine clinic, Harmony Community Church: 9 a.m. - 6 p.m. Register online.

Local pharmacies are running their own registration, but appointments were mostly full at the major pharmacies for Friday.

Walgreens still had some appointments at a handful of locations: Register online, or call your local Walgreens or 1-800-925-4733.
CVS: Register online, or call your local CVS or 1-800-679-9691.
Mariano’s: Register online.
Walmart: Call 1-833-886-0023, option 1.
Chicago Costco pharmacies: Register online for an appointment or call a pharmacy directly.

It’s not Friday but the Chicago Department of Public Health will host family vaccination clinics at City Colleges of Chicago on Saturday at Richard J. Daley College (7500 S. Pulaski Road) and on Sunday at Wilbur Wright College (4300 N. Narragansett Ave.). Advance registration is required. Both clinics will be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Standing CDPH immunization clinics will also offer pediatric COVID-19 vaccines by appointment only. This includes Uptown WIC 845 W. Wilson Ave., second level (call 312-742-3227 for an appointment) and the Greater Lawn WIC, 4150 W. 55th St. (call 312-745-1477 for an appointment).

What if I prefer to get vaccinated at home?

Chicago is offering a home-based vaccination program, but it will not launch until next week, officials said. Make an at-home appointment at Chicago.gov/AtHome or by calling 312-746-4835.

What is the evidence that the pediatric vaccine is effective?

In clinical trials, the Pfizer shot was found to be 91% effective at preventing COVID in children — similar to effectiveness in adults, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Federal health officials said the side effects among children were “mild” and similar to that of other vaccines that children receive. The most common side effect was a sore arm, the CDC said in a statement.

Children are supposed to receive two shots, administered three weeks apart.

What are the options for child care on Friday for working parents?

The Chicago Park District said it will offer programs at 54 parks at no cost to parents. (Click here for the list of sites and to register. Advance registration was encouraged, and some park sites had already filled as of Tuesday afternoon.)

Meanwhile, the YMCA planned to offer “full-day education and child care” to families struggling to find support on Vaccination Awareness Day.

The YMCA program, which runs 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday, is offered for 5- to 12-year-olds. Rates start at $40 a day for members but vary by location. The program will be first come, first served. Parents and guardians are encouraged to register in advance.

Participating locations are: Irving Park, 4251 W. Irving Park Road; Kelly Hall, 824 N. Hamlin Ave.; Lakeview, 3333 N. Marshfield Ave.; McCormick, 1834 N. Lawndale Ave.; Rauner Family, 2700 S. Western Ave.; South Side, 6330 S. Stony Island Ave.

Are there any incentives for families to get vaccinated?

Yes. Families who take children to school-based sites or clinics organized by the public health department are eligible to receive a $50 gift card per dose, up to $100.

Are there any other perks to Vaccination Awareness Day?

City officials said some museums will offer free admission to Chicago Public Schools students. Notable on the list are the Shedd Aquarium and the Museum of Science of Industry.

Still have questions? Email us at chicago.tips@chalkbeat.org.

Chicago’s future school board members will not be paid, raising questions about representation

2021-11-05T16:45:40+00:00

Chicago’s future elected school board members will not be compensated for serving, raising questions about whether that will create a barrier for representatives from marginalized communities.

Under a compromise bill passed by the Illinois legislature and signed by Gov. J.B Pritzker in June, Chicago will have a 21-member school board starting with 11 seats appointed by the mayor and 10 elected in 2024. The board will transition to a fully elected school board by 2027, with a second election held in 2026.

While this structure remains intact, a new trailer bill passed during the October veto session specifies that board members will not be paid. The trailer bill also moved up the school closure moratorium, changed how the mayor appoints members, and moved the first election to Nov. 5, 2024, the date of that year’s general election.

A number of key issues remain, including carving out electoral districts and determining whether undocumented citizens can vote for board members and serve on the board.

But the issue of compensation spotlights an ongoing concern for local advocates of the elected school board movement: whether the board will represent working-class families. One of the goals in creating a large, elected school board in Chicago was to give more communities a say in public education matters.

Sen. Robert Martwick, the architect of the Chicago elected school board bill, said he has supported compensation for school board members since he first filed the bill several years ago.

“My bill had a provision to compensate board members as a way of acknowledging that if we truly desire adequate and diverse representation, then we have to get people from marginalized communities,” he said. “We have to remove the roadblocks that prevent them from serving.”

According to Martwick, taking compensation out of previous versions of the bill made it more palatable to some suburban and rural legislators, who argued they had been prevented in the past from paying their school board members because of state law.

More recently, compensation was also a point of conflict between legislators and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who opposed the bill for many reasons — and even created her own version. Lightfoot’s office said in a statement that the mayor advocated for board member compensation, but opposed “a provision that would have allowed elected board members to set their own salaries.”

Chicago city council members receive automatic raises set in 2006 and, each year, can vote for or against the pay increase — few often vote against it. State legislators’ salaries are adjusted for inflation each year and members of the general assembly can reject pay increases.

After months of negotiations, in an effort to get the latest bill passed after years of fighting for an elected school board, key sponsors agreed to drop compensation. Martwick said he’ll continue to fight for compensation for board members while he is still in the legislature.

Sean Schindl of Kids First Chicago, a non-profit education advocacy organization, works closely with parents throughout the city and said parents were unsure how much school board members should be paid, but they believed that they should be compensated. A majority of parents with whom Kids First works voted in favor of paying board members from $25,000 to $50,000 a year, said Schindl.

“I think that’s because it is something that would make it more accessible for working-class parents,” said Schindl.

Claiborne Wade, a CPS parent of four from the west side of Chicago and part of the Parents Advisory Board at Kids First Chicago, has been watching the elected school board bill for a while. When asked about the lack of compensation in the trailer bill, he called it “terrible.”

“If a parent wants to be elected to the school board they have to think about the time and effort they are going to put into it,” said Wade. “But it can also take away from putting food on the table.”

He believes that if parents had the chance to sit on the school board, they would do it for free but many working families just can’t afford to do that.

Students of color now make up the majority of the nation’s public school enrollment, but research consistently has shown that school boards remain stubbornly white. Supporters of efforts to pay school board members in other cities and states have argued that some form of compensation will make serving accessible to a more diverse group of candidates, since the role can require many hours of meetings and there are often provisions prohibiting current district employees from participation.

As a result, other states have also debated the issue.

