Pension Election

CTPF Pension Election for Teacher Trustee

By Jim Vail

The Chicago Teachers Pension Election to elect two teacher trustees is currently running from Oct. 17 - Nov. 3. Teachers can vote online.

The four trustees running are CORE incumbents President Jeffery Blackwell and Jacquelyn Price-Ward, Members First Mary Esposito-Usterbowski and independent Cathy Cunningham-Yee.

According to one pension election insider, this is the first time an active teacher is running as an independent in the pension election.

It helps to have a caucus finance a candidate because mailers can cost between $10k to $20k.

Historically the Chicago Teachers Union would endorse the pension candidates and then send out the mailers to all the teachers. Former CTU Presidents Debbie Lynch (PACT) and Marilyn Stewart (UPC) would have the Executive Board endorse candidates and then they would make speeches to the House of Delegates who would in turn vote on their endorsement.

This changed when Teacher Trustee candidate Pam Touras said the union should endorse all candidates running for the pension board.

Today a caucus will endorse its candidate or they can run independently.

Members First Mary Usterbowski ran in the last CTU President election against CORE's Stacy Davis Gates and lost. She also previously ran in a teacher pension election and lost to current teacher trustees Tina Padilla (CORE) and Phil Weiss (MF).

Like politicians who switch political hats, union office seekers are no different. Cathy Cunningham-Yee also ran and lost in the last teacher trustee pension election on the CORE ticket. However, she is now running as an independent. Tina Padilla switched parties and is now with the REAL caucus, although she is not running in this election.

President Jeffery Blackwell has battled with CORE despite his endorsement. He spoke out against former House Speaker Michael Madigan forcing the pension fund to hire one of his lobbyists. The powerful speaker who the CTU had close ties with was forced out and is currently under indictment for corruption. 

Blackwell also made a memorable speech a few years ago in which he lambasted the fund for harboring a 'cabal of evil' and accused the fund of racism. He teamed up with Members First Phil Weiss to pass a motion to censure three female minority trustees, two of whom were also endorsed by CORE, Tina Padilla and Gervaise Clay.

Price-Ward voted in favor of the censure that ultimately went nowhere and the lawyer who helped draft it is no longer working at the pension fund. 

An interesting twist in this election is the race for principal trustee. Ravenswood Elementary School Principal Nicholas Guerrero is running against incumbent Jerry Travlos, who is no longer a principal but works in a network office as an administrator.

Travlos is a network deputy chief who is a part of the old Greek contingent. He replaced a Greek principal trustee, while Guerrero is a member of the Network of Hispanic Administrators in Education and the Latino Leadership Pipeline.

Guerrero claims on his bio to be one of the youngest principals in Chicago Public School history, and was hired in 2013. That means he is a part of the Tier 2 hires after 2011 who receive a much lesser pension in which they cannot retire with full benefits from CPS until they reach age 67.

The CTU has started a Tier 2 pension committee to study the problem that would mandate changing the state law that was passed when the ruling multi-millionaire forces were demanding drastic cuts to state pensions.

CORE and MF trustees teamed up to vote against continuing a forensic audit until Second City Teachers wrote a story, CPS board member Dwayne Truss who spoke in favor of tabling the audit motion until he was ousted and CTPF Director Carlton Lenoir convened a special meeting that afterwards resulted in a unanimous vote in favor to continue a forensic audit.