The Chicago Teachers Union continued to ramp up its efforts to oust Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez Monday, announcing in a news release that union representatives at a delegates’ meeting last week had unanimously passed a vote of no confidence, “in light of his failures to urgently address the needs confronting the district and embark on the transformation of our schools.”
CTU’s announcement comes amid ongoing collective bargaining negotiations and debate over whether the Chicago Board of Education, whose members have the sole power to terminate Martinez, should buck the union’s desires and former CTU organizer Mayor Brandon Johnson — in favor of stability in district finances and leadership.
Board members unanimously passed a five-year strategic plan presented by Martinez last week. CPS did not immediately provide Martinez’s response to the CTU’s no-confidence vote, nor comment on whether board leaders have ruled out the possibility of terminating his contract early and without cause, which would require he receive a six-month notice and 20-week severance payout, according to the terms of his contract.
Johnson appointed each of the seven board members to terms ending in January. CPS’ governing body will then expand to a board of 21 people, including 10 selected by voters, in newly drawn school districts across the city, during the General Election in November.
Candidates vying for a seat in Districts 6, 9 and 10 weighed in on Martinez’s uncertain future, at a forum at Englewood STEM High School on Saturday. Recent weeks have seen around 400 school leaders, and 15 aldermen, voice their support for Martinez, a CPS parent and graduate.
But Johnson, whose mayoral campaign was largely bankrolled by CTU, requested Martinez’s resignation last week, several sources told the Tribune Friday.
The machinations serve as a cautionary tale for voters to elect school board members who are independent, rather than beholden to campaign contributions, said Jessica Biggs, District 6 candidate and a former principal, to the small audience at the forum, noting that the board has thus far been a bulwark in efforts to remove the CEO. “It seems really, really critical that we’re able to support and maintain and provide (students) some stability,” Biggs said, predicting an onslaught of changes will result from CPS’ ongoing funding shortfall.
With federal COVID-19 relief funds no longer buoying CPS finances, the district faces a structural deficit of approximately $400 million to $560 million in each of the next five school years, according to CPS.
Since joint lobbying efforts by CTU and Martinez for additional funds from the state legislature in the spring proved unsuccessful — with Gov. JB Pritzker more recently reiterating that no supplemental funding for CPS is to be had — the union has criticized Martinez for failing to put forward a plan to increase revenue and fully fund schools.
In its announcement Monday, CTU said that class sizes are “exploding,” “educators are unable to provide students with disabilities the services to which they are legally entitled and schools lack bilingual supports to serve the district’s thousands of newcomer students.”
CPS, in response to more than 700 contract proposals from the CTU — and pressure from the Johnson administration to take on a new loan to cover the cost of both a collective bargaining agreement with the teachers union and a contentious Municipal Employees’ Annuity and Benefit Fund pension payment previously funded by the city — has emphasized the magnitude of its existing debts and deficit, noting the district is mandated by law to pass a balanced budget.
At the candidate forum Saturday, District 10 hopeful Karin Norington-Reaves called the extent of the union’s demands “unrealistic” in response to an audience member’s request that candidates name an issue in which they part ways with CTU. “I also disagree with the notion that Pedro Martinez should step down because he refused to take out a payday loan to help us move to the next level. That’s just ridiculous,” she said.
Adam Parrott-Sheffer, a former principal who’s also running in the 10th, said he disagrees with what he called an “immoral and irresponsible” union effort to “sidestep funding challenges” by way of a high-interest loan. “We need to work with the budget that we have, to make things happen now, so that we don’t bankrupt our grandchildren,” Parrott-Sheffer said.
Neither Norington-Reaves, Parrot-Sheffer nor Biggs are endorsed by the CTU, which, in June, published a list of candidates it supports in each of the city’s 10 school board districts.
CPS did not immediately comment Monday on whether a potential loan to fund the cost of a collective bargaining agreement and/or pension payment is under consideration. Budget documents show CPS appropriated more than $815 million this year toward paying down a total of $9.3 billion in long term debt.
Accepting 52 of the union’s demands would more than quintuple next year’s projected deficit of $509 million, resulting in a $2.9 billion shortfall, Chief Budget Officer Mike Sitkowski said at a bargaining session in July. Since then, the union has asked for a mediator to assist in continuing the contract talks.
In late August, CTU said it welcomed CPS’ offer to increase staff wages by 4%-5% in each of the next four years. But tensions exploded again last week, with union President Stacy Davis Gates eliciting a stir on social media, in a post accusing CPS of plotting school closures and planning to fund the staff raises by way of furloughs.
Martinez swiftly debunked the claim of planned closures as “misinformation” in a districtwide email to staff. And, in a subsequent letter to Davis Gates, he noted a state law, which requires community engagement to occur over potential closures, upon which the board, rather than central district leadership, would ultimately decide.
Martinez has pledged not to close schools under his leadership. A statewide moratorium on school closures will expire on Jan. 15, 2025, after a bill to extend the deadline to 2027 was struck down amid opposition from both Johnson and CTU.
At the candidate forum Saturday, Cecille De Mello, executive director of Teamwork Englewood, one of the co-sponsoring organizations, also noted the terms of state laws that she said she organized to help pass, which mandates transparency and intermediary steps prior to consideration of a school closure.
“I know people keep saying closures this, closure that. There’s a law in place that creates barriers for school closures. They’re just not going to happen like they did in the past,” De Mello said.
CTU reiterated its accusation that Martinez was considering school closures in its statement Monday and said the union will continue organizing for more school funding from state and federal officials.
The Illinois Latino Agenda, in support of the embattled school chief, also issued an emailed statement at the top of the week, imploring stakeholders to focus on students — and leave personnel matters to the board.
“Under Martinez’s leadership, students’ reading scores have increased, and more high school students are graduating with college credits … Ultimately the CPS board is officially responsible for any decision to remove a leader who has demonstrated a commitment to improving educational outcomes for all CPS students,” the statewide advocacy organization said.