“As a former educator and longtime employee of the Chicago teachers union, what grade would you give the current system and why?”
That question was put to Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson during his appearance Thursday night at the Economic Club of Chicago.
His answer: “I personally don’t give a lot of attention to grades…. My responsibility is not merely to just grade the system but to fund the system. That’s how I am ultimately going to grade whether our public school system is working — based upon the investments we make to the people who rely on it.”
He offered nothing further about how to grade the schools or educational outcomes.
That answer was not an offhand comment taken out of context. It was a thoughtful answer that he explained. See for yourself. The question and answer start at the 47.3 mark in the video of his appearance.
After saying, “I personally don’t give a lot of attention to grades,” he went on to explain that, instead, “we have to establish a rubric that speaks to the needs as well as the unique dynamics that exist.” He described some of the special challenges Chicago schools face, and said “but, unfortunately, we have had this standardization of our schools that has sucked out our imagination.” He asked how we can “grade a system when the system has not fulfilled its basic obligation of providing an equitable system that speeks to the needs?”
“And so,” he concluded, “the very concept and ideal of public accommodation is deeply tethered to the experience and desire for black liberation. My responsibility is not merely to just grade the system but to fund the system. That’s how I am ultimately going to grade whether our public school system is working — based upon the investments we make to the people who rely on it.”
There were only two other highlights in Johnson’s appearance. First was his answer to a broad, overriding question toward the end (at the 55.0 mark) about how to get past the division in the city and get to the “collaboration to get stuff done.”
“I’ve said this before,” Johnson answered. “There are forces that did not accept the results of the Civil War. And there are real forces that want a rematch. Don’t give in to them. Don’t give it them.” He went on to talk about the importance of love and cooperation.
Really? The first thing that comes to his mind are people who want to refight a war to preserve slavery? He’s the fourth black mayor in a city that sent the first black man to the White House.
Second, at the 43.30 mark Johnson talked about addressing the root causes of crime. “President Johnson, fifty-plus years ago, said get at the root causes,” the mayor said, and he contrasted that with a racist comment at the time by Gov. George Wallace. Then he said, “Had we actually addressed the causes of violence fifty years ago we would already be a better stronger safer Chicago. This generation cannot get wrong what the previous generation did.”
Hold on there. America rejected George Wallace, elected Lyndon Johnson and proceeded to spend some $14 trillion on Pres. Johnson’s Great Society programs — exactly the kinds of programs Mayor Johnson wants now to address root causes. It’s the apparent failure of those programs that many today worry about repeating.
The rest of Johnson’s Economic Club appearance was a waste of time. His address was comprised almost entirely of his standard, vague platitudes, though delivered in his customarily pleasant manner. The Q&A was more of the same.
-Mark Glennon
This column was update to add the section about Great Society programs and to correct the number of previous black mayors from two to three.
Expect no retraction or apology. This what they do.
The state’s existing buyout program for its own pensions is the precedent for Chicago, which should be a warning: Look out for similar exaggerated claims and shoddy analysis.
Certifiable moron and crook this clown is.
This Mayor’s statement can be supported by data if true. Here’s how: How to Fact Check Claims by Chicago Mayor about grading schools according to spending Compare and contrast whether ‘SPENDING PER STUDENT’ is correlated to “ELA, Math, Science PROFICIENCY” in City of Chicago SD 299 9-12 Schools random samples DATA FROM Illinoisreportcard.com (Cites ISBE data) https://www.illinoisreportcard.com/District.aspx?source=schoolsindistrict&Districtid=15016299025 SAMPLE CHARACTERISTICS: RANDOM of SET: ALL 9-12 grade, all rated “Commendable”, all in City of Chicago SD 299 data year 2022 ANALYSIS PROCEDURE: 1. Click on school name link (goes TO ILLINISREPORTCARD.COM pages) 2. Under School Snapshot, click on box: “FY 22 School Finances”… Read more »
Specious reasoning.
You assume that goof can reason? He is no different than the low info voters who are bought and paid for for their complicity.
BTW – this current mayor of Chicago…telling the voters who got him in what they want to hear, he gets paid, gives out money to his pals and “community activists” who build “coalitions”, then he get voted out and the next give a way artist takes over. Can’t read or listen to this crap anymore.
Hell, lets give them all the money. All the money. We all work, get paid and give all the money to the school districts. 100% tax rate. We live in boxes under the expressway, but keep “investing” in schools. It still wouldn’t be enough for these people, there isn’t enough money…they will always want more, bitch about pay and want more “programs”.
That’s already been suggested. They have a contract, you know.
We have 4 years of this nonsense?
