Chicago is waiting for an elected school board. So are the MAGAs.
Chicago is waiting for an elected school board. So are the MAGAs.
Last week I wrote about big money, charters and the Los Angeles public schools.
The LAUSD, where I went to school as a student many years ago, is the largest school district in the country with an elected school board.
It is the largest school district without mayoral control.
It is also the district with the most charter schools.
As Chicago awaits its own elected school board, L.A. offers up some things to be concerned about and the limits of what an elected school board offers as a reform.
Last November the legislature created twenty CPS districts. That is a huge, and, I think, an unwieldy number. This year we will elect ten school board members in the November election. It will be ostensibly non-partisan.
We will elect another ten in a 2026 election. The 2026 vote will include a city-wide vote for board president. With no run-off, a simple plurality is all that is required to get elected.
Mayor Brandon Johnson will appoint members in the ten districts that won’t have elections until 2026.
Petitions can be circulated for the November vote starting March 24.
Two hundred and fifty signatures are all that is required to run.
In many ways the elected school board will look like the Chicago City Council which has fifty members and lacks the kind of history that exudes confidence in the process.
Thirty alders have been convicted of corruption since 1970.
Aside from corruption, the creation of an elected school board is taking place at a time when the Trumpists, MAGAs and Moms for Liberty-types are making a concerted effort to seize control of local school boards.
Their agenda includes book banning, outlawing diversity and inclusion programs, white-washing the history curriculum and attacks on LGBTQ students and faculty.
PEN America counted school book bans in the 2022-2023 school year, and found 3,362 book bans affecting 1,557 unique titles.
How easy will it be for the enemies of public schools to gain seats on our CPS board?
Pretty easy.
For example, the 2nd District is located in the city’s far Northwest side containing the 41st Ward, parts of the 38th, and part of the 39th Ward.
These wards are what is commonly known as the cop wards.
These are precisely the areas of Chicago that gave the Trump the most votes in the City with vote percentages in the 30-50 percent range.
With no run-off and only a plurality of the votes required, 25% of the vote will get some MAGAs elected to the board.
They will never be a majority.
But imagine the trouble they can cause.