Lightfoot budget sails through Council approval

 

There was an old song, from long ago, with the refrain of “What Lola wants, Lola gets,” and that seems to be the appropriate victory song for Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot as her proposed budget sailed from committee and into the city council on Wednesday, where it passed on a 35 to 15 vote, to the tune of $16.7 billion.

Key to its success was a flood of federal money from the American Rescue Plan Act, $1.9 billion, that gave a historical 30 percent increase to city expenditures, and where everyone who wanted money for any cause got it, or as The Chicago Sun Times reported, “There are dollars here for damn near everything that everybody talked about,” said Ald. Jason Ervin, chair of the Black Caucus.

Many residents, and lawmakers, had previously criticized Lightfoot for not proposing a revenue stream for many of the progressive planks that she ran on, as a mayoral candidate, and this budget attempts to reverse that image.

A case in point was her position, along with that of Public Health Commissioner, Dr. Allison Arwady, to not reopen all of the city’s public health clinics, (mostly closed by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel) but to focus instead on the federally qualified health centers of which the latter said, “is more efficient and effective.”

The change in position, to at least open some of them, rankled many, but she did agree to a staffing increase of 72 percent with the five existing clinics; but most of all gave  a boost of $6.3 million.

Some local leaders such as Amika Tendaji, executive director of Black Lives Matter Chicago, said that the private clinics, “falls short in its true service toward the public,” and expressed concerns before the final vote,claiming that there is a lack of accountability, and told local public radio station, WBEZ that, “When you call [them] they don't answer the phone.”

Ald. Carlos Ramirez Rosa, chair of the Democratic Socialist Caucus, praised the efforts of his five member coalition, which also included grass roots organizations, that helped push for the proposed changes that influenced the mayor’s proposals.

The City Council’s Progressive Caucus, said in a statement on Wednesday, “While we still need to prioritize more progressive structural revenue and direct all of these resources equitably, especially around racial redress, this is a progressive budget and a good start.”

Chicago, like other major cities in America, faces a severe lack of affordable housing and Ald. Maria Hadden proposed $10 million, but got $5 million, for the repair, upkeep and renovation of the city’s single room occupancy hotels, “which often house the poorest Chicagoans in the worst conditions,” according to her statement to local public television station WTTW.

Overall, there is $635 million that will go to affordable housing initiatives, a figure that also includes help to 4,000 homes for low to moderate income residents.

Tacking on that is $31.5 million to pilot a year-long program for basic income to poor residents, with $500 checks going to 5,000 Chicago families in the greatest need. 

This was passed over the criticism of the City Council’s Black Caucus who instead wanted a package of reparations for the descendants of Black slaves. 

Civic Federation President Laurence Msall expressed concern about creating an area of dependency for this plan, despite the worthiness of its intentions, and said, “It’s only for one year, or, at the most, two years. City finance officials have assured us that there is no ongoing commitment once this money is passed out,” but he also worries that some might expect that the amount would increase, beyond the federal dollars that support it, and, “is no longer available.”

This view is also shared for the $22 million earmarked to help the homeless population as Doug Schenkelberg, Executive Director at the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, told WBEZ, in advance of the final vote, “when you’re using a one time funding source, you're not going to have those dollars in the next year, unless you create another funding stream.”

What he would rather see, and will continue to work for, is, as reported, “to lobby the mayor to back their proposal to increase taxes on new property sales over $1 million to create a consistent revenue source to address homelessness.”

Of equal concern, from others, is that to fund these progressive entities the city is “borrowing an additional $660 million,” just as “it pays off another high interest debt it incurred last fall as the second surge of the pandemic crested.”

Using a bond effort, common to city budgets, there are those concerned, Msall among them, who claim there needs to be a detailed plan of expenditure; but, which has not yet been seen, for an otherwise sound fiscal strategy.

Another increase in the property tax levy, tied to the consumer price index (which will grow to $76.5 million) was met with less enthusiasm, by some, especially “on the heels of a $94 million hike in real estate taxes last year,” reported the Chicago Sun Times, held by a vote of 32 to 18.

That $22,9 million, included $25 million to support the first instalment of the mayor’s $3.7 billion capital plan, coupled with $28.6 million from new properties, and an approved bond issue, noted The Bond Buyer.

The elephant in the room is still pensions, and specifically the four plans the city needs to pay, as mandated by the Illinois State Constitution to the tune of $2.3 billion, an “increase of $255 million as compared with 2021.”

