Chicago faces its first fully elected school board

While the United States reels with what has been billed as the “mother of all midterm elections” with voters saying yea or nay on Tuesday to the continuing policies of the administration of President Trump, Chicago is looking at another galvanizing issue: the city’s first elected school board after a series of starts and stops over the past few mayoral administrations with former Mayor Lori Lightfoot advocating for one, and then backing off in favor of a hybrid model.

Most of the state has one, and indeed most of the country, but with the often bare knuckled politics of the Windy City, this was not a given, and both critics and observers are feeling this is one for the record books, but that supports or belies the often rough and tumble politics of Chicago, plus who says what, and when, but is not always obvious. 

For example, while the Chicago Teachers Union, one of the most powerful unions in the country, they have their own preferred candidates for both the board and the presidency, but there is substantial opposition by some groups, especially those who favor charter schools, and then again there are those that oppose the CTU on principle, many of whom are on the other side of the liberal tenor of the city, and, as some predicted, have the support of the Republican party and the Trump administration.

With 20 members and a board president to be elected there is money behind some candidates, real money, $2 billion for Debby Pope on the city’s Far Northside that includes the Lakefront area of Edgewater which encompasses a mixture of Gen Xers, affluent singles, families, and recent college grads; as well as old school baby boomers, and retirees creating a laboratory, of sorts, for what might be one of prediction, as well as predilection.

Recent reports are pitting Pope, a grandmother and retired school board teacher, with Kyna Lenhof, a special education teacher and one that wants to confront the rising costs of public education in Chicago, as it faces a deficit of $732 million.

Both Pope and Lenhof do have dedicated classroom experience, but with some variance on funding. Opposition to the former comes from the Illinois Charter Schools Association and while campaign flyers from them say they are not authorized by Lenhof, or that she is responsible for their statements some critics say the support is for more charters, that many residents say they don’t want stating the dichotomy of a private school system paid for with public monies embedded in a public school system.

Pope on the other hand has the backing of CTU, which in the eyes of some anti-union residents automatically gives her a failing grade.

Lenhof does gain support from Common Ground Collective, who has been broadly identified as “an independent, 501(c)(4) dark-money issue advocacy organization in Chicago. The group has been actively distributing political flyers and electioneering at Chicago Public Schools (CPS) events, sparking local controversy and ethics concerns regarding school privatization efforts,” and supported by wealthy donor and Chicago businessman Michael Sacks.

Collectively, outside of the CTU both CGC and INCS, according to public reports, have spent $4.6 million against the union backed candidates.

While these are but two of the board candidates they represent a reckoning of shorts between money philanthropy, politics and the teachers union leaving many wondering which direction CPS can continue to not merely function, but grow, amidst the economic and racial dynamics of a city that has faced both, along with declining enrollment of 20 percent, according to most recent data.

Keeping that in mind confronting this cost was a factor in the dismissal of former school CEO Pedro Martinez who rejected  a $200 million dollar loan proposed by Mayor Brandon Johnson and supported by Pope; a move that critics say would have harnessed Chicago residents with higher takes for years to come but supporters say with the absence of money from the State government, where would the financing come from?

Chicago is the nation’s fourth largest city school system with a student population of 320,000 to 324,000 students, many of whom are Black and Brown and facing great economic challenges, and needs, not all of which cannot be handled in the classroom and face equally high numbers of truancy and disruptive student behavior, and has previously either not been adequately dealt with, or dealt with punitive behavior that critics say has been an overreach, including, but not exclusive, of physical restraint.

The seesaw effect of collective reading and math scores has led some conservatives to propose closing schools, as was done in 2013 by former Mayor Rahm Emanuel and that led to widespread criticism as they occurred in mostly low income communities of color and that were community anchors; and, now these vacancies have become places for violence and crime. Coupled with low enrollment school closings could be a consideration.