Chicago teachers already overpaid — they are among nation’s top paid teachers among US big cities — even though they are miserable failures in terms of results
Measuring success or effectiveness of an operation/enterprise/organization based on how much money you spend on it is a horrible metric and one I think is not used in any successful business. A government entity using taxpayer money with such a metric would be mismanaging taxpayer money.
Ya think?
Well, the money must mean something because city after city changed the way that they fund schools to match the property tax dollars in the school district. If the amount of money meant NOTHING, then we would have simply allocated the money equally. For the record, LBJ was in office for six years and left in 1969. A lot of politics has changed in 55 years. Serious. As soon as LBJ left office, Nixon and Reagan proceeded to reverse all the progress that was made during those six years. If money means nothing, why is it that in 2023, not… Read more »
Donna – what you suggest has been tried in Kansas City in the 90’s. A federal judge ordered billions to be spent on the Kansas City district. A special tax was levied across the state to pay for the schools. Literally anything the administration could dream of was paid for. Yet academic achievement declined, the system became even more segregated, and enrollment collapsed. The federal judge who ordered all of this spending was confounded, and eventually he relinquished oversight of the schools. Kansas City reflects that far more than money matters – culture and values properly implemented really mean quite… Read more »
100 years ago broke immigrants from Europe were flooding into cities and working like dogs for poverty wages yet their children became properly educated and successful in a generation. Educational outcome is 100% based on the family’s value of and commitment to education. In Chicago’s case we need identify those kids early and pluck them out of the meat grinder that is CPS and send them to proper schools before they’re dragged down.
Donna, by no means do I, personally, dismiss all Great Society efforts. On the contrary, some of it worked. But an honest debate about what worked and what didn’t is long overdue. It starts with giving a fair look at opinions of people like Bob Woodson, who initially believed in and worked on some of those efforts, but questions some now. When you say “because racism is baked into nearly every policy operating in this country,” I think you loose credibility in the debate.
Oh yes LBJ. The man with the Bay of Tonkin false flag that he used to slaughter thousands of people including Americans in South East Asia. I won’t go on about the failures of his domestic problems as the Vietnam mess is enough to turn my stomach but suffice it to say he cowardly didn’t run for re-election rather than face the public at the polls.
LBJ…what memories so many have that lived the time.
Lots of money hasn’t helped Black people very much, given the trillions involved. Lots more money spent doing the same stuff won’t somehow help ‘more’. Standardized tests in public schools are what has caused people to confuse opinion and fact? Really? Measuring to what extent students are able to demonstrate they understand how to read, add, write and etc is what causes the NYT and the NY Post to publish entirely different ‘facts’ about exactly the same stuff, which are both thought to be entirely true by millions of people? ‘Standardized testing’ to establish if a high school graduate can… Read more »
Money is not a problem, we are talking about a cultural problem that is within the home. This is not easily fixed. No amount of money or government can teach right from wrong and a moral compass. Politicians count on many people to get angry in order to find an enemy. That could be whites, corporations, churches, and business leaders. There are realities in a economy focused on capitalism with less government controls then say European examples. Racism is not “baked into every policy operating this country”, performance is. Open a business in the wrong location with a poor product,… Read more »
Sorry, hon. But the factor that money plays in this equation is miniscule. Factors like community values, family structure and support especially, etc. play an immeasurable role. I have witnessed it firsthand for 27 years in CPS. There is a reason why Catholic schools, even in poor neighborhoods, and charters like Urban Prep far out-succeed the public schools…. When parents and families put skin in the game (i.e. money), they pay a lot more attention to what their child does and gets in return. I tell my students all the time that if their parents had to actually cut a… Read more »
Donna, you ought to send your kids to Chinatown if you believe that skin color will improve educational outcomes.
When the results don’t justify the investment, ignore the results. No wonder this guy couldn’t manage his own credit. I’m not very bright, but I’m confident I’ve forgotten more than this moron will ever know. Momma must have dropped him on his head. Repeatedly.
When CTU/Brandon states: That’s how I am ultimately going to grade whether our public school system is working — based upon the investments we make to the people who rely on it. Make no mistake, what he means by the “people who rely on it” are the majority white upper middle class (making min +$100g) w guaranteed not to be diminished benefits (often w guaranteed +$multi-millionaires$ pensions, like him) with only 39% of their kids attending CPS and ZERO attending neighborhood CPS. And NOT the 300,000, mostly low-income kids, trapped with no other options……that’s how you measure success as a… Read more »
Brandon Johnson says black kids that succeed hurt other black kids … sounds a little racist … just like stacy davis gates who says … Living with my Black neighbors Marginalizes my Children … anyone see the pattern here …
https://twitter.com/drkugler/status/1641885263193427970?s=20
Here’s what I did when I read the Wirepoints headline…HA, HA, HA, HA, etc., etc. Where does Johnson come up with this crap? I’m still laughing at his self imposed ignorance and avoidance of the real problems.
