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.

Chicago faces financial cliff with budget dilemma

City budgets across the United States are still recovering from the COVID pandemic and of the nation’s largest cities faces a seemingly uphill battle and that is Chicago, whose Mayor, Brandon Johnson, less than a year in office, faces not only the daunting task of filling a deficit of $1 billion, but also intense criticism of his handling of burgeoning crime, and balancing the budget of Chicago Public Schools, who face a deficit of $500 million, and in whose negotiations with his former employer, the Chicago Teachers Union, shadow his dissatisfaction with school CEO Pedro Martinez, who he faults for his refusal to sign off on a loan of over $300 million to stave off a the deficit.

“The latest budget crisis is playing out as the city faces one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, and its population is the lowest it’s been since 1920”, notes Illinois Policy, a right leaning think tank. And, without the revenue from the federal COVID relief package Chicago is facing a financial cliff.

“Between March 2021 and June 2024, Chicago spent more than $238.8 million on a host of programs including affordable housing, mental health, violence prevention, youth job programs and help for unhoused Chicagoans, according to the most recent reports filed with the U.S. Department of the Treasury as required by federal law, and, “That is approximately 44% of the $540 million Chicago officials set aside from the city’s $1.9 billion share of the federal relief package known as the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA,” in an October analysis by WTTW, the local NPR affiliate.

Johnson has said,” I saved the taxpayers over $220 million in last year’s budget, But the hard reality is that our expenses have outspent our revenue.”

To note, it has been reported that,  “The federal government spent over $800 billion to help states navigate the pandemic and government imposed economic shutdown,” and part of the well for Chicago will no longer be available, and statewide as a blue state, it’s hardly likely to receive additional monies from the incoming Trump admimstration.

Future Projections face special interests

Local media has also reported that “Baseline projections estimate the city’s budget will grow to $1.12 billion in 2026 and $1.32 billion in 2027, but those shortfalls could be as large as $1,58 billion and $1.93 billion. Chicago is projecting its 27th consecutive budget shortfall in upcoming years.”

Money may be the root of all evil says an old maxim, but managing a big city budget requires careful deliberations, and in Chicago facing off various groups, from the business community to low income and housing advocates is a tricky act; and, in a city with a long history of racial segregation, and disenfranchisement, it’s doubly hard to meet durable satisfaction with some of these groups. 

Equally important are those residents and local leaders who did not want another Black mayor after the battle-scarred administration of his predecessor, Lori Lightfoot.

Elected on a progressive agenda, Johnson has tried to center his decisions with that in mind but has strained relations with the business community who work from a different model.

Meanwhile many residents are taking a “bread and butter" stance towards finances, and often don’t have an understanding of when, and how, a progressive movement would benefit them.

During his mayoral campaign Johnson said that he would not propose a property tax to help balance the budget, and in a September press conference, he said, side stepping questions from reporters: "This is just a forecast," he said, "It's a moment in time, and so no decision will be made just based upon a forecasting. But what I will say is that I'm very much committed to our overall vision of investing in people."

Lately, in a recent media appearance the mayor emphasized that he is “going to continue to do what I was elected to do, which is to respond to decades-old processes and failures, by repairing the structural damage by actually paying into our pensions while making the critical investments that ultimately build a better, stronger, safer Chicago.”

Going Progressive and facing pension obligations

The latter is definitely a progressive stance, and the question of how he can meet that goal has become a central question of the overall city budget proposal; as well as that of the CPS budget, which contains a new, and costly, contract with the teacher's union.

CPS also is part of the mix, as noted earlier, and “While discussing the release of the forecast on a call with reporters, Johnson suggested he would continue to pressure Chicago Public Schools to assume approximately $175 million in pension payments for certain employees who participate in the city’s pension funds rather than the Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund.”

Importantly, in recent reportage, we see the following: “The Chicago Board of Education did not include this in the $9.9 billion budget they approved last month. As the district faces its own budget shortfalls and is in the middle of negotiating the new CTU contract – which could add up to $13.9 billion in additional costs – it seems unlikely the district will bail out the city by taking on that pension expense.”

