Saving Grace: new proposed Chicago Schools budget

It was back to school on Monday for Chicago Public School students and controversy has been brewing for the last several weeks in the nation’s fourth largest school system over how to handle a deficit of $734 million and facing new funding challenges on both the federal and local revenue streams; and interim CEO Macqueline King has seemingly done the impossible: crafting a proposed budget that has no classroom cuts, and done so with a combination of debt refinancing, taking custodial services from contractors to in-house governance, central office cuts, a hiring freeze and new revenue including a city based fund surplus from a neighborhood tax incentive program.

In another city, and at another time, King would have been praised but in Chicago with its long history of racial segregation, its love of bare knuckle politics, is not enough for the critics, who are conservatives for the most, who in part have picked and pulled at the proposals, (due for approval by the school board at the end of the month), and they have hammered away at King’s good intentions.

Part of that hellish road is the lack of political will by many in the local leadership community, and state legislatures to tackle the complexities of a large urban school system that is dominated by low income Black and Brown students whose communities have faced historic disinvestment as well as the challenges of harnessing talents to creatively tackle the problems that lie well outside the classroom walls.

In 2018 Chicago schools created a new evidence-based funding formula to define adequate levels of funding to reach established levels and the money to reach those goals using “a minimum ratio of students to core teachers counselors and other central staff, “ according to Chalkbeat Chicago.

Using that formula, CPS needs an additional $1.6 million more to fill a gap of $400 million, much more than what was received last year, and to note not only is Chicago eligible for that amount but also 300 hundred other statewide underfunded districts. 

The good news is that CPS is getting an additional $76 million more as it reaches Tier 1 funding, but, as stated, it is far from adequate, despite it being more than previously thought due to lowered tax revenue and a large increase in English learners.

Reaction has been cautious: “That increase will help schools and students but unfortunately does not keep pace with inflation, the rising costs of operating our schools, addressing capital needs, and proudly serving a greater percentage of students who require more services and programming,” said Mary Fergus, spokesperson for Chicago Public Schools also to Chalkbeat Chicago.

In addition using the same metrics all schools are to be funded at 90 percent adequacy by 2027 but according to WBEZ reporting, the Center on Tax and Budget accountability, “it will take until at least 2034 to reach that level.”

Things came to a head in the last mayoral election with a run from a former social services teacher and organizer from the powerful Chicago Teachers Union, who won the mayoral race, Brandon Johnson, who ran on a progressive ticket and ushered in a new era of Chicago politics coupled with a strong interest in regenerating the public schools.

 

Johnson’s background, however, and his desire to improve the schools along a new path has been met with derision from some, and his earlier efforts to secure a high interest loan from former CEO Pedro Martinez led to a bruising battle of words, and threats, and as city leaders wrung their hands, or gleefully warmed to the ensuing battle, many felt that this was just not just about Johnson, but also for his political agenda.

 

A 26 percent approval rating for the mayor, has further made his handling of the schools, along with the city budget and safety issues a referendum against him, as well as enmity towards the CTU. And in a recent meeting with Illinois state lawmakers Democrat State Rep. Curtis Tarfer said of Johnson, “Part of the reason we are where we are is because of the ineffectiveness and sometimes ineptitude of the fifth floor,” referring to the mayor’s City Hall office.

Among the critics is former mayoral rival Paul Vallas in the 2023 mayoral election, and a former CEO of Chicago Public Schools, who in an editorial in the Chicago Tribune said that while King’s plan was good it did not say enough about the financial future of the schools. “It disappointingly avoids structural fixes - guaranteeing Chicago will face a similar budget crisis next year, The plan clearly elevates CTU priorities above student needs.”

Or, does it? Many in the media and across the city expected her to fully embrace, and be a rubber stamp of Johnson, but she hasn’t; and, in one key area she has also sidestepped a high interest loan to help CPS in her proposal, a factor that most believe brought down Martinez.

One sticking point is the $379 million payout payment plan that the district needs to pay to help cover the $175 million pension; and, the District wants the city to pay, fearing that if they don’t get the Tax Increment Financing money, there is an increased risk of a financial cliff, and as WBEZ reported:

“We are telling the city up front that we’re not going to pay this year, but we expect you to give us the money,” board member Emma Lozano said during Wednesday’s board meeting. “I think that we’re dreaming here. That’s not the way things work. And I’m hoping that there is another budget report that’s going to add the payment because I don’t see how this is going to work.”