Throwing money into a toilet is not an investment in the toilet.
It’s difficult to accept but you must: CPS STAKEHOLDERS DON’T CARE IF STUDENTS GET EDUCATED. From their perspective, they see mandatory, forced education as neocolonial white supramacy: You will be educated, minority person, whether you like it or not That’s how CPS stakeholders see your interference their education system. Just another example of the colonialist descendant of slaveholder telling the minority what he must and must not do, and the forcing minorities to learn to read, or write, is white supremacy. Few of them are educated enough to articulate their thoughts this coherently but ultimately, that’s what they mean. That’s… Read more »
Absolutely right on point ☝️. Mao took 50-75 years to destroy his own culture and in the digital age, it will take less than 10 years to completely destroy this country.
So the more we pay them, the more they pretend to teach, and the more students they pretend to educate? Nice.
Given these answers, which will no doubt be applauded by the rank and file of the CTU, it’s not hard to understand how public education has sunk to this level.
I’m sure Randi Weingarten is taking notes, to spread this message throughout the entire country.
So, based on the CTU’s level of theft from their neighbors. Got it.
Silly Rabbits CTU will NEVER allow teachers to be evaluated unless is some form of self evaluation. There are already very simple metrics on successful educational outcomes. How many students read at national grade level. How many students can do math a national grade level. If 85% of your students do not meet those levels, you are on probation for one year. If after that year 85% are not at grade level, we will have to let you go. Additionally, every three years, every teacher has to recertify, and not some mickey mouse test from some teacher mill like National… Read more »
There is at least one fly in your ointment here. An unstated underlying assumption is that teacher #2 will be better than teacher #1 whom is being replaced. I’d not put a lot of faith even that teacher #3 would be better than teacher #2 for any given job. A big problem is that Chicago and CPS itself are no longer such an attractive places to live and work. Generally the best kinds of teacher applicants mostly want to work elsewhere. Still, jobs theoretically need to be filled so CPS is left to hire from among those who are simply… Read more »
The fly in your ointment is the assumption that CPS cannot get any better, it can only get worse. If that is true (and it may be), then why should we continue the fiction that this is an education system? Let’s call it the day care service that it is, and adjust pay and benefits accordingly.
I’m not necessarily against it.
This guy is a complete f@cking mor@n!!!
Money is not the sole issue. The way we teach in Illinois is part of the problem. We need a different curriculum. Other states keep metrics and are making changes to boost student performance. Illinois is behind. The teachers union has an outsized voice in Chicago but they are not curriculum specialists. Their function is to advocate for higher wages and benefits. That will not change the fact that 84 percent of black kids in Chicago cannot read proficiently. We need better teaching methods. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/08/us/lucy-calkins-teachers-college.html
Also, toward the end of the Q&A, Johnson says we should do what President Johnson said with the Great Society, not what George Wallace said in opposition. Hello, that’s what America did, and proceeded to spend $14 trillion on Great Society programs. Not much for results, though.
Which I think I will add in an update.
Apologies here but Wirepoints has better data and statistics for Illinois state and local schools such as CPS then that Communist Rag that prints what intelligence agencies tells it to. Can’t even remotely believe your source, better off giving Mad Magazine or the Onion.
So this means he will use the same fiscal policy for police? Will we hear him say this soon? “I personally don’t give a lot of attention to crime…. My responsibility is not merely to just evaluate the system but to fund the system. That’s how I am ultimately going to grade whether our policing is working — based upon the investments we make to the people who rely on it.” Throwing money at something without measuring is like burning the money at best, at worst it guarantees that the thing you threw the money at will become corrupted flush… Read more »
Unfortunately, nobody will challenge him with this excellent thought. I would love to hear him stammer through a response.
Brandon Johnson is a hustler. It’s about getting the money and spending the money while the gettin’ is good. His past actions prove it. Brandon Johnson intentionally didn’t make the minimum payments on his Capital One credit card bills and got sued. Capital One garnished his paycheck. He earning over $200,000 a year at the time. He also didn’t pay his water bill, running up a nearly $4k balance. In addition to hundreds of dollars in unpaid parking tickets. He’s not trying to measure anything. He doesn’t care. His one and only job is to hustle as much money as… Read more »
Sheeetcago teachers are already the highest paid in the Midwest.
So more $$ is going to fix the K-12 problems?!!
How about we first increase the number of school days in a year and make the CTU
work a little bit harder to help out da children.