In a recent WBEZ report, English and Language Arts have increased to 45.7, up from a ranking of 42.81 percent in 2025; and Math scores are 290 percent up from 27.3 in 2025; but for all of the goods news it shows that Chicago public schools are below average state scores showing 56.4 percent in ELA and 39.6 in math with grades 3-8 as seen on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness.

“In Chicago, the percentage of students considered proficient in ELA increased by 3 percentage points to nearly 46% — a jump that paralleled the state’s gains. CPS Director of Literacy Jane Fleming attributes that performance to the district’s “standards aligned and culturally responsive” initiatives. The increased proficiency is especially impressive considering the district’s large English learner population, which also saw small gains, Fleming said.” 

Teachers have told us that there are many factors outside of the classroom that affect both performance and test scores, as well as absenteeism, and disruptive classroom behavior, often stemming from parental control and emotional upheavals 

Add to those factors English learners whose first language was other than English and the challenges increased with the influx of Venezuelan immigrants after the bussing from Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began in August 2022 swelling the school system and facing a critical shortage of bilingual teachers.

One more caveat: the presidency of the school board has been another financial blockbuster. $8.7 million has earned eye-watering reactions with current board member Jessica Biggs, CTU political director Hilario Dominguez, and attorney Victor Hernandez. Once again following the money Biggs $1.85 million over the last several months, and support from SEIU, plus a cool $1 million from Sacks

Dominguez got $1.75 million from CTU and affiliate Our Schools PAC. Henderson comes in last with self-funded $737,000. 

All of the money withstanding, and it is significant, but the proof of the pudding is in its eating, and a greater awareness of the election has given Chicagoans bodes well for a more targeted approach to the myriad of issues facing CPS -- but with a city of strong shoulders tackling a legacy of distrust, racial and economic segregation, it may be all over but for the fighting.

Chicago schools CEO at the crossroads

When Alice Cooper crooned “School’s Out” in the 1970’s it was at least for the students, and maybe some of the teachers, a sense of relief and freedom from the rigors of education, albeit freedom. But for the Chicago Public Schools CEO Macquiline King, summer break has also brought the headaches of leading America’s fourth largest school system serving 322,000 to 323,000 students.

First she had to face off against a barrage of questions from the US House Education Committee, and as local public media station WBEZ reported, “about transgender students, religion and sex education as she testified under subpoena Wednesday at a contentious U.S. House education committee hearing.”

Battle lines were drawn when, “The Republican chair of the committee, Tim Walberg, came out swinging, accusing King and the other superintendents in attendance of representing school districts with “radical” policies that “sideline parents” and “compromise student privacy rights.”

It’s been well established that any reference to transgender students by the Trump administration is bound to appeal to their political base, and it was a major point in the 2024 presidential election, when President Trump faced off Democratic candidate, Vice-President Kamala Harris.

The Republican chair of the committee, Tim Walberg “ went so far as to say that some practices, such as allowing a transgender girl to sleep in the same room as a cisgender girl on an overnight trip, could rise to the level of “child abuse and neglect.” 

“Advocates for transgender youth say such policies help protect trans students’ privacy and safety.”

This session was watched closely by advocates for inclusion and those against it, and especially with the upcoming midterm elections in November, setting the table for issues to garner votes for the GOP.  And, the administration has threatened to withhold funds from school districts that held in opposition of  their own interpretation of student civil rights.

“Republican lawmakers, meanwhile, questioned King about whether she believes that teachers have to disavow their Christian beliefs to teach in CPS and what grade she thinks it is appropriate to start providing condoms to students. To most questions, including those about accommodations for trans students on overnight trips, King flatly told the lawmakers that CPS policies are aligned with Illinois laws.”

King emphasized in her opening statement, that “Our classrooms are not homogeneous. They are vibrant communities where students learn alongside peers whose lived experiences may differ from their own,” King said. “The only way to truly serve a student is to understand and embrace what makes each student and community unique.”

“The fact of the matter is almost 80% of our citizens polled clearly stated they don’t want males in female sports or restrooms, and yet your schools and the state of Illinois rules that you follow, that you, Dr. King, referred to so often, encourages that,” Walberg said.