Going back to the previous incarnation some members of the board are “demanding the school district’s budget include a controversial $175 million municipal pension payment,” in reality a reimbursement to the city.

It’s important to keep in mind that current debt servicing fees are at a hefty $1.06 billion per year and the TIF money cannot be guaranteed with city budget challenges.

This is tough sledding and the resulting donnybrook resulted in a letter from those board members to King further complicated matters in what, for the most part, was a well engineered plan to avoid dreaded classroom cuts.

Included in the demand is that any loan options “should be included as an option to be utilized only in the event it is necessary to avoid further cuts to the classroom.”

“The budget proposal reflects a total of $272 million in cuts, including to the district’s central office staff as well as custodial services, crossing guards, cafeteria staff, and more. Before Wednesday’s board meeting, SEIU Local 1, the union that represents some district custodians, held a protest against job cuts affecting its members. Custodians held mops and chanted “Keep schools clean” in front of district headquarters and decried the cuts, which they said blindsided their union and will result in dirtier school buildings.”  

On the other hand, the balancing act that brought this proposal has some key elements to help students increased money for special education students of $62 million and $7 million for bilingual services, and increased staff for principal, assistant principals, clerks and counselors, among other staffers; and, especially notable is a program to bring students back to school who have been absent for 12 to 18 months and the supportive services they may need. And, in all things considered the result is an $8.43 billion dollar operating budget.

Taking things further afield, Chalkbeat also reported, “At the Wednesday meeting, the district’s chief budget officer Mike Sitkowski said the proposal was informed by input from residents who urged the district to protect classroom instruction, resist more high-cost borrowing for operating costs, and forego the city pension reimbursement. The district is taking on $2.4 billion in new long-term debt to pay for maintenance of its aging school buildings. The new budget proposal includes $556 million in capital expenses.”

That, in and of itself, is a boon to an aging physical plant, despite the debt, and some residents remember when former Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican, described many Chicago schools as “crumbling prisons.”

While Vallas and others deride King for not planning for future deficiencies some say dealing with the present reality is fairer to students to not only continue the fiscal reality, but to try and tackle weakened test scores, despite improvements,

The mixed reaction from board members and others suggests that the heavy lifting is not over and the weeks ahead are going to be burdensome.

An American now heads the Catholic church as pope

The recent announcement in May that the Catholic cardinals, not a new baseball team at The Catholic University of America, but those cardinals selected to elect the next pope chose an American born prelate from the nation’s third largest city, Chicago, came as a shock to many observers, and those gathered in St. Peter’s Square, after hearing the announcement, turned to each other asking, “Who?”

Well that question was answered in the affirmative as Robert Francis Prevost, a 69 year old prelate who spent most of his leadership in Peru, but was a protege of the late Pope Francis, sharing most of his causes: care for immigrants, and migrants, care for the poor and those less fortunate in a global society, neatly clicked into place.

Prevost was the ultimate insider in the last remaining autocracy of the Western world, and was tasked with oversight of the selection of Catholic bishops, definitely not the humble parish priest of novels, but more of a kingmaker quietly ordering the pieces on the chessboard of ascendancy.

His American birth, while a shocker, is also key to not only the foci of Pope Francis, but also by extension a shift in the Vatican’s geopolitical worldview, one that had broad outlines from the late pontiff and whose worldview could only have an American as his successor.

Of course, there will be other interpretations attributing a stronger resume, relatively controversy free, etc. but all papal elections are unabashedly political, so the choice of an American seems deliberate.

As the US enters a new phase with the Trump administration, or Trump 2.0 as some in the media have coined it, many of the issues that have been centermost in both his campaign, and presidency, are now under an international microscope, and among them are issues close not only to Prevost’s ministry, but his heart; and, first and foremost the deportation of migrants and the treatment of immigrants, and images of international students in the US, being taken away in handcuffs, was certainly seen by him; and, in the past Prevost has remarked on these images with great concern, and even anger in social media.

According to CBS News, his most recent post was this: “in April, shared [a] commentary from a Catholic writer on Mr. Trump's meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele. The post called the deportation of Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador "illicit" and asked: "Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed? How can you stay quiet?"

