“Gov. Jim Edgar tossed Mayor Richard Daley a hand grenade Tuesday, but he didn’t pull the pin first. It took the form of a school-reform package for the city that places authority over — and responsibility for — the Chicago public school system right where it belongs: squarely in the mayor’s lap.”
— Chicago Tribune editorial, April 27, 1995
In 1995, Mayor Richard Daley was handed control of what had been called the nation’s worst public school system. The budget was perpetually in the red. Teachers strikes were common. Students were pushed through grade after grade, whether or not they learned anything. Graduation rates were dismal.
No one was held accountable when kids didn’t learn.
Daley installed a leaner, business-oriented management team, including current mayoral candidate Gery Chico as school board president. That team focused on what was best for students, not the adults in the system.
Whether you liked the sweeping changes or not, you knew who was responsible. Daley took the credit. And the blame. And every four years, voters got to hold a referendum on his performance. He won re-election three times after he took over the schools.
Last week, the Chicago Teachers Union and a handful of community organizations demanded that the next mayor relinquish control of the system. They want to change state law to create an elected, 13-member school board to replace the current seven-member board, which is appointed by the mayor. Under the proposal, seven of the 13 seats would be reserved for parents and community members from different parts of the city. Two seats would go to teachers and one each to an administrator, an education researcher, a paraprofessional and a business person.
Whew.
Shifting control of the schools to an elected 13-member board would be a real mistake. It would limit the field of candidates by imposing tight requirements on who could run for which seats. Board members wouldn’t answer to the entire city, they would answer to certain interests, including the powerful teachers union.
You wouldn’t have 13 people held to account by the city. You would have no one held to account.
Lawmakers gave power to the mayor to choose the school board and chief executive because they “recognized that Chicago schools had been hobbled by a series of work stoppages and by a decision-making structure that gave everybody some authority over how the schools should be managed,” this page said in 2002. “Management issues often devolved into a contentious haggle-fest involving teachers, administrators, principals and the school board. The result was predictable: the schools floundered.”
While the mayor appointed school board members before 1995, his hands were largely tied: He could select only from a list of candidates compiled by a nominating commission.
Chicago’s shift to mayoral control produced quick results. It was so successful that other major cities, including New York and Los Angeles, followed suit.
Yes, we know that every other district in Illinois is controlled by a locally elected school board. Quick, if you live outside Chicago—who’s your school board president? No clue, right?
But everyone knows who is responsible for the schools in Chicago.
That can be risky business for a mayor. In Washington D.C., Adrian Fenty hired reformer Michelle Rhee to overhaul the abysmal school system. She made national headlines — and a lot of powerful enemies — by closing schools and firing teachers. Fenty lost his re-election bid, in part because of opposition to the reform efforts.
We credit the CTU and the community groups for prompting a good debate on this issue. Progress for the schools will be a key issue in the mayor’s race.
Candidate Miguel del Valle was open to the idea of relinquishing control of the school board. Chico, Rahm Emanuel and Carol Moseley Braun firmly opposed it.
So let’s have that debate. And let’s have a much broader debate about what goes on in the classroom, and how few hours children spend in the classroom, and how we’re going to keep those children safe. And let’s have a debate about the role of parents—absent parents are the greatest obstacle that teachers and their students face.
Daley launched a revolution in the Chicago schools. It’s time for a second revolution. Make no mistake, pulling that off will require a strong-willed mayor who is fully in command.
