Elected Representative School Board

The movement to win an elected representative school board comes from the lived experiences of parents and educators throughout the city that have witnessed unsound and unjust policies and practices that have been finalized by the Chicago Board of Education. Much of this has come in the last ten years, as the past appointed boards have gone against much criticism and moved forward with  mass school closures. The reality of many of the past school actions is that they have used ineffective measurements for academic and school utilization. This means the school board has made devastating decisions while families across the city saw schools that were not underutilized-closed and sent to schools where they experienced over crowding, and school communities experienced increased bullying and saw resources irresponsibly spent, despite the reasons for many of these difficult decisions being based in "fiscal responsibility".

The work around winning an elected school board has been moving as many throughout the City were asking the questions, "how do we change this system"? The roots of this is based in the lack of accountability and democracy, which does not allow for the tension between the people and elected officials that makes for those in power to want to seem to do the right thing, and encourages deliberation.

Will it work?

So many have shared that this approach may not work and will intensify politics in Chicago Public Schools. Well...politics exists in the current Board. The current Board has been and continues to be full of political interests, from the bad bonds authorized by stakeholders of those financial institutions, bad contracts with paybacks, and land and real estate interests guiding decisions. There is also an opportunity for measures that can limit things like caps on financial contributions to allow for less politics.

What is the proposal?

·         House Bill 4268 provides that: 

o   On March 15, 2016, the terms of all currently appointed members of the Board will expire and abolish.

o   13 new members are to then be elected.

§  Four electoral regions: Southeast Side, Southwest Side, West/Central Region, and the North Region. Each region must be represented by 3 members, except the North region which will have 4 members. Each region must have 2 parent members and 1 community member.

 

§  Eligibility requirements: must be at least 18 years old; parent or legal guardian of a child enrolled in the public school region; and be a resident of the region. Eligible persons must obtain a petition with at least 250 signatures in order to be placed on the ballot.

§  7 members will serve 4-year terms and 6 members will serve 2-year terms, in order to create staggered terms.


In the 26th and 27th ward over 2,500 petition signatures were collected in 2014 where residents, and over 89% of the residents all over the City voted for an elected representative school board. However, now there is political maneuvering for the State and the Governor who once used the same unelected system for his own education reform agenda, now wants control. This would make the state have control over the Charter School Commission and the Board. Let's be clear at this point it is only the people that are really thinking about our children first.