Certainly, the late Pope Francis had similar concerns and when Catholic convert, Vice President JD Vance, misinterpreted St. Augustine, ordo amoris  in an online braggadocio with former  UK minister Rory Stewart saying that the famed Christian theologian put concern for others at the bottom of humanitarian concerns, and Francis hit back, forcefully, with a rebuttal in a letter to US Bishops, saying: “Christian love is not a concentric expansion of interests that little by little extend to other people and groups. In other words: the human person is not a mere individual, relatively expansive, with some philanthropic feelings!”  

Concerns about the role of women in the Catholic church, and especially its traditional handmaidens, religious sisters, the nuns, (a source of unpaid labor), has become problematic to earlier pontificates, such as that of Benedict XVI, who had American nuns investigated for doctrinal purity.

The battle for some women to become ordained ministers has been fought for decades, especially in Chicago, a hotspot for women's ordination in the 1980s; and, one where Catholic women publicly protested vehemently for their ordination rights. will now be examined in a new light, with this change of leadership.

A battle royal might ensue as Prevost is firmly against ordaining women and said, in 2023, to a group of journalists, "Something that needs to be said also is that ordaining women — and there's been some women that have said this interestingly enough — 'clericalizing women' doesn't necessarily solve a problem, it might make a new problem."

LGBT Catholics desperate for full recognition, and acceptance, thought that they had it, with Francis but as theologian Mary Hunt noted,”Francis proved that the most important role for a pope is as a symbol of unity, not a figure of authority”, writing at Religion Dispatches, and while he was hospitalized the “wheels of the Vatican continued to turn . . . and “disgracefully, many Catholic women, LGBTQIA+ people and those abused by clergy continued to be marginalized.”

Leo will definitely have to deal with the pleas of LGBT Catholics and their families for full acceptance, and as an American, despite dual citizenship with Peru, he will be more than passingly familiar with gay Catholics, and their advocacy group Dignity.

While Leo’s predecessor met with transgendered people, it seems that he does not feel comfortable with that group, and has lumped them, broadly speaking, along with those aligned with new gender norms under the banner of “gender ideology,” a term that seems undefined, and, “According to the LGBTQ+ media advocacy group GLAAD, "gender ideology is not a term transgender people use to describe themselves, it is an inaccurate term deployed by opponents to undermine and dehumanize transgender and nonbinary people," according to the CBS report.

St. Lous University theologian Elizabeth Sweeny Block told USA Today that, “He has condemned so-called ‘gender ideology’ repeatedly - a deeply problematic and derogatory phrase and one without clear definition.”

Prevost has said in the past that, “it is confusing because it seems to create genders that don’t exist, So God created man and woman, and the attempt to confuse ideas from nature will only harm families and people,” when he was interviewed by a Peruvian newspaper.

American Catholic women are a force to be reckoned with, and their voices are sure to be heard in his pontificate. Leo may follow the path of Francis in his treatment of women, and it’s worth noting what Massimo Faggioli, an ecclesiologist at Villanova University, said about his trajectory: following two paths, one that was preserving the old order, “alongside clear messages about the need for a new pastoral praxis,” and notably was, “heavily shaped by his formation. He was more prone to talking about ‘woman’ than listening to women.”

Women religious have said that Prevost listens carefully when they speak, and while he helped Francis include them as leaders in his role of helping to select bishops, it’s easy enough to listen when he had no intention of including them as ordained ministers.

Race, America's most intractable problem, seems to have taken hold of him, and especially in light of traditional segregation in his native Chicago, he offered his prayers for George Floyd, and said, “We need to hear more from leaders in the church, to reject racism and seek justice.”

Only time will tell how, as pope, Prevost will act, both within and without the Catholic Church, but as not only the administrative head, but as a global moral leader, his words and actions will have profound effects both in America, and the world.

Ill. Gov. wants Community Colleges to grant B.A. degrees

There was a distinct focus on education for Illinois when Gov. JB Pritzker announced a week ago, in his State of the State address, with two new proposals: one to allow community colleges in the state to offer four year baccalaureate degrees in select fields that would help bolster a workforce that might be compromised not only by the lack of that degree but those whose income, child and elder care responsibilities might affect that student population; but, also to enrich the employers that hire them, giving opportunities to both, and increasing the overall  state GDP.

