More Conferences & Charter Woes Addressed at CTPF Meeting
If you’re going to San Francisco, make sure to wear some flowers in your hair.
The popular 1960s song during the Age of Aquarius came to mind when I heard our Chicago Teacher Pension Fund Trustees discuss who wanted to attend the Callan Conference in San Francisco April 8 - 10, 2024.
The Trustees at the Chicago Teachers Pension Fund Board Meeting Jan. 18, 2024 had to take a special vote to allow President Jeffery Blackwell, Jaquelyn Price Ward and Tammie Vinson to attend because they had already taken the maximum number of 3 trips that the Pension Board allows. Trustee Quentin Washington made the motion for the special approval that Blackwell seconded, followed by a 8-0 approval vote (Retired Trustee Marie J. Rodriguez abstained).
The Trustees attending the Callan Conference will miss a school week in April because the conference comes after the end of Spring Break. I remember former Trustee Phil Weiss said he had problems with his principal when he was flying to conferences around the country and missing school. He tried in vain to get the Pension Board to increase the number of days (20) they can be excused from school to attend to Fund business.
Weiss said the conferences were important because he could make contacts and learn from colleagues about investment strategies while pension fund watchdogs say the trips are merely an excuse for money managers to sell their overpriced services to the fund.
So who’s going to San Francisco? CORE Trustees President Jeffery Blackwell, VP Jacquelyn Price Ward, Tammie Vinson, Paula Barajas, Mary Sharon Reilly, Members First Victor Ochoa and CPS Board Trustee Tanya Woods. When Trustee Quentin Washington added his name at the last minute to attend the Callan Conference, his fellow trustees broke out in laughter.
“That’s a nice group attending,” the CTPF employee stated who took the vote count.
Retired Trustee Mary Sharon Reilly had wondered outloud last year why trustees had to go to these conferences when you could save money by attending local conferences or attend virtually. CTPF is about 47 percent funded. That means for every $1 paid out in benefits, there is less than 50 cents in the bank to pay for it.
Newly elected Teacher Trustee Paula Barajas will also attend the Opal Conference in New Orleans.
The next big item on the agenda that I found interesting was the lobbyist report by James Clayborne, a former IL State Senator who was the Senate Majority Leader for the last nine years. His law firm serves an interesting array of corporate characters in addition to CTPF, including General Motors, Goodyear Tires and Hooters.
Clayborne made a rather laid back report in which he said that nothing is really happening in Springfield right now. He said there was a penalty reduction bill moving forward to reduce the penalty for exceeding the limit of 140 days working and the Tier 2 bill known as HB4098 may turn into a different bill. The Tier 2 clause in which teachers and all state workers hired after 2011 get a reduced pension that mandates they work until 67, is being negotiated by the Senate President, the Speaker and Governor. He said the question is where the money will come from. He said one of the challenges is that a lot of legislators do not have an appetite to negotiate at this time (during elections.)
Clayborne then talked about a bill that will intercept state funds of uncollected pension obligations. The proposed bill will amend the charter code to clarify delinquent contributions. A big problem for CTPF ever since CORE first got elected back in 2010 is collecting pension payments from charter schools.
The only Trustee to question the lobbyist report and the charter pension collection bill in particular was Board Trustee Tanya Woods, an attorney who was appointed by Mayor Brandon Johnson. Woods’ background is marinated in social justice - she served as Executive Director of the Westside Justice Center and a mediator at the Center for Conflict Resolution, and worked as a reading specialist teacher and librarian in addition to being a widowed Southside mother.
Woods first attacked the lobbyist report, saying Clayborne should have prepared an agenda with the items he was talking about so that she could read what he was talking about. She then questioned the bill that would amend the charter code due to delinquent charter school pension payments.
“I was trying to follow your document,” she said. “I saw the dates and other items, but I had trouble finding (them). We don’t have a legislative agenda in front of us.”
This was the first time I heard a Trustee sharply criticize a report from a highly paid consultant.
Teacher Trustee Quentin Washington then spoke up and tried to smooth things over for Mr. Clayborne. He said it would be nice to have a legislative agenda where you send your report and refresh the trustees’ memory of what that agenda item is, with bullet points “that would be helpful to all.”
“The format was a little stilting for me to follow,” Trustee Woods said. “I’m used to action items for us to do. This was more like billable hours. I would prefer actionable items. What you are putting forth to make it clear what you are proposing.”
She then got to her main point, which appeared to be a vigorous defense of charter schools and their late pension payment problem.
“CPS role is we are vehemently against any statutory changes, or any amendments or any proposed bills that would put forth any type of intercept of funds or any change of code that would deduct school districts from our funding of charter schools for amounts that are delinquent to CTPF,” she said. “I feel confident we will be able to find a mutually agreed way to solve those delinquencies that CPS takes seriously any delinquencies to the Fund. We will work hard to work in good faith to rectify these problems.”
Trustee Victor Ochoa then spoke up to defend the CTPF proposed legislation that would force charters to make their regular pension payments. “This legislation is not our choice, we had to do it,” Ochoa said in response. “Did I say that correctly?”
Executive Director Carlton Lenoir said they would rather have this solved in Chicago and not Springfield.
“We owe it to our brothers and sisters in the charters that (pension payments) are being sent to the Pension Fund and it is not,” Trustee Barajas said. “We owe our members an obligation that it will happen. If it doesn’t, we have to take the next step.”
The last part of the CTPF Board meeting was the Executive Director report.
ED Carlton Lenoir said they have achieved all of their achievable goals, including the Tier 2 Safe Harbor Clause, a strategic plan, funding, leadership, cybersecurity and overpayments.
He said they they hired an internal auditor (no mention of the forensic audit), and the investment staff have been conducting due diligence during “a very busy year.”
He also addressed the talk earlier about moving to yet another location to either purchase or rent. We wrote about the CTPF Murkey Rent story in which there was talk about moving their headquarters while paying a whopping monthly rent of over $116k per month.
“The CTPF isn’t going anywhere,” Lenoir said. “We’re gonna be here, at least through 2026. The only reason we would (move) would be to save money in the long term. The project has been put on pause so we’re gonna be at 425 S. Financial Place.