How the Chicago School Board Elections Could Impact School Choice
AF-Chicago is excited to present our members with the opportunity to meet and ask direct questions to school board candidates. This is the first time school board members will be elected rather than appointed, so don’t miss the chance to be part of this historic occasion! A full list of candidates participating in our forum will be released soon. We’ll have hors d’oeuvres and appetizers, as well as beer and wine. Questions about the event? Contact [email protected]. We can’t wait to see you there! Register here: https://americasfuture.org/events/af-chicago-school-board-candidate-meet-and-greet/.
This general election will be historic for the city of Chicago. This will be the first time voters will elect members of the Chicago Board of Education. Prior to its restructuring, the members of the Chicago Board of Education were appointed by the mayor of Chicago. In June 2021, HB2908 was passed by the 102nd General Assembly of Illinois. The bill provides for the election of the Chicago Board of Education members working with appointed members until 2027, by which the board will be entirely elected and consist of 21 members. The next month, Governor JB Pritzker signed the bill into law.
As they did for the mayoral campaign of Brandon Johnson, the Chicago Teachers Union is spending large amounts of its members’ dues to campaign for their preferred school board candidates. The candidates must be supportive of their agenda, which includes a plank to “[e]nd privatization and unionize all school staff.” What this basically means is an ultimate end to charter schools, limiting a family’s ability to choose their school.
School choice seems to be a popular issue with the public. One recent poll by The Center Square found that nearly 70% of likely voters across party lines would support a federal tax credit for school choice including private schools. A recent report by EdChoice found that over 70% of current school parents support education savings accounts, tax-credit scholarships, charter schools, and vouchers. The Chicago Teachers Union would prefer otherwise.
But can you blame the parents? According to US News and World Reports, 14% of Chicago Public Schools’ high school students are proficient or above in math and reading. The cost of educating CPS students has increased despite a decline in SAT scores, as noted by Illinois Policy Institute.
Parents should be rightfully concerned about the ideological program of the CTU. For example, the future mayor Johnson spoke at the Socialism 2013 conference on promoting progressivism among teachers and indoctrinating the youth. Since 2010, the CTU has given hundreds of thousands of dollars to socialist aldermanic candidates.
In the middle of the campaign, an interesting turn of events occurred. On October 4th, all seven members of the Chicago Board of Education resigned amid a battle between Mayor Johnson and CPS CEO Pedro Martinez. The battle concerns a loan to pay for pensions and the teachers’ contract and the school board became weary of the fight. Johnson has since named members of his new school board that could rubber stamp the CTU agenda. Among the appointees is Margarita Ramirez, mother of socialist Alderman Carlos Ramirez-Rosa. This raises the stakes in the school board races and further aggravates supporters of school choice and opponents of the CTU.
The good news for parents is that many school board candidates support school choice. An Illinois Policy aggregation of a questionnaire quoted by Chicago Sun-Times and Chalkbeat Chicago the candidates’ stances on magnet and charter schools, showing support from a large portion of those in the race.
“An elected school board will help students and their families have a strong voice in important decisions about the education system in Chicago,” said Governor Pritzker when he signed HB2908 into law. Perhaps the desires of the people will be reflected in the Chicago Board of Education. However, until November 5th, 2024, the people of Chicago will have to wait to see how much influence the CTU still has over their elections and if school choice candidates can gain traction.