Lightfoot praised the plan by saying, “In 2022, with the Budget we are proposing, we will climb our pension ramp, which means that for the first time in our city’s history, and all four pension funds will be paid on an actually determined basis. This is huge,” a statement that Forbes columnist Elizabeth Bauer objected to, pointing out the state law requirement.

She also pointed out that “the plan’s actuarial valuations calculate a figure that’s labelled the Actuarially Determined Contribution;” but, that instead is `` [really] determined “by the Retirement Board for respective plans!”

She says that the city will have to establish rules “when the new Standard of Practice is finally finalized, the city will have to change its ADC calculator. And what that means, is that gap between the city’s actual contribution and the ADC will be even wider, in the short term, with the payoff that the debt is paid off much sooner.”

"Significantly, there is still no long term source from Springfield. Nor has the General Assembly heeded the Civic Federation’s call for a state constitutional amendment eliminating the pension protection clause going forward,”according to the Sun Times.

While Lightfoot can justify enjoying another Scotch and steak with this budget victory there are some valid concerns about what happens to city expenditures after the federal monies run out, and how she can manage strategic issues in the future, among them enduring problems such as homelessness and crime, despite giving the Chicago Police Department by $189 million with a new police contract, and a much delayed pay raise of 20 percent over the next eight years.

Pedro Martinez is new Chicago Schools CEO

History in the making occurred on Wednesday in Chicago when Pedro Martinez was named as the new CEO of Chicago Public Schools, the first Latino of a school system, the nation’s third largest, with a predominant Latino population.

An immigrant from Mexico he was raised in Chicago, graduated from Juarez School, and earned degrees at the University of Illinois, and De Paul university, so his cred as a hometown boy made good rings true.

In naming him, Mayor Lori Lightfoot praised his commitment to low income students, and mostly Hispanic, from his last post in San Antonio. Yet, he joins a  long list of saints and sinners who have held that post, including the now infamous Barbara Byrd Bennet who became a jailed felon after a kickback scheme from a former employer, to others that seemed, more or less, to warm the seats of their office chairs, interims excepted.

Being the seventh CEO in ten years gives many locals pause to see what, if any skills he can bring to a system beset by racial inequality, poverty, and homelessness, against a public that doesn’t trust the system, its adherents, or the ability to provide a sound education.

Martinez, unlike his recent successor, Janice Jackson, has no education degree, no classroom experience, and earned his stripes on the finance side with degrees in accounting and the requisite MBA. 

In addition, while he did diversify the student population in San Antonio he did so through a partnership with charter schools that were heavily supported both in scope, and support, with a corporate model.

Much of that was supported by graduating from the Broad Superintendents Academy, who many see as taking a business model, as its focus. And, this will undoubtedly make the powerful Chicago Teachers Union cringe, who after winning victories with Lightfoot, still has her, and her appointe, in its sights.

There was also a fellowship in the Public Leadership Project at Harvard University, but this, like BSA, seems thin compared to Jackson, with her solid educational credentials.

While there is a moratorium on charter schools in Chicago, coming into town with that as a stain, will not make his tenure easy. Add to that the sheen of a corporate model, the future battles can already be seen.

From the jump, Martinez faces three immediate issues: the Covid pandemic and how it will affect instruction, and its return to in person learning, the demands from the CTU for protection of its teachers, and staff; the continued need for the so called wrap around services, including nurses, and social workers; and, the budget that allows, at least parity with its suburban counterparts, and declining enrollment, and the decision to close, or even merge some schools.

He has leaned heavily on his personal narrative, but this can only take him so far.  In fact, Alejandra Lopez, president of the employee union in the San Antonio district cautioned, “Don’t be fooled by his personal narrative of growing up as a working class person, because I think unfortunately that can serve as a bit of distraction from what his records shows,” reported The Chicago Sun Times.

CTU has said, in a statement, with a side swipe at the mayor, “Despite having no classroom or in school experience, Mr. Martinez will have to be an independent thinker, a far better partner and collaborator than Mayor Lightfoot,”

He also will face a new 21 member school board, a long sought dream by progressive educators to give a role to parents, but one that was trashed by Lightfoot, despite her earlier promises, as a mayoral candidate, to look favorably, at least, on a hybrid model.

Martinez responded that, “for the last decade, that’s all I've had is school boards,” but affirmed that his allegiance is to the mayor, and, “the support of the city.”

He had a run-in with a school board in Nevada, which fired him, but was later forced to retreat, on a technicality, and hire him back, and later send him out with a six figure salary.

