The Big Vote...That Wasn't

Minutes before yesterday's Chicago Board of Education meeting started, Board President Sean Harden withdrew the budget amendment that could have opened the door for the board to borrow or refinance existing debt to reimburse the City of Chicago $175 million toward a municipal pension fund that includes non-teaching Chicago Public Schools staff. Also withdrawn was a separate resolution that would have committed the board to make the pension payment now and next year.

What happened? Harden said the vote was held because CPS and the Chicago Teachers Union were "extremely, extremely close" to a contract deal. Usually, a contract agreement is reached, finalizing costs, before the board votes to amend the budget to pay for the new contract.

But here's what Harden didn't say: he didn't have the votes to pass those items. A budget amendment requires a two-thirds vote of 20 voting members, or 14 votes. Harden, as president, only votes to break ties. Earlier this week I predicted the vote would land at 13-7. The thirteen were Mayor Brandon Johnson's 10 appointed members (not including Harden), plus three members elected with CTU support: Jitu Brown, Ebony DeBerry, and Yesenia Lopez. Yesterday, well before the meeting started, the Chicago Tribune's Nell Salzman reported on X that Lopez would also vote no, bringing the count to 12-8.

A CTU contract deal is not likely to change the minds of the board members who oppose having CPS make the pension reimbursement to the city. During the campaign, the eight elected board members who now oppose making the pension payment promised not to support borrowing to meet operating expenses. The $139 million in additional TIF surplus that CPS recently received could possibly allow CPS to cover the first-year costs of the CTU contract and its first-ever contract with principals, which is also now in negotiations. But it's not enough to pay for those contracts plus the pension reimbursement. To make all three payments, CPS would have to take on additional debt, whether through a new loan or refinancing existing debt.

Without the $175 million from CPS, Mayor Brandon Johnson must scramble to replace those funds by March 31 to end the 2024 fiscal year in the black. He may have to tap into reserves or strong-arm City Council members into postponing TIF-funded projects in their wards in order to declare even more TIF surplus. Stay tuned.

The Next CPS Leader Will Be a Superintendent

On a unanimous vote, the board passed a resolution requiring the next school district leader to hold a valid superintendent's license in Illinois. Che "Rhymefest" Smith spearheaded the push, and the resolution was co-sponsored by Anusha Thotakura and Ebony DeBerry.

Currently, state law allows Chicago Public Schools to hire a CEO as district leader and does not require that person to hold a superintendent's license. CPS is the only district in the state permitted to do this, and the exception was part of the 1995 law that tightened mayoral control over the school district. The resolution creates a workaround to ensure the next district leader must have a valid superintendent license and commits the board to lobbying Springfield to change the law.

Notably, this resolution appears to eliminate Mayor Johnson's chief of staff, Cristina Pacione-Zayas, as a candidate for the top job in CPS. Although Pacione-Zayas holds a doctorate in educational policy and has experience in schools, she does not hold a superintendent's license. Since last summer, when Mayor Johnson and CEO Pedro Martinez first began sparring over how to balance the CPS budget, Pacione-Zayas has been floated as a potential successor to Martinez.

Back Story: Youth Connection Charter School

Last night board members spent over an hour of their six-hour meeting discussing four options schools up for renewal: two contract schools and two charters, including the Youth Connection Charter School (YCCS). YCCS is an umbrella charter serving 17 community-based alternative high schools. There were many questions about YCCS last night and I don't think anyone walked away with a clear understanding of the unique history and circumstances that surround YCCS.

Full disclosure: I spent much of my brief first career as a high school teacher in two alternative high schools (Prologue and Association House) before YCCS was created. Both joined the charter. Prologue closed in 2016. Later, I covered the creation of YCCS as a reporter for Catalyst Chicago. So, I'm uniquely qualified to explain the back story. Here goes.

Through the 1970s and 1980s, grassroots leaders working with community-based organizations in Chicago founded alternative high school programs to help young people who had dropped out of school return and graduate. Schools like the West Side's CCA Academy and Academy of Scholastic Achievement, West Town Academy (part of the Greater West Town Development Corporation), and Sullivan House on the South Side worked to provide young people with a more personalized and responsive education, often paired with wraparound services provided by other parts of their sponsor organization (like Association House of Chicago's high school program) or close partners in the community.

For decades, these schools persisted the way many grassroots nonprofits do: on shoestring budgets and with dedicated, mission-driven teachers and principals willing to work for peanuts. A state grant intended to reduce truancy and dropouts administered by the City Colleges of Chicago provided anchor funding for most of these programs, but it wasn't a lot of money. In the middle 1990s, City Colleges decided to cut funds to the alternative high schools and steer more of the money toward adult education and GED programs for people over 18.

At the same time, CPS CEO Paul Vallas was eager to work with the alternative high schools and strengthen their capacity to work with young people who were struggling in traditional district-run high schools. In 1996, the school district began funding alternative high schools directly, to the tune of $9.2 million within 18 months. That wasn't sustainable.

After consulting with the Illinois State Board of Education, Vallas decided a better way to fund the alternative schools would be to have them become subcontractors to a charter school, which would allow them to receive state per-pupil money. Although state law prevents existing non-public schools from becoming charters, a charter school may subcontract with any "public or for-profit or non-profit entity" to provide services. The existing alternative schools became the subcontractors.

This means that although bureaucrats refer to YCCS subcontractors as"campuses," YCCS does not have the same kind of relationship that a charter operator like Acero has with its campuses. The YCCS subcontractors are individual schools, mostly run by grassroots nonprofits, each with a unique relationship to its local community. They have very different approaches and educational programs. YCCS administration is there to ease administrative burdens and disburse funds, not to dictate curriculum.

During Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration, CPS chose to contract with for-profit, statewide and national alternative school operators. They spent far less on teachers than the community-based YCCS subcontractors. WBEZ's Sarah Karp tracked the explosive growth of Camelot Education through connections with corrupt CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett and its savvy cultivation of relationships with local Black pastors.

A personal reflection: Just watching the presentation last night, it appears that the Options Network staff are making some headway on the tough balancing act of allowing schools to have the autonomy and flexibility necessary to support some of the city's hardest-to-reach young people while also ensuring they provide a consistent set of instructional supports, especially for English learners and students who qualify for special education services. In my days as an alternative high school teacher, we had absolutely no support from CPS and very little training or support to work with English learners and students with disabilities. In a future edition of Board Rule, I hope to show more of what education looks like in today's YCCS.

And with that, I wish all of you a good spring break. See you again on April 2.