Colorado this year enabled districts to pay school board members if a board majority passed a resolution to do so. Sheridan, just south of Denver, became one of the first districts in that state to allow board members to receive up to $150 for a day of board work. In California, which also allows school districts to compensate board members, LA Unified board members can receive $125,000 a year. In Indiana, school board members can make up to $2,000 per year and can also receive stipends for each meeting they attend.

Children can get COVID vaccines at Chicago schools next week — and $100 for signing up

2021-11-04T19:20:53+00:00

Chicago Public Schools will begin offering the pediatric COVID-19 vaccine next Wednesday at four regional school-based hubs and via its mobile van.

The district says families can receive a $100 gift card if a student receives an initial vaccination at a Chicago Public Schools event.

The four Chicago Public Schools hubs that will offer free pediatric vaccines on alternating days are Michele Clark Magnet High School, on the city’s West Side; Richards High School and Chicago Vocational on the city’s South Side; and Roosevelt High School on the city’s Northwest Side. The clinics will offer vaccinations for 5- to 11-year-old students, vaccinations for older students and adults, and booster shots.

Families can sign up here for appointments, which are free and do not require government-issued ID or insurance. The mobile vaccination van will offer shots for students ages 5 to 11 starting next Wednesday. That day it will visit four sites: Simeon, Portage Park, Mozart, and Bradwell.

Parents must be present or consent for children to be vaccinated.

The Biden administration has said that schools should be a centerpiece of the rollout strategy for the pediatric COVID vaccine, along with pediatricians and pharmacies. Area Walgreens and CVS pharmacies were already offering appointments as of Thursday — and appointments were filling up. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago said it will offer a clinic on Friday with an initial round of 3,000 doses, but it was booked as of midday Thursday.

Chicago has said it will set up additional clinics to make it easier for families. It will launch clinics at City Colleges sites starting Nov. 13 and those will run every weekend through January at alternating locations. Find a full list below.

Families who get vaccinations at sites organized by the public health department also can qualify for a $100 gift card.

The plan to administer the shots at elementary schools follows a highly anticipated emergency clearance for the Pfizer vaccine earlier this week from federal health officials.

Chicago Public Schools will largely keep to a similar strategy as before, deploying the vaccine through regional hubs, a mobile van that travels to schools, and some appointment-based school sites.

But some have questioned that strategy since the rate of vaccination uptake among students age 12 and up has been worrisome to district officials.

As of late October, only 46.7% of eligible Chicago Public Schools students 12 and up had received the vaccine compared to nearly 76% of eligible residents over 18 who had received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine.

Chicago Public Schools has said it is launching a large marketing campaign to try to combat vaccine reluctance. In a large national survey of 21,000 parents conducted by Northwestern, Northeastern, Harvard, and Rutgers universities in August and September, a third of parents said they were hesitant due to long-term concerns about the effects of the vaccine.

The city’s teachers union has said the district needs to act quickly to expand the number of school-based sites and do a better job of engaging educators to reach families.

“The district should set up a vaccination clinic at every school, organize after-school events and provide significant incentives for families,” President Jesse Sharkey said Wednesday in a statement.

In clinical trials, the Pfizer shot was found to be 91% effective at preventing COVID in children — similar to effectiveness in adults, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Federal health officials said the side effects among children were “mild” and similar to other vaccines that children receive. The most common side effect was a sore arm, the CDC said in a statement.

The dose for younger children contains one-third the amount given to adults and older children. Children are supposed to receive two shots, administered three weeks apart.

Here’s are options for families and links where to sign up.

CPS sites: CPS’ regional vaccination clinics and mobile school-based events will begin offering the Pfizer vaccine for ages 5 to 11 starting Nov. 10.

Use this link to view the schedule for the clinics.
Use this link to view the schedule for mobile events.
Visit cps.edu/vaccinations for more information.

Local pharmacies are running their own registration.

Walgreens: Register online, call your local Walgreens or 1-800-925-4733.
CVS: Register online, call your local CVS or 1-800-679-9691.
Mariano’s: Register online.
Walmart: Call 1-833-886-0023, Option 1.
Chicago Costco Pharmacies: Register online for an appointment or call a pharmacy directly.

CDPH will host family vaccination clinics at City Colleges of Chicago starting Nov. 13. Registration opens Friday for appointments at the clinics, which will be open from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and will offer pediatric COVID-19 Pfizer vaccines, as well as Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson vaccines and booster doses to all Chicagoans.

Saturday, Nov. 13 – Richard J. Daley College, 7500 S Pulaski Rd.
Sunday, Nov. 14 – Wilbur Wright College, 4300 N Narragansett Ave.
Saturday, Nov. 20 – Kennedy-King College, 6301 S Halsted St.
Sunday, Nov. 21 – Olive-Harvey College, 10001 S Woodlawn Ave.
Saturday, Dec. 4 – Richard J. Daley College, 7500 S Pulaski Rd.
Sunday, Dec. 5 – Wilbur Wright College, 4300 N Narragansett Ave.
Saturday, Dec. 11 – Kennedy-King College, 6301 S Halsted St.
Sunday, Dec. 12 – Olive-Harvey College, 10001 S Woodlawn Ave.
Saturday, Dec. 18 – Truman College, 1145 W Wilson Ave.
Sunday, Dec. 19 – Malcolm X College, 1900 W Jackson Blvd.
Saturday, Jan. 8 – Truman College, 1145 W Wilson Ave.
Sunday, Jan. 9 – Malcolm X College, 1900 W Jackson Blvd.

Starting Nov. 15, CDPH’s in-home vaccination program, Protect Chicago At Home, will also offer pediatric vaccination for all children ages 5 to 11. Make an at-home appointment at Chicago.gov/AtHome or by calling 312-746-4835.

Standing CDPH immunization clinics will also offer pediatric COVID-19 vaccines by appointment only. This includes Uptown WIC 845 W. Wilson Ave., 2nd Level (call 312-742-3227 for an appointment) and the Greater Lawn WIC 4150 W. 55th St. (call 312-745-1477 for an appointment).

Updated: This story was updated to reflect that Chicago Public Schools will offer gift cards to families who receive first doses at district-run vaccination sites.

The pediatric COVID vaccine and Chicago schools: 4 things to know

2021-10-28T16:54:28+00:00

Chicago could receive 100,000 doses of the pediatric vaccine for COVID as soon as next week, and schools will play a key role in the “long-term” strategy for deploying it, district officials said Wednesday.

But the first place for parents to likely look for doses will be pediatricians’ offices, big pharmacy chains, and large city events sponsored by children’s hospitals, city health officials said this week. Three events are already being organized in the coming weeks by Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, the University of Chicago’s Comer Children’s Hospital, and City Colleges — which could hold an event for families as soon as the first weekend of November.