It’s unclear exactly how many Latinx students are in Chicago schools, the Chicago Sun Times approximated that while being one third in 2000, they are half of the district today.

Certainly, the optics of having a Latino also supports their growing political power in Chicago, and also as the recent census shows, people of color are taking a dominant feature in American life.

No one is expecting a honeymoon period for Martinez, and his track record is often uncomfortable reading: facing a possible takeover by the state of Texas if low performing schools did not turn around, he felt he was left with no choice than to partner with charters, reported Chalkbeat, claiming, It left my board and I with really limited options.”

The subsequent partnership with a high school charter, called “the Centers for Applied Science and Technology, or CAST. . .which have an impressive list of university partners, tout internships and dual credit opportunities. . . quickly became a draw.”

Problems arose when these schools adopted “a substantial fraction of their enrollment from wealthier areas outside city limits,” that increased enrollment, as well as “economic diversity but meant some local city students had to compete for seats.”

In Chicago, Martinez will also have to face black parents and their distrust of a system that saw 50 of its neighborhood schools close under former Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and the threatened, but failed recent action to close a high school, and transfer their students to an award winning elementary school, displacing the latter.

Like many school systems across the country Chicago faces using emergency funds from the federal government, but also the temptation to use that money for additional personnel, but fear that when the money ends, which is only temporary, how can they sustain them on a tight payroll?

Inquiries as to Martinez’s salary have not been met by local media.

Chicago Public Schools face anxiety with a surging virus

When Chicago Public Schools open Monday, students, parents and staff will face a different landscape than last year, which due to the Coronavirus pandemic, mostly prevented in person learning; but, this year is different both with the Delta Variant surge as well as politics.

While many parents bemoaned the pressure, and the challenges of remote learning, there were some, perhaps the minority, where students thrived, including some special needs students who welcomed the change; but, for many others it hampered both their social and emotional skills development. 

CPS largely agrees that the benefits of classroom learning are the best course, but they have also frustrated some parents who want a greater level of protection from the surging Delta Variant, as well as a level of commitment that there be some contingency plans for remote learning.

They are joined by the Chicago Teachers Union who would like to see some type of plan, even an algorithm, that would protect students and teachers, if cases increase, and schools may need to close, even if only for a few weeks.

What they have received is that there will be no mandatory online health check required, and that parents are on their own judgement to create one. Added to that there is a looser path towards social distancing, with a varied view ranging from  3 to 6 feet, but with the latter maintained during lunch periods.

Masks are now mandatory from last week’s order from Illinois governor, J.B. Pritzker, who says they must be worn by everyone 2 or older, beginning Monday, and for students, “from kindergarten to college,” reported The New York Times.

Chicago is the nation’s third largest school system, and faces wide gaps in racial makeup, student family income, and also contains many homeless children, who face the pandemic in ways that other students may not.

Leading the changes, and the worries among parents and educators is that “the seven day average of newly reported Covid 19 cases in the state has tripled to 3,533 from 1,140 a month ago, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University,” and reported by The Wall Street Journal last week.

Hospitalizations have also increased at a level not seen since May, which concerns the Illinois Department of Public Health Director Ngozi Ezike as she has seen an increase filling hospital beds to an average of almost 500 ICU beds.

As we’ve seen, most of these occur among the unvaccinated, and with school children under 12 years old, who cannot yet be vaccinated, protections are now in place from the state as well as the local level in Illinois.

Pritzker’s mask mandate is a strong measure to prevent the further spread in this population, and  has so far not been a political football as in other states such as Texas, or Florida; giving relief to many.

Illinois Gov. Pritzker

One development for those schools in some states that are fighting for, or rejecting, mask mandates is that insurance providers may not provide coverage for pandemic related lawsuits this school year, noted edweek.org, and that they “are also threatening to entirely drop districts hat fail to follow public health mandes, such as states’ requirements that all students wear masks.”

“Everyone has an idea of what the guidance should be. But insurance companies have the power to say, ‘We won’t cover you,’” said Helio Brasil, the superintendent of the Keyes Union school district in California. “There’s a veto power there, and I’m back at ground zero.”

“PJ Caposey, the superintendent of the Meridian school district in Illinois, has been struggling to explain to parents in his community why he’s requiring all students this fall to wear masks inside school buildings.

Earlier this summer, the district had planned to make masks optional. Even when public-health agencies were strongly recommending masks, Caposey held firm.

That changed on Aug. 4, when Gov. J.B. Pritzker issued a statewide mandate for universal masking in schools to combat the surging spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of COVID-19.”