In a nod to the increasing number of special education students that are enrolled in Chicago schools resulting in increased hiring for specialized teachers, Walberg, said, “Will that funding also be used to teach our children the truth, as opposed to going along with the cultural setting that is trying to change the reality around gender?” he asked. “Those are our concerns.”

King deflected these questions with a steady refrain, later in a written statement released that said,”reiterated that “CPS policies are rooted in law, the District’s mission and values.”

“Above all else, Dr. King emphasized the District must always prioritize the best interests of students and their families,” the statement continued..

As the media noted: “The Trump administration is investigating CPS over its policy that allows transgender students to use the bathroom that corresponds with their gender identity, as well as the district’s Black Student Success initiative, which aims to improve the experiences and academic outcomes of Black students,” which lost a $2 million federal grant for that program.

Chicago School Board President Sean Harden said King “did a fantastic job” explaining to members of Congress what “our values are as a district” and the policies that are guiding CPS. He said the board has “complete confidence” in King.”

“She has shown tremendous leadership,” he added. “Whether it’s building community partnerships, advocating for our schools or testifying before Congress as she’s done today, we applaud her unwavering commitment to keeping students and families at the center.”

The biggest battle for King was crafting a budget for a district that has faced innumerable financial challenges from long-term debt, to a crumbling physical plant to meeting the demands of the powerful Chicago Teachers Union to dwindling enrollment with outside debt totaling $9 billion dollars and debt repayment that is 9 percent of its budget.

With a $732 billion budget shortfall, she has proposed a budget that includes more central office layoffs, and teachers, angering CTU but attempting to preserve a level of education for a student population that is largely Black and brown and which lacks political support.

In an attempt to move away from classroom cuts, King  “proposed [a] $9.88 billion budget to close the district’s funding gap. The plan calls for $200 million in Tax Increment Financing, or TIF, funds from the city, the layoff of 760 teachers and 801 support staff, and five unpaid furlough days for CPS employees” reported WTTW.

In a tone that seemed both philosophical as well as pragmatic she told the media, ““We are not budgeting for the district we had yesterday,” King said. “It is imperative we are budgeting for the students we serve today and the futures of tomorrow.”

“Still, district officials admit it will be a challenge to keep cuts away from the classroom. Emila Zoko, the acting chief budget officer, said Thursday that the district had asked “department leaders to determine what reductions can be made with the least impact on students.”

But “it’s getting harder and harder to make reductions” that don’t “impact direct student programming and student supports,” she said to the Chicago Sun Times.

The plan is for at “least $105 million in cuts to non-classroom costs, such as reducing the number of custodians and central office staffers.”

Questions have arisen from Board members on how the debt reached a crisis point and “Jennifer Custer, a board member representing District 1B, is pointing the finger at Cook County officials who she says have dragged their feet on disbursing revenue from local property taxes.

“We are having some issues with our short-term cash flow because the county hasn’t delivered some of that money to us,” Custer said.

“Property taxes are the district’s single-largest revenue source. Without timely payments, CPS is forced to take out billions in short-term loans to pay staff and keep the lights on, resulting in millions of dollars in interest payments. That’s money that doesn’t get spent on the classroom,” according to the Sun Times.

At last count that amount is $4.5 billion in property taxes this year.

"As a result, CPS has been forced to borrow money through tax anticipation notes (TANs) to cover short-term costs.” And with a junk bond rating they have spent higher interest rates, of at least 80 million in interest payments.

According to Wally Stock acting chief financial officer at CPS said to Chalkbeat Chicago that, "“This year the situation is a little different. The cash flow for the district is different. In order for CPS to make payroll, we have to secure a short-term loan, and that application is due. We’re expected to close Sept. 2 in order for a payroll on Sept. 4. "

Repeated delays in Cook County property taxes “have worsened the problem” reported the Chicago Tribune; and. “CPS will hit its borrowing limit for its previous fiscal year in August so banks won’t approve new tax anticipation notes, or TANS until the next budget is passed.”