The vaccine cleared a key federal panel and now heads for final sign-off from the Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, so Chicago health department and school district officials have begun previewing their plans. Here’s what we know so far.

Chicago will get plenty of doses. The challenge will be getting families to consent.

Chicago should get 100,000 doses of the pediatric vaccine in the first week — a healthy-sized first round for a city with an estimated 210,500 children ages 5-11, said Dr. Allison Arwady, the city’s health commissioner.

Despite evidence that shows significant decreases among hospitalizations and deaths among vaccinated adults, a significant challenge will be getting families to sign up after an initial round of enthusiasts. So far, only 46.7% of eligible Chicago Public Schools students 12 and up have received the vaccine in a city where nearly 76% of eligible adults over 18 have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. And in a large national survey of 21,000 parents conducted by Northwestern, Northeastern, Harvard, and Rutgers universities in August and September, a third of parents said they were reluctant due to long-term concerns about the effects of the vaccine.

CEO Pedro Martinez told the Chicago Board of Education at its monthly meeting on Wednesday that the school district will launch an aggressive marketing campaign for students and their families in English and Spanish. He previewed a video — soon to be made public citywide — showing teens across the city testifying about why they decided to get a vaccine and urging others to follow suit.

The city’s health department also said this week there could be some incentives for families, such as a $100 gift card for those who are vaccinated at sites run by the health department or school district.

Arwady has said the city will not consider making a COVID-19 vaccine a requirement for children to attend school until the pediatric vaccine receives full federal approval.

Chicago Public Schools is using basically the same playbook as before.

The district will deploy vaccine doses to four regional health care hubs at schools throughout the city — Michele Clark on the West Side, Roosevelt High School on the Northwest Side, and Richards High School and Chicago Vocational on the city’s South Side.

Another 16 schools with existing health clinics will offer appointment-only doses and a mobile van will have the capacity to administer up to 100 shots a day. It will be routed so it returns to the same school site three weeks later for secondary dose.

The district’s interim chief education officer, Maurice Swinney, told the school board Wednesday that “first dibs” for the van’s schedule will be schools in areas with fewer vaccinated residents. A big part of the strategy, he said, will be focusing on areas “where we know there is less access to health care and doctors and clinics.”

But there are several unanswered questions, including how to counter vaccine hesitancy in some communities and how to persuade parents to give consent so that children can be vaccinated at school.

There’s also the question of whether the district should shift its strategy, since uptake at school sites has been low. This summer, officials described poor turnout at its sites, and data shared Wednesday showed only about 3,400 of 155,000 eligible students had been vaccinated through a combination of the regional sites and mobile vans.

On Wednesday, board member Elizabeth Todd-Breland asked what more the district could do, suggesting that the district leverage its existing clinics that provide free eye care and dentistry at some schools. “That’s something families know — when it’s eye care day or there’s a mobile vaccination truck or van. Is there a way that could be leveraged more?”

The head of the city’s teachers union, Jesse Sharkey, urged the board Wednesday to expand the number of school-based vaccination clinics — something the union has urged the district to do since the summer.

The arrival of the pediatric vaccine could mean a tapering-down of school quarantines.

Currently, Chicago students who are unvaccinated must quarantine 10 days if they are in “close contact” with a confirmed case. In elementary schools that has generally meant classroom “flipping” so that an entire classroom is quarantined at once when there is an exposure.

Case rates remain low among Chicago public schoolchildren, and the average daily case rate is 13 out of 100,000 children 17 and under in the city.

Still, between confirmed cases and self-reports, thousands of students are still in quarantine on any given day. For thethe week ending Oct. 22, the last week that data was available, 192 student cases were confirmed yet 3,801 students were quarantined — a number that Martinez said this week was too high.

He said officials will revisit quarantine rules once the pediatric vaccine is on the ground; vaccinated students will not be required to quarantine.

Martinez said Wednesday that his family just received a quarantine notice for his son, who is in elementary school and not yet eligible to be vaccinated.

Students are getting mixed messages from their peers and social media.

Despite evidence of the vaccines’ efficacy, Isabel Marroquin, a student representative on the school board from Lincoln Park High School, told board members Wednesday that the concept remains “very controversial” among her peers.

She said students don’t feel safe because they are still in large classes and don’t see social distancing practiced in hallways or other common spaces. “It makes us a little anxious,” she said.

In response, Martinez said he thought the district needed a stronger, more consistent message about how it is keeping students safe, by requiring masks, bolstering weekly testing, and having an 89% vaccination rate among adults in buildings.

“We are going to leverage every medium we have to do outreach to our families,” he said.

Citing student trauma from violence and pandemic, Chicago educators call for school budget redo

2021-07-27T11:00:00+00:00

Mike Smith’s classroom was nearly empty when he returned to in-person teaching last spring at Englewood STEM High School. Of the 200 or so students who opted to learn inside the building, only about 25 were showing up each week.

Among them was a young man who was there one day, then gone the next — the victim of six gunshot wounds. The young man survived and came back to campus by the end of the year on crutches.

Smith said that student was on his mind last week when he testified at a series of school board hearings for a $9.3 billion budget for schools. The school board will vote on the budget Wednesday, but Smith and some other educators aren’t satisfied with the proposed amount. After subtracting the costs of long-term debt payments, teachers’ pensions, building maintenance and repairs, centrally managed staff and programs, and districtwide COVID response, schools will see $4.4 billion of this amount next year — which amounts to about $1,370 more per student compared with the previous year.

In public hearings last week, educators argued that the district should spend more on student support personnel, such as counselors. They’d like to see the board delay a vote and revise the budget to route more money to staff and to provide schools with more building-level support for students dealing with trauma.

Smith lost four students to gun violence in 2020 alone. According to a Chicago Sun-Times analysis, children in Chicago are dying from gun violence at a rate three times higher this year than last year. The twin traumas of the COVID-19 pandemic and the city’s escalating gun violence make learning an uphill battle for students at Smith’s school.

The student who was shot is recovering and taking summer classes to make up for lost learning time. But some days, he still finds it hard to engage. He’s not alone — Smith said when teachers ask students how they’re doing, they’ll often respond, “Not today. I’m not in the mood.”

“How can a kid like this learn when there are so many outside things going on?” Smith said.

To make schools safer, Smith and other educators say they don’t want funding for police in schools. Instead, they want more nurses, counselors, librarians, books, housing support, teacher assistants, restorative justice coordinators, and other staff and programs that support student health in a holistic way.

“If we don’t address those needs that go beyond the classroom, classrooms are going to remain empty,” Smith said. “[Bringing students back to school] goes beyond hand sanitizer.”