“I live in a community that would prefer me to defy the governor’s order and just do school the way I want to,” Caposey said.

But, Caposey said, “If we don’t listen, the insurance companies can say we’re not going to be protected. People don’t want to believe me or don’t think that’s a good enough reason.”

There has been a steady increase in children with Covid since July, a fourfold increase according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, “rising from about 38,000 cases the week ended July 22 to 180,000 the past week, according to the AAP,” in a report cited by the Journal.

An important caveat is that all who  are “eligible in a household with young children get vaccinated to better protect them,” they added.

The Midwest, along with the South, has also seen a significant increase in the number of children admitted with Covid 19, reaching a peak of 282 from Aug. 12 to the 18th, yet the AAP considers these hospitalizations, and even death, uncommon.

Edging into the data, and beyond, is that many school districts are distancing themselves from “clear metrics” and have moved to a wait-and-see approach, added the Journal, and this seems to be the Chicago approach: avoiding repeated change, and subsequent anger from teachers by the very powerful CTU.

What CPS has said is that there might be a “brief pause in an entire school’s operation is a serious step, but may be necessary in some circumstances.”

Hitting the nail on the head was Jennifer Finley, the health services director at Dallas Independent School District, who in her Journal interview, said, “There’s no magic number.”

That may be the case but, “districts around the country are already seeing quarantines and closures due to the virus. More than 10,700 students and school employees in Hillsborough County, Fla., last week were either in isolation because of a positive Covid 19 test or in quarantine due to potential exposure.”

Close on the heels of the numbers is a high level of anxiety, reported The Hill, on Monday, that Boston’s Children’s Hospital has seen more children report to the hospital with symptoms of anxiety,” than pre-pandemic.

It was also noted that ”already, schools in 19 states have sent at least 90,000 students to quarantine, while others have shut down, just days and weeks into the year.”

Taking a giant leap forward was the Culver City Unified District outside of Los Angeles who are making all students over the age of 12 to get vaccinated “by mid November to help avoid closure decisions.”

New York has the largest public school system in the US and has taken a more targeted approach to the dilemma and has a plan that “will test a random sample of 10 percent of people in schools every other week,” that will focus on students, and only students, while all adults will face a vaccination requirement.

All elementary children will face required testing, with parental consent, and “only unvaccinated middle and high schoolers will be tested, reported the Times.

Monday afternoon’s news from The Hill has chilled those states that have bans on mask mandates:

“The Education Department announced on Monday that it has opened civil rights investigations into five statewide bans on mask mandates to determine whether they discriminate against students with disabilities.

The department’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) sent letters to school officials in Iowa, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah describing how bans on universal mask requirements could prevent schools from implementing policies that protect students from COVID-19, particularly those with underlying medical conditions “related to their disability.”

Spared, for the moment, are Arkansas, Florida and Texas, “because those states are not yet enforcing their policies due to court battles or “”other state actions.””

Illinois and Chicago wrestle with pensions despite ratings

 

The state of Illinois got a much needed jolt in the arm at the end of June, when its credit rating was boosted, pulling it back from its general obligation debt to Baa2 from Baa3 by Moody’s Investors Service, supported, in part by tax revenue, bounce backs from federal coffers, and a rebound in the state’s economy.

Gov. JB Pritzker crafted a budget that increased pension contributions and paybacks of emergency money from the Federal Reserve, giving some much needed juice to rumors' that it was going to be the first in the nation to be at risk of having its bonds cut to junk.

Pritzker noted at the time, “it’s a huge note of progress for our state,” and added, “Illinois’s fiscal condition is heading in the right direction for the first time in the 21st century.”

Coupled with Fitch’s raised outlook to positive to negative, praised the state’s “fiscal resilience,” according to Bloomberg, but also noted that Standard and Poor's along with Fitch are “still one notch above junk,” and retains “the lowest credit rating of all U.S. states.”

Earning high marks was the payback of $3.2 billion in monies borrowed from the Fed’s emergency loan program; and got a booster shot of $8.1 billion from President Biden’s rescue funds.

Still looming on the horizon is the rating, toward the bottom, for unfunded pension liabilities, according to the American Legislative Exchange Council, a conservative membership organization that espouses “limited government, free markets and federalism”  ranks Illinois 49th for total liability, on a per capita basis, of $31,980 per person.

The right leaning website, The Center Square, in a recent email noted that “Failing interest rates and weaker than expected investment performance have also been hampering the state’s pension plans.”