Chicago CTU teachers STEAL from their own neighbors.
One thing to keep in mind here and I’m in no way defending the most destructive and worthless union in the world, ctu, but suburbs that spend 15k to 20k per pupil can pass bond referendums for capital projects. Chicago has to take it out of the general fund so that CPS outlay per pupil includes capital improvements. I could be wrong I’m just reiterating what a former CPS principal told me. This also gives creedence to Rahms underutilized school shut down program.
I remember back when Lori was running again for mayor. You were all complaining about her being the worst ever. I told you then that the day will come when you wish she was still mayor. When, when, when will you finally figure out that Chicago (and Illinois) are a lost cause.
I said this yesterday: grades are metrics, and Brandon has no interest in measuring things because measuring leads to accountability and accountability leads to more work.
“I personally don’t give a lot of attention to grades…That’s how I am ultimately going to grade whether our public school system is working — based upon the investments we make to the people who rely on it.”
Can you imagine even a mediocre business executive saying such a thing? Brandon Johnson is not a serious person.
Given the current atmospheric level of spending being funded by taxpayers, BJ should be proudly grading CPS as an A+ by his standard. But of course he can’t say that because he knows how dreadful its academic performance has been. To wit, even his former boss, Stacy Davis Gates, has her son enrolled in one of those racist, private Catholic schools, despite her quote, “School choice was actually the choice of racists. It was created to avoid integrating schools with black children.”
Besides a compliant press, who else is nodding along with this guy? Wake up Chicagoans.
15% of Chicago’s eligible voters put BJ and his posse in charge.
65% of them didn’t even bother to vote.
I’d say that Chicago’s citizenry is either getting exactly what they wanted, or what they deserve.
That has been obvious in Chicago for over 50 years and the only way to fix it for yourself is to get out to the suburbs. I did. The problem now is Chicago (which is 100% Democratic) rules the state majority and pushing its failed city policies on the entire state (with Prizker’s help) like it’s easy on crime, bad schools and high taxation. I guess Making everyone miserable makes you fell a little less miserable.
Apparently hiz honor never heard of ROI. To not care about return on investment is insane and certainly a deal breaker for any management position, let alone mayor of the third largest city in the USA. SMH
Corporations and small business run on ROI or perish. That is why they are leaving Illinois.
An opinion from an educator/politician about education in Illinois “we need more money.” Who would have thought?
You can’t fix a bad song with more cow bell.
But you can drown out detractors with more cowbell. No one can hear the detractors. Chicago media has plenty of cowbell!
To paraphrase, how do you grade someone who has not adequately completed the assigned task? Simple, you give them an F or Incomplete.
Someone needs to follow up on his former students or the teacher that had to teach those students the following year. No way those students didn’t need to be retaught the basics.
Listening to this guy reminds me of the this is your brain on drugs commercial.
Mayor BJ has rapidly devolved into a smug-smiling race-baiting promoter of civil unrest, with no real government leadership skills visible to-date. Well since CPS school system is already very well-funded, per national statistics, but both ineptly (and corruptly) managed and poorly performing, also per national statistics, “more money” isn’t plausible fix. CPS is a failed educational system. “More money” will only further corrupt CPS. CPS presently is a failed governmental agency riddled with corruption and waste. Mayor BJ wants more money to fund higher teacher salaries (2nd highest wage-scale in US?). More cash to feed CTU political powerhouse. Period. CTU… Read more »
Denmark used school choice to make its education system world class. Over time it weeded out the poor performers out and rewarded the the best in class. It’s will documented.
Just say it Mayor Tupac- Grift over Grades.
This BJ mayor is a complete dolt. Two idiots elected mayor by the Chicago voters says something about rampant mental illness in places like Chicago.
Lori at least cared somewhat about fiscal responsibility for the City. This guy is clueless
Lori is a tragic figure IMHO. If you listened to what she would publicly say initially, such as Chicago would never do NY style lockdowns, we would never mandate fake vaccine cards, she would then do the exact opposite 48 hours later. It’s as if some boss hogg character behind the scenes was really calling the shots and would smack her back in party line. I think Lori could have been a much better mayor if she wasn’t a party hack.
I believe the president that ended slavery in America was from IL also. Someone called ‘Lincoln’. If Mayor Johnson ever leaves his CTU Marxist enclave in Chicago, there is a very nice museum in Springfield (the official state capitol of IL if Mayor Johnson doesn’t know) called the ‘Lincoln Museum’. To get to the Lincoln Museum, Mayor Johnson will have to pass through many miles of ‘Trump Country’. Sorry Mayor Johnson, no ‘microaggressions’ there, or talks on ‘community organizing’.