School board members have said that pandemic recovery will span more than one year — the district’s Moving Forward Together plan is projected to cost more than $525 million across this school year and the next — and that some emergency spending will spill into the 2022-23 school year. What’s more, the district is limited in how much it can spend on long-term personnel and their benefits. So Chicago Public Schools can’t easily use it for long-term solutions, such as hiring staff, board member Elizabeth Todd-Breland said at the hearings.

“I hope that this can also be a moment where we come together as a community to galvanize and push for those structural solutions that are really going to be long-term,” Todd-Breland said. Among the solutions she listed was more sustained state funding through the evidence-based funding formula; currently, Chicago is only funded at 66% of the target amount set by the formula.

Meanwhile, the school board is slated to vote Wednesday to once again give district leaders the authority to take pandemic-related actions and spend up to $150 million without board preapproval. The board first took a similar step as the pandemic hit in March 2020, allowing the district to spend up to $75 million without prior board vetting. Officials had argued that amid the crisis, they needed the flexibility to act fast to buy anything from protective equipment to computers and other technology for remote learning.

Across three federal emergency spending packages, Chicago Public Schools will receive about $2.6 billion. It has accounted for $1.8 billion of that, with $800 million spent on remote learning and reopening schools last school year, and another $1 billion factored into this upcoming school year’s budget. That money will go to address:

Learning loss, social emotional supports, and flexible funds for schools to use for academy recovery ($267 million)
The costs of reopening, including personal protective equipment and vaccination efforts for students and teachers ($132 million)
Air quality improvements ($100 million)
Investments in expanded programs, including grants to prop up shrinking schools ($288 million)
Additional counselors and other salaried positions ($178 million)
Money for charters and contract schools ($95 million)

In public testimony last week, educators and some parents argued for more spending on facilities improvements, from air quality upgrades to accessibility measures. They also pressed the district for more details. According to the union, 300 schools need air quality upgrades; district officials say that while work to improve air quality will touch every campus, only 17 schools are specifically scheduled to receive major upgrades this year.

“In some schools, the windows still don’t open,” Chicago Teachers’ Union member Dulce Arroyo said. “[Board members] had the nerve to make it sound like, ‘Well, you know, only 17 schools that are receiving air quality repairs because those are really expensive repairs.’ It’s like, well yeah, they’re expensive because you continue to sweep it under the rug.”

Some parents have taken the opportunity to lobby for improvements to their own campuses or to revive the long-running question about how the district decides how much money to send to each school. That process, known as student-based budgeting, has long been criticized as inequitable, and while the district has moved away from strictly adhering to that process in recent years with such programs as its “equity grants” for shrinking schools, enrollment still largely determines funding.

That bothers Chicago parent Angel Alvarez, who works as a researcher at Northwestern University and has conducted his own analysis of how the district makes budget decisions.

Giving schools a set amount of money per student, he argues, is ineffective: “That’s like saying, ‘I’m going to solve hunger in Chicago by giving everyone a sandwich.’ It’s a stupid idea. Not everyone needs a sandwich … and those who need it should get more than one.”

Alvarez says, as the district seeks to reduce its achievement gap, it should institute a system that more effectively rewards schools that demonstrate academic gains and establishes more productive accountability measures for schools that don’t — measures that help students and aren’t bound up in central administration.

“Making the principal and the teachers do more paperwork might be okay,” Alvarez said. “But that’s not really accountability, if a child still isn’t getting the resources they need.”

Students would be better served with investments in libraries, counselors, and teachers, Alvarez said. They need more direct support.

Cassie Walker Burke contributed to this report.

Chicago Public Schools watchdog to investigate emergency computer deal with Lightfoot donor

2020-12-17T20:30:36+00:00

The Chicago Public Schools’ in-house watchdog is reviewing a $1.6 million deal to buy used computers from a campaign donor to Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who personally vouched for the company’s CEO as he sought to provide devices to the district last spring.

The district’s Office of Inspector General opened the investigation after a report by Chalkbeat Chicago and the Better Government Association this week raised questions about the purchase.

The district bought laptops and older-model tablets from Meeting Tomorrow last spring as part of a larger push to quickly get devices into the hands of students who needed them for remote learning amid national computer shortages. The company’s CEO, who had contributed $30,000 to Lightfoot’s 2019 election bid, reached out to her office, which forwarded his email to the district. Lightfoot also wrote schools chief Janice Jackson to put in a good word.

Some of the computers did not meet the district’s technical standards, and a small number were not equipped for virtual learning. About a third have remained in a district warehouse even as the district has since bought more devices from its established vendors.

District officials said Meeting Tomorrow was the only local vendor with readily available computers at a time when the district faced an urgent need to help low-income students access remote learning. They said the vast majority of devices were well equipped for that purpose.

The inspector general’s office will look into how the sale came about and whether the district got a reasonable deal during a challenging time to secure computers for students, Inspector General Will Fletcher said.

“We want to determine whether the prices were fair and whether CPS appropriately evaluated its need for devices and the opportunity to purchase them from Meeting Tomorrow,” Fletcher said.

He said the investigation might take several months.

Earlier this week, Lightfoot said she forwarded the note from Meeting Tomorrow President Mark Aistrope at a time when “everybody and their brother” were approaching her office with offers to help with the city’s coronavirus response. She said she had simply wanted to steer the offer to the right people.

“He reached out and said ‘Hey, I know that CPS is struggling to find devices; can I be helpful?’ So I passed on that email,” she said when asked about the Chalkbeat/BGA report after an event to administer the city’s first coronavirus vaccines to healthcare workers.

“I have no regrets about forwarding that information on,” she added.

Lightfoot said she assumes the district properly vetted the purchase.

Kiannah Sepeda-Miller of the Better Government Association contributed to this report.

City Hall to shift $55 million in costs onto Chicago Public Schools

2020-10-23T15:31:58+00:00

In Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s efforts to close a $1.2 billion gap in the city budget, City Hall will shift more costs onto Chicago Public Schools.

In a 2021 city budget plan detailed Wednesday, which includes a property tax hike and job cuts, the mayor proposed shifting about $55 million in costs onto schools. But she offered a sweetener: additional funds from a tax surplus account, which would ostensibly cover the costs for this year and then some.

Under Lightfoot’s proposed $12.8 billion budget, Chicago Public Schools would receive $167 million from a $304 million tax-increment financing surplus, or TIFs. Those dollars are surplus property tax funds the city uses to spur development and pay for public works projects in high-need neighborhoods. The amount the school district receives varies each year. For this school year, the district budgeted $97 million.

