Editorial: Kudos to the seven Chicago school board members courageously upholding fiscal sanity
That cliche often is used at the national level, but nowhere is it more apt right now than at the Chicago Board of Education. When Chicago voters elected school board members for the first time in November, there were expectations candidates endorsed by the politically potent Chicago Teachers Union would dominate.
Surprisingly, though, CTU-endorsed candidates won just three of the nine races that were contested. (A CTU-backed candidate won a 10th race that was uncontested.) One of those three, Jennifer Custer, turned out to be as independent as the six the CTU didn't back, making seven board members who've emerged as independent voices on the 21-member body. The CTU's poor showing in spite of millions spent on the campaign sent a message that Chicagoans are uneasy at best with the alliance between the union and former CTU employee Mayor Brandon Johnson.
Fast-forward to now, and the seven have rejected Johnson's demands, which have the backing of the CTU, for Chicago Public Schools to cover a $175 million municipal pension payment that the school system doesn't have the money to handle. In a March 22 letter to school board President Sean Harden, a mayoral ally, the seven publicly affirmed what was apparent last week when Harden postponed a school board vote on a needed budget amendment: They won't vote to borrow more money for the pension contribution.
With a two-thirds vote needed to amend the budget and 21 board members, the seven in opposition are just enough to keep the pension obligation where by state law it belongs — with the city government rather than the schools.
More than once, we've urged the school board to say no to Johnson's fiscally irresponsible demand, and we won't repeat our arguments here.
In their letter, obtained by Chalkbeat, the seven board members — Custer, Jessica Biggs, Therese Boyle, Angel Gutierrez, Carlos Rivas, Ellen Rosenfeld and Che 'Rhymefest' Smith — made the case perfectly. 'We cannot in good conscience make payments towards things for which we have no sustainable means of raising revenue,' the letter said.
We quote further: 'It is our obligation as sworn board members to work to lower our debt service, consolidate our payments thereto, and work to raise our bond rating.'
Amen.
These seven have been under intense pressure from the mayor and his supporters, both in the teachers union and on the City Council, to take on more debt at a system already saddled with the nation's largest pile of junk-rated municipal debt and hope in the future some other entity bails out the schools. It is to their credit that they've refused and behaved as board members with a fiduciary responsibility should.
Chicago owes them a debt of gratitude for bringing CPS closer to the day when it honestly confronts fiscal reality and begins making decisions accordingly.
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