CHICAGO \u2013 Despite Mayor Brandon Johnson\u2019s office saying it was not pursuing controversial changes to the Chicago Board of Education\u2019s voting procedures, his top Springfield lobbyist emailed a state official in the closing days of the spring legislative session expressing interest in a bill that would do just that.<\/p>\n
In a May 23 message, city lobbyist John Arena wrote to a state education official that the city wanted legislation to align the Chicago board\u2019s rules with those governing other school boards around the state. That would have included a provision to lower from a two-thirds supermajority to a simple majority the threshold the Chicago Public Schools board would need to approve certain issues \u2014 and ease the path for adopting contentious borrowing plans favored by City Hall.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want (to) bring a clean-up bill that addresses rights and responsibilities for school boards,\u201d Arena wrote to Dana Stoerger, Illinois State Board of Education executive director of legal affairs, in the email obtained by the Tribune through a public records request. \u201cThe goal is to establish voting thresholds for Chicago BoE at the same level as other school boards.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his message, Arena laid out a \u201cnon-exhaustive list of examples\u201d that require two-thirds approval, including board bylaws and budget amendments.<\/p>\n
Four days after that May email, Arena denied to the Tribune that he sent any messages lobbying to quash the school board\u2019s two-thirds requirement. A spokesperson for Johnson later said publicly that the mayor \u201cis not pursuing any changes to the voting threshold at this time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no reform that the Mayor\u2019s Office is currently working on that would undermine the authority of the board in any way,\u201d Johnson\u2019s press secretary, Cassio Mendoza, said in a May 30 statement.<\/p>\n
Arena did not respond to a request for comment this week. However, Mendoza said Arena\u2019s email was not an attempt to \u201clead an effort to overturn the two-thirds requirement,\u201d as the Tribune asked in May, but rather part of \u201cpreliminary research.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was asking for more information to do some research on the structure of education boards across the state to see if changes needed to be made in the future,\u201d Mendoza said in a Monday statement.<\/p>\n
The newly disclosed email was sent by Arena during the tail end of the legislative session, when talk of the Johnson administration floating a change to CPS board procedures alarmed some lawmakers and lobbyists in Springfield, as well as ex-CPS CEO Pedro Martinez, several of whom spoke publicly against it.<\/p>\n
Ultimately, no such legislation was introduced before lawmakers adjourned June 1. Mendoza said Monday that Johnson\u2019s team never expected a school board bill to move during the spring session \u2014 nor is it currently planning to push for any such legislation in the fall veto session later this year. But he noted the mayor\u2019s office will \u201ccontinue to evaluate and work through\u201d the issue.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would undermine the purpose of the elected school board, which the Mayor fought for, if the Board is not equipped with the tools it needs to be successful and independent,\u201d Mendoza said. \u201cOne thing we are looking at are voting thresholds for Boards across the state, but we are not planning to introduce any legislation without extensive input from current Board members.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mayor and members of his staff have argued that the CPS board\u2019s two-thirds requirement handicaps its ability to govern the nation\u2019s fourth-largest school district and does not apply to other elected school boards in the state.<\/p>\n
But because that supermajority requirement helped lead to the downfall of one of Johnson\u2019s most controversial plans \u2014 issuing a loan as part of a budget amendment to cover the costs of a disputed $175 million pension payment for nonteaching staff and the start of the raises in a newly inked teachers\u2019 contract \u2014 mayoral critics are wary of attempts to dilute the rule.<\/p>\n
The school board remains a hybrid between mayoral-appointed members and elected members until 2027. Under the current rules, the body needs a simple majority \u2014 11 out of 21 votes \u2014 for actions such as approving contracts and setting meeting minutes. The board needs a supermajority \u2014 14 out of 21 members \u2014 to approve key actions such as budget amendments to approve new borrowing.<\/p>\n
As a close ally and former organizer for the Chicago Teachers Union, Johnson has been in lockstep with the union, sometimes to the chagrin of other labor and progressive leaders, while he attempts to figure out how to cover the cost of the new $1.5 billion, four-year teachers contract finalized this spring.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, CPS is grappling with a $734 million budget shortfall this school year, largely driven by the expiration of federal pandemic relief funds, increasing facility maintenance costs and growing annual debt, among other factors. Still, Mendoza insisted that, unlike last year, a budget amendment is not on the table at this time.<\/p>\n