Secondly, on that same agenda is a proposed ban on cellphones in “all public and charter school classes,” reported the Chicago Sun Times, and there are pending bills in both chambers of the statehouse, for the spring session.

It’s no secret that education is the path forward for many aspiring to the middle class, and the lack of that type of degree could be a hindrance in that progress; even allowing that the two year degree is advantageous in some areas, but as the workforce in America requires education beyond that, Pritzker’s proposal does have merit.

Banning cellphones in the classroom may be the harder lift for the governor, as anyone who has school age children, especially teenagers, know that they are tethered to their phones, night and day; along with their parents, and while it does have educational components, there are areas of concern: bullying using social media, text messages demanding attention away from the instructor, and losing interaction with other students.

Pritzker wants school leadership to come up with a plan that creates policies that ban them, but with some allowances for special education students, “health concerns or who are learning English could still use them when necessary, “said the Sun Times.

Taking a look at the community college proposal, this to perhaps many readers many come as a surprise, and also to learn that, “There are 24 states across the country that have this type of policy in place, including Indiana, Missouri and Michigan just in the Midwest,” said the Martin Torres, Pritzker’s deputy governor for education, in his interview with Capitol News Illinois, adding that the schools themselves have advocated for.

In identifying those high need areas, Torres also noted that there are 200 community colleges across the country who are doing this today,”

Areas of need include health care, early childhood education, and manufacturing, a few examples that he cited in the interview.

Approval would be required by the Illinois Board of Higher Education and the Illinois Community College Board.

"Expanding baccalaureate degree programs at community colleges increases access to affordable higher education, allowing more students to earn four-year degrees without the burden of excessive debt. This approach also helps meet workforce demands by equipping graduates with the skills needed in high-demand fields, ultimately strengthening local economies and communities," said Illinois Community College Board Executive Director Brian Durham. "

Tuition would be capped by the proposal at no “more than 150 % of their regular tuition for the third and fourth years of a four year program, making toi a real benefit to students who are older, needing to work, and “have personal logistics and circumstances that just don’t allow for them to up and move to wherever a four year public university may be,” added Torres.

“This is about access and opportunity,” said State Representative Katz Muhl. “Seventy-eight percent of community college students work while in school, making relocation impractical. By allowing community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees, we’re giving more Illinoisans a real chance at upward mobility while strengthening the local workforce. I’m proud to support this initiative that puts students and communities first.” 

Of these, the governor said, “By allowing our community colleges to offer baccalaureate degrees for in-demand career paths, we are making it easier and more affordable for students—particularly working adults in rural communities—to advance their careers while strengthening our state’s economy.”  

It is important to note that In other remarks, Muhl added that 78% of community college students work, and that work is often in the communities they would study in and furthermore as Dr. Keith Cornille, President of Heartland Community College, said, they also “raise families hee, and contribute to the local community,” and through this expansion, “we’re meeting students where they are.”

Support for this, and giving a major push is “The Illinois Community College Trustees Association (ICCTA) [which] advocates for policies that strengthen community colleges and expand opportunities for students.”

And, as “the primary organization spearheading this initiative, ICCTA works closely with state legislators, education leaders, and industry partners to advance workforce-aligned degree pathways.” 

More importantly it is not known how public universities across Illinois might react, and the ball is in the court of the community colleges to decide how to pay “for any additional costs associated with the programs.”

Seeing successful efforts across the country seems to have bolstered Pritzker, and research shows that more than 24 community colleges across the country have done so, and specifically in such fields as health care, nursing, in particular, nut also information management, business and economics as well as traditional fields such as college instruction in English.

In a recent blog post from Georgetown University, The Feed, they noted that, “Students in California are no longer restricted to four-year institutions to pursue a bachelor’s degree, as an increasing number of the state’s 116 community colleges are offering four-year programs in specialized, high-demand fields, including dental hygiene, bio-manufacturing, and automotive technology, The Los Angeles Times reports. The relative affordability of community college bachelor’s degrees taps into a student population that otherwise wouldn’t attend a four-year college, experts say.

“If [students] want to do a bachelor’s degree, we should not have barriers. Period,” Sonya Christian, the chancellor of the California Community Colleges, tells the LA Times.

