Elected School Board legislation for Chicago moving overwhelmingly through the General Assembly with a veto-proof majority if Gov. Rauner continues to try his 'bankruptcy' ploy...'This has nothing to do with Rahm Emanuel,' Rep. Rob Martwick said. 'This is a movement.'....
Rep. Rob Martwick at a recent community meeting. The overwhelming vote in the Illinois House of Representtatives on March 3, 2016, indicates that supporters of Chicago's elected school board have both the momentum and the votes to pass the legislation and to override the possible veto of Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner. Even many loyal Republicans in Illinois have begun comparing Rauner with Donald Trump, telling reporters, and constituents, "He's crazy."
The legislation was approved by a vote of 110 - 4, receiving support from both Democrats and Republicans. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Rob Martwick. The legislation has been opposed by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who claimed that voters in Chicago get enough democracy because they can select local school councils. Emanuel has appointed two Boards of Education and four "Chief Executive Officers" to the nation's third largest school system since he became mayor in May 2011.
The legislation, when approved by the Illinois Senate, which also has a Democratic majority, would create the new Chicago elected school board of 21 members, 20 of whom would be elected by districts across the city. A Board President would be elected at large. The plan would result in the first elected school board in the 160 year history of the city's school system. Chicago's public school system is the third largest in the USA, after Los Angeles and New York. Los Angeles elects its school board; New York's, like Chicago's is appointed.
The legislation which passed would divide the city into 20 local districts and a 21st board member would be elected at large as president. Each would serve an initial five-year term if elected on March 20, 2018. Elections would then be held every four years each to coincide with municipal elections. The legislation also provides that at least half of the elected board’s meetings will take place after hours so working parents and community members can attend. Since Rahm Emanuel appointed his first school board in May 2011, the Board has met downtown at its central offices beginning in the morning. The Board has refused to meet more than once every year in the communities, choosing instead to hold its meetings during what used to be called "bankers hours." By 2016, the cost of parking for a full day in the Loop was more than $30, precluding most of Chicago's working class and middle class citizens from attending the Board meetings.
The Board of Education has also created the smallest "Board Chambers" in history since moving its headquarters into the old Sears store at 42 W. Madison St.
CHICAGO SUN-TIMES STORY MARCH 3, 2016...
Illinois House passes bill to create elected CPS board
Lauren Fitzpatrick and Fran Spielman
Coming together in a rare moment of bipartisan support, the Illinois House overwhelmingly passed a bill Thursday to replace the Board of Education appointed by Chicago’s mayor with one that’s elected.
If the legislation makes it through the Senate — and that’s still a giant “if” considering that its president is hammering out a solution to the state’s stalled budget — Chicago’s Public Schools would be overseen by 21 democratically elected members of the public rather than the seven the mayor alone chooses.
Senate President John Cullerton’s staff would say only that the legislation, which passed the House 110-4, is under review.
The bill would partition the city into 20 local districts and a 21st board member would be elected at large as president. Each would serve an initial five-year term if elected on March 20, 2018, then four years each to coincide with municipal elections.
The legislation also addresses a few regular criticisms of the appointed board by pushing at least half of the elected board’s meetings until after hours so working parents and community members can attend.
Lead sponsor Rep. Rob Martwick, D-Chicago, said he aimed to put Chicago’s school board in line with the rest in the state as much as possible.
Meanwhile, Emanuel’s handpicked board would continue to oversee the city’s cash-strapped public schools.
Emanuel wouldn’t specifically defend his appointed board Thursday, as he has in the past, on grounds that another elected body would inject more politics into the school system and impede some of the educational progress Emanuel claims at CPS during his tenure.
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He has contended, as he repeated Thursday, that Chicago already has elected school leaders in the Local School Councils that oversee individual school budgets and principals on a school level. He did not mention that the LSC’s have no central authority.
“Look, the real challenge is, as you know, the state of Illinois is dead last in funding education when you look at all 50 states,” Emanuel said. “The formula, the way the state funds education, school districts with poor kids are penalized and the system is rigged against them.
“That legislation doesn’t address all these inequities and that’s what I’m focused on addressing,” he added.
Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis has complained for years that the appointed board rarely listens to teachers and families when imposing decisions — or it wouldn’t have closed 50 schools or rubber-stamped a no-bid contract deal that since ousted the CEO and might land her in prison.