Taking the conservatives' take in hand, Illinois still has work to do, and pension reform is among them.

While the right likes to blame the malfeasance on the shoulders of Pritzker, others like News Gazette columnist Tom Kacich, have traced much of the blame on Republican governors and university presidents who kicked the can down the road. 

What a can: $317 billion was the number from Moody’s in June 2020, and that reflected a 19% increase at the end of FY 2019, and currently the state has from the total of 5 retirement systems $144 billion in unfunded liabilities, and needs $10 billion just to stay afloat.

On the other side of the equation, its largest city and the driver of the state economy, Chicago, has a pension debt obligation of almost $1.1 billion in 2020, according to the city’s audited financial reports, according to a recent report from local public television station, WTTW.

The bad news: Chicago owes $32.9 billion to all four pension funds belonging to police, firefighters, municipal employees and labor, they noted, quoting the 2020 Certified Annual Financial Report, an increase of almost 3.5% from 2019.

If the devil is in the details, then this growth was anticipated, said Chief Financial Officer Jennie Huang Bennett, since the required payments are based on actuarial estimates, and as the station noted, “helped balloon the city’s structural deficit,” beginning in 2020.

That withstanding the debt is still “significantly” underfunded per Chicago’s Annual Comprehensive Financial Report for 2020.

While critics have complained about the city’s tardiness in releasing the report, it’s easy to see why the bad news takes so long, with the revelation that firefighter’s funds has the “lowest level of the four, at 19%..”

The city’s mayor, the much beleaguered, Lori Lightfoot noted that it is the biggest problem with Chicago finances, and promises to “force a reckoning” in Springfield, but city hall observers and economists wonder what she can get from Pritzker without jeopardizing their relationship, and on the heel of the aforementioned financial success Pritzker managed to eke out.

Some in the local media have speculated that the changing role of Chicago mayor has deviated so much from yesteryear, if she can muster the power to go to Springfield, even hat in hand.

It should be noted that while she has not offered a specific plan, changes to the pension system “can only be changed with an amendment to the Illinois Constitution.”

Much like the state's increased contributions ,”the city will pay its four pension funds $1.8 billion, approximately $91 million more than in 2020, from its $4 billion general operating fund,” according to plan.

Paralleling the state, Chicago got $1.4 billion in aid from the government” and “ended the ear with $197 million in cash on hand, $12 million more than expected,” in a quote from Bennett.

Covid took Chicago, and other US cities to its knees, and it took in $405.5 million less than expected in general funds, and created a $886 million hole in the budget.

Facing this dilemma requires even more than good intentions, many have said, but even getting to the road that is paved with them may take a miracle.

Cassidy and Hadden get funds for Chicago nursing homes

 

State Rep. Cassidy

In what seems to be warp speed, the endorsement of State Rep. Kelly Cassidy and 49th Ward Alderwoman Maria Hadden of the Coalition to Strengthen the Ombudsman Program to fully fund and staff the City of Chicago's ombudsman program, “which serves residents in long term care facilities,” according to a press release from the latter’s office, was met with success in a Tuesday announcement, in their effort to fully fund and adequately staff the City of Chicago’s ombudsman program, which was threatened with privatization by the Illinois Department on Aging.

As the statement noted, “Ombudsmen oversee the operations and conditions of nursing homes and long-term care facilities to ensure that residents are treated with humanity and dignity. Ombudsmen develop relationships with residents and act as advocates on their behalf, entrusting them to investigate issues and secure solutions. They act as advocates for residents who often have their needs overlooked.”

On their respective Facebook pages, Cassidy and Hadden Commented that the “the Illinois Department of Aging has secured additional funds to fully staff our City Ombudsman program AND has agreed to cease their plans to privatize it. Our Ombuds are so important to the health and wellbeing of our nursing home residents and have been true heroes throughout this pandemic. Thank you to the Coalition to Strengthen the Ombudsman Program and to our Ombuds”. 

As the Illinois Department of Aging acknowledges on its website: “Mandated by the Federal Older Americans Act and the Illinois Act on Aging, the Illinois Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program (LTCOP) is a resident-directed advocacy program which protects and improves the quality of life for residents in a variety of long-term care settings. Ombudsmen work to resolve problems of individual residents and to bring about changes at the local, state and national levels to improve care.”

