An Elected School Board - Establishing School Board Districts

View as Webpage May 17, 2023

Greetings!

COAL is a supporter of an elected school board, mainly in recognition of the overly political and ineffective performance of current and past school boards, fully comprised of appointees made by the mayors of Chicago.

We can all agree that speaking generally, there is significant room for improvement in the education of our children here in Chicago and a representative elected school board can be a key component of the change needed to chart an improved direction for Chicago Public Schools.

The legislation passed to establish an elected CPS board calls for the following:

The size of the board will be expanded from the current seven members to 21 members in 2025;
The City of Chicago shall be subdivided into 10 electoral districts for the 2024 elections and into 20 electoral districts for the 2026 elections - Each district must be compact, contiguous, and substantially equal in population and consistent with the Illinois Voting Rights Act.
In November 2024, 10 members will be elected from 10 school board districts, these members will serve four-year terms and will be up for re-election in 2028;
By Dec. 16, 2024, Mayor Brandon Johnson must also appoint 10 members from those same 10 districts to serve two-year terms.
By Dec. 16, 2024, the mayor will also appoint a school board president from anywhere in the city to serve for two years.
All 21 new school board members — half elected; half appointed — will be sworn into office in January 2025.
In November 2026, the 10 mayoral-appointed seats will switch to being elected to four-year terms. Those members will be up for re-election in 2030.
In November 2026, all Chicago voters will elect a school board president at-large. That person will also be up for re-election in 2030.
By January 2027, all 21 members will have been elected.
From that point on, school board elections will be staggered, with half the seats up for reelection every two years.

The legislation:

also puts in place a moratorium on school closures until 2025, and includes language to prevent individuals with conflicts of interest from serving on the board.
Additionally, the legislation creates the Chicago Board of Education Diversity Advisory Board, to provide non-citizen students with maximum opportunity for success during their elementary and secondary education experience.

The state legislature is currently working on the establishment of the boundaries of the Chicago electoral school board districts, from which we will elect members to the Chicago Public School Board. The question, as with any electoral map, is will the districts be drawn in a fair and equitable manner?

Please read on...

Respectfully,

COAL Board of Directors

_____________________________________________

"The time to work seriously and collectively, to improve the state of our Community, is upon us..."

Let Us be intentional in all aspects of the Work that must be done.

IILLINOIS AFRICAN AMERICANS FOR EQUITABLE REDISTRICTING

and ESTABLISHING ELECTORAL SCHOOL BOARD DISTRICTS

As part of a coalition, Illinois African Americans for Equitable Redistricting (IAAFER), COAL has worked to promote the formation of equitable school board districts that reflect the population of Chicago and adheres to the Voting Rights Act.

IAAFER developed a proposed map for 10 school board districts that will be the basis for electing 10 board members in 2024 and that:

Leverages current ward boundaries, keeping wards whole within a school board district - ward residents who work together on issues from housing and safety to city services, can also work together on education related issues and the election of a school board member;
Does not split up wards across multiple school districts;
Represents the demographic make-up of the city of Chicago; there are 3 majority Hispanic districts, 3 majority Black districts, 3 majority White districts, and 1 plurality White district;
Complies with Voting Rights Acts, recognizing that the wards were drawn in compliance with Voting Rights Acts;
Minimizes political shenanigans that often come with the drawing of new districts with completely new and different boundaries.
Minimizes the confusion residents/voters might experience with boundaries that are completely new and different and bi and tri-sect wards;
Allows for simpler lines of communication between residents and elected representatives and elected representative to elected representative.

IAAFER took a more strategic and thoughtful approach, resulting in a better solution. This solution was modified and finalized after meeting/talking with diverse groups (Asian-American, Hispanic-American, Progressive and others) towards understanding the concerns of diverse stakeholders. Please see the following map and call to action by IAAFER lead, Valerie Leonard, below the map.

Public Comments To The Senate Special Committee On the Chicago Elected Representative School Board Regarding the First Draft Of the New Chicago Elected Representative School Board Districts May 12, 2023

IAAFER 11TH HOUR CALL TO ACTION

Chicago Has Just Elected Its First Education Mayor.

Let’s Organize Our Communities Around Our Schools.

The State Legislature has just proposed a map that created a 20-district elected school board boundary map that breaks up communities around the City of Chicago. The proposal completely disregards our existing ward structure and has effectively dismantled 39 of 50 established communities. Only 11 of 50 (22%) Chicago wards have their boundaries fully contained within the school district boundaries proposed by the Legislature. Under a 20-district scenario, we would expect 40 of 50 wards (80%) with their boundaries fully contained in a school district.

