Chicago’s Elected School Board
In case you missed it, our Briefing on Saturday, March 12, gave us a look at the move to create an elected school board, when it will happen, and how it may affect parents and communities.
Chicago is the only school district in the state of Illinois that does not elect its school board. In the past, reform focused on other ways of addressing public education, such as Mayor Richard M. Daley’s Renaissance 2010 program that aimed to close between 60 and 70 public schools and open 100 new schools, most of which would be run as charters or contract schools by private groups. But the voices of parents and communities went unheard.
Illinois State Sen. Robert Martwick (D-Chicago) spearheaded the move toward an elected school board, which was passed into law last year. During the March 12 Briefing, Martwick explained why he supported the change: to address political cronyism and eliminate corruption stemming from such practices as no-bid contracts for private services. Martwick has been working on this issue for many years.
The timeline: The first election for Chicago school board members will be in the 2024 General Election cycle, when voters elect half of the board. The rest of the new board members will be elected in 2026.
The 21-member board will be elected from twenty locally-drawn and diverse districts across the city. The Illinois General Assembly which will draw the districts. Each district will cover a population of 135,000 across 2 ½ contiguous wards. The school board president will be elected citywide.
Providing perspective from community stakeholders, Kate Grossman of WBEZ was also featured during the Briefing. Grossman noted problems that the new elected school board will face—one being the size of the new board. The 21-member board will be significantly larger than any other big-city school board. Los Angeles has a seven-member elected board; New York’s board has 16 members. A possible result: factions between business and local communities may make it impossible to govern.
Another problem is representation from undocumented citizens. While undocumented parents can vote in Local School Council elections, they will not be able to vote for the school district’s overarching governing board.
Nevertheless, the election of Chicago’s school board will for the first time give the public a say-so. Right now, they have none.