“Nearly one year ago, 90 percent of Chicago voters expressed their support for an elected school board, and now, the city’s students and their families are closer to ending the devastation of mayoral control and Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s handpicked Board of Education,” Lewis said. “The CTU now calls on the Senate to pass this bill and give the voters what is long overdue — democracy in our education.”
During Thursday’s debate, questions surfaced including one about the qualifications of and restrictions placed on those who could serve on elected CPS board.
For instance, the CTU president would not be eligible to run. Nor could employees of Chicago Public Schools or contractors doing any business with the school district. The bill says nothing about prohibiting charter school employees, who aren’t technically employed by the Board of Education, but Martwick said he would add that in.
An elected school board “is certainly not a panacea. Elections and the democratic process don’t fix everything,” said Rep. Ann Williams, D-Chicago, before casting her yes vote. “But the appointed board isn’t working.”
But in the end, many Republicans joined Martwick in an effort to give Chicago taxpayers the same kind of representative school board as every other district in the state.
Rep. David Harris, R-Arlington Heights, ticked off financial problems that have increased over the past 15 years under mayoral control: debt has doubled, several pension holidays landed CPS in major pension trouble, and the city’s taxpayers will be stuck with the bill.
“If an appointed school board can do all that, I suggest we elect second-graders from the Chicago Public School system because they could not do any worse,” Harris said, urging his colleagues to join him.
As notable as the 110-4 vote, legislators said, was the process by which the proposal gained support from both parties, who are otherwise gridlocked on the state’s budget.
Rep. Jaime Andrade, D-Chicago, said “this bill has brought faith back to the Illinois General Assembly House, faith to me that we can work together.”
And Rep. Robert W. Pritchard, R-Sycamore, praised Martwick for incorporating some Republican suggestions into his final bill — such as removing pay and adding ethical protections.
“Perhaps you can perform another miracle and get us a budget and you do it in the same way where both sides of the aisle have input, and we build the best bill that we can.
DNA INFO NEWS SERVICE STORY MARCH 3, 2016...
Elected School Board Approved By House — Is Rahm's CPS Control In Danger?, By Heather Cherone | March 3, 2016 2:17pm
JEFFERSON PARK — Chicagoans would be represented by an elected — not appointed — School Board, under a measure that won overwhelming approval Thursday in the Illinois House.
The bill, which must also be approved by the Illinois Senate and signed into law by Gov. Bruce Rauner, passed 110-4.
The seven-member Board of Education is currently appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel under Chicago Public Schools reforms pushed through by his predecessor, Richard M. Daley.
The action of the Illinois House comes more than a year after Chicago voters overwhelmingly voted in favor of an elected School Board in a nonbinding referendum pushed by leaders of the Chicago Teachers Union, who called the absence of an elected School Board the "most pressing civil rights issue" in Chicago.
Heather Cherone · DNAinfo Reporter
Should Chicago have an elected school board?
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The bill, authored by state Rep. Robert Martwick (D-Jefferson Park) would go into effect in 2018.
During the debate over the bill, Martwick said the lack of an elected School Board has "eliminated democracy in Chicago."
"These are our schools, and we should have a say in how they are run," Martwick said in an interview with DNAinfo Chicago.
State Rep. Ann Williams (D-Lakeview) said the measure — which faces an uncertain future in the Senate that has been gridlocked by partisan fighting — won't solve all of CPS' woes.
"While not a panacea, the elected School Board is an important step to restore faith in public education in Chicago," Williams said.
Martwick said he hoped Rauner would take note of the bill's huge margin of victory before deciding whether to veto the bill.
"A vote of 110-4 is what I call a veto-proof majority," Martwick said.
In September, Rauner said he opposed efforts to overturn the 1995 law giving Chicago's mayor control of the school district.
Initial conversations about the bill with members of the Senate have been positive, Martwick said.
State Rep. Will Guzzardi (D-Logan Square) said he had been working with community groups since his failed 2012 bid for the Illinois House to get legislation requiring an elected School Board in Chicago.
"I’m incredibly excited to see our efforts bear fruit today," Guzzardi said.
The call for an elected School Board reached a fever pitch after the board voted in 2013 to close 50 schools — most on the South and West sides — at Emanuel's direction.
The revelation that former Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd Bennett took bribes in return for awarding a no-bid contract also renewed the push by many organizations to end mayoral control of the district, Martwick said.