Any loans will be dependent on the lenders feeling that an approved budget will get far more favorable terms than without one.

On Tuesday "Two teachers unions have filed a lawsuit against Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas, alleging she is not distributing millions of dollars in taxpayer funds to schools and that students are being harmed as a result.

The Chicago Teachers Union and the Illinois Federation of Teachers are seeking a court order requiring Pappas to issue late tax bills and distribute funds to school districts. The unions contend that money collected through property taxes is not reaching schools in a timely manner."

ABC Eyewitness News reported that, "Steve Yokich, an attorney representing CTU and IFT, said the treasurer has a legal obligation to distribute the money.

"It's really important for the treasurer to do her job under the statute. People have already paid their money. They're entitled to get what they pay their money for, which is education for their families," Yokich said.

According to CTU, Pappas is withholding up to $400 million in tax receipts from Chicago Public Schools.

In a written statement, Pappas responded: "No comment on the pending litigation. We have given the Chicago Board of Education more than $4.5 billion. These attacks are par for the course. It's election season."

Civic Federation President Joe FergIn the last budget cycle CPS got a windfall in Tax Increment Financing dollars of $552 million when local alderpeople passed a budget with a $1 billion surplus, something that will probably not be seen this year.

“The CTU claims the district is considering reducing the number of school days next year to save money. Jackson Potter, vice president of the union, said that’s on top of proposed cuts to librarians, tech coordinators and athletic directors.

“In discussions with the district and the city, we are hearing that up to two weeks of the school year could be canceled in order to meet the budget gap that will still exist after these cuts have been imposed,” Potter said at the end of June to the Sun Times,

“But the district denied that option was on the table. A CPS spokesperson wrote in a statement that “at no point has the District considered shortening the school year to alleviate these financial challenges.”

As we’ve reported before Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has been reluctant to offer more state funds to Chicago emphasizing that there are other school districts in the state, yet “Jitu Brown, a board member representing District 5A, said lawmakers at the state level have not done enough to fund CPS.”

“I think it’s very important to note that you have states like California, where a little over 50% of the local schools’ budgets are covered by the state. In Chicago, we are far below that,” Brown said. “It’s also important to remember that for decades, Illinois, despite having an international city in its midst, was 49th in education funding. … It is time for the state to do some get-right by its children.”

Time is of the essence, say some, plus “Illinois’ evidence-based funding plan, a law signed in 2017 meant to provide more funding to undersourced school districts, says CPS is $1.6 billion short of “adequate” funding." 

Yet the state has expressed that using the 10 year old funding formula is estimated to be 79 percent; to bring the schools to adequate funding.

Custer said that even if a special session were approved and the state agreed to send more money, it’s unlikely that money would arrive quickly enough to help CPS in the short term. 

“Those (state dollars) wouldn’t be realized in this budget to help us in the crisis we’re in now. They wouldn’t show up until next year,” Custer said. “Just because we call for a special session doesn’t mean any of that money will come to our door.”

Questions remain on whether the CTU is working lockstep with other labor organizations and the city. “But Custer said CTU has not made an effort to collaborate on the budget process.

CTU President Stacy Davis Gates has criticized King’s proposal, calling it “dead on arrival,” and told local media: “Students have had to learn in overcrowded classes, practice under unpaid coaches, and be counseled by caseworkers with loads beyond compare all year, and now CPS thinks they can plan a week of furloughs and tell the staff who serve them they don’t have a job? Please,” 

“I think we’ve heard President Davis Gates come and say all the time, ‘come to the table.’ But I don’t think she’s reciprocating that notion,” Custer said. “If you just come in and say, ‘No, we’re not gonna do this. This is dead on arrival,’ it’s not true collaboration,” 

Meanwhile Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former CPS teacher, and organizer, has said that “to balance the budget off the backs of working people and at the expense of our students, that’s not sustainable.” 

Late breaking news on Tuesday brought a cancellation of the furlough days, based on a revised estimate of $285 million from TIF monies. 

