After the past board’s collective resignation in earlier October, Chicago’s Democratic Mayor, Brandon Johnson, nominated seven nominees for the state’s board of education. The action shocked both the capital and the rest of the country. Due to its Democrat mayor and the teachers ‘ union, the drama is the most recent sad episode of Chicago’s downward spiral.
The Chicago Teachers Union ( CTU) contract negotiation sparked the direct cause of the previous school board resignation. With more than 30, 000 people, the CTU is one of the world’s most prominent teachers organizations. The CTU’s current demands included” a , 9 % annual raise, 45 days off school each year, and a list of other benefits that could cost the city between$ 10.2 billion and$ 13.9 billion between 2025 and 2028″.
There are two major problems with the CTU’s needs. First, how could the CTU demand a sizable raise when it has demonstrated that it is neither capable nor interested in educating students at the Chicago Public Schools ( CPS)? The CTU’s opposition to “reopen” schools after the Covid crisis ensured the 355, 000-student university city, the third largest in the country, was one of the last to return to in-person classes, causing major learning losses for its mainly black and Latino student body. Yet the city’s then-Mayor Lori Lightfoot, even a Democrat, became frustrated with the CTU and lamented in February 2021,” We’ve extended ourselves beyond measure. We need our children back in school. Our kids must have that choice. It should not be that CPS parents are, of all the schools in our city, the only ones that do n’t have the option for in-person learning”.
The academic effectiveness of CPS is a series of shocking figures: in the 2022-23 class season, nearly 75 percent of CPS students in grades 3-8 failed to meet reading requirements on the Illinois Assessment of Readiness, more than 80 percent failed the math test, close to 40 percent of CPS students were chronically absent, or missing more than 10 days. The most severe injuries are suffered by minority students. The Chicago Tribune , reported,” Just 30 % of Black students meet or exceed reading standards in the third grade, and the number falls to 14 % for 11th graders”. This is a direct result of the CTU’s actions. What’s waiting for these kids who could n’t read or do math at grade level is” the grim future of government dependency and violent crime.” It is Chicago as a lawless dystopian hell”, according to John Kass, a Chicago-based columnist. How could the CTU request a raise when they have failed to adequately prepare students academically?
$ 30, 000 per Student and a Budget Hole
There are no funding gaps to blame for the poor academic performance. The per pupil funding was close to$ 30, 000 per student, more than double the national average. The school board simply stopped grading schools based on performance because CPS’s academic performance has been so embarrassingly bad. One of her own children was sent to De La Salle, a private Catholic school that charges$ 14, 750 per year, thanks to Stacy Davis Gates, the president of the CTU, who called school choice” a choice of racists.
The CTU’s outrageous financial demand is seconded by Chicago’s inability to afford it. In July, the school board announced that it had to impose painful cuts, including a hiring freeze, to close a$ 500 million budget hole. Due to declining tax revenues and the federal pandemic funding, which large corporations like Boeing and Tyson Foods had to leave the city as a result of rising crime and property tax increases under its Democratic mayors, the deficit was partially caused by the federal pandemic funds running out. Despite the shortfall in the budget, the board still reached agreement with the CTU to offer a 5 % raise to teachers during contract negotiations, but it turned down the offer.
A Loan for Raises
Mayor Johnson was a former CTU employee who owes the CTU’s support to his victory in the 2023 election. Therefore, rather than accepting the financial reality, he pressured the CPS to take out a$ 300 million high-interest loan to give CTU a giant raise and fund its members ‘ pensions. According to The Wall Street Journal, the school district already “has a junk credit rating, so Mr. Johnson’s loan would end up costing the school district around$ 700 million”, a move that will likely push the school district over a fiscal cliff and further burden Chicago’s taxpayers. Yet Johnson insisted that such a financially reckless action is necessary to ensure” we do n’t lay off Brown and Black women.”
The seven-member school board resigned last week rather than complying with Johnson’s request to force expel CPS CEO Pedro Martinez. A half-elected and half-appointed new school board will take office in January of next year, just a few months before the resignation. Without a doubt, this new board will rubber stamp his loan proposal to make his CTU boss happy because of Johnson’s resignation, which gave him the power to choose a new board for the rest of the year.
Alders and Others Protest
The resignation of the school board shook the entire city and state. A letter calling for a city council hearing to vet potential appointees was signed by 41 alders and some members of the city’s progressive caucus. The management stability, education quality, and financial health of the Chicago Public Schools are essential to both the children and families of Chicago, as well as the success of Chicago businesses of every size and the long-term economic future of our city, according to a concerned Chicago business community.
When Johnson made the announcement of the seven new school board appointees quickly, he said that those who opposed fiscal responsibility were “making the same argument” as those who opposed slavery. He also made it clear he would n’t let the city council vet his appointees. There is no balance of power between the mayor and the city council because Chicago does not have a charter ( a city constitution ). Johnson has the freedom to do whatever he wants without any restrictions.
Recently, Johnson vetoed , the city council’s ordinance to keep ShotSpotter, a gunshot detection and response system, because Johnson’s anti-police supporters deemed the system “expensive, ineffective at reducing crime, and , racist for being overly deployed in minority neighborhoods”. Johnson and his supporters ignored the fact that the city has experienced nearly 1,200 gunshots this year. At least three people were shot to death in neighborhoods where ShotSpotter sensors were turned off after the Chicago Police Department began to decommission them in late September. Every gunshot victim left bleeding in our city will be a sacrifice, according to alderman Silvana Tabares, who is a member of the mayor’s radical agenda, in a statement.
Thanks to CTU and Democrat politicians, Chicago is the worst-run city in America. It has rising crime, a heavy tax burden, and an underperforming public school system that is knee-deep in debt. At some point, Chicago’s voters will have to ask themselves why they keep rewarding corruption and failure.