In exchange, City Hall is asking its public school district to pick up $40 million in pension contributions to the city’s municipal employees fund for some teaching assistants and other support staff. It is also shifting to the schools the $14 million cost and oversight of 898 school crossing guards, previously on the city’s emergency management budget.

According to the city, 110 of the guards are currently working near private schools that have reopened campuses. The others are not working since Chicago Public Schools is not conducting in-person learning, a budget department spokeswoman said.

One of the ways the mayor has proposed to plug holes in the citywide budget is by eliminating 1,921 positions, many of which are vacant. The shift in crossing guards off of the city’s budget would account for about 47% of that staffing decrease.

Lightfoot’s budget proposal, which must be passed by the City Council and would go into effect Jan. 1., is separate from the public school budget. Because the city’s budget year and the school district’s budget year don’t line up exactly, some tax surplus funds from the city’s 2021 budget will spill over into school budget for next year.

That complicates the accounting. Chicago Public Schools, for example, will incur only half of the crossing guard costs this school year, due to the timing of the shift, and none of the additional pension costs will hit until the 2021-22 school budget, the district said.

After subtracting the added costs, the district projects it will receive $23 million more this school year than it had budgeted. A spokesman said the added funds will go to support any additional expenses or revenue needs “incurred throughout this highly unusual school year.”

Historically, some expenses, such as the cost of school police, have been transferred back and forth.

Last summer, the city pushed to schools the $33 million cost of staffing and overseeing the police program on more than 70 campuses. Reporting from Chalkbeat Chicago and WBEZ helped pressure the school district to release a public accounting of that program, showing that the school district had agreed to pay for officer pensions and healthcare costs for 12 months of paychecks, even though officers only serve in schools for ten.

The district cost of that program has since been revised down, to $12 million.

Lightfoot said Wednesday in her address that, like many other municipalities, the city was under incredible financial pressure brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. “As this new year dawned, I certainly did not think that my year would be marked by multiple tragedies and crises, back to back to back.”

Several civic group leaders said Wednesday that they supported the plan, saying it was a fiscally sound response to a crisis. But later in the day, the city’s powerful teachers union urged the council to reject the proposal, saying additional fines and fees would disproportionately impact the city’s working poor. “Workers and working families would be better served by the City Council rejecting this budget and forcing the mayor back to the drawing board,” said Stacy Davis Gates, the union’s vice president, in a statement.

Gates questioned exactly how the district will use the additional millions it should receive. “Will (CPS leadership and the school board) use them to address dire ventilation and capital upgrades needed to secure the health and wellbeing of students and workers who Lightfoot is forcing back into buildings ruled unsafe by an independent arbitrator? Or continue to shovel public dollars into consulting contracts and bloated central office and network staff?”

Like school districts across the country, Chicago Public Schools is trying to assess the impact of the pandemic on its finances. Recently, the district had entered a period of greater financial stability and seen some improvement in its ratings from investment agencies, though it carries more than $8 billion in debt. District leaders have credited a revamped state funding formula, which passed in 2017 and directed more money to high-need districts, with starting it on a stable path.

The extent to which that progress could be disrupted is not yet clear. The pandemic has hollowed out state revenues — the largest single source of funding for Chicago’s public schools — and statewide, school funding this year remains flat.

Chicago also just reported 14,500 fewer students than the year prior, a 4% drop that leaders said was driven in part by declines in pre-kindergarten students. How that will factor into state funding isn’t yet evident. Overall enrollment and the number of low-income students both determine state funding. Chicago has not yet reported how the pandemic and a rising unemployment rate may have affected its percentage of low-income students.

Another pressing factor in the public school district’s financial health is whether a second stimulus effort comes through for schools. Chicago Public Schools’ budget for 2020-2021 factors in $343 million in additional federal relief money, a gamble that leaders defended in late summer. Talks are underway in Washington, but the federal government so far has yet to deliver.

A Chicago Public Schools spokesman said that in the “unlikely” event that a second round of school stimulus is stymied, “we will have to take additional measures to maintain a balanced budget.”

Editor’s note: This story has been clarified to explain how different budget cycles for the City of Chicago and Chicago Public Schools impact TIF distribution and that some costs will not be incurred until the 2021-2022 school year.

After string of safety problems at Chicago early childhood centers, feds take notice

2020-08-20T17:25:44+00:00

Left alone on a bus somewhere on Chicago’s South Side last January, a 4 year old contracted frostbite on a foot. The weather was “very cold,” a report would later read, and the child was “unattended on the bus for an undetermined period of time.”

At a different child care center on the West Side, a master teacher slapped a child, leaving a red mark. Elsewhere in the city, a preschool teacher hit a toddler and pulled the child’s hair.

The federal government says Chicago has not done enough to correct health and safety problems in the child care programs it oversees for some 11,000 children. That has sparked a chain of events that could curtail Chicago’s early learning powers and threaten its universal prekindergarten expansion, Chalkbeat has learned.

After parents and teachers reported seven serious incidents across the past 16 months in Chicago’s child care facilities, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services notified the city that it will rebid $176 million in grants that previously went straight to City Hall. The grant posting says the government will open up competition in September.

At stake is the city’s largest chunk of early childhood dollars — money that currently funds programs for low-income children, mostly on the South and West sides. The amount could end up getting divided among up to 29 grantees, the agency says.

“These are pretty serious issues,” said Lauri Morrison-Frichtl, the executive director of the Illinois Head Start Association, a membership organization of providers statewide. “The city based its new structure on Head Start funding and now they are going to lose some of those dollars and some of those children. It now throws a wrench in their planning.”

The federal government’s move could potentially carve up Chicago’s largest early education funding source. If that happens, it would be just the latest disruption to the city’s early childhood system, which has been poised for broad expansion under an ambitious universal prekindergarten plan. Under the original plan, developed by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration, the city intended to create a program that would provide every 4-year-old in the city a free, full-day spot in a prekindergarten classroom by 2021.

Community providers were a core part of the strategy. Predicting many would lose 4-year-olds to schools, the city said it would help fund more seats in community day cares for children 3 and under, effectively creating a high-quality education pipeline for thousands more families.

That didn’t exactly happen. The architects of the original plan departed City Hall after Mayor Lori Lightfoot took office, a funding shake up sowed distrust between providers and the new administration, schools and community providers did not coalesce around a single path forward, and now two lawsuits take aim at how the city decided whom to fund and for how much.

A spokeswoman for the city Department of Family and Support Services, which oversees community-based early programs, said that Chicago “takes very seriously its role in supporting community-based organizations to provide high-quality services and care.”