Outside of that, the four pension funds are as follows, per the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability: "The City of Chicago is responsible for funding the following four, defined benefit public pension plans: Laborers’ and Retirement Board Employees’ Annuity and Benefit Fund (“LABF”), Municipal Employee’s Annuity and Benefit Fund (“MEABF”), Policemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund (“PABF”), and Firemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund (“FABF”).”

“We really need to look at prioritizing our investments,” Christopher Taliaferro, an alderman from a ward on the west side of the city and a former police officer, said during a recent budget hearing. “It’s almost like buying caviar when you can only afford Spam. I love Spam but the problem is we are spending beyond our means.”

A smaller property tax on the table?

November’s proposal of a $300 million property tax should not have come as a total surprise to some, but as we have seen, for many lawmakers it was simply unacceptable, and the 50 alder people sitting on the city council rejected it by 50-0; and, now facing a looming deadline of December 3 there is much hand wringing, and some who feel that there must be some sort of a property tax increase needed.

All options are on the table, and ABC7 reported that taking a property tax off the table was unfeasible, said some, and "For us not to get that revenue from last year was a mistake, and it was politics involved in that. And so they're going to ask for a property tax increase. I'd be shocked if they don't," 17th Ward Alderman David Moore said.

City Hall observers have felt that the council’s rejection was a new dawning that it would not automatically rubber stamp a mayoral proposal, as had happened with previous mayors, Harold Washington excepting, who was fought tooth and nail by the White council members; and, that his supporters saw as a racist attempt; and, few of that era can forget the virulent opposition by Ald. Edward Vrdolyak to Washington in the infamous Council Wars.

That assertion might now be considered hyperbolic with a different person sitting in City Hall and the council containing a greater majority of Black elected officials and department heads, but present reality beckons.

Start with the booze

BNN Bloomberg reported that, “Now, they’re negotiating piecemeal items from higher levies on alcohol sales to cloud computing to garbage fees. The fight is putting the city’s credit rating at risk, with S&P Global Ratings warning that the likelihood of ending the year without a budget has increased.”

Protests against the alcohol tax, which is expected to fetch $10 million in needed revenue, were swift and immediate: "We already pay, among the hospitality industry, the highest beverage taxes in the whole Midwest and some of the highest in the country," Pat Doerr with the Hospitality Business Association of Chicago said. "City Hall's proposed tax increase would make us the second-highest taxes on the enjoyment of beer, wine and spirits in the whole country."

Yet there are some that feel this tax would only be a pinch, not a stab, and, “The mayor's plan to raise an additional $10 million from higher alcohol tax would amount to adding just pennies to a drink served at a bar, his administration says. The hospitality industry says it can't afford any new tax after feeling the pinch from the rise in labor costs this year because of the increase [wages] for tipped workers,” reported local affiliate, ABC7.

"We're evaluating all of the different tools in our toolbox, including looking at slowing down hiring, an outright hiring freeze, as well as reducing other non-discretionary spending, sorry, other discretionary spending that our departments have within the budgets," City Budget Director Annette Guzman has said.

Surplus money to the rescue?

One option being pursued is to raid the surplus money for $272 million that was saved from tax years 2022 and 2023, and that Lightfoot, signing an executive order, designated to be sent “to the city’s pension funds on top of the more than $2 billion statutory payment already in the budget,” recently reported by the Chicago Tribune.

That effort, if approved, would cost a whole set of new problems, kicking the can down the road for future years and endangering a downgrade in financial ratings that were boosted by Lightfoot’s actions, even though some say it was still short of what was needed.

The Center for Tax and Budget Accountability has said,” These four systems have the lowest funded ratios for local pension plans in the country. Considered together, in 2022 Chicago’s four systems had $44.7 billion in liabilities, but only $10.8 billion in assets to cover those liabilities. This means Chicago, and hence its taxpayers, face a significant, $33.9 billion, aggregate unfunded liability.”

Moving away from those extra funds into the pension system would come at a cost, said Amanda Kass an assistant professor in Depaul’s School of Public Service, to the Tribune, “The credit rating agencies look very favorably on the city putting extra money into the pension systems because it help shore up the system’s finances faster. A move away from that is potentially a negative for the finances of the pension systems.”