During his re-election campaign for mayor, Emanuel opposed the push for an elected School Board, saying since local school councils are picked by voters, Chicagoans' voices are heard. "This has nothing to do with Rahm Emanuel," Martwick said. "This is a movement."
CTU STATEMENT ISSUED ON MARCH 3, 2016...
Chicago inches one step closer to an elected school board; pension levy bill passes out of IL House
BY CTU COMMUNICATIONS | 03/03/2016
CHICAGO—The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) issued the following statement regarding today’s passage out of the Illinois House of Representatives of HB557, which provides for the general election of the Chicago Board of Education, and HB4579, which provides that a separate tax shall be levied by the Chicago Board of Education for the purpose of dedicated employer contributions to the Public School Teachers' Pension and Retirement Fund of Chicago:
“Today’s overwhelming votes with bipartisan support for pension levy restoration and an elected, representative school board (ERSB) are examples of Springfield heeding the will of taxpayers, parents, students and educators who have been calling for democracy in our school district,” said CTU President Karen Lewis. “For more than a decade, communities throughout the city of Chicago have worked to establish a stable, well-managed and fiscally responsible Chicago Board of Education, and with today’s vote, the Illinois House took an important step toward recognizing the diversity of our city and improving democracy for all.
“The Chicago Teachers Union thanks parents, students, retirees and members of the Grassroots Education Movement (GEM), the Grassroots Collaborative and a number of community-based organizations that have lobbied for an ERSB for their dedication and commitment to the education of thousands of families. The Union also thanks Speaker Michael Madigan for his leadership and commitment to the voters of Illinois, and extends our most sincere gratitude to the chief sponsor of HB557, Rep. Robert Martwick, and chief co- sponsors, state representatives Jaime Andrade, Mary Flowers, La Shawn Ford and Elgie Sims,” Lewis continued.
“Nearly one year ago, 90 percent of Chicago voters expressed their support for an elected school board, and now, the city’s students and their families are closer to ending the devastation of mayoral control and Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s handpicked Board of Education. The CTU now calls on the Senate to pass this bill and give the voters what is long overdue—democracy in our education. We are confident that strength and voice will continue to be on the side of the people, and in an atmosphere of deep division, state lawmakers will embrace this awesome responsibility of restoring faith in the leadership of our public schools,” she said.
The CTU continues to fight for a fair labor contract. Teachers, paraprofessionals and clinicians have been without an agreement since June 2015. With continued threats to classroom instruction and educator income, the Union is asking the mayor’s handpicked Board of Education for:
(1) Class size and staff-to-student guarantees. Only guaranteed class size limits and caseloads for clinicians can provide the necessary support our children need in their classrooms and guard against devastating layoffs.
(2) No cuts. Educators are not expecting a large raise, but teachers cannot afford cuts to their pay and benefit reductions while the wealthiest people and institutions in the state are let off the hook.
(3) Close the loopholes in the promises the Board has already made. Last month, the Board offered several promises that we find valuable. Included was a no-economic layoff pledge; a promise to cap charter schools; a promise to improve REACH and make it less punitive; a moratorium on school closings; a promise to relieve counselors of case management duties; and improvements in areas of lesson planning, paperwork, testing and other aspects of our working conditions. These are all demands which we think are important. Unfortunately, some of the most valuable promises are unenforceable as written or can be circumvented by state law. We call on the Board to close the loopholes and work with the CTU to change state law where necessary—for example, to abolish the state charter commission.
TEACHERS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE STATEMENT MARCH 3, 2016...
Elected Representative School Board Bill Passes House
CHICAGO MOVES ONE STEP CLOSER TO DEMOCRACY IN OUR SCHOOLS WITH HISTORIC VOTE TO APPROVE ELECTED, REPRESENTATIVE SCHOOL BOARD BILL
The years-long battle to win an elected, representative school board for Chicago is one step closer to victory after the Illinois House gave overwhelming support to the measure in a historic vote today, March 3.
Parents, teachers, labor groups, community organizations, and education justice organizations across Chicago have been pushing for the bill, which would take unilateral control of the schools away from the mayor and allow Chicago voters to elect their school board members.
The bill, HB 0557, won by a bi-partisan landslide vote of 110-4, a tribute to the hard work of Rep. Rob Martwick, the bill's chief sponsor; 67 co-sponsors; House leadership; and the Grassroots Education Movement (GEM), the community coalition that has been pushing the measure for years.
Elected school boards are the norm nationwide and here in Illinois. Chicago is the only district in the state where the mayor appoints school board members.
