鈥淗ere鈥檚 the punchline: We have to tax the rich,鈥� Davis Gates said at an Oct. 29 in Springfield, Illinois. 鈥淚t is not because we just think that they鈥檙e not doing enough, it鈥檚 because we do our fair share and then some, and we need a little more help. It鈥檚 fair.鈥�

The state鈥檚 education funding formula was with an infusion of money designed to ensure districts reach at least 90% of adequate funding levels by 2027. A recent found that while this change improved some school budgets, districts won鈥檛 reach full funding until at least 2038, 鈥渓eaving an entire generation of students without access to an adequately funded education.鈥�

鈥淲e need our Illinois lawmakers to deliver 鈥� they have already promised us those funds but they have not delivered,鈥� said Cyndi Oberle-Dahm, the statewide union鈥檚 executive vice president. 鈥淥ver one-third of Illinois school districts are funded at 76% or less. The only way we are going to fix this is to have a new revenue structure.鈥�

The Illinois Federation of Teachers 鈥� which has 103,000 members and more than 200 chapters including the Chicago Teachers Union 鈥� in a statement that the lack of adequate resources has caused districts to struggle with meeting legal requirements for special education, keeping class sizes manageable and recruiting and retaining staff.

While there are no policy proposals for taxing the wealthy on the table in Illinois, the union argues that the state could pursue something like Massachusetts鈥� to help fund schools. The law requires an additional 4% levy paid by anyone earning more than $1 million annually. Massachusetts accrued almost $3 billion from the tax this past fiscal year.

Davis Gates, who was previously vice president of the statewide union, replaced Dan Montgomery in October after his resignation. School funding has been a main focus for her in Chicago. The district currently receives and has experienced tumultuous budget deficits, including a in state dollars. 

In November, the Chicago Teachers Union to pass Mayor Brandon Johnson鈥檚 proposed budget, which earmarked $552 million for Chicago Public Schools from the city鈥檚 unused tax increment financing revenue.

Davis Gates and other union leaders said in a that Chicago鈥檚 budget is 鈥渨hat we need our Governor and Illinois General Assembly to mirror at the state level.鈥�

鈥淐hicago can only do so much while Illinois鈥� tax system is upside down,鈥� the union said. 鈥淲e need our state government to fight Trump cuts with ending tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy and to protect Illinois with the promised but undelivered resources to our schools, transit and public institutions.鈥�

showed that candidates backed by the powerful Chicago Teachers Union won four seats, one of them unopposed. Meanwhile, pro-school choice candidates backed by wealthy donors won three seats, with three seats won by independent candidates.

The independents include a rapper who beat three opponents on the city鈥檚 South Side. said he ran to ensure that every school gets a registered nurse, a librarian, counselors, tutors, support staff and quality arts instruction.

The 10 new board members will join 11 others who will be appointed in coming weeks by Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former teacher and union organizer.

鈥淭here’s a lot going on here,鈥� said Hugo Jacobo of , a nonprofit that supports independent school board candidates.

Groups that advocate for charter schools spent about $3 million on the race, The Chicago Sun-Times , with the union spending about $1.6 million on its endorsed candidates through its own political action committees and at least eight other PACs. Other estimates show the union spending more than on the races.

The union鈥檚 preferred candidate came up empty in District 3, one of Chicago鈥檚 most politically progressive areas. A reform-oriented candidate, , beat union-endorsed candidate by 12 percentage points, despite a reported $300,000 in donations. The union painted a more positive picture Tuesday night, with President Stacy Davis Gates , 鈥淏illionaires spent a lot of money to get three out of 21,鈥� referring to the larger board that will eventually be seated. 鈥淚 keep telling you, it鈥檚 cumulative. It keeps getting bigger and it keeps growing. And we want more people for this group project.鈥�

Tuesday鈥檚 results push Chicago Public Schools, the fourth-largest school system in the United States, into a new phase, with observers saying a fully elected board could improve schools and make them more responsive to parents and taxpayers. 

But whether the shift will curb the system鈥檚 recent chaos is another matter. 

Last month, the entire seven-member board resigned after Mayor Brandon Johnson threatened to oust schools CEO Pedro Martinez. Johnson had appointed six of the seven members . 

He brought in a new board, but a week later the newly appointed president, the Rev. Mitchell Ikenna Johnson, after news reports revealed he鈥檇 written antisemitic and sexist posts on social media and posted that he agreed with a theory that the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks were an 鈥渋nside job.鈥�

Tuesday鈥檚 split result, while offering what will likely be a variety of perspectives on finances, management and curriculum, is bound to be just the beginning of a new, and perhaps even more tumultuous era 鈥� for one thing, all 21 seats, including the 10 from Tuesday, will be on the ballot in 2026.

“This first cycle was really a warm-up for 2026, when all 21 seats are up for election and the stakes are real,鈥� said Peter Cunningham, a former head of communications for the district and founder of the nonprofit .

Cunningham, who also served as a spokesman for U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, said Tuesday鈥檚 election 鈥渂ecame a referendum on Mayor Johnson and the teacher’s union because of the chaos at the board over the last few months. They did not get a clear mandate to pursue their more controversial policy proposals, but they will likely do it anyway because this is their last chance to control the board.”

The range of ideologies among fully elected board members could fuel further drama, said Meredith Paige, a mother of two high schoolers and leader of , an advocacy group.

鈥淭he chaos is going to continue,鈥� she said.

From appointed to elected board  

For nearly 30 years, Chicago鈥檚 mayors have enjoyed the right to appoint and dismiss board members, with the city standing for decades as one of just a handful with mayoral control 鈥� New York City, Boston, Washington, D.C. and Detroit are among others where mayors still wield considerable power over school policy. 