A former Northwest Side alderman who lost reelection in 2019, Arena was quietly brought on to Johnson\u2019s intergovernmental affairs team in March to steer his Springfield agenda \u2014 despite the mayor\u2019s office previously denying plans to hire him. During the past session, he helped lead a team of outside lobbyists who were not registered to lobby on behalf of the city in the General Assembly.<\/p>\n
Arena sent his May message through his personal email account and did not include any government email addresses. The Tribune received a copy of his email through a Freedom of Information Act request because Stoerger, the Illinois State Board of Education official, included a CPS lobbyist in his response. The state board \u2014 in charge of overseeing public school districts across Illinois \u2014 is not directly involved in the legislative process, but its endorsement could help shore up support for education bills.<\/p>\n
In his May 24 reply, Stoerger pointed Arena to other examples of the two-thirds voting requirement written into the Illinois school code and recommended he reach out to the Illinois Association of School Boards, a nonprofit organization that provides training and guidance to school boards across the state.<\/p>\n
Stoerger declined to comment this week.<\/p>\n
During the waning days of the spring legislative session this year, the school board matter divided legislators despite confusion over the seriousness of the Johnson administration\u2019s desires.<\/p>\n
Martinez, the former schools chief fired by Johnson, warned at the end of May, \u201cWhat we\u2019ve heard is that he (Johnson) is talking directly to the Senate president, asking him to change the law, so that our board wouldn\u2019t require two-thirds to make budget amendments and to take out irresponsible loans,\u201d according to an WLS-Ch. 7 report.<\/p>\n
Harmon\u2019s spokesperson told the Tribune that week, \u201cThere is no legislation proposed,\u201d but did not say more about whether Johnson\u2019s team was floating a bill.<\/p>\n
A sponsor of the 2021 elected school board bill, state Rep. Ann Williams of Chicago, balked at the idea at the time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an attempt to circumvent the will of the voters who overwhelmingly elected independent candidates to the Chicago school board,\u201d Williams, a Democrat, said at the end of May. \u201cIf we\u2019re going to revisit procedural rules for the Chicago school board, let\u2019s wait until we have a fully elected board in place.\u201d<\/p>\n
But state Sen. Robert Martwick, another Chicago Democrat who sponsored the elected school board legislation, endorsed such a change.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt makes no sense to me that the city of Chicago faces a supermajority threshold for regular organizing decisions,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s not how democracy should work.\u201d<\/p>\n
CPS must finalize its fiscal year 2026 budget through a simple majority by Aug. 28. Any subsequent revisions to reflect changes in expenses, revenue or priorities will then be made through the budget amendment process, which requires a supermajority.<\/p>\n
Last summer, Martinez settled the budget without accounting for the costs of the new teachers\u2019 contract or the $175 million pension payment for nonteaching staff. He was then steadfast in opposition to any borrowing plans proposed by the mayor, arguing a loan of that size would hurt the district\u2019s long-term financial standing and saddle CPS with debt. His opposition to the loan contributed to his ouster in December.<\/p>\n
Martinez\u2019s interim successor, Macquline King, previously served as the mayor\u2019s senior director of education policy. She took over in June and, as a Johnson ally, could be more favorable to the idea of borrowing.<\/p>\n
The Board of Education is in the midst of transitioning from mayoral control to a fully elected body by 2027, a change Johnson and the CTU campaigned for when they didn\u2019t control City Hall. However, the switch to a hybrid model this January has been bumpy for Johnson.<\/p>\n
The mayor retains control of the 21-member body by one appointed seat, but the CTU won only four of the 10 elected seats in November. In addition, some CTU-endorsed elected members have at times voted against the mayor\u2019s education agenda.<\/p>\n
The 21st member, Johnson\u2019s handpicked board president, Sean Harden, only votes to break ties, meaning the mayor\u2019s least popular measures could have a tough path forward unless the voting bylaws change.<\/p>\n
And whatever the district decides will also reverberate back to the city side.<\/p>\n
The city covered the contested pension payment for years before responsibility shifted to CPS under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, a change Johnson and the CTU protested at the time. But after Martinez refused to account for that in CPS\u2019 2025 budget amid a widening fiscal crisis, Johnson has struggled to lob the pension obligation back to the district\u2019s side.<\/p>\n
Despite the city\u2019s expectations, last year CPS didn\u2019t make that $175 million pension payment for nonteacher employees, helping contribute to the city\u2019s $161 million deficit at the end of 2024. For now, it seems the city will have to eat that cost.<\/p>\n
\u2014Chicago Tribune\u2019s Jeremy Gorner contributed.<\/p>\n
\u00a92025 Chicago Tribune. Visit at chicagotribune.com<\/a>. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.<\/p>\n Sign up for our Daily Update & Weekend Update email newsletters!<\/p>\n Get the latest news, sports, weather and more delivered right to your inbox.<\/p>\n