The good news was received in an email Cassidy received on Monday, from Deputy Governor Flores, that “the Chicago Department of Family Support Services (DFSS) and the Illinois Department on Aging have been working towards an agreement that provides the City with more funding to hire additional staff,” according to Hadden’s Chief of Staff Leslie Perkins, and “there will no longer be a bid issue for private contracting services, and the program will get to remain housed under DFSS.”

Hadden had said previously, “Throughout this pandemic, residents in our nursing homes were some of the hardest hit by the virus. In the City of Chicago, our Ombudsmen are the workers who act as advocates for those residents. Through this last year, our City Ombudsmen worked tirelessly to support nursing home and long-term care facility residents; often they were the only people outside of staff even allowed in the buildings.” “Despite the vital role they play in supporting our most vulnerable residents, their staffing was allowed to drop to 5 positions from 8 during the most challenging time of the pandemic because the State was planning to privatize the program.”

Alderwoman Hadden

It was not clear why the State and City of Chicago chose this action, or what the exact revenue stream was to fund the positions, but “the decision to privatize the ombudsman program came after the City of Chicago failed to meet staffing requirements set by the state. The state requires ten full-time ombudsmen for the City of Chicago, yet only provides funding for eight employees”.

Reductions had previously occurred with Mayor Rahm Emanuel, and continued with his successor, Lori Lightfoot, prompting an earlier report in March by local public radio station WBEZ reporter Chip Mitchell, who wrote: “Lisa Morrison Butler, Chicago’s DFSS commissioner at the time, announced that planned change in a September 2019 email to her department’s employees and pointed to the city’s understaffing of the program: “The reason for the de-designation is that there is a required benchmark of minimum staffing as well as other benchmarks and the program’s overall performance.”

To fully fund and staff the program, she had said,” it would cost approximately an additional $200,000 per year. Included in this year's state budget was a $1 million increase for the Illinois Department on Aging’s long-term care ombudsman program; however, this funding has not been prioritized to keep Chicago's ombudsman program a public service.”

In addition, they warned of the dangers of privatization of services across the country, which has led to “worse service, higher costs, poorer conditions and less accountability.”

The Action Network, a local advocacy organization, had reported in early March, on its website, that, “The ombudsmen are "too expensive". The State of Illinois does not want to fund two more positions because they do not want to pay for collective bargaining protections and an adequate salary of experienced ombuds. They would rather outsource the program, which would then have significantly less power to stand up to nursing home owners, and less pay and less protection from intimidation for the ombudsmen themselves.”

Cassidy has a long legislative record of care in this area, and in 2012 introduced a measure to improve staffing levels in Chicago nursing homes saying at the time ,“As more residents are aging, nursing homes are a vital part of the care that seniors receive and their families rely on,” and that disregarding appropriate levels would greatly affect care.

Expressing her gratitude for Tuesday’s actions, she wrote, “We are so relieved to see that the state and city have heard our communities demands to keep our ombudsman program a public resource. We are continuing to work with activists, ombudsman, nursing home and long term care facility residents to continue to improve this vital program”.

Attempts for a comment from The Illinois Department of Aging Director Paula Basta, and her staff, were unsuccessful by press time.

Lightfoot disses bill for an elected school board

 They said that it could never be done, and that if done it would be a mess for parents and students alike, but on Tuesday, the Illinois State Senate in a 36/15 vote did just that: voted to create an elected school board for Chicago, a first, and one that with a phased in plan would allow for a partial unit in 20125, and a fully elected board in 2027.

While certainly a historic event, and pending House approval and Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s signature, there can be pitfalls, as noted in previous discussions, but most prominently was received with more than a soupçon of opposition by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.

In an unrelated press event, she was quoted, by The Chicago Tribune: “There were obviously a lot of different agendas at work that led to the bill that passed,” and described “the legislation as one step in a longer process on which there’s still work to do.”

What that entails seems to be murky at best, and her clarification left more questions than answers to most listeners.

“We’re talking about the most consequential change in governance for Chicago Public Schools,” Lightfoot said. “It can’t be about the politics. It’s got to be about the people, and the people that matter most are our children. So we’re going to keep making sure that message gets through and resonates, and I’m confident we can get to a better place.”

A better place that allows for more control? Chicago is the only one of 891 districts in the state that does not have a fully elected school board, noted a coalition of CPS parents, Black and Brown organizers, and others who held a news conference last month urging Sen. President Don Harmon to call the bill for a vote last month. 

Across the country only New York City and Boston have a mayoral appointed board, with most comparable big cities such as Los Angel, Miami, Houston, Las Vegas and Atlanta all having an elected school board.