“Chicago is really in some serious trouble,” David Schleicher, a Yale Law School professor who focuses on state and local finances, said to BNN Bloomberg, "The city is “caught between the failure to address structural problems during Covid and broad unhappiness with the property tax.”

Both the known and the unknown have reached a tipping point and for Illinois Policy, “The standoff is shedding light on Chicago’s mountain of debt and pension liabilities, which make up nearly one-third of the city’s spending and limit its budget flexibility. Last week, S&P put the city on a negative credit watch with at least a one-in-two chance of a downgrade in the next 90 days.”

Options meet baseline shortfalls

They also noted that, “The positive outlook assumes waning inflation and reduced interest rates spur faster economic growth in tandem with slower growth in city expenditures. The negative outlook scenario assumes a short recession in 2025, increasing expenses and decreasing revenues, followed by a rebounding economy in 2026 and economic growth in 2027. The city’s 2025 budget shortfall was consistent with the baseline estimates produced last year, which assume declining inflation and interest rates accompanied by modest economic growth.”

"There are a number of options that, you know, we will explore. What we're working to safeguard against is harm to constituents, to everyday people," Johnson has said in response to such criticism.

Racial equity is very much on his mind when he added, "As much as we are faced with challenges, it has not disrupted my vision to invest in people and especially the West and South sides of Chicago." 

Significantly, it was also reported: “And though the city was able to close this year's previously projected deficit of $538 million, the revised forecast shows the city is still facing a $223 million deficit for the rest of this year. The cause is mainly blamed on the $175 million pension contribution due from Chicago Public Schools and a shortfall in corporate tax revenue.”

Pension holidays were taken before specifically by former Mayor Richard M Daley, whose raid of the coffers, in 2007 to prop up the Chicago Transit Authority, as one example, to prevent a fare increase met a new standard of fiscal management.

“The problem we have is for two decades the employer didn’t do their part,”  Chicago Teachers’ Pension Fund director Chuck Burbridge told WGN Investigates in a 2017 report; and “They skipped payments.”

“They were called “pension holidays” and they were orchestrated under the watch of former Mayor Richard M. Daley and passed by the Illinois legislature under Democrat and Republican governors.”

Gong back is not an option

“In order to close the projected annual budget gap, the city has often resorted to “scoop and toss” budgeting practices, such as refinancing and restructuring debts, which further delay and increase inevitable costs. It has also relied on one-time revenue sources, fund sweeps or other “efficiency and savings” measures to temporarily provide the resources needed to “balance” the current years’ budget, remembered Illinois Policy.

They also added cautiously, “These short-term solutions, while politically expedient, do little to rectify the underlying problem in the city budget: Chicago spends faster than it earns. As a result, the city has faced a projected budget deficit each year for well over two decades.”

Taking a look in the rearview mirror of time reveals both philosophical and pragmatic approaches, and as The Week reported in September, quoting Johnson who said to reporters, that "sacrifices will be made." 

Hard decisions are often the words heard from alders as they look at deficits and Johnson’s statements, as well, gives us a glimpse to what may be on the table, as well as what many see as an eventual lower property tax.

Homeowners are worried

But most importantly there are many homeowners who feel that their property assessments have already burdened them and are concerned about any tax increases.

According to the Cook County Treasurer, for this year the median property tax bill is $3,811, an increase from $3,285 five years ago.

Scouring the budget for cuts is bound to please some, and no one, but the effort has been made, and as reported, there are steps being taken and as the city's budget director, Annette Guzman, said in a statement:

“This includes a series of budgetary restrictions such as a "citywide hiring freeze and stringent limitations on non-essential travel and overtime expenditures outside of public safety operations." Guzman noted that the 2025 budget shortfall — expected to be $982.4 million — is "largely driven by rising personnel, pension and contractual costs, alongside ongoing revenue challenges."

Rephrasing Abraham Lincoln, the question remains, is that enough to please some of the people, most of the time? In an awkward attempt to quell the storm, Johnson caught in the crosshairs, insists, “I don’t want cuts, I don’t want layoffs,”

There are some efforts by nearby states that Chicago could emulate; and, The Week noted that “Chicago is not the first city to face these challenges and could take lessons from other cities in similar situations. In 2022, Milwaukee was "on the verge of financial collapse" with a massive deficit and "possible bankruptcy on the horizon," said consultancy EY-Parthenon. The city was "able to document the local actions it was exploring and could demonstrate to members of the Wisconsin Assembly the mayor was taking steps to fix the situation."

