Entire Chicago Board of Education to resign amid dispute with mayor over CPS CEO’s future

By Todd Feurer, Jermont Terry, Sabrina Franza

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — The entire Chicago Board of Education is expected to resign later this month, amid a dispute with Mayor Brandon Johnson over the fate of Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez, Johnson’s office and the board confirmed Friday afternoon.

In a joint statement, the mayor’s office and the school board cited the upcoming shift from a board appointed entirely by the mayor to a partially elected board. Voters in November will choose 10 board members, while Johnson will appoint 10 others, as well as the board’s president.

None of the seven current board members – board president Jianan Shi; and members Elizabeth Todd-Breland, Mariela Estrada, Mary Fahey Hughes, Rudy Lozano Jr., Michelle Morales and Tanya Woods; all of them appointed by Johnson last year – planned to continue serving on the hybrid board when it is seated in January.

“With the shift to a hybrid elected and appointed Board forthcoming, current Board members and Mayor Johnson understand that laying a strong foundation for the shift is necessary to serve the best interests of students and families in Chicago Public Schools,” Johnson and the board said in a joint statement issued by the mayor’s office. “With the unprecedented increase in Board membership, transitioning new members now will allow them time to orient and gain critical experience prior to welcoming additional elected and appointed members in 2025.”

The move would allow Johnson to replace the board with new members who would fire Martinez, who refused the mayor’s request to step down from his position last month.

A Chicago Public Schools spokesperson issued a statement on Martinez’s behalf, thanking the board members for their service.

“School Board members are dedicated, civic-minded public servants who are not paid for their work. They each have spent countless hours volunteering their time, lending their considerable expertise and experience to support our system and our more than 325,000 students,” the statement said. “These Board members in particular advocated for equity, emphasizing our collective responsibility to better serve all students but especially students with disabilities and those in neighborhoods that have been historically under-resourced and who remain furthest from opportunity.”

As for CPS parents who might be concerned about the looming resignations of the entire school board, a CPS spokesperson said Martinez and his team “remain focused on teaching and learning, continuing the great momentum we’ve seen in students’ academic gains and performance over the past two years.”

On Friday afternoon, activists, parents, and politicians all gathered outside CPS Headquarters, 42 W. Madison St. once word got out about the unanimous resignation of the board members.

“When an entire board that you selected resigns, that’s a rejection of you as a leader, Mr. Mayor,” said Juan Rangel of the Urban Center.

Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th) accused Mayor Johnson’s administration of putting the Chicago Teachers Union first.

“Right now, we have an administration that is hell-bent on making sure that they’re satisfying their number-one campaign contributor—not taking into consideration the instability the resignation of board members does to parents, students,” he said.

Why does Johnson want Martinez to resign from CPS?

Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) and other sources last month said Johnson asked for Martinez’s resignation last month, amid contentious contract talks between CPS and the Chicago Teachers Union, but Martinez refused, saying he would wait to hear from the Board of Education. Martinez has two years left on his contract, which was approved by the Chicago Board of Education after he was appointed in 2021.

Jonson later denied asking Martinez to step down.

“I didn’t ask anybody to do anything. I didn’t ask anybody to do anything,” Johnson said earlier this week. “The only thing that I’m requiring in this moment is leadership that’s prepared to invest in our children, and the strategy is ultimately about what’s best for our children.”

Ultimately, the board makes the final call on firing its CEO, but it made no move to fire Martinez at its September meeting.

According to published reports, the current board had backed Martinez in a dispute with Johnson over the CPS budget and contract negotiations with the Chicago Teachers Union – for which Johnson was once an organizer, and was a major financial supporter of his campaign for mayor.

Martinez is opposing high-interest loans the mayor wants CPS to take out to support teacher raises being negotiated with the CTU, at a time when CPS is facing a $500 million deficit for the 2025 contract year. The board did not include the loan in the approved CPS budget for the 2024-25 school year.

According to WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times, while the current board backs Martinez’s opposition to the loan, they have their own concerns about his performance as CPS chief executive officer.

Critics called the move to replace the school board a stunning power grab by the mayor amid the existing chaos at CPS.

“This is the same board that the mayor appointed that … voted 7-0 to support the budget by Pedro Martinez; 7-0 for the five-year strategic plan; and 0-7 to take out a $300 million payday (loan) which further put the CPS in a bankrupt situation,” said Ald. Villegas. “There’s only one person who’s lost the board, and that’s the mayor.”

Villegas said he expects the mayor will now appoint a new board to “do his bidding and the CTU’s bidding.”

“This allows for an opportunity for the board to come in, go ahead and do the CTU and the mayor’s bidding around removing Pedro Martinez, and also putting forward a $300 million payday loan, which again would further put CPS in debt. CPS has $7 billion of debt, so adding another $300 million is just irresponsible,” Villegas said.

On Thursday, Mayor Johnson was asked again about Martinez being asked to resign.

“Now as you know, I don’t ever discuss personnel issues,” Johnson said. “I find it to be highly offensive, irresponsible, and raggedy, and I don’t do raggedy.”

Cook County Commissioner George Cardenas (D-1st) took the mayor to task for that remark on Friday.

“I know he doesn’t do raggedy, Chicago does not do crazy,” said Cardenas. “This is crazy what’s going on.”

To have an entire school board leave at once is clearly unprecedented, and the timing during CPS’ first school board election leaves CPS parents questioning what is really going on.

“It’s clear to me that there’s something wrong with the mayor’s leadership—that how it looks to me,” said CPS parent Natasha Dunn. “It looks like board is just tired of being a puppet. They don’t want to be his puppet. They want to be able to do the duty of the community of Chicago.”

For Mayor Johnson’s part, he is ready to move past the controversy. He has already selected seven new school board members—whom he will announce first thing Monday morning.

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