Certainly no one in politics pretends that every bill passed is perfect, and that compromise is the order of the day, and no more perfect example is this bill.

The Trib also noted, “Despite supporting an elected board during her mayoral campaign, Lightfoot has since supported proposals that would allow the mayor to retain some control of the board.”

From these and earlier comments she seems to object to the loss of mayoral control and that her appointments to the hybrid board are required to be confirmed by the city council. 

This is revealing; not only as a turnabout from her campaign days, but also a creeping resemblance to her predecessor Rahm Emanuel, along with dropping an F bomb to State Sen. Robert Peters, about his senate colleagues, at a recent basketball game, and a desire, she said, that they had thought, ““how ‘we’re gonna **** her.”

We’ve seen this thinned skin approach before, most recently when she nearly toppled negotiations between outgoing school CEO Janice Jackson and the Chicago Teachers Union in a televised melt down.

“The same day the Illinois House passed a different version of the elected school board bill, Lightfoot introduced a plan that would create a hybrid board, with the mayor appointing the majority of members. She has said a 21-member body would be “unwieldy” and objected to the timeline for transitioning away from an appointed board.”

Offering praise, to the efforts, was the CTU, who wrote in a legislative memo published by the Trib: “Thanks to the work of thousands of people — and in particular the members of the (Grassroots Education Movement) coalition — we are one step closer to an elected representative school board,” the CTU wrote. “... And a huge thanks to everyone in the CTU who helped move the bill to this point.”

Lightfoot pledged to “keep our fight where it should be, which is making sure that our children are heard, that their educational futures are secure and that parents have seat at [the] table.”

In a continuation of what can only be called a rant, Lightfoot said, “Why that is so hard for people to understand, why that sense of urgency around those core values is something that some folks in Springfield don’t get, I don’t know. But there has to be accountability for ignoring the people,” continuing, she said. “It’s interesting that this is supposed to be about democracy but what happened in Springfield had nothing to do with democracy. But democracy, mark my word, will prevail.”

it’s not all going to be sunny days ahead, and as we noted, in an interview with former Ald. Dick Simpson, for our long shuttered Examiner column, almost four years ago, he stressed: “An elected school board would get the voice of citizens between the near dictatorial control of Mayor Emanuel and opposition by the Chicago Teachers Union. We citizens pay for the school system and we parents depend upon the system to educate our children. We should have a voice separate from the mayor's that can provide a check and balance to both the mayor and the union.”

He did caution, “Adding to the mix is a racial component that has a system that is mostly African American and Hispanic and an elected board . . .Thus a citywide elected board could tip heavily in favor of whites, and disenfranchised students of color; but the move now leans towards a proposed district election rather than citywide.”

Lightfoot has pledged to keep fighting for a negotiated resolution that reflects “the realities and the necessities of CPS” and planned engagement with “a range of community partners” that have been weighing in on the school board issue. She called on those involved to “get back at the table in a concerted effort to listen to each other” and put students and parents first.

“I don’t believe what came out of the Senate the other day does any of those things,” Lightfoot said.

Jackson's departure from CPS leaves a spotty legacy

The resignation announcement by Janice Jackson, Chicago Public School superintendent, earlier this month, shocked many local professional educators, as well as local residents; but many of those who have professed admiration for her tenure, and some of whom previously were critics, have taken a reformed view of Jackson, the ultimate apparatchik in one of Chicago’s key leadership positions.

While she has been derided for shilling for the former mayor, Rahm Emanuel, she also emerged from supportive roles after her predecessor, Forrest Claypool, was removed from office for lying to an investigator for his role in a cover up in an ethics probe., for a variety of what Chicago Teachers Union President Jesse Sharkey called “foundational work,” her legacy is spotty.

A staunch ally of Emanuel, Claypool was succeeded by Jackson, in 2017, and who was criticized for this alliance; and, one of them was Troy LaRaviere, president of the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association, who said in an email to Chicago Tonight, at the time:  “CPS’s Executive Officers have one job: To get their talking points from the Mayor’s education people, memorize them, and repeat them at every opportunity."

“That was Ms. Jackson’s job as (chief education officer), and the only thing that will change as CEO is her salary.” and, that salary was increased to $300,000, which some say was justified for increased testing scores.”

Jackson later forced out a resignation from his principalship of Blaine Elementary, an award winning school, recognized by Chicago Magazine in 2010 as the 16th best elementary school in the city, and also the 6th best “neighborhood school.”