Milwaukee's "comparison with other cities and a methodical accounting of the cost-cutting initiatives the city government had already undertaken helped demonstrate to legislators, the business community and the public that the politically difficult decision to raise taxes was likely unavoidable," said EY-Parthenon. This could become a similar path as Chicago works to dig out from its own deficit.”

Aftermath: Budget approved

On Tuesday, Johnson scored a win, some might say a pyrrhic victory, when the Council passed his $17.1 billion budget by a narrow vote of 27 to 23, without a property tax increase, returning to his campaign promise of not raising them, but the victory does contain a variety of tax increases on everything from valet parking to streaming services and cloud computing, and also that dreaded bag tax, but critics have argued that this is a temporary fix and still risks a credit rating downgrade by national credit agencies, this making it fallout for the city to borrow money.

For land debt from the purchase of the old Michael Reese hospital, there is a $40 million settlement by spreading out payments to pay off remaining debt from that space, intended for the 2009 Olympics, that later was awarded to Rio, in what some have also criticized the mayor for, but this is to help satisfy the $91 million purchase price by former Mayor Richard M. Daley, and not an error from Johnson.

Critics, including many council members, notably Maria Hadden of the 49th Ward, have voiced their concern with a process that she called fractious and that many have said lacked transparency.

Andre Vasquez of the 40th Ward said that the budget is a “short term fix that is not financially responsible,” and Anthony Beale of the 9th Ward while pleased with the absence of the $300 million property tax said, “Since then we just miraculously, voila, went down to $150 million,” Beale said. “We went to $68 million. Now, miraculously, voila again, we go to zero. However, in order to get to zero we are “fining”and “feeing” Chicagoans to death.”

Local affiliate, NBC5 reported, “Ald. Bill Conway, who voted against the budget, said the city “can’t ask working families to pay more,” and that Johnson is risking serious issues by not considering additional spending cuts.

“There were additional efficiencies to consider but unfortunately, Mayor Johnson repeated some of the same mistakes of those before him by being unable to make hard choices and kicking the can down the road even further,” he said in a statement. “This budget process was characterized by unsuccessful sweeteners, unnecessary delays, and proposals that, as the Mayor put it, were just meant to ensure we were paying attention.”

Hadden had added, according to coverage from WTTW, that, “Johnson’s handling of the budget negotiations left the City Council “fractured” and made it harder for Chicagoans to trust their government at a perilous moment for the city as President-elect Donald Trump prepares to take office.”

“We are not prepared, and the fault lies squarely with you and your administration,” she said.

It seems that the very same problems that have plagued previous mayors have settled squarely on Johnson’s shoulders, but without the rubber stamping of those councils.

Updated December 19, 2024 at 2: 15 p.m. CDST

Chicago Schools issues ahead of school board elections

Chicago Public Schools have been dominating local headlines for months now, and not always for positive news; whether it’s for a new funding formula, or changes for governing magnet and selective enrollment schools or transportation problems for the same, but headlining many stories was the need to fund a deficit, and how to get more money from the Illinois Governor J..B. Pritzker.

For many residents and observers, the nation’s third largest school system is on the financial precipice and has also faced a  mountain of criticism for failing to meet student standardized goals for reading and math; and, the Chicago Teachers Union also faces formidable opposition for even asking for more money.

Adding to the issues faced is that one of their former organizers, Brandon Johnson, is now mayor, with a hide bound progressive agenda, but whose myriad of other problems: housing migrants, increasing homelessness and high crime threaten to overwhelm him.

The elephant in the room is the near $400 billion deficit, the result of CPS being helped by COVID-19 federal relief funds, which is about to end, but as most agree that budget hole is bound to grow, and especially without the inclusion of staff raises when it announced its projected deficit, not to mention a new CTU contract, upon the existing one ending June 20.

Problematically, according to local public radio station WBEZ, is “the school district has not publicly released school level budgets, a break with past practice; media outlets, including WBEZ, requested them under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. The district denied the FOIA request, describing the budget as ‘preliminary factual information that is inextricably intertwined with ongoing deliberations and policy formulations,’ leaving many wondering what to expect.”