King then noted that “We will continue to advocate with our partners at all levels of government to get the funding we know our students need,” in a statement Wednesday. “But trying to balance the budget on unrealized state revenue at the 11th hour would be a mistake with devastating short-and-long-term consequences.”

For the late money, from the tax coffers, she said in an interview on WTTW, a local public broadcasting station,"We are working with that office, and over the past several weeks it has been a concern that we’ve raised as well. We’re looking to receive a payment as early as next week.” 

Updated 30 July 2026

Down to the wire with the 2026 Chicago City Budget

There is probably no more challenging job in local government in the US than being mayor of Chicago who faces the challenge of handling a myriad of diverse racial, ethnic and economic groups all vying for attention and parity: but, pleasing only some of the people some of the time.

Perhaps the worst part of the job has to be the crafting of the annual city budget, one definitely designed to leave some winners and losers crying foul with mail drops of negative flyers, dive bombing of email inboxes on why nothing proposed will ever work, cue the devil in the details coming to the fore waving his pitchfork, followed by the opening of the doomsday book; and, Mayor Brandon Johnson has found out the hard way when months ago he gathered his advisors to handle a $1.2 billion shortfall, hamstrung by the usual culprits: increased health care costs for city workers, police and fire pensions, mandatory contributions, the dearth of COVID era federal monies and Trump era cuts.

For his critics, and there are many, the worst idea was the so-called “head tax" that by definition places a tax per employee on workers of a certain size at a predetermined amount. And while Chicago has had one in the past, under Mayor Rahm Emanuel in 2014, who quickly dropped it; but, for Johnson, as opposition grew he revised it to $33-per-employee to companies with 500 employees, 175 corporations instead of 1,000, but the mayor still faced brickbats, and critics labeled it a job killer and predicted that major corporations would leave the city in droves.

The monies received would act as a "public safety” to help tackle the many challenges of public safety across the city; and, while car jacking have lessened from two years ago, there are still enough robberies, muggings and beatings to warrant such an effort plus the steady uptick of crime on the city’s El trains, mostly occurring on the Red line, but there was also the recent burning of a woman on the Blue Line.

Johnson stressed that, ".0008 percent could literally create thousands of opportunities for people to drive violence down. I cannot think of a better investment that our city can make than in investing in the things that keep people safe."

In an attempt to pass the plan as a progressive standard, the mayor said it was also a much needed cry to tax the wealthy and have them pay their fair share, a sentiment not unfamiliar over the last decade that echoed across both the liberal and progressive political spectrum.

Others felt differently, the Illinois Restaurant Association tagged it a job killer, even Gov. JB Pritzker was opposed,but there is a long history, and WBEZ took to the stacks to give us some background: “For as long as it’s been alive, Chicago’s employer head tax has been derided — in one colorful way or another — as a job killer.”

“It’s much more than a head tax… it’s a scalping tax,” said the late Ald. John Hoellen (47th) in an hour-long debate four days before Christmas in 1973 when the council approved the policy.

A decade later, even progressive former Mayor Harold Washington said he wanted to reduce and then nix the disfavored tax — requiring companies to pay $4 per month for each person they employ — “in order to stimulate economic growth,” though he never did.

In 2011, when the City Council voted to slash and repeal the policy by 2014, former Mayor Rahm Emanuel applauded Council members and declared, “The head tax is a job killer.”

“Fifty-two years after its inception, those talking points have endured as Mayor Brandon Johnson’s attempt to revive a version of the hated head tax — at $33 a month for employees at companies with 500 or more workers — faces staunch opposition from a group of City Council members sensitive to the concerns of Chicago’s business community.

But the actual effect of the head tax on employment is unclear.” [an] “analysis of city tax data and publicly available economic data, reviewed by four economic and labor experts, found a lack of evidence that Chicago’s previous head tax, or its repeal, is to blame for job loss or growth in Chicago.”

“It really is hard to assign any kind of causation to the head tax,” said Audrey Guo, an economics professor at the Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business, who has written two leading research papers on the impact of payroll taxes on employers.”

