Mayor Johnson’s campaign to gut school board safeguards is a fiscal death wish for Chicago
Mayor Brandon Johnson has a math problem. And no, it’s not just the $734 million budget hole currently sinking Chicago Public Schools, or the $175 million pension payment his administration conveniently tried to make disappear last year. It’s not even the $1.5 billion teachers’ contract he gleefully inked while knowing the district couldn’t afford it.
No — Johnson's real problem is that he can’t count to 14.
Fourteen is the number of votes the CPS board currently needs to amend its budget or approve new borrowing. That’s a two-thirds supermajority of the 21-member board. Johnson wants to lower that threshold to a simple majority of 11 votes. Why? Because he can’t count on enough support to ram through fiscally reckless measures under the current rules. So instead of persuading the board or the public, he’s trying to change the rules of the game.
And now, thanks to a Tribune exposé, we know he lied about it.
The lie that keeps giving
Back in May, Johnson’s office flatly denied it was pursuing any changes to CPS voting procedures. His press secretary, Cassio Mendoza, claimed the mayor was not seeking to undermine board authority “in any way.” City Hall even trotted out lobbyist John Arena — a former alderman turned political ghost — to say he hadn’t sent any messages pushing for the change.
Only he had.
Emails obtained by the Tribune through a public records request show Arena telling a state education official on May 23 that the administration’s goal was to align CPS voting thresholds with those of other school boards — i.e., a simple majority. He even provided a helpful list of policies currently requiring a two-thirds vote, like budget amendments and bylaw changes.
Let’s be clear: This was no idle curiosity. This was a direct pitch to change the rules — sent from Arena’s personal email, in the final days of the legislative session, without copying any city officials. Then, four days later, Arena denied doing what he’d just done. Johnson’s team followed suit with a similar fib. Only when the email surfaced months later did they pivot to the “preliminary research” defense.
Research? Please. You don’t do “research” with secret backchannel emails to state bureaucrats in the 11th hour of a legislative session. You do research with a white paper. This was a sneak attack — and they got caught.
A simple majority for simple minds
Johnson’s defenders argue CPS is the only district in the state with a supermajority requirement for things like budget amendments and borrowing. That’s true — and that’s the point. Chicago’s school district is unlike any other in Illinois. It’s the fourth largest in the nation. It’s also a fiscal disaster zone with a long and storied history of mismanagement, corruption, and political capture.
A two-thirds threshold isn’t an unfair hurdle. It’s a vital guardrail.
It ensures that major financial decisions have broad support — not just from the mayor’s political allies, but from the wider board, including elected members with a mandate from voters. It’s a check on power. Johnson calls it a nuisance. His allies call it “anti-democratic.” What they mean is: it makes it harder for us to loot the district for short-term gain.
And that’s exactly what’s at stake here.
Last year, Johnson tried to float a $175 million loan to pay for pension obligations and parts of the new union contract. Former CPS CEO Pedro Martinez balked, warning it would hurt the district’s credit and long-term stability. The board — thanks to supermajority rule — blocked the maneuver. Johnson then fired Martinez and installed his former education policy advisor, Macquline King, as interim chief.
Now he wants to ensure that next time, there’s no such resistance.
Austerity? Never heard of her
Let’s step back for a moment and ask a simple question: what tough choices has Brandon Johnson made?
He inherited a city and school district teetering on the edge of fiscal collapse. Yet instead of trimming spending, eliminating waste, or negotiating leaner contracts, he went on a spending spree: The four-year $1.5 billion teachers contract; the ballooning city payroll; the continued resistance to school closures despite plunging enrollment; the refusal to even discuss layoffs or right-sizing.
Johnson’s approach to budgeting isn’t progressive. It’s delusional.
He’s acting as if we’re living in 2021, flush with federal COVID relief money. But those dollars are gone, and we are now paying the piper. CPS is staring down a $734 million deficit this year, and that’s before any new borrowing or “surprise” obligations come due.
Instead of making hard decisions, Johnson is trying to weaken the system of checks and balances so he can make irresponsible ones.
Democracy for me, not for thee
What makes this story even more galling is Johnson and his CTU allies spent years demanding an elected school board to wrest control away from the mayor’s office. “Let the people decide!” was the rallying cry.
Now that Johnson is in charge? Suddenly, those same activists are complaining elected members are slowing things down.
Well, too bad. That’s how democracy works. You don’t get to demand democracy and then gut its procedures the moment they inconvenience you.
Let’s also not forget that the Board is still only partially elected. Johnson still controls a slim majority through appointments and his handpicked board president, who only votes in ties. That means even with this supposedly burdensome supermajority requirement, Johnson is still effectively in control of CPS.
But even that’s not enough for him. He wants to eliminate the requirement so he can rule by fiat. And if the Tribune hadn’t exposed the email, he might have succeeded.
The clock is ticking
CPS must finalize its FY 2026 budget by Thursday, August 28. That can be done by a simple majority. But any amendments — including, say, borrowing to plug a $734 million hole — require a supermajority.
Now imagine what would happen if Johnson got his way and dropped the threshold to 11 votes. Suddenly, the mayor could push through massive loans, budget gimmicks, and future obligations with a bare majority — many of them beholden to CTU or otherwise dependent on Johnson’s political patronage.
That’s not fiscal policy. That’s looting the future to pay for the present.
This is how cities go bankrupt — not in a bang, but in a series of short-term bailouts that slowly strangle long-term solvency.
The reckoning ahead
If Johnson truly cared about the financial health of CPS, he’d be leading a conversation about school closures, workforce reduction, and service consolidation. Instead, he’s trying to make it easier to delay that reckoning — and make it someone else’s problem in 2027 or beyond.
Even some progressive lawmakers are sounding the alarm. State Rep. Ann Williams, who helped sponsor the elected board legislation, called the mayor’s plan “an attempt to circumvent the will of the voters.” She’s right. If the people elected a more independent board, maybe it’s because they’re tired of CPS being treated like a political ATM.
But don’t count on Johnson to reflect on that. This is a man whose political base is built on utopian promises and union loyalty — not fiscal realism. He was elected to spend, not to save.
Unfortunately, the city’s kids and taxpayers are the ones who will bear the cost.
Bottom line: "The math doesn’t lie, but the mayor did."
Chicagoans deserve transparency, not backroom emails. They deserve financial stability, not political gamesmanship. And most of all, they deserve a mayor who tells the truth about his intentions — and respects the rules even when they stand in his way.
Brandon Johnson wants to make it easier to dig the hole deeper. Voters should make it harder for him to keep the shovel.