Until now, Chicago Public Schools was also the school district in Illinois that didn鈥檛 have an elected board. But the state legislature in 2021 ordered the city to transition to a fully elected, 21-seat board. 

It may take a while for the changes to sink in with voters, said Paige, who canvassed in neighborhoods last week and met 鈥渁 lot of people who had no idea that there was a school board election.鈥� Others believed Chicago already had an elected school board. 鈥淪o that’s been a problem the whole time,鈥� she said. 鈥淓ven now, parents don’t understand how this is going to work.鈥�

Among the first business items the hybrid board will face in coming months: whether to terminate the contract of Martinez, the schools CEO, who has served since 2021. They must also decide whether to approve Johnson鈥檚 push to borrow hundreds of millions of dollars to defray short-term expenses, including a $175 million pension payment for non-teaching employees.

The district faces a projected deficit of $505 million next fall, due partly to rising healthcare costs and the expiration of federal ESSER pandemic funds. Johnson鈥檚 predecessor, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, also shifted hundreds of millions of dollars in pension costs from City Hall, which had historically underwritten them, to the district.

And the city is also hemorrhaging students: enrollment has dropped by 20%, or more than 80,000 students, since 2010.

In July, Martinez and the school board proposed a $9.9 billion budget that aimed to close the deficit through staff cuts and freezes affecting nearly 250 jobs. The board authorized the budget as written, but relations between the mayor and the district soured. 

Johnson has proposed taking out a $300 million loan to fund teacher pay increases and pension contributions, and he in October for comparing his critics to confederates who opposed freeing slaves 鈥渂ecause it would be too expensive.”

Even if both sides agree on a new source of spending, the district and the union are also engaged in a contentious negotiation over the terms of the next teacher contract. One estimate said paying out an expected series of teacher raises and taking on more pension debt from the city could increase its deficit to nearly $1 billion. 

Despite Johnson鈥檚 bid to fire Martinez, the CEO remains popular, said Jacobo of Chicago Democrats for Education. 鈥淗e’s the only one really concerned about the financial situation of our city and our school district system, so people want someone responsible like him to stay.鈥�

Paige, the parent advocate, agreed. 鈥淭he mayor and CTU want to fire the CEO, who has brought a lot of stability to the district. So there’s a lot of frustration over that.鈥�

She said the bitter, two-week in 2019 is also having lingering effects: 鈥淭here’s still a lot of toxicity in the system over that 鈥� and just a general鈥� she hesitated, 鈥溾�榝rustration鈥� is the nicest word I can think of right now 鈥� that the mayor seems so disconnected from reality of the financials that he wants to put the district in peril to pay the teacher’s contract.鈥�

The state legislature has given Chicago until 2027 to transition to a fully elected board, and despite the challenges, Jacobo said the change will be welcome.

鈥淚’m very glad that there will be a number of these new school board elected members who honestly are just not beholden to anyone but the parents, the voters in their district,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd when they talk, when they speak, it’ll be with a perspective of what is best for their community. I think it’s one step forward, but a lot of work to go.鈥� 

But the Chicago Teachers Union walked away from its four-day 鈥渨ork stoppage鈥� without much of what it was hoping to achieve, including district-wide triggers for closing schools and a mandatory student testing program that required parents to opt-out. One official lamented that workers gave up four days鈥� wages in exchange for concessions like increasing the supply of masks to schools.

鈥淲e sacrificed pay for face masks,鈥� Stacy Davis Gates, political and legislative director for the union, told reporters.

The plan, which won鈥檛 be released until the union鈥檚 full membership votes this week, also includes efforts to reduce staff shortages by adding pay incentives to increase the substitute pool when teachers are out, and stipends for employees who help register families for testing and vaccination appointments. Staff members will also be trained to conduct contact tracing.

鈥淲e understand that our relationship to our families is a critical part of engaging in this testing program,鈥� added Jennifer Johnson, CTU鈥檚 chief of staff. The goal, she said, is to sign up 100 percent of families by Feb. 1.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who faces reelection next year, also promised to consider the perspectives of parents should there be another management-labor breakdown. 鈥淲e will never, never not have you at the table,鈥� she said. While some parents expressed deep concerns over safety in keeping their children home after the holiday break, others argued that remote learning was detrimental for their children and wanted to see better cooperation between the mayor and the union. Some also agreed with the city that making decisions about closures on a school-by-school basis makes more sense at this point in the pandemic because vaccinations are available and Omicron is less likely to cause serious illness.

But observers said the conflict didn鈥檛 leave either side in a good place.

鈥淣o one wins in this scenario. Parents and students lost with five days of disruption to their schooling routine,鈥� said Bradley Marianno, an assistant education professor of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, adding that the district and teachers union 鈥渇urther solidified鈥� a relationship in which they 鈥渙nly operate in crisis versus collaboration.鈥�

The agreement, he said, will likely make schools 鈥渕arginally safer,鈥� but strikes and threats of strikes every time the district and the union negotiate are bound to wear on parents and educators.

The conflict also drew attention to the low vaccination rate among Chicago students. Less than a third of the district鈥檚 340,000 students are fully vaccinated and rates at schools across the district.聽

As cases spiked in December, 鈥淲e began to have an increasable sense of foreboding,鈥� CTU President Jesse Sharkey said during the union鈥檚 press conference.聽

While almost two thirds of the union鈥檚 delegates approved the agreement, Sharkey suggested the rank and file members might not be satisfied.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 try to sell people on the benefits of the agreement that are not there,鈥� he said. 鈥淥ur members are grown ups, and we understand sometimes you don鈥檛 have a guarantee in advance.鈥