Ralph Martire, the executive director of the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability told WBEZ,“The city of Chicago has more to offer for business in a business location than suburban Cook does, generally speaking,” he said, pointing to Chicago’s post-pandemic recovery that also has appeared to outpace the suburbs.”

In agreement, “Civic Federation President Joe Ferguson said he, too, has not seen compelling evidence that would constitute calling the head tax a job killer:

Since the city does not keep tabs on how many businesses are in the city with 500 plus employees, their conclusions are at best, estimates.

One very important note, well over forty years ago the then Mayor Richard J. Daley could not wean himself off all of the revenue that supported essential city services such as fire police, sanitation,etc,

Income inequality, the previous concern two decades ago, has now morphed into affordability; and, addressed most recently in the New York mayoral election by candidate Zohran Mandami, now mayor elect, is a key point for any discussion of head taxes, with the effect most keenly felt on those making well below the $100,000 threshold.

Johnson, a former Chicago Teachers Union organizer, and teacher, who had the backing of the CTU to gain office, has continued to hold their support, and in part they issued this statement: 

“Seventy-one percent of Chicagoans support taxing large corporations instead of raising fees on working families, and 74 percent say they’re less likely to vote for an alder who raises fees on residents instead of taxing corporations,” the CTU said.

Within that vein, in a move that many City Hall observers called unprecedented, CBS News Chicago reported last week that “The City Council approved a $16.6 billion spending plan opposed by the mayor last week; with a 29-19 vote to approve the tax revenue package to fund it on Friday and a 30-18 vote to approve the rest of the budget on Saturday.”

“In lieu of the controversial corporate head tax backed by the mayor, his opponents' budget will rely on an increase in the city's plastic bag tax; overhauling the tax on off-premise liquor sales; legalizing video gambling terminals in Chicago; and opening up new advertising opportunities, such as naming rights for bridge houses along the Chicago River, selling banners on light poles, and placing ads on city vehicles.

It also proposes bringing in nearly $90 million from selling some debt owed to the city for unpaid fines and fees, including parking tickets, ambulance fees, and water bills.

In a bid to limit the impact of that debt collection on the city's poorest residents, Johnson signed an executive order prohibiting the city from selling individual city-administered medical debt, such as ambulance fees, and establishing rules for selling debt owed to the city.”

Simply put, the alternative package from the opposing alders is based on regressive taxes and those taxes put the burden firmly on lower income residents. And, with that in mind the mayor will not sign the legislation, nor will he veto it, avoiding a potential onslaught of a city government shutdown but called it “morally bankrupt” despite the fact that it retains 98 percent of what he wanted, and when asked by local media why he won’t sign it, he said,”“Because there are some elements of this budget that, quite frankly, I don’t want to give a signal to the people of Chicago that I support what I believe is one of the most detrimental and immoral aspects of this budget,” 

Not all alders were on board with this budget and one of the most prominent is Alr. Maria Hadden (49th-D) who said in her December newsletter, “It has been hard to cut through all the noise surrounding the 2026 budget negotiation process.  In short, I have grave concerns that the alternative budget proposal is balanced on the backs of working Chicagoans, relies too heavily on speculative numbers and assumptions, will create a mid-year shortfall, and that the process surrounding the alternative budget proposal lacked transparency and basic principles of good governance.”

Regressive taxes, as Investopedia notes, are “Unlike a progressive tax system where tax rates increase with income, regressive taxes like sales, excise, and payroll taxes affect everyone equally but take a larger portion from those who earn less.”

Racing to meet the end of December deadline she noted that the process seemed rushed was also a significant factor along with a lack of transparency and said, “I can’t support a process that I find opaque and rushed. I also cannot accept a process that circumvents scrutiny. Chicagoans deserved better, and I hope this can be a lesson for all in future budget negotiations.”

Saving Grace: new proposed Chicago Schools budget

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

An American now heads the Catholic church as pope

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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