Meet the new no-bid chair of the Teacher Retirement System board of trustees: Tony Smith.

Tony Smith. The new Illinois Superintendent of Schools and chair of the Teacher Retirement System.

The announcement came this morning in an email from the Teacher Retirement System (TRS).

From: Frankenfeld, Richard 
Sent: Monday, April 20, 2015 9:45 AM
To: Frankenfeld, Richard
Subject: New Chair of TRS Board of Trustees

Last week, the State Board of Education appointed a new State Superintendent of Education – Dr. Tony Smith.

As a result, he also becomes the new president of the TRS Board of Trustees.  State law (section 16-163 of the Pension Code) provides:  “The board shall be composed of the Superintendent of Education, ex officio, who shall be the president of the board, ..”

For more information, link to the ISBE web site — http://www.isbe.net/news/2015/apr15.htm

Rich Frankenfeld

TRS Director of Outreach

With Governor Private Equity’s no-bid appointment of Tony Smith to be State Superintendent of schools, Smith automatically becomes chair of TRS.

With this appointment the Governor will soon have filled five of thirteen seats on the TRS board of trustees.

Four seats are currently awaiting his appointments.

Two are filled by members appointed by Governor Quinn. Six are elected representing current teachers and retirees.

The two current Quinn appointees’ terms end in two years. At that point the Governor will have appointed the majority of TRS board trustees, including Tony Smith.

Smith’s appointment as State Superintendent and TRS chair was not without objection.

On Friday The Chicago Tribune reported that ISBE member James Baumann resigned, protesting that there was no search and that only one candidate was presented to the board members. That was Smith.

James Baumann, a key member of the Illinois State Board of Education, formally resigned this week, citing concerns about the unusual way the new state school superintendent was chosen.

There was no national search and only one candidate, he said.

“I had wished there was a more robust process, both on the front end and the back end,” Baumann told the Tribune.

“It’s just healthy to have a robust process. It is in everybody’s best interest, including the person who ends up with the job.”

A former president and CEO of the Follett Higher Education Group, Baumann had been chair of the finance and audit committee on the state board, and his term wasn’t up until January 2017.

In previous years, the state board has used search firms and conducted a national search for the state’s top school leader, records show.

Current state Supt. Christopher Koch, for example, was hired after a national search, as was one of his predecessors, Robert Schiller.

Even local boards often hire search firms and vet a number of candidates before picking a superintendent, Baumann noted.

But this time around, there was only one candidate — former Oakland, Calif., superintendent Tony Smith, who has ties to Gov. Bruce Rauner. The governor doesn’t hire the state school superintendent but he appoints members to ISBE, an independent board. Rauner recently appointed five new board members — a majority of the nine-member board.

Smith is a product of corporate foundation-backed school reform efforts. He was superintendent in Oakland, California before resigning several years ago and moving to Chicago. His tenure there was marked by battles with the teacher union and with the Black community over school closings.

Sound familiar?

There was some speculation that he was being groomed to be the Chicago CPS CEO.

Smith’s history in California is one of being a front man for Gates, Broad and other foundation corporate reform efforts.

Undoubtedly Smith was recommended to the Governor by those in the network of those same foundations.

No need for a search.

Why go through the motions?