CPS primarily serves a Black and Brown population, and amidst the city’s historical patterns of segregation, the lack of political will by some white majority leaders has led to a juncture that often seems insurmountable.

Even the much lauded selective enrollment and magnet schools, “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,” said Chalkbeat Chicago.

New funding formula is on the books, but faces opposition

One seemingly ray of hope has been a new funding formula that is individually school based, instead of per pupil. In March CPS announced the change, a campaign promise by Johnson to end the old plan of student based budgeting that gave schools a set amount for each child that was enrolled.

This new plan establishes a baseline level but this has brought backlash from some schools who have voted against the budgets they received, feeling that it is inadequate.

Chicago Public Radio station WBEZ reported that, “Several elected local school councils in Chicago are either refusing to approve budgets sent by the school district or are approving those budgets with a message to let the district leaders know they don’t think they are receiving enough resources for the coming year.”

“The budget that we have does not meet the need,” said Sequoiah Brown, a member of the local school council at Poe Classical School in Pullman on the Far South Side. “Our parents are adamant about the needs of our students. You should be trying to bring up the others to that standard, not taking from one to give to the other. That is not how equity works.”

“The school district has not publicly released school-level budgets, a break with past practice. Media outlets, including WBEZ, requested them under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act. The district denied the FOIA request, describing the budget information as ‘preliminary factual information that is inextricably intertwined with ongoing deliberations and policy formulations,”an assertion that the Illinois Families for Public Schools, a nonprofit parental advocacy organization, dismissed as “ridiculous.”

“As school communities discuss their budgets in a year of major budget changes leading to LSC’s holding budget votes, district-wide numbers to compare should be available to public reporters. These numbers ARE public at school level!” the group posted on X.” 

Those Local School Councils are also fearful that they won’t have enough classroom aides, or may have to do without administrative staff.

In a recent interview with WTTW Chicago’s public television station, CPS CEO Pedro Martinez answered a question of why the Fall budget, scheduled to be released mid June is now to be released in July, by saying, “We need to really firm up our budget.”

“We want to really firm up our budget. One of the things that we said,is again, to protect the gains that we’re seeing. We wanted to protect the investments at our schools. We worked with our principals to make some tough decisions, and so we’re finding efficiencies and reductions in our central office.

We want to make sure that we firm those up. I will tell you that I feel confident that we’re going to have a balanced budget for the July board meeting. We are going to be able to stave off the cuts from the schools. It does mean though, that we’ll have some challenges centrally, plus, we’re still going to have some more challenges in the coming year.”

For the deficit he noted: “One of the things we did is we phased in the federal funding over three years, so year three is next year. We’ve had a structural deficit of $600-700 million a year. It’s about half of that — $400 million — for next year. That’s as we have the last tranche of federal funding that we’re going to have, so that’s why the deficit will be bigger in 2026. The main issue is that, and our state has done a great job in adding funding, but as I said publicly, our needs are outpacing the funding we’re getting from the state. I have more students than ever that need IEPs that require special services. We have more migrant students than ever. In fact, our enrollment is actually up — we’re almost at 329,000 students as we finished last year. That’s up from 323,000 from the year before. So for us, we’re seeing more students, more needs, and the funding just is not keeping up.

We also know that the state, even from their own funding formula, they’re short about a billion dollars, with a “B,” just for Chicago alone. Again, this is not a problem that our leaders in the state created — they inherited (it), but I really want to work with them because we are seeing the evidence of what could happen when we invest in our district.”

Martinez’s statements may have been diplomatic to keep the tap open on future funding from the state, and there has been widespread opinion that the state is  not mandated to help fund Chicago schools with so many other districts statewide needing money.

CPS faces gubernatorial hurdle

Pritzker and the mayor have been at odds over funding for Chicago and don’t seem to see agreement, and he said, to local media, “It ought to be our priority to put more money into education, but not just for the city of Chicago,” and even more pointedly, “The city of Chicago is 20 % of the population of the state. So we have a lot of other people, a lot of other kids across the state going to school. We need to fund their schools better, too.”