The move gained momentum and we have seen that,”Since 2014, California’s community colleges have offered four-year degrees through the Community College Baccalaureate Degree Program (CCB), which aims to provide accessible, affordable, and practical high-quality degrees to community college students. A 2021 law made the program permanent, allowing the state to approve up to 30 bachelor’s degree programs each academic year, as long as they do not duplicate those offered by the California State University and University of California systems. A total of 31 baccalaureate programs across 27 community colleges are either currently available to students or have been approved and will soon be offered, EdSource reports. Nationally, CCB degrees are now offered in 23 states and across 121 institutions, according to the Community College Baccalaureate Association.”

There is evidence, however, that there needs to be greater uniformity to ensure success for those students, and the CCBA has said in its 2023 report, supporting the effort, but did issue a cautionary note: “However, to date, there is no unified set of quality standards for community colleges seeking to confer baccalaureate degrees. Filling this void is critical due to the rapid expansion of CCB programs in the United States,” and added, “Further, CCB-conferring colleges need to demonstrate how these new pathways produce more equitable baccalaureate attainment outcomes for all student groups.

There may also be some bias against these institutions by some employers coupled with a bias towards students that are not traditionally aged learners.

Cost of course is a motivating factor in the Pritzker proposal and CCB did offer these considerations:

“Keeping the cost of college modest enough to enable students with limited socioeconomic resources to attend is an important goal of many CCB programs. Most states with CCB degree programs intentionally set tuition and fees for CCB degree programs at levels comparable to the tuition costs of other programs in the community college. There are three predominant tuition rate policies for CCB degree programs. First, community colleges set the upper division tuition rate at the same or very similar to lower division tuition, thereby keeping the tuition rate in the last two years consistent with the first two years of community college. This approach is used by states like Florida, Ohio, Oregon, and Wyoming.

A second approach to tuition rate policy is for states to specify that the upper division tuition rate can rise up to 150 percent of the tuition at the lower division level. California put this policy in state statute in 2014, and this policy remains law through new legislation expanding CCB programming in the state, “and Imitating California’s CCB bill, Arizona set upper division tuition rates at up to 150 percent of the lower division tuition rate of community colleges.”

They also cited that there is “A third approach is used in Washington, where the upper division tuition rate is set at a similar level as the state’s regional public universities, with the idea being students securing the upper division bachelor’s instruction should pay a similar rate regardless of whether they attend a regional public university or community college. This policy was adopted when the first CCB legislation was passed in Washington in 2005 when tuition rates were lower across the board. Washington is also a state with a community college tuition policy that allows students to move between community colleges without paying in and out of district tuition, giving students a great deal of flexibility of college attendance. Therefore, while the Washington tuition policy reflects a higher level of tuition and fees for CCB degree programs than in other states, the high level of competition among community colleges may help keep tuition rates competitive at both the associates and bachelor’s levels.”

Looking at the second Pritzker proposal that there should be a phone ban in all Illinois public and charter schools, has been met with a mixed bag of reactions, with some praising the governor, and even citing instances where there are bans has had some feeling that the focus on student and teacher interaction has been a gainsay, according to coverage in the Sun Times, but others have said, citing high schoolers that as the old adage states, where there's a will there's a way.

“If someone doesn’t want to do their work, they’re going to find a way not to do it,” said Esmerealda Oroczo, a senior at Farragut Center Academy in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood where students are not “allowed to carry their cellphones in school.”

Some schools, in their bans, require students to put their phones in a locked bag, that only a teacher or administrator can open, but yet many students place a “burner” or prepaid phone in the bag, hiding their contract phones; and, these are smartphones that can access the internet and have camera and photo capabilities, plus the ubiquitous text messaging; and, all of which can be used to cyber bully other students and the dreaded sexting.

The story also cited a Pew Research study that said 72% of teachers said that students with access to phones was a “major problem”, yet despite some noting the positive results, one teacher’s assistant told us that taking a student’s phone away exposed her later to an angry parent, who told her, ‘I paid for the damn phone, give it back.”

For many students with care duties for younger relatives, living in, or attending schools in dangerous neighborhoods, phone access is a necessity, which leads to many exceptions, and discussions in the statehouse when these proposals are in committee.

Actions have consequences and Pritzker has said that enforcement might include fines, tickets or police actions.

Looking abroad, at about the same time that the governor made his proposal, Denmark, according to the BBC, said that they would have a similar ban, from their education minister, based on a government task force recommendation, “is set to ban smartphones in schools and after school clubs.”