It is primed to respond and implement corrective action, if needed, she said.

“Upon learning of any infractions, (the agency) immediately responds and partners with (the federal Head Start administration) to implement the best possible corrective action,” she wrote, adding that Chicago provides supplemental training and technical assistance for the organization when incidents occur.

Chicago says it will rebid for the grant. It’s possible it could edge out potential competitors and receive the full amount.

The power flickers

Cities like New York and Los Angeles used to have more control over early learning, but in recent years, the federal government similarly carved up Head Start funds, spreading the grants among multiple agencies.

Head Start programs are among the most respected in the child care world. They are regularly monitored for quality, require teachers to have certain classroom credentials, and must involve parents in the program.

By cutting out cities as the sole middlemen, some argued, more dollars went directly to agencies that operate programs for children and families, instead of bureaucracies. But there were downsides: By losing a monopoly over early learning money, cities also lost valuable leverage that they used to set high-quality benchmarks and to steer ambitious initiatives such as universal pre-kindergarten, which can require buy-in from both community providers and school districts.

In New York, the carve-up affected “what level of planning the city can do,” said Gregory Brender, the director of children and youth services at United Neighborhood Houses in New York City. “Because there’s no guarantee that any neighborhood that has high need has a high quality provider. There are organizations that have developed excellent programs but there’s not a system behind it that ensures that every low income neighborhood would have it.”

While each city is still responsible for the care of thousands of children, more agencies now share that role, which means they can determine how many seats they offer — and where — by deciding which centers receive funding and how much.

The impact of the grant shakeup on Chicago’s universal pre-kindergarten rollout remains to be seen. If agencies are able to contract directly with the federal government to provide services, they may have less incentive to serve younger children, as the plan originally intended, and continue to compete with schools.

Last school year, Chicago had about 1,800 preschool openings in school-based programs but more than 6,000 children on waitlists, a mismatch that can partly be explained by geographic demand in some neighborhoods exceeding that of others and by a high demand for seats for 3-year-olds who technically only qualify for limited seats.

In all, about 23,000 children were enrolled in programs across community centers and school prekindergarten classrooms — but experts have said that’s only a fraction of those who qualify. And if the system faced challenges before the pandemic, coronavirus has made it doubly hard by threatening the livelihoods of child care centers and school district budgets. The CEOs of 14 Chicago child care organization recently wrote a letter to the mayor asking for a financial injection as they battled rising costs and declining enrollment.

The school district, meanwhile, is moving ahead with a scaled-back preschool expansion. Chicago’s $8.4 billion school budget proposal, which will go before the Board of Education for a vote Aug. 26, says the district will invest $100 million in opening new classrooms and that 43 additional rooms are on the docket for the coming year.

Lightfoot has so far said she’s still moving ahead with universal pre-kindergarten. As for concerns that the city’s reshuffling of early money has been characterized by delays, technical glitches, poor communication, and a lack of transparency, City Hall earlier this summer released the results of an audit by a prominent law firm that concluded the city’s last funding process was “appropriate, fair, and unbiased.”

Parents at some centers that lost money in the shake-up, meanwhile, have had to face classroom closures and educator layoffs. In June, a few hundred parents gathered at City Hall to protest the city’s decision making.

Asucena Gaona marched with her three children, ages 10, 3, and 1, and said she was worried about finding an alternative day care center as hers faced closure. “Without them, how do I find education for my kids?”

Fallout from ‘deficiencies’

The federal government, however, appears to be using a different lens to re-evaluate Chicago’s ability to steer early childhood funding. The question, simply, is whether Chicago can sufficiently oversee a program that spans many sites and thousands of children.

“The City of Chicago is currently forecasted to need to compete for continued funding, because of the deficiencies identified,” according to a federal administration spokesman.

According to federal Head Start records, the program flagged at least 7 major infractions at city-funded agencies dating back to January 2019. The most egregious — accounting for 5 of the cases — were leveled at an All About Kids center in Chicago’s Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood on the city’s South Side. A child there was left on a bus “in very cold weather” in January 2019, according to reports, and a pediatrician subsequently diagnosed frostbite.

A few months later, the same child was injured in a bus accident, and center staff did not immediately administer medical treatment or notify the mother.

The reports say no one followed proper protocols for reporting the incidents to the authorities — not the center, nor a delegate organization overseeing the center, nor the city itself, which was supposed to alert the federal Head Start agency.

“The grantee did not report, as appropriate, to the responsible Health and Human Services official immediately or as soon as practicable, any significant incidents affecting the health and safety of program participants,” the report reads. “Therefore, it was not in compliance with the regulation.”

If Chicago loses any part of its federal grant, it would change the landscape of early learning in the city, said Morrison-Frichtl, of the Illinois Head Start Association.

“Things have been turned upside down,” she said.

What happens next remains to be seen. Dana Garner, a Chicago child care advocate, said that whatever happens next, children need to be at the center of the conversation.

“At this moment, our children deserve everything we can give,” said Garner. “These children have been traumatized enough in the City of Chicago. We need a stable early childhood system that our families can trust and where our children can grow.”

This story was published as part of a collaboration of seven Chicago newsrooms examining Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s administration. Partners are the BGA, Block Club Chicago, Chalkbeat Chicago, The Chicago Reporter, The Daily Line, La Raza and The TRiiBE.

Under pressure, Chicago unveils more reforms to school police program

2020-08-19T18:08:20+00:00

With Chicago’s school police program under the microscope during a tense summer, Mayor Lori Lightfoot says the city now will put more strict protocols on which police officers serve on campuses and pull out school-based computer terminals that previously connected officers with centralized criminal databases.

Those changes are part of a slate of proposed new reforms announced Wednesday, nearly a year after Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Police Department began complying with a federal mandate to address long-standing problems in the program. Officers last school year served on more than 70 campuses, with more mobile officers in cars assigned to schools.

A Chalkbeat Chicago investigation in February showed that six months after school police reforms were initially supposed to be implemented, they were still a work in progress, with many items on the list incomplete. Concerns over the program, and a perceived lack of oversight, helped fuel heated school council meetings this summer over whether or not to keep police on campus. In all, 55 councils voted to keep police and 17 voted to remove them.

Lightfoot and schools chief Janice Jackson now say they are working with the city’s police department to address unresolved issues. Principals will now have the explicit power to hire or reject candidates for the jobs on their campuses — an authority that had been promised earlier but not uniformly delivered — and the city will partner with the Center for Childhood Resilience at Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and the student-focused organization Mikva Challenge to better train officers in how to work with youth.