In mid May, the Chicago Teachers Union went to the state capitol of Springfield to ask for $1.1 billion in state funding, and also to protest against House Bill 303 designed to “protect selective enrollment schools in Chicago from closure, admission changes or disproportionate state cuts,” noted an editorial in Crain’s Chicago Business, waring that these schools, while part of a flawed school choice system, are “some of the best high schools in the country within Chicago city limits, and that changing the system, or dismantling it, would cause “families to pull ups stakes and move elsewhere.”

Critics have pointed out that it is unlikely that CPS would close selective schools, and State Rep. Margaret Coke, Democrat of Chicago, has said that she hopes no significant changes will be made to charter schools until Chicago has its fully elected school board in 2027.

The Chicago Sun Times reported that “The majority of Illinois’ public school districts, including CPS, have less than 90% of the money needed to adequately serve students, state data shows. That’s less money for everything from general and special education to art, music and after school programs.”

Opposition to increased monies has been on the agenda since April when Pritzker, facing opposition from liberal supporters gave the bare minimum of an increase to state school funding, and as the Chicago Tribune reported, “cutting back on state funded healthcare for immigrants who are in the country without legal permission,” which has a deleterious effect on migrant children in public schools.

Looking back on the funding formula by his predecessor, Bruce Rauner, a Republican, critics point out that Prtizker’s increases are not enough to meet the state’s goals of adequately funding public schools,” under Rauner’s 2017 formula, added the Tribune.

Rep. Will Davis, Democrat, from south suburban Homewood, who was one of the sponsors of the 2017 bill “has pushed for at least a $500 million increase annually.”

The funding for K through 12 was increased by $350 million, the minimum allowed by the law according to education supporters and advocates.

 Test scores have improved, somewhat

In what can be widely touted as a huge improvement, test scores have risen for CPS students and in the WTTW interview Martinez said, “since the pandemic started, we’re now at exceeding pre-pandemic levels in reading, and we know that reading is foundational for all of our students . . [W]e have intervention teachers at our schools with the highest poverty rates; we have seen our Black students have the biggest gains in our district by six points.”

And, in a notable increase he added, “That’s 6% for black students. That is a large leap, 6%, which indicates to me that they had some room to grow, that there was a lot of room to grow.”

The interviewer questioned this, saying, “31% of students being proficient in English Language Arts, that still means that 69% are not proficient. What’s the plan to continue the progress, this growth that you’ve seen?”

Martinez replied, with some hesitation,”Yeah, no, absolutely. So I think one of the things I know is that this year’s gains build on last year’s gains, which also saw a six-point gain in reading and a two-point gain in math. And we know from a study from Harvard and Stanford that we are number one in the country in reading recovery, number one in reading recovery for Black students and number two for Latino students in the country, so this builds on these gains.”

Caught off guard the superintendent seems to have tried to place a spin on what are still weaker scores, and no doubt will be pounced upon by conservative and Republican lawmakers, when he said:”The other context I would give you is that our state proficiency rate, they were at 35% in reading and 27% in math. Our state overall also doesn’t have high ratings, but remember, we have a very rigorous assessment. More importantly, what I saw was students across every grade level growing. . . We also have to remind our community that our high schools right now couldn’t be stronger. We’re seeing record graduation rates, record scholarships, record number of college credits being earned.”

Selective and charter school dilemmas

We have previously reported on the fears that selective enrollment and charter schools faced in a recent post, on the vote to extend their contracts between one and four years and not the usual, and expected 10 years,” but parents of those schools are also frustrated by the lack of adequate transportation, in both directions for their children.

In late March, The Chicago Tribune reported that, “For months, students attending some of the city’s most selective schools have traversed Chicago, taking buses, trains and carpools sometimes as early as 5 a.m., to show up on time for school — and the district is telling parents they may have to continue to find their own transportation into next school year.”

As can be expected the news was met with an uproar of disapproval:

At that time, “For more than seven months, the district has not provided busing services for roughly 5,500 general education students across the magnet and selective enrollment schools. Some of their parents have repeatedly told the district they are commuting for up to four hours a day to get children to their classrooms, risking their jobs and tiring out their kids in the process.”