While the details have not yet been released by their government, Mattias Tesfoye, Minister for Children and Education, said the ban would entail, “mobile phones and personal tablets will not be allowed at school, neither during break times nor during lessons.”

Preceding the Danish ban, the BBC noted it was based on “recommendations from a youth wellbeing commission,” to restrict  “the use of smartphones to those aged 13 and older.”

Can Fact Finder report bring CTU and CPS to a contract?

It’s been nearly a year since the Chicago Teachers Union began negotiations on a new contract, with the old one ending last April, and now there are current requests for higher pay, less restrictive evaluations, and money for more librarians and counselors has not gone unheeded but face budgetary concerns; but, these have been accompanied by dramatic moments, notably the firing of the Chicago Public Schools CEO, Pedro Martinez, and history in the making with the inclusion of the city’s first elected school board members.

The reactions have been varied and have resulted in widespread criticism from former school officials, conservative voices that have aligned themselves against not only the union, one of the most powerful in the country, but also against Mayor Brandon Johnson himself, a former school teacher, and official; and, whose union support helped propel him to office.

In a city where bare knuckled political battles are the norm, it seems that the CTU is in the eye of the storm, with each day bringing blaring headlines and egregious statements, sometimes cagy, and frequently predicting hell and damnation to the other side.

Chicago has the nation's third largest school system, just behind New York and Los Angeles, and for years has been plagued by a tax based funding formula that pitted the haves against the have nots, and has a student population of nearly half Black and half Hispanic student, who mostly have not had the politically backing of local, and even state officials; and, whose classrooms have been swelled by the arrival of immigrant students, many of whom were bussed, with their families, from the Southern Border by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a move that was seen by many as a prime example of political gamesmanship.

This has left many teachers, and most administrators, trying to cope with students who have not been in school in months, as their families struggled under dangerous conditions to escape political corruption, and gang violence to the United States; with the challenges of learning a new language and a new country, where often the teachers do not speak that language, most often Spanish; all of which adds to an existing population of students who are not infrequently low income, but often homeless. 

Framed this way, it’s not hard to see why teachers want, and need, more money, plus more resources, plus a more balanced evaluation system that reflects that not all of the work takes place in the classroom.

With the fiscal burden facing not only the city, with its pension funding challenges, there is the fundamental problem of creating a stable school system that faces these and many other issues, to create a strong corps of future employees, in an ever changing, world that demands much from its workforce, than in previous eras.

Enter Pedro Martinez, Chicago raised, and a veteran administrator, whose return to Chicago was a homecoming,and while he has the experience, checkered, say his critics; but, his leadership of this often troubled system had brought him to the unwelcome task of telling Johnson that he did not want to take out a high priced loan to shore up the financial demands of the union; and, in turn this led to some very public spats with not only the mayor but the CTU President Stacy Gates that led to his eventual firing, and a host of subsequent legal battles that kept him as lead negotiator in the battle for the new contract.

After a state mandated factfinder was brought in, much to the surprise of Gates, and Martinez, he agreed with many points from each side, and not only this widespread agreement, but sided with CPS in stating that a 4% pay increase during the first year was tenable and later inching up to 4.5% in subsequent years, reaching a compromise of sorts, and agreeing with the need for 90 new librarians by 2029, and more family engagement coordinators to help with the diverse needs of student families.

Matt Malin, the factfinder, had his work cut out for him, but even the union’s lawyer Latoya Kimbrough agreed that this was one of the best reports since the 2010 law, saying, "Without a doubt The best fact finding report the partners received since it became a part of the law.”

It’s no secret that President Trump wants to abolish the US Dept. of Education, and specifically has said that his goal is “ending radical indoctrination” in American schools, and the rejection of the report, can take all parties back to the drawing board, but also run the real risk of punitive measures from the new administration, and that could result in the loss of much needed revenue for not only low income students, but those with special needs as well.

Martinez has said that he feels the report was, “a very thoughtful and thorough analysis,” and Miguel Perreta, the district lead coordinator, has said, "overall, the report highlights how close we are at bargaining.”

Gates has given support, of sorts, by noting that there is no agreement on everything, but that it is a step forward, and was quoted in the local media as being “dumbfounded" with its largely favorable agreements with union demands.

