August 27, 2025
"VOLUNTEER" CHICAGO SCHOOL BOARD MEMBERS ARE IN IT FOR SOMETHING
WHAT’S IN IT FOR ME? As a lawyer for almost 45 years the most revolting two words in the legal profession were PRO BONO. That means doing a task for somebody else or some entity either voluntarily or involuntarily and for FREE.
That is contrary to human nature, which is naturally pre-disposed towards greed, selfishness and ego satisfaction. You own your time and talent and it has value. And anybody who says otherwise is either a liar or really stupid.
I remember appearing before the Chicago Bar Association in 1998 when I ran for judge and was asked by some attorney how much pro bono work I did? I replied that I did that only when suing an ex-client who tried to stiff me. That I had a business to run, bills to pay and a life. Oops. Wrong answer. No endorsement.
This brings up the Chicago School Board (CSB), which is an entity which has input into CPS funding and appointments. It once had seven mayor-appointed members and a chair. State legislation has since made it elective with 20 single-member districts created along with a citywide president, effective Nov. 2026. There were 10 members elected in 2024, of which four were backed by the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU). But then those 10 districts were halved and Brandon Johnson appointed 10 new pro-CTU members (see CHART) from the half where the 2024 winner did not reside. That gave the CTU its current 14-6 majority. All 20 districts elect an unpaid member to a 4-year term in 2026; if nobody gets a majority a runoff is set for Dec.
In the past and at present the CSB members and president were/are deemed “volunteers” and attended two meetings per month. But seven members have ballooned to 20 and they all have an agenda – which is to maximize their visibility and get elected.
According to far Northwest Side District 1A’s Ed Bannon, a Johnson appointee, the monthly meetings last 6-7 hours each of which 2-3 hours are public input (meaning listening to a lot of people whine and complain). Bannon said he also spends 10-12 hours per week “working” from his house. That adds up to 45-50 uncompensated hours per month.
That may change next year. Rumor has it that the state legislature at its spring 2026 session will set a salary of $50,000-a year for CSB members, $75,000 for the president, and hire staff. That’s a new $1.5 million politicized bureaucracy and will definitely incentivize a bunch of politicians to further screw-up CPS. If a salary is not set before the new term in 2027 then the CSB must wait until 2031.
38TH WARD: Bannon, however, already has his Plan B. Whether or not he loses he’s planning on running for 38th Ward alderman in 2027, when incumbent Nick Sposato is expected to retire. It will be recalled that Bannon, who lives in the Dunning area, ran for alderman in 2023 and got 3,638 votes, or 27.2 percent, finishing 2nd in a field of 5. Bannon is a sometime protégé of state senator Rob Martwick (D-10), the 38th Ward Democratic committeeperson and sponsor of the elected CSB bill.
The two had a blowup in 2023 when Martwick kept his promise to NOT oppose Sposato’s re-election. Bannon quit the “38th Dems,” but not before the group publicly endorsed Johnson for mayor. It didn’t much help. Johnson got 1,649 votes in the election in the 38th Ward, or 12.1 percent, and lost the runoff to Paul Vallas 11,596-3,326, getting 22.3 percent. The two have made amends and Bannon’s CSB appointment was the mayor’s payback.
But the Johnson connection is a kiss of death for Bannon in District 1A, which consists of the 38thWard (west of Harlem), the 45th Ward (north of Montrose) and all of the 41st Ward. This is the most pro-Trump section of Chicago and conservative, pro-school choice retired CPD detective Chuck Hernandez is running. He has been endorsed by Sposato and, according to Sposato, aldermen Anthony Napolitano (41st) and possibly Jim Gardiner (45th). Hernandez is also the 38th Ward Republican committeeman.
“Parents need to have options” in choosing schools, meaning public, private, parochial and charter, Hernandez said. “Kids need an opportunity to excel and that’s not happening in public schools.” Bannon takes the diametric opposite position: “We need more resources,” he said, using the code word for more taxes to pay for more staffers and higher salaries. “But not more property taxes.” Bannon wants some funding of CPS from the state.
Outlook: The 2024 turnout in Dist. 1 (now 1A and 1B) was 91,864. Custer beat Michelle Pierre 47,661-44,203, getting 51.9 percent. Bannon will focus his 2026 effort on the 38th Ward to build his ID for 2027. Having garnered over 27 percent last time without Martwick’s help Bannon is shrewdly positioning himself as the most Woke/Leftist candidate and will run well in Portage Park (the area east of Harlem).
With Sposato out, and against a large field, Bannon is a lock for a runoff spot. And he would have a decent chance to win.
BJ’S “GOLDEN PARACHUTE": Mayor Johnson was once a CPS teacher but then advanced to being a CTU “organizer” (spreading pro-CTU propaganda) and lobbyist (fighting money and contracts for charter schools). He is on track to lose in 2027 and has a job “approval” of less than 10 percent. As long as he does what CTU president Stacy Davis Gates tells him he will have a post-mayor job waiting for him. For crying out loud, she makes more money than the mayor. What does THAT tell you?
BOARD PRESIDENT: There are three elected non-partisan citywide offices in Chicago: Mayor/Clerk/Treasurer. The CSB president will be the fourth and the occupant can use the job to establish significant visibility, name ID and policy imprint. The CSB will have an immediate platform from which to run for mayor (and keep the job).
At present there are four credible candidates: CSB elected members (1) Jennifer Custer, from Portage Park (1B) who was a former teacher union organizer in DuPage County and whose husband is a prominent trades union official; (2) Jitu Brown, from the South Side (5A) and the CTU/Johnson candidate; (3) Jessica Biggs, from the gentrifying near South Side Bronzeville area (6B): and (4) Arnie Rivera, formerly the CPS COO.
A July 26 poll by M3 Strategies with a sample of 480 Likely Voters put Rivera at 23.4 percent, Custer at 20.4, Brown at 13 and Biggs at 9. This poll should not be given much credence as it used a push-poll methodology: Instead of asking who respondents now supported, which would have gotten an 80-85 percent “Don’t Know,” it described the candidates by their geography and office, as set forth above. Their numbers added up to 64 percent, which means 36 percent still wanted somebody else or nobody else.
The CSB election is at the very bottom of the ballot. There are 1,498,873 RVs in Chicago but only about 800,000 voted for local CSB candidates in 2024, a presidential contest. Next Nov. 3 will be a mid-term election, so turnout will drop by 20-25 percent.
With four candidates with four distinct geographic bases (and add to that the racial and gender factor) a runoff is certain. And it will be between Jitu Brown and one of the women. The Dec. turnout, at the start of the Christmas season, will drop even lower.
What is not certain is how much CTU will spend and when. They’re expending union dues so the amount is finite – maybe $4 million. Do they dump it in for Brown in Nov.? Or wait until Dec.? The mayoral election is Feb. 23, 2027. Or do they hoard their bucks and spend them for Johnson? An April runoff between Johnson and Alexi Giannoulias would cost a bundle. We’ll see how astute Gates is. My expectation is that CTU would rather control CSB than City Hall. After all, CTU can always go on strike to screw with the next mayor, as long as that mayor is not Brandon Johnson.
Read more Analysis & Opinion from Russ Stewart at Russstewart.com
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