General education students are also competing with the needs of other students, those with disabilities and special education; and, Chalkbeat reported, also in March, “For general education students, the district is offering prepaid Ventra cards, a move that has drawn criticism from families who don’t have the flexibility to accompany young children on public transportation. Additionally, about 3,700 students with disabilities have opted for stipends of up to $500 to cover their transportation needs on their own, down from 4,000 students at the start of the year, according to the district.”

In a hoped for menu, Johnson also wants “free public transit for students, housing for the district’s 20,000 homeless students,” they added and a partnership with the CTU for the so-called wraparound services, long on the wish list.

“Currently, about 130 students with disabilities are on bus routes longer than an hour, according to CPS. That’s significantly down from the 3,000 such students on long routes last year, but it is up from 47 students at the start of the school year.

Many families with general education students at magnet and selective enrollment schools have protested the district’s decision and have demanded a stipend to cover their transportation costs. Some families who have struggled to juggle transportation have pulled their children out of magnet schools and enrolled them somewhere closer to home.”

Just before the announcement of the finding issue, and an earlier extension for parents to enroll their children, creating yet another problem, there was a protest in Daley Plaza, and outraged parents demonstrated, loud and clear, for a change, or a stipend to help them.

“The district is providing stipends to more than 3,700 families with students with disabilities but has said providing stipends to general education families is not sustainable, citing a projected $391 million budget shortfall,” noted the Tribune.

Parent Marissa Lichwick-Glesne told ABC 7 News that, “"I believe this is indefensible, inexcusable, and unconscionable," and, "We know what needs to be done, and we know what these kids are going through and what these parents are going through every day to get their kids to school, and we need help. We need relief."

“The district is providing stipends to more than 3,700 families with students with disabilities but has said providing stipends to general education families is not sustainable, citing a projected $391 million budget shortfall.”

A parental suggestion for transportation hubs to alleviate the problem has been rejected as not being feasible for all students: “Hubs would work for some but not all routes, thus not serving all families and schools in an equitable manner, but, again, we will continue to explore all options for the coming school year,” district spokesperson Mary Ann Fergus said in a statement.

"Students and parents are now facing commutes up to five hours per day. Some have resorted to unreliable and potentially unsafe third-party transportation services costing families hundreds of dollars each month," said Hal Woods with Kids First Chicago.

Increased student migration population

One factor causing greater budgetary concern is the arrival of migrant children, mostly from Venezuela, who have stretched the budget, as well as class size, and Martinez plans to cut the central office to staff in an attempt to cut the deficit.

Exact counts of migrant children in CPS schools vary depending on who is doing the counting, for the District, the count is 9,000, but using the criteria of the Illinois State Board of Education the number ratchets up to 17,000, and is based on if the student is born in the U.S. or Puerto Rico, and has less than three years in an Illinois school.

Beyond these methodologies lie a myriad of problems, mostly related to bilingual instruction, and despite mandates from the state, many schools in Chicago do not meet the criteria of properly staffed teachers, who have received certification.

Chalkbeat recently reported that families who move to find affordable housing are often not told that their children can stay in schools that offer bilingual education and can help them advance in their studies.

In that search many of the families end up in racially segregated neighborhoods with under-resourced schools, and can fall behind, and cited that one school on the city’s West Side, Laura S. Ward has depended on a kindergarten teacher and a custodian who speak Spanish for classroom assistants.

The New Arrivals Grant was recently defeated in the state legislature and Pritzker’s office has told schools in need to use the McKinney Vento Subgrants from the federal government, or the $350 million awarded to state schools.

What the future holds for Chicago Public Schools remains a question mark for many, with its myriad of challenges and problems, but a lot of hope is vested in the November school board elections, a first for the city.

Hopes for a more democratic process and community input are high and despite that the board will only be partially elected, with a full election slated for 2027.

There are concerns, among them that the positions are not paid, shutting out many low income voices dealing with an already bureaucratic laden process.

The historical significance cannot be underestimated, as it is a first for Chicago, while the rest of Illinois does have elected school boards.

The new board will have 10 of 21 school board seats, but the rest including the prescient, will be elected by the mayor, giving him a majority control for the length of his term, and the newly formed board will begin meeting in January of 2025, and as we have seen there will be a full agenda.

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