Chicago mayor on the defensive following mass school board resignation

CHICAGO -- Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is on the defensive after all seven members of the Chicago Board of Education announced their resignations Friday, an unprecedented moment in the city's history, in protest of a $300 million loan Johnson proposed to fund teachers' contracts and pensions.

The Chicago City Council called a special meeting for Wednesday afternoon to address the crisis, and to hear testimony from the former school board members who resigned, all of whom were hand-picked by Mayor Johnson just last year.

For months, board members for Chicago Public Schools (CPS) – the country's fourth-largest public school system – had been under pressure by Johnson to fire CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, who was appointed in 2021 by Johnson's predecessor, former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, for his objection to Johnson's proposed $300 million short-term, high-interest loan to pay for the first year of the Chicago Teaches Union's (CTU) contract. Martinez and the school board pushed back against Johnson, saying the extra borrowing would worsen the city's already significant debt burden.

In an op-ed in the Chicago Tribune last month, Martinez said Johnson subsequently demanded his resignation, which he also refused, saying it would cause disruption during current union negotiations. Martinez added that the extra borrowing was fiscally irresponsible.

"I remain against exorbitant, short-term borrowing, a past practice that generated negative bond ratings for CPS," Martinez wrote, in part, adding that repaying the bond and its debt service would "take away dollars from the classroom – all of which means that future generations of Chicago's children and taxpayers will ultimately pay the price."

The CPS board ended up passing a school budget without Johnson's desired pension payment. The school system faces a nearly $1 billion shortfall in 2025, Martinez announced in August .

A former Cook County commissioner, Johnson worked as an organizer for the CTU beginning in 2011 and helped organize the 2012 teachers strike. Illinois State Board of Elections records show that the CTU contributed more than $2.3 million to his 2023 mayoral campaign. Johnson also received nearly $2.2 million from the American Federation of Teachers and nearly $1 million from the Illinois Federation of Teachers.

Alderman Gilbert Villegas accused Johnson of "wanting to take care of his former employer" by forcing the resignations of the board amid contract negotiations with the union. "The mayor was elected to serve the whole city, not serve the CTU," he said.

"We agree we want to make sure CPS teachers have a fair contract, but we also want to make sure taxpayers have fair contract. Right now, the mayor has the thumb on the scale and it's not right," Villegas told ABC News.

Spokespersons for Johnson, the Chicago Teachers Union, and Chicago Public Schools did not respond to ABC News requests for comment.

At a press conference Monday, Johnson attacked his critics, whom he compared to supporters of slavery.

"The so-called fiscally responsible stewards are making the same argument [as] when our people wanted to be liberated and emancipated in this country," Johnson said. "The argument was you can't free Black people because it would be too expensive. They said that it would be fiscally irresponsible for this country to liberate Black people."

Johnson also announced six new appointees to the board Monday, saying he would name a seventh at a later date. Under state law, the appointees aren't required to be vetted by the city council, although Villegas said that "in the spirit of transparency and collaboration," councilmembers ought to have the opportunity to ask them questions.

Villegas is a member of the city's progressive caucus, which initially supported Johnson's agenda. In an unprecedented show of unity, most of that caucus joined 41 other council members from across the political divide in signing a public letter dated Oct. 5 that said the mass resignations of the Board of Education's former members bring "further instability to our school district" and are deserving of a public hearing.

Johnson indicated Tuesday that he would not send his new appointees to Wednesday's meeting, saying in part that "every single mayor in the history of Chicago has had the authority to appoint board members to multiple boards. Guess who still has that authority? This mayor does."

The CPS funding crisis is also alarming Chicago's business community. This week, the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce and the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago released a joint statement saying their concerns over Johnson's push for extra borrowing and the Board of Education resignations have "escalated" their concerns about Johnson's actions, and further said that the quality and stability of Chicago Public Schools is directly tied to "the success of Chicago businesses of every size and the long-term economic future of our city."

The statement also called for the school board to "keep CEO Martinez in his place," and to "reject the misguided proposal to borrow more money, and work with all parties to bring transparency and long-term fiscal stability and quality education to the school system."