Despite Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office saying it was not pursuing controversial changes to the Chicago Board of Education’s voting procedures, his top Springfield lobbyist emailed a state official in the closing days of the spring legislative session expressing interest in a bill that would do just that.

In a May 23 message, city lobbyist John Arena wrote to a state education official that the city wanted legislation to align the Chicago board’s rules with those governing other school boards around the state. That would have included a provision to lower from a two-thirds supermajority to a simple majority the threshold the Chicago Public Schools board would need to approve certain issues — and ease the path for adopting contentious borrowing plans favored by City Hall.

“We want (to) bri

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