Both sides have  a 30 day clock, or countdown, and the CTU would be able to notify the district of a 10 day strike notice, which as we’ve seen, might prove an opening for the Trump administration to intervene; and, from what has come down

from the administration, with its myriad of executive orders, that would not be welcomed by either side.

Chicago School CEO Pedro Martinez is fired

In a not unexpected move this Friday the Chicago School Board fired School CEO Pedro Martinez, in a closed executive session, after members of the public both praised and panned him, citing a failure of leadership, but without specific charges; and, most importantly lawyers for Martinez filed a temporary restraining order, that was too late to prevent such a move.

Well known among residents was the reason: Martinez’s failure to agree to a $300 million high interest loan to shore up teacher pensions and a pending contract, which put a target on his back by Mayor Brandon Johnson a former teacher and organizer for the powerful Chicago Teachers Union, and made him a figure of unofficial censure by many within, and without, the mayoral administration, as well as some teachers and principals.

Things had reached a fever pitch in recent weeks, and there has been a sea of rumors of when, if, and even how, Martinez could be fired, with or without cause. And, in the face of that, nearly one-third of local principals had expressed satisfaction with Martiniez and wrote the mayor a letter expressing support.

In an editorial from the Chicago Tribune the authors noted that, “More than 670 CPS principals and assistant principals — two-thirds of the 1,100 in the district — have signed a letter urging the current appointed board to retain Martinez in spite of the ongoing maneuvering by Johnson and his Chicago Teachers Union allies to remove the CEO and smooth the path to a new teachers contract that would cost an estimated $1.8 billion in the first year and more than $9.2 billion over the full agreement.”

In a prescient move, the Tribune noted: “A messy ouster, most likely accompanied by a payout to Martinez (unless the board can come up with some reason to fire him “for cause” since his contract is not up until July 1, 2026) is not in the best interests of the district. Martinez, at least, is attempting to keep taxpayers in mind by trying to hold the line on teacher contract demands that CPS has deemed “unaffordable,” claims the Tribune.

In the letter, it was noted that: “Pedro Martinez is our 9th CEO since 2009. ... Removing the CEO at this time means less guidance and support for principals and teachers until soon the lack of support hits the very people the system is built to serve — the more than 325,000 CPS students.”

“It is my hope the appointed school board will hold off any efforts for change in CPS leadership,” the principal continued, “until they take the time to speak directly to school leaders and hear how any decision to remove CEO Martinez will impact our ability to lead our schools.”

Do it for the kids is a popular tag line from past CEO battles and this seems to be true than, as it is now, and as the editorial board continued: “Johnson, for his part, won’t score any points with principals with this testy response when a reporter’s asked for his thoughts on the letter: “I actually don’t think much of it. ...Nope. I don’t think much of it at all.”

In an earlier attempt, The CPS Board offered Martinez a contract buyout.but local media reported that he had declined the offer.

"Pedro Martinez intends to honor his contract with the Chicago Public Schools and see that the 325,305 students and parents get the benefit of what they bargained with him," Martinez's attorney Bill Quinlan said.

And it was reported that, “According to Martinez's contract, the school board must find cause to fire Martinez.If not, it could lead to an expensive lawsuit,” just the result that we see going forward.

Coming on the heels of that effort, storm clouds were gathering when this was also reported: "We asked you, the board, to play a more active role in our negotiations because the CEO is supposed to be bargaining on the behalf of the board, and he is doing the opposite," Chicago Teachers Union financial secretary Maria Moreno said.

“In October, Martinez spoke to ABC7, responding to criticism that he has no CPS funding plan, and is relying on proposed cuts.He was also asked if he thought the mayor's picks for a new school board could end up firing him.”

"I don't know. I really don't. I'm being sincere," Martinez said. "I will say what's great right now is that, you know, it's very transparent what my contract says."

In what was an important development that led to Friday’s move, “The previous school board was not willing to fire Martinez or secure the short-term, high-interest loan to help pay for a new teachers contract, which led to a mass resignation in October.”

"I did not expect for this to escalate to the way it did," Martinez said at the time.

“Replacing Martinez is reaching new urgency for the mayor, his school board and their allies at the Chicago Teachers Union, who want to land a new collective bargaining agreement before mid-January, when a new 21-member partly elected school board takes over. The union has accused Martinez of being an obstacle to its demands. Just two weeks ago, the board instructed Martinez to settle the contract in the “coming days.”