Chicago will also set up a more formal complaint process that parents, students, and educators can follow in case of concerns about officer wrongdoing.

At several youth-led protests throughout the summer, several students described often fraught relationships with campus officers and how the presence of police made them feel targeted and brutalized in buildings where they were supposed to be learning.

“We have heard our students loud and clear. The reforms today are a direct result of their tenacious spirit,” said Jackson.

But one prominent organization of student activists said the reforms announced Wednesday fell short.

“What students need most is support not criminalization,” said Derrianna Ford, a rising senior and youth leader in the group VOYCE. “In order to truly create a safe environment in all of our schools, we need trauma-informed approaches that support students’ mental health such as social workers, counselors, restorative practices. We cannot expect the same police officers who brutalize us on the streets to be our mental health workers inside our schools.”

The new slate of reforms comes on the same day that Chicago publicly released student arrest data. While the data show an 80% decline in the number of arrests on school campuses from 2012 to 2019, the numbers show that Black students are still disproportionately detained on campuses. Last school year, of the 651 students that the district reported as arrested on campus, 526 of them — or 80%— were identified as Black, 107 were Latino, and 16 were white.

Community leaders and parents have long voiced concerns about the “school-to-prison pipeline,” an issue Jackson addressed directly on Wednesday.

“Rates of arrests among Black students remain unacceptably high, and we must remain focused on addressing this as a school district,” she said. “We will do that.”

Perhaps the most sweeping change: The city will more closely examine misconduct allegations for officers who serve on campuses and raise the bar on the disciplinary record on who can serve. No officers with sustained allegations of excessive force in the past five years will be allowed to serve on campuses, nor will officers who’ve had sustained complaints about verbal or physical alterations with youth.

A Chalkbeat review of school-based officers who served last year showed that 96% faced allegations of misconduct, according to the Citizens Police Data Project, a database of police disciplinary records.

Those allegations range from excessive force, searches without a warrant, and physical domestic altercations to more minor accusations like traffic violations. The alleged violations were sustained — found to be true — for 41% of officers serving in schools this year.

“A lot of feedback we received during (the reform) process was that we need to strengthen our selection criteria. This year we are moving to excellent disciplinary history — we are tightening those parameters,” said Jadine Chou, chief of safety and security for Chicago Public Schools.

As for whether Chicago can implement the latest round of reforms in the next three weeks before school starts, Chou said the all-virtual start to school gives the school district and police department more time for additional training.

Leaders also said they plan to put authority over school police officers under the third in command at the police department. Previously, the system was decentralized, with district commanders largely making decisions about who serves on campuses, oftentimes with little input from schools.

Chicago last year began embarking on the biggest overhaul of its school policing program in a decade as part of broader police reforms. In 2014, the cover up of the fatal shooting of teenager Laquan McDonald provoked widespread outrage and protests, which culminated in a civil rights lawsuit that the city ultimately settled. Schools were included in a resulting federal consent decree.

However, many of the promised reforms had not materialized by the time school campuses shut down in March amid the coronavirus pandemic. Officers did undergo a 40-hour training program, and a formal $33 million contract was signed between the school district and the city’s police department — a contract that will now likely be cut in half, once the school board votes on a new budget proposal next week.

But despite a formal requirement to screen officers, nearly half had misconduct allegations sustained against them. Schools still lacked a system to register complaints. Some principals remained confused about which situations in which police can and can’t get involved. And some students, teachers, and Local School Council members said they knew little to nothing about any overhaul in school policing.

Exactly who had responsibility and oversight over the program and vague details about the officers’ backgrounds and responsibilities still left parents, students, and educators worried.

Then summer brought a significant sea change, with a wave of youth-led activism following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis at the hands of a white police officer. Scrutiny of school police became a central theme in Chicago. And as the mayor and schools chief pushed the decision-making down to school councils, the local groups took votes. In the end, the majority voted to keep officers, though many community members said the process was flawed and too many councils lacked enough membership to take a formal vote. About 1 in 4 schools voted them out.

Asked about transparency problems and reported violations of the Open Meetings Act that were documented during the votes — a review of multiple meetings by Block Club Chicago and Chalkbeat showed some councils didn’t follow the rules governing public access and participation — Jackson said Wednesday that the district had begun tracking the meetings and votes centrally and was helping ensure councils be more publicly accountable.

Some community organizers say the district’s efforts to build more transparency within councils have not gone far enough and that too much responsibility suddenly was thrust upon the public bodies made up of parents, educators, and community members.

In addition to cutting back the budget for the police program, the city’s school board will vote next week on the proposed reforms, part of a broader revised agreement between the district and the police department.

More Chicago school councils add police to the agenda

2020-07-13T19:27:59+00:00

Local school councils across Chicago have less than a month to case a vote on whether to keep or remove school police officers.

So far, two local school councils, representative bodies made up of parents, teachers and community members, have voted to remove school resource officers. (Follow our tracker here.)

Northside College Prep’s Local School Council in North Park voted 8-0 to remove its officers on campus this fall.

Members of Roberto Clemente Community Academy’s Local School Council are leaning toward removing school officers — but before they make a final decision, they want to hear from the community. The group voted 8-3 in favor of eliminating school officers in a nonbinding “advisory” vote.

Recent months have seen a growing youth-led movement in Chicago calling for an end to school police programs, buoyed by similar decisions in other cities spurred by nationwide protests against police violence against Black people.

Chicago’s board of education declined last month to remove police officers from all public schools after hours of emotional debate and public comment. The school board is expected to vote on whether to renew the $33 million school police contract later this summer.

More than 70 schools will vote on the issue by August 14, per a mandate from the district. Chicago has 144 resource officers at schools, 48 mobile school officers, and 22 staff sergeants.

Here are the local school councils scheduled to meet this week:

TUESDAY, JULY 21

Taft High School, Norwood Park - 6 p.m. Tuesday Watch it live here. Call-in here: 312-626-6799 Meeting ID: 890 5707 5062 PIN: 777562

Ogden International School of Chicago (All 3 campuses) - 6:00 p.m. Tuesday Watch it live here. Meeting ID: 874 5716 9457 Passcode: 5yfJ33

THURSDAY, JULY 23

Manley Career Academy High School, East Garfield Park - 3 p.m. Thursday (Meeting link TBD)

Do you know of a Local School Council meeting this week that isn’t on our list? Email stephanie@blockclubchi.org and ykunichoff@chalkbeat.org and we’ll add it to our list.

Chicago school board will vote on removing school police Wednesday, even as district chief says decision must remain with individual schools

2020-06-22T18:42:03+00:00

Chicago’s school board will consider Wednesday whether to terminate its contract with the Chicago Police Department — even as the schools chief defended the school police program at a press conference Monday.

