Chicago City Wire

As the creation of a Chicago School Board is underway the school board district the city has created has been questioned. 

“Chicago’s transition to an elected school board doesn’t start for another year and a half, but the predictable is already unfolding,” Wirepoints said on Facebook. “A draft map released last week is gerrymandered by race, so racial fighting ensued, as reported by Chalkbeat and others.” 

Chicago's transition to an elected school board is already causing controversy as a draft map of district boundaries raises concerns about racial gerrymandering. Critics argue the proposed distribution of districts does not reflect the demographic composition of the student population, leading to disputes and tensions. Various individuals and groups are calling for a revision of the map to ensure better representation of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). The situation highlights issues of racial division and gerrymandering, with negative impacts on U.S. race relations. Additionally, the influence of the Chicago Teachers Union in the upcoming school board races and the election of one of its members as mayor raises concerns about the union's power. The transition to an elected school board is set to begin in 2025.

Illinois lawmakers have extended the deadline for dividing Chicago into districts ahead of the city's first school board elections, according to Chalkbeat Chicago. The measure passed allows for more time to draw the maps, with the new deadline set for April 1, 2024, seven months before the scheduled elections. The transition will replace the current seven-member board appointed by the mayor with a 21-member board, with the first round of elections to be held on November 5, 2024, and the remaining members elected in November 2026. Concerns were raised by Chicagoans regarding the representation of CPS enrollment and the overall city population in the voting districts, leading to criticism of rushing the map-making process. 

Advocates welcomed the extension, emphasizing the need for transparency and community engagement in shaping the elected school board. Various groups and organizations, such as The FOIA Bakery and Kids First Chicago, have submitted maps and testimonies, aiming to ensure representation that aligns with the public-school student population. However, the task of creating representative maps in a segregated city like Chicago poses a significant challenge. The extended deadline may allow for compromises and the incorporation of feedback from stakeholders. The decision also raises considerations for the campaign season, as the timeline for