By Townhall Chicago News Staff
A new Chicago Board of Education takes its seats at the end of January, setting up a fight over control of the board and the district’s budget, according to on-air comments Monday from Republican strategist Jeff Fiedler and Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates.
Fiedler, a contributor to Chicago Contrarian, said the board faces “two pretty immediate crises: a financial crisis and our learning crisis.” He said he would not be surprised to see layoffs by the end of the school year.
Fiedler said members not aligned with the Chicago Teachers Union will hold a narrow edge once the new board is seated, saying the opposition holds “10 votes plus the president’s vote” for an “11 to 10” majority. The breakdown has not been confirmed against the district’s official board roster.
Davis Gates, in audio from a public appearance, said the union secured wins in the recent board elections. “They won on things like keeping class sizes small, and most of all, fighting for funding, about $7 billion,” she said. She also referenced a hearing on district funding at the Bilandic building; the date and subject of that hearing have not been confirmed.
Fiedler and Ives also raised a claim that the board president-elect’s campaign and another unnamed mayoral figure were both backed by the same donor and could coordinate on tax-increment financing districts. That claim is unconfirmed and is not reported here as fact.
The board’s legal authority to raise property taxes independent of the mayor, along with the district’s reliance on state funding that Pritzker has publicly questioned, remain open questions heading into the board’s seating next year.