If the motion passes, it would make Chicago the largest city in the country to remove school police from its public schools.

School boards across the country have terminated school police programs in recent weeks, including Minneapolis, Denver, and Milwaukee. In Los Angeles, a task force appointed by the superintendent said it will review the role and budget for school police.

The vote also could set up a stand-off between Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Chief Executive Officer Janice Jackson, and the appointed board of education. Both the mayor and schools chief have opposed the wholesale removal of police from schools.

During Monday’s press conference, Jackson said the decision to keep or remove school police should remain with individual school councils, which were given the authority last fall as part of sweeping changes mandated by a federal consent decree.

“We think we have a strong process in place that prioritizes the democratic process,” Jackson said. “At the end of the day the decision is a critical one, and that decision should rest at the school level.”

The board’s motion, detailed in its agenda for the Wednesday school board meeting, would terminate the $33 million police contract signed almost a year ago and block any options to renew. A second motion instructs district leadership to consult with the community to develop new safety measures, using some or all of the money now earmarked for school police.

Unlike many other big districts, Chicago’s school board is appointed by the mayor. But current board members, who began their term last summer, include a vocal community activist and an education professor who specializes, in part, in the history of student activism in Chicago. When the board approved the school police contract last summer only one member voted against, while several others were critical.

As the process stands now, school councils with police officers would be instructed to vote again to keep them, said Jackson. This time they would be offered an informational packet to help them make the decision.

Critics of giving school councils the ability to remove school police say many don’t have enough members to hold a vote. Schools that remove police officers also won’t get the benefit of the cost savings. Jackson said that because the positions are funded centrally, money won’t return to schools who reject officers.

She also said the district would examine the background of police officers who serve in schools, and “make sure records hold up under scrutiny.” A Chalkbeat analysis of police officers serving in Chicago schools during the 2019-2020 school year found that 96% of them had allegations against them, which ranged from paperwork errors to use of force; half had those allegations upheld after an investigation.

Several principals, who are in favor of keeping police officers in their schools, spoke at the press conference Monday. “I believe removal of SROs from Amundsen High School could result in a significant degradation of my ability to keep my students safe,” said Principal Anna Pavichevich, whose school is in the Ravenswood neighborhood.

Activists have said they will keep up the pressure to remove police from Chicago’s public schools, focusing on the Chicago Board of Education and the city council.

Meyiya Coleman, a youth organizer with the youth group VOYCE, said earlier this month that the decision in Minneapolis created the perfect moment for organizers to push for their demands. She hopes the school district will end its police contract. “Now is the time,” Coleman said.

While other school districts cut ties with police, Chicago has seen few concrete changes. Here’s what organizers say is next.

2020-06-19T23:06:04+00:00

For the first time in years, it looked like the movement to remove police officers from Chicago’s public schools was gaining momentum.

Following the lead of Minneapolis Public Schools, school districts across the country started calling hearings about school police, or school boards voted to remove officers altogether. National groups, like the Center for Popular Democracy, began working with local organizers to increase the national reach of their demands. And, in Chicago, city council members introduced an ordinance to end the $33 million contract between the school district and the police department.

But by Friday, the ordinance had stalled, and Mayor Lori Lightfoot had again said she would not end the school police program, instead leaving it to school councils to make the decision on a school-by-school basis.

“I don’t think it’s for me to usurp the authority of a local school council,” Lightfoot said during a press call Wednesday.

Organizers say they are not deterred. Maria Degillo, coordinator of Voices of Youth in Chicago Education, a group that has led some of the efforts, is no stranger to the long-haul challenges of making change in Chicago. VOYCE has won several victories in recent years - the organization played a critical role in the passage of two state laws that shifted school discipline: One in 2014 that requires all schools to provide data about suspensions and expulsions, and another in 2015 that limited school suspensions.

“We pride ourselves on being a learning organization - some things we are doing now might not necessarily work in the future or we might need to change,” Degillo, who began her organizing work as a high school student with VOYCE, said. “That’s just the way the world works.”

Even as school districts across the country have changed their relationships with police departments — from the Denver school board voting to phase out police last week to the superintendent in Oakland recommending an end to the school police program — there have been few concrete gains in Chicago.

VOYCE, with a coalition of others, has a two-pronged strategy to remove police officers from schools in Chicago. The first is to pass an ordinance through the city council. The second is to convince the Chicago Board of Education not to renew the one-year contract governing the school police program.

Efforts to pass an ordinance took a hit Wednesday when the chairman of the public safety committee sent the ordinance to the rules committee, where legislation tends to languish. Alderman Chris Taliaferro said he thinks some schools need police. “There is a specific need for police in some Chicago public schools,” he said.

Sponsors of the ordinance, working with Taliaferro, hope to call a hearing about the issue in July. “We are going to continue to push,” Carlos Rosa, sponsor of the ordinance whose ward includes part of Logan Square, said.

As part of their efforts, VOYCE will ask the school board Wednesday to end the contract between Chicago Public Schools and the police department. They also will recommend that principals be allowed to choose between having police officers or using the funding for social workers or restorative justice coordinators. Chicago board members either did not reply or declined to comment Friday.

The school board approved the most recent contract with the police department nearly a year ago.

“We don’t want the takeaway to be: Hire more social workers and call it a day,” Degillo said, noting VOYCE regularly holds youth-led meetings to build priorities around the needs of their student members.

Neither Degillo, nor other school police opponents, place much hope in change coming through the Local School Council system, which was given authority last summer to vote on having police officers in schools on a case-by-case basis.

Karen Zaccor, a teacher at Uplift Community High School in Uptown and an opponent of having police officers in schools, said she raised the issue with her council in recent weeks, and she expects they’ll discuss it this summer. Still, she said that with only one student seat on councils, students voices aren’t represented enough. “This issue impacts students and I think their voice should be loudest,” she said.

Other school communities, like Taft High School, in the Norwood Park neighborhood where many police officers live, are unlikely to see a push to remove officers.

Principal Mark Grishaber, interviewed earlier this year, said the role of officers in a school is only “1% to police a school, but 99% police PR.” That means positive interactions in a school that will pay dividends in the long run, he said.

“We have two great officers here at Taft, and I know they are doing a good job because I see kids talking to them all the time,” Grishaber, who appreciated that police were given a more clearly defined role this school year, said.

Looking ahead, Degillo said part of their challenge is that they want to not only change a policy but also shift the entire conversation around safety in schools.

“We are challenging the social norm of what it means to be safe,” she said.