State Map Concerns

There is no consistency between the number of wards associated with respective Board of Education districts. Some wards include 3 school districts; some are spread over 4 districts, and some include 6 or 7 districts. The map presents several instances in which little pockets of voters are pulled away from the center of gravity of their wards, into a school district where they couldn’t begin to make an impact on the outcome of the election because their area is too small. The chances of being heard by their elected officials on educational issues is significantly reduced.

The Legislature’s proposal does not make it easy for Aldermen and Board of Education members to collaborate effectively or for the public to hold our elected officials accountable. With so many seemingly unrelated boundaries, the needs of our residents, particularly our students, are bound to slip between the cracks.

It’s not clear what will happen when we as voters go to the polls. Will we have to vote for candidates in multiple school board electoral districts, or will we only see candidates on the ballots whose districts have some land mass in our ward? What happens to those of us who live in areas where we happen to be separated from the rest of our wards, and are only a very small section of a larger school district that is culturally and politically different from our wards? The Legislature’s proposal clearly does not provide every Chicago voter in Chicago equal opportunity to elect candidates of their own choosing.

The IAAFER Solution

We took a more strategic and thoughtful approach, resulting in a better solution. The Legislature should use this historic opportunity to organize our communities around our schools and leverage the resources of the Board of Education and City government to provide academic, social and emotional support to our children. We urge the Legislature to adopt the map created by Illinois African Americans for Equitable Redistricting (IAAFER). We use existing ward boundaries as building blocks for 10 elective school board districts. The ward clusters respect communities of interest around race, neighborhoods and cultural norms and traditions.

In summary, our map

Optimizes the opportunity for all Chicagoans to elect candidates of their choice
Enables aldermen to have a single board of education member with whom to engage, rather than having several points of contact on the Board of Education.
Increases accountability of elected school board members and Aldermen on education issues within the purview of each office. Keeping the ward structure intact within each school district boundary will minimize the chances of issues falling between the cracks because only a small portion of an elected school board district falls within a specific ward, and vice-versa.
Enables better collaboration and coordination around issues that negatively impact schools and allows for the use of city services to help address those issues.
Provides more seamless opportunities for multiple layers of government to work together on behalf of children at city, ward, elected representative school board and state levels while maximizing accountability to voters.
Complies with Voting Rights Act of Illinois and the United States.
Creates compact, contiguous districts to the extent possible.
Keeps communities of interest together to the extent possible.

We Need You To Do 2 Things Between Now and May 19, 2023:

1) Tell your state senator and state representative to reject their current mapping plan and support the IAAFER proposal instead. 2) Call your alderperson and ask them to support the map as well. Alderpersons should also call their state senators and representatives and ask them to support the IAAFER map in Springfield.

Valerie F. Leonard

Founder, Nonprofit Utopia

Phone: 773-571-3886

About COAL

COAL is an umbrella organization founded by 13 of Chicago's historic African American mens clubs. COAL's overarching mission is to identify, examine, illuminate and find resolution to issues impacting the greater community. We strive to use our collective experience, expertise and resources to improve the quality of opportunity, quality of preparedness and the quality of outcomes (expressed as 'quality of life') for our Community.

Founding Member Organizations

100 Black Men Of Chicago ■ Chicago Assembly ■ Chicago Connection ■ Druids Club ■ Frogs Club ■ Lunch Bunch ■ New Committee ■ Original 40 Club Of Chicago ■ Rat Pack ■ Royal Coterie Of Snakes ■ Saints ■ Sigma Pi Phi Beta-Boule ■ UIC Male Forum (now Chicago Good Health Group)

What We Believe

The Coalition of African American Leaders believes that it is important to examine the critical issues confronting the African American community where injustice, inequality and the absence of access and opportunity continue to prevail, thereby negatively impacting us as a people.

COAL is an assemblage that advocates and organizes for appropriate and responsible public policy change, system behavior change and equality of opportunity. We aim to achieve for all of our people the fullness of the life experience without any form of racism or exclusion as a deterrent.

We believe we must prepare ourselves for the opportunity of this full participation, thereby achieving the necessary education and training to participate.

Contact: Clarence Wood, Chairman 312.404.8269 - Craig K. Wimberly, President 773.350.9315

Email: publicpolicy@coalchicago.com

COALCHICAGO.COM

COAL is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization incorporated in Illinois, USA.

Donations are tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by U.S. law.