“Martinez has defended his record at CPS, saying he helped shepherd the district through the latter stages of remote learning, then the return to classrooms and a subsequent nation-leading recovery in reading and math. He also has pointed to a revamp of the district’s school funding formula that activists, including the CTU, have long requested”

It has been widely noted by local media that “contract negotiations have proven to be a chief point of contention

“When the 21-member board takes office in January, with 10 members elected on Nov. 5 and another 11 appointed by the mayor, it might be harder to reach consensus on a CTU contract. Johnson’s handpicked board members are pushing hard to get a deal with the union now, but some elected board members will be opposed to the mayor and CTU.”

“Martinez and his team seem to be unwilling to meet many of the CTU’s demands, particularly around staffing, which they have said are far too expensive for the cash-strapped district that just faced a half-billion-dollar deficit this year. Martinez, like the mayor and CTU, has pushed for more state funding. But there’s no guarantee that comes through after they were rejected last spring and as the state faces its own financial difficulties,” according to both the Sun Times and WBEZ.

Chicago is the fourth largest school district in the nation, and has had decades of student population turnover, high and lows for test scores, and has faced competition from charter schools. It has also had less money due to a tax based system that often leaves it out in the cold, compared with wealthier suburban schools.

A large part of the challenges that it has also faced was with its predominantly Black and Brown population, and the lack of will by some white lawmakers to effectively fund and support it to meet growing modern day challenges has been a constant.

Martinez,a Chicago native, and graduate of CPS, confronted a maelstrom of discontent and dissatisfaction dealing with these, and would have not been able, under the best of circumstances, to turn the schools around to what the students both deserve, and need, after decades of neglect.

Former Governor Bruce Rauner likened the physical plant of many Chicago schools to “crumbling prisons,” and some, especially in the poorer sections of the West and South Sides of the city do fit that description, as painful as it sounds.

Added to student population mix are many homeless children who face outside pressures of where to sleep and eat, much less to find a place to do homework;and, then less than two years ago the district faced a wave of immigration, first promulgated by Texas governor Greg Abbott, who sent thousands to the city and whose parents, as much as their students faced the same problems of the local homeless population, with the added burden of a language barrier, where teachers often enlisted janitors to translate for Spanish speaking students.

Martinez as noted, is the latest of a series of school CEOs that have had mayoral backing, and then found disfavor as they tried to meet the myriad of issues that the system faced, and one, in particular Barbara Byrd Bennett who went to jail in a bribery investigation and “was sentenced to 4 ½ years at Federal Prison Camp,Alderson in West Virginia”; all of which has made most white parents send their children to private schools, either in the city, or suburbia, and has left the CTU and other educators to try and do the best that they can with limited resources. 

For many, the money spent per pupil, seems high, yet there are problems that money alone cannot solve, for example those homeless and migrant students arriving from South America, who in addition to the language barrier, had not been schooled for many months due to school closures in their native countries, and the violence they often faced, and the dangerous journey across the Darien Gap to reach the United States.

Now, halfway through the school year, these challenges will not go away, nor will Martinez whose contract has him remain in place for 180 days be able to turn around and make any substantial changes to counter his critics.

Floating around is a rumor that there will be an addition of a Co CEO or a reduction in Martinez’s duties, but this would be a direct violation of his contract, and would also expose the city to yet another costly lawsuit, and negative national publicity,which would be ripe for an intervention form the incoming Trump administration, and the undesired attention of Elon Musk.

“Moreno has blamed Martinez for dragging his feet to get a deal done. CTU is anxious to resolve the labor dispute before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. The union originally sent CPS over 700 contract demands, including a 9% raise,” according to recent reportage.

"CPS still doesn't know how to negotiate with its workers. We want to settle via negotiation, and we have provided a pathway to settlement," Moreno said.

With the incoming Trump administration, Chicago is already a target and previous trash talk about the city, its Democratic majority, violence and school issues by Trump has posited it for his attention.

Already in a recent visit to Chicago the newly, but not yet official Border Czar, Tom Homan, a Trump loyalist said to an approving crowd, that “Your mayor sucks,” and added Illinois Governor JB Pritzker to the same torrent of abuse.

Timing is everything and Johnson timed the firing, with what many have seen as a none too subtle push with his chosen board, before the newly elected school board members begin their term in January.