Our Chicago: November's School Board Election
CHICAGO (WLS) -- For the first time this November, Chicagoans will elect 10 members of a soon-to-be expanded school board.
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"If you are a resident of Chicago you live in a new school board district," said Becky Vevea the Chicago bureau chief for the non-profit news organization, Chalkbeat. "There are ten total. You can look up online which board district you live in. And you will be electing somebody from your district that also lives in that community to represent you on the school board."
In addition to the ten people elected by residents, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson will also appoint eleven people.
The board has been under mayoral control since 1995. But for a little more than ten years, there's been a push to move to an elected board.
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The push came after the closure of 50 Chicago Public Schools in 2013. Then, in 2021, state lawmakers passed legislation allowing Chicago voters to elect a school board.
However, it won't happen all at once. The board will be hybrid with some members elected and some appointed, for two years.
"In 2026, Chicagoans will have to look up again what district they're in because all ten of these districts get split in half and there will be twenty people, all twenty people elected, Vevea said. "One person who will be the school board president that all Chicago voters will vote for."
As for choices, Vevea added that most districts have at least two candidates.
"There are, in all, 31 people who are on the ballot for Chicago school board districts. There were 47 people who applied or filed paperwork with the board of elections to become a school board member. And not all of them made it on the ballot. It's Chicago, you know people challenge each other's signatures and petitions and some people didn't make it on the ballot. There are also four people running as write-ins."
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Those who wound up on the ballot include people who fought for an elected school board, some who've run for elected office previously, former teachers and principals.
"I think you have a lot of people who kind of see this as an opportunity that they feel passionate about. Which is, I think exciting, cause the whole point, again, was to get people who know a little bit about schools, are involved in schools to run for school board," she said.
