All 7 members of Chicago's school board are resigning

All seven members of the Chicago school board are resigning, a development that has cleared the way for Mayor Brandon Johnson to appoint a new board that will follow his orders and fire district CEO Pedro Martinez.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Johnson also wants a newly appointed board to make a contract deal with the Chicago Teachers Union and take a loan to cover a city pension payment and the teachers’ contract this year.

The board members stepping down include Board President Jianan Shi, former head of the parent group Raise Your Hand, and Vice President Elizabeth Todd-Breland, a University of Illinois Chicago history professor who was appointed by former Mayor Lori Lightfoot and the only member to stay on under Johnson. Also leaving are: special education parent-activist Mary Fahey Hughes; Westside Justice Center Executive Director Tanya Woods; United Way Community Engagement Director Mariela Estrada; Woods Fund President Michelle Morales; and JPMorgan Chase philanthropy executive Rudy Lozano Jr.

The school board was expected to be Johnson’s rubber stamp and has worked hand-in-hand with the mayor to usher in his progressive vision ahead of the city’s first school board elections later this year. A new board will be seated in January.

On Monday, Johnson introduced six new school board members and said he’d name a seventh at a later date, the Associated Press reports. He said that although the new members are technically nominees who are still being vetted, it’s a formality, and they could remain after the board triples in size in January and goes to a hybrid model that will include 11 mayoral appointees and 10 elected members.

The motives behind the mass resignations appear to be complicated. The board has seemed to back Martinez at times in clashes with Johnson but has also had its own concerns with Martinez’s performance.

Martinez, who was appointed CEO in September 2021, rejected Johnson’s request to resign earlier this month. The board has final say over hiring and firing the CEO. 

Board members balked this summer when the mayor pushed to use a loan to fill a mid-year budget gap that will be created when a teachers contract is in place. They also clashed with Johnson over whether the school district should pay a part of a municipal pension payment that covers non-teaching school district staff. 

Martinez and the school board didn’t include that loan or pension payment in the budget passed in July.

But the school board also has been raising concerns about Martinez. In a performance assessment last year, they noted three areas where Martinez needed improvement: visionary leadership, community engagement and management.

A clause in Martinez’s contract means firing him without cause would see him stay on for six months. That’s both an untenable political and practical prospect for Johnson, who would not want a lame duck CEO for half a year. And leaders of the teachers’ union, who are allies of Johnson and propelled him into office, have expressed doubt they could get a contract deal done under Martinez.

But because he has not been accused of anything egregious, such as corruption, firing him for “cause” could open up the board to a lawsuit.