They said that it could never be done, and that if done it would be a mess for parents and students alike, but on Tuesday, the Illinois State Senate in a 36/15 vote did just that: voted to create an elected school board for Chicago, a first, and one that with a phased in plan would allow for a partial unit in 20125, and a fully elected board in 2027.
While certainly a historic event, and pending House approval and Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s signature, there can be pitfalls, as noted in previous discussions, but most prominently was received with more than a soupçon of opposition by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot.
In an unrelated press event, she was quoted, by The Chicago Tribune: “There were obviously a lot of different agendas at work that led to the bill that passed,” and described “the legislation as one step in a longer process on which there’s still work to do.”
What that entails seems to be murky at best, and her clarification left more questions than answers to most listeners.
“We’re talking about the most consequential change in governance for Chicago Public Schools,” Lightfoot said. “It can’t be about the politics. It’s got to be about the people, and the people that matter most are our children. So we’re going to keep making sure that message gets through and resonates, and I’m confident we can get to a better place.”
A better place that allows for more control? Chicago is the only one of 891 districts in the state that does not have a fully elected school board, noted a coalition of CPS parents, Black and Brown organizers, and others who held a news conference last month urging Sen. President Don Harmon to call the bill for a vote last month.
Across the country only New York City and Boston have a mayoral appointed board, with most comparable big cities such as Los Angel, Miami, Houston, Las Vegas and Atlanta all having an elected school board.
Certainly no one in politics pretends that every bill passed is perfect, and that compromise is the order of the day, and no more perfect example is this bill.
The Trib also noted, “Despite supporting an elected board during her mayoral campaign, Lightfoot has since supported proposals that would allow the mayor to retain some control of the board.”
From these and earlier comments she seems to object to the loss of mayoral control and that her appointments to the hybrid board are required to be confirmed by the city council.
This is revealing; not only as a turnabout from her campaign days, but also a creeping resemblance to her predecessor Rahm Emanuel, along with dropping an F bomb to State Sen. Robert Peters, about his senate colleagues, at a recent basketball game, and a desire, she said, that they had thought, ““how ‘we’re gonna **** her.”
We’ve seen this thinned skin approach before, most recently when she nearly toppled negotiations between outgoing school CEO Janice Jackson and the Chicago Teachers Union in a televised melt down.
“The same day the Illinois House passed a different version of the elected school board bill, Lightfoot introduced a plan that would create a hybrid board, with the mayor appointing the majority of members. She has said a 21-member body would be “unwieldy” and objected to the timeline for transitioning away from an appointed board.”
Offering praise, to the efforts, was the CTU, who wrote in a legislative memo published by the Trib: “Thanks to the work of thousands of people — and in particular the members of the (Grassroots Education Movement) coalition — we are one step closer to an elected representative school board,” the CTU wrote. “... And a huge thanks to everyone in the CTU who helped move the bill to this point.”
Lightfoot pledged to “keep our fight where it should be, which is making sure that our children are heard, that their educational futures are secure and that parents have seat at [the] table.”
In a continuation of what can only be called a rant, Lightfoot said, “Why that is so hard for people to understand, why that sense of urgency around those core values is something that some folks in Springfield don’t get, I don’t know. But there has to be accountability for ignoring the people,” continuing, she said. “It’s interesting that this is supposed to be about democracy but what happened in Springfield had nothing to do with democracy. But democracy, mark my word, will prevail.”
it’s not all going to be sunny days ahead, and as we noted, in an interview with former Ald. Dick Simpson, for our long shuttered Examiner column, almost four years ago, he stressed: “An elected school board would get the voice of citizens between the near dictatorial control of Mayor Emanuel and opposition by the Chicago Teachers Union. We citizens pay for the school system and we parents depend upon the system to educate our children. We should have a voice separate from the mayor's that can provide a check and balance to both the mayor and the union.”
He did caution, “Adding to the mix is a racial component that has a system that is mostly African American and Hispanic and an elected board . . .Thus a citywide elected board could tip heavily in favor of whites, and disenfranchised students of color; but the move now leans towards a proposed district election rather than citywide.”
Lightfoot has pledged to keep fighting for a negotiated resolution that reflects “the realities and the necessities of CPS” and planned engagement with “a range of community partners” that have been weighing in on the school board issue. She called on those involved to “get back at the table in a concerted effort to listen to each other” and put students and parents first.
“I don’t believe what came out of the Senate the other day does any of those things,” Lightfoot said.
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