Her role in the negotiations of the 50 school closures under Emanuel, was much derided, and recently Chicago Reader columnist, Ben Joravsky, said, “. . .Jackson proved her usefulness to Mayor Rahm by being the front person when he closed 50 schools, mostly in Black communities,” 

Later in a 2019 Chicago Magazine profile: “ [She] made no secret to those who knew her of how unhappy she was with many decisions — including the closing of 50 schools on the South and West Sides — the district was making under Byrd-Bennett and Claypool, a local pol and Emanuel ally with no experience in the educational system.”

Her supporters, and there are many, who say that the opening of the new high school in Englewood and the Bronzeville Classical Elementary School on the city’s South Side, are to be praised has been justifiably lauded, as well as stabilizing a once moribund budget that had also earned junk bond status by a major bond rating agency.

Coming after the budget woes of Bennet and Claypool, and taking a quick look backwards, LaRaviere’s departure can now be seen as inevitable, especially since he was one of the few voices that objected to the $20 million “no bid” contract negotiated by the now disgraced Bennett from her former employer, SUPES academy, for teacher training, that in reality, was a tidy kickback: enough to pay college tuition for her grandson’s tuition, and go to casinos; she was subsequently sentenced to federal prison.

Against this background, Jackson succeeded on some fronts, and her personal narrative as a homegrown success story, has earned her points, which the local press has continued to tout.

Legitimate growth, reported Chicago Magazine: “Graduation rates and most test scores are climbing. Illinois schools will be getting an additional $375 million in state money for their next fiscal year, most of it to be distributed in “tier” funding, meaning the poorly funded systems — namely, Chicago’s — will get a greater share (around $66 million for CPS). “

On the flip side is that enrollment has seen a dramatic drop with 103 schools that have fewer than 250 students, and in an interview with WBEZ, Jackson acknowledged that “it’s a huge problem,” and “the biggest threat to the school system,” but segued to saying that communities need to speak up.

Parents did speak up when, as her critics noted, she supported “a plan to convert the existing National Teachers Academy elementary into a high school, while shipping current NTA students over to South Loop Elementary beginning in 2019.”

Changing the award winning elementary school created an uproar and WTTW reported “NTA parents have protested that move, and students at Harper have held sit-ins to voice opposition to their school’s closure.” 

The district has also seen pressure from white parents for increased gentrification of the schools as well as neighborhoods, and during the Academy outrage, we reported,, “Emanuel, critics, such as Chris Kennedy, former gubernatorial candidate, this represents, part and parcel, of the gentrification of some of the city’s most developing, and desirable neighborhoods; underscoring, and accelerating, the trend of city living especially by affluent whites, with school age children.”

Equity despite a task based department may also be part of Jackson’s legacy where, in that same profile,  there has been distrust from many, at the beginning of her tenure: “I have respect for Dr. Jackson as a teacher and as a principal,” says Jitu Brown, a national organizer for the social justice group Journey for Justice Alliance. “But she is not working for the communities as head of CPS. Her job is to bring educational justice to the neighborhoods, not close schools and bring in gentrification.”

Chalkbeat.org reported the end game: “Parents seeking to stop Chicago Public Schools from closing the popular National Teachers Academy in the Near South Side won a victory Monday, in what attorneys say may be the first court-ordered freeze of a school-closing measure in Chicago.

This was not only a perfect storm, but an example, say detractors of Jackson’s duplicity, especially considering that, as was reported at the time:

“NTA is—and was at the time CPS announced its plan to close it—among the highest academically performing elementary schools in Chicago. It is located at the site of the former Harold Ickes Homes, a public housing project on Chicago’s near south side. It serves over 750 students, making it “efficiently utilized” according to CPS standards. About 77 percent of its students are African American, and about 72 percent come from low-income households.” 

Scandal also rocked the district when there was “an egregious investigation, this time by The Chicago Tribune which revealed the sexual abuse of  students at CPS, 523, over a nearly ten year period, from 2008 to 2017, and then shortly afterwards, another painful revelation: incidents where students had sexually violated other students; and where a majority of the perpetrators, and victims, were special needs students.” 

While Jackson revealed pain on hearing that she quickly swung into action, and did some basic level protections for the safety of the students; but, also showed that years of neglect in the care and management of the district took its toll, and have created an aura of distrust by many parents.

For her successor the die seems to be cast, in several directions and while the guessing game has not yet begun, and whether the person may be local, or national, tackling long held systemic problems in bay and keeping the balls in the air, while moving ahead, is far less a task, than wrestling with angels.