Chicago parents, teachers and students understand that the current school board works for the mayor, not for the people the schools serve. Today's vote could usher in a new day of accountability and democracy in the nation's third largest school system, though we understand that an elected board is NO guarantee of democracy-it is only a condition for it, and an important marker in an ongoing struggle for justice and equity in education and ACROSS society.
GEM organizations will now focus their attention on passing the bill in the Senate.
Since mayoral control of schools started in the 1990s, and mayors began appointing school boards, NO education justice movement has successfully overturned this massive public disenfranchisement. Chicago's movement is on its way! Stay tuned, there will be plenty more to do!
GEM is a city-wide coalition of parents, teachers and community members dedicated to bringing democracy and accountability to CPS Member organizations are: Action Now, Blocks Together, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, Chicago Teachers Union, CODE - Communities Organized for Democracy in Education, Communities United, Enlace, Grassroots Illinois Action, Jobs with Justice, Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO), Logan Square Neighborhood Association, Northside Action for Justice, Parents 4 Teachers, People for Community Recovery, Pilsen Alliance, Raise Your Hand, Teachers for Social Justice and United Working Families.
CTU COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT UPDATE LATE ON MARCH 4, 2016...
Chicago inches one step closer to an elected school board; pension levy bill passes out of IL House
BY CTU COMMUNICATIONS | 03/03/2016
CHICAGO—The Chicago Teachers Union (CTU) issued the following statement regarding today’s passage out of the Illinois House of Representatives of HB557, which provides for the general election of the Chicago Board of Education, and HB4579, which provides that a separate tax shall be levied by the Chicago Board of Education for the purpose of dedicated employer contributions to the Public School Teachers' Pension and Retirement Fund of Chicago:
“Today’s overwhelming votes with bipartisan support for pension levy restoration and an elected, representative school board (ERSB) are examples of Springfield heeding the will of taxpayers, parents, students and educators who have been calling for democracy in our school district,” said CTU President Karen Lewis. “For more than a decade, communities throughout the city of Chicago have worked to establish a stable, well-managed and fiscally responsible Chicago Board of Education, and with today’s vote, the Illinois House took an important step toward recognizing the diversity of our city and improving democracy for all.
“The Chicago Teachers Union thanks parents, students, retirees and members of the Grassroots Education Movement (GEM), the Grassroots Collaborative and a number of community-based organizations that have lobbied for an ERSB for their dedication and commitment to the education of thousands of families. The Union also thanks Speaker Michael Madigan for his leadership and commitment to the voters of Illinois, and extends our most sincere gratitude to the chief sponsor of HB557, Rep. Robert Martwick, and chief co- sponsors, state representatives Jaime Andrade, Mary Flowers, La Shawn Ford and Elgie Sims,” Lewis continued.
“Nearly one year ago, 90 percent of Chicago voters expressed their support for an elected school board, and now, the city’s students and their families are closer to ending the devastation of mayoral control and Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s handpicked Board of Education. The CTU now calls on the Senate to pass this bill and give the voters what is long overdue—democracy in our education. We are confident that strength and voice will continue to be on the side of the people, and in an atmosphere of deep division, state lawmakers will embrace this awesome responsibility of restoring faith in the leadership of our public schools,” she said.
The CTU continues to fight for a fair labor contract. Teachers, paraprofessionals and clinicians have been without an agreement since June 2015. With continued threats to classroom instruction and educator income, the Union is asking the mayor’s handpicked Board of Education for:
(1) Class size and staff-to-student guarantees. Only guaranteed class size limits and caseloads for clinicians can provide the necessary support our children need in their classrooms and guard against devastating layoffs.
(2) No cuts. Educators are not expecting a large raise, but teachers cannot afford cuts to their pay and benefit reductions while the wealthiest people and institutions in the state are let off the hook.
(3) Close the loopholes in the promises the Board has already made. Last month, the Board offered several promises that we find valuable. Included was a no-economic layoff pledge; a promise to cap charter schools; a promise to improve REACH and make it less punitive; a moratorium on school closings; a promise to relieve counselors of case management duties; and improvements in areas of lesson planning, paperwork, testing and other aspects of our working conditions. These are all demands which we think are important. Unfortunately, some of the most valuable promises are unenforceable as written or can be circumvented by state law. We call on the Board to close the loopholes and work with the CTU to change state law where necessary—for example, to abolish the state charter commission.
