City Council delays bid to question CPS school board on mass resignations

CHICAGO (CBS) — Hoping to get answers on the recent Chicago Board of Education shakeup, members of the City Council on Wednesday scheduled a public hearing into the controversy, but the question remains on whether any school board members will show up to face questions.
The council was supposed to hold a special meeting on Wednesday on Mayor Brandon Johnson’s overhaul of the school board, calling on the current and future board members to appear for questioning, but not a single school board member showed up at City Hall.
However, Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20th), who chairs the council’s Education Committee, worked with the mayor’s office to schedule a committee meeting on Oct. 18, which would give everyone more time to prepare for a public hearing on the school board shakeup before that board’s next meeting.
Last week, all seven members of the Chicago Board of Education announced they would resign later this month, sparking backlash from a majority of the council, with 41 of the 50 aldermen signing onto a letter saying the mass resignations bring “further instability” to the Chicago Public Schools, and calling for more transparency on the reasons for the shakeup.
Several aldermen have suggested the school board resignations were directly tied to Mayor Brandon Johnson’s growing displeasure with CPS chief executive officer Pedro Martinez, who – according to sources – has been resisting calls from Johnson to resign.
Critics have suggested the mayor is seeking to oust Martinez to appease the Chicago Teachers Union, which is in the midst of negotiations with CPS on a new contract. Johnson was once an organizer for CTU, and the union was a top contributor to his campaign for mayor.
“It doesn’t really look good to put your thumb on the scale during active collective bargaining negotiations. We’re obligated to have some neutrality,” Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) said.
Martinez opposes the Mayor’s plan to get a $300 million high-interest loan to pay for teacher raises and non-teaching staff pensions, and did not include the loan in this year’s CPS budget.
Jonson has publicly denied asking Martinez to step down, but with a new board in place, it clears the way for the new board to fire Martinez, finalize a new contract with the Chicago Teachers Union, and take out the loan Johnson wants CPS to take out.
The mayor does not have the power to fire Martinez himself. Ultimately, the school board makes the final call on firing its CEO, but the board members who are resigning made no move to fire Martinez at their September meeting.
On Monday, the mayor named six new members to the board, prompting immediate pushback from aldermen who argued the process was moving too fast, and they had questions.
Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th) applauded Taylor for arranging for a City Council Education Committee meeting later this month on the shakeup at the school board, and he urged Johnson to ensure that board members show up to face questions.
“The chairwoman of education said that the current members of the board, as well as those that you appointed would come to the meeting,” Villegas said.
“You want me to exercise my authority?” Johnson responded.
“Absolutely. Exercise your authority,” Villegas replied with a laugh.
“Thank you. I will most certainly exercise my authority,” Johnson said, without expressly stating he would tell incoming and outgoing board members to attend the committee meeting.
After the council meeting, Johnson said he agreed aldermen should be able to question school board members, but suggested they should do so by attending school board meetings.
“City Council members could actually show up to the democratic space of our public school system and ask them questions. They should do that. Respect this particular board or future boards to be able to do that,” he said.
But the mayor declined to say yes or no when asked directly if he would encourage school board members to attend the upcoming City Council Education Committee meeting.
“If alders, state reps, state senators, if they have specific questions around the functions of a board member, they can actually show up at the Board of Education to ask those questions,” he said. “What I’m urging people to do is respond to the democratic structures and systems that we have in place.”
The hearing into the school board shakeup – according to those on the City Council – should be looked at as “standard vetting” so nothing slips through the cracks.
“We still have questions. Process matters. How you do things matter, and we need to make sure we have stability. So I know I had a lot of questions from my constituents just like, ‘Hey, what’s going on?'” Ald. Maria Hadden (49th) said.
Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) claimed during the meeting that aldermen have the power to issue subpoenas to compel board members to attend, but Corporation Counsel Mary Richardson-Lowry said the City Council cannot subpoena employees of another government entity like CPS.
“There are no subpoena rights by a legislative body of this institution for a different institution, CPS being a different institution,” she said.
Under state law, the Chicago City Council has power to issue subpoenas to secure testimony into investigations into “the enforcement of the municipal ordinances, rules and regulations, and the action, conduct and efficiency of all officer, agents and employees of the municipality.”
However, Richardson-Lowry said that statute does not give the City Council power to subpoena employees of a separate government body like CPS and the Chicago Board of Education.
“That state statute, to the extent it has application, is within the confines of this governing body, the city government. That’s a different agency. They simply don’t have subpoena authority relative to said agency, and I’m happy to have a conversation with any specific aldermen to ensure they have a better understanding of both the law and what opportunity they do or don’t have with respect to that subject,” she said.
So it remains to be seen if any incoming or outgoing school board members will attend the Oct. 18 meeting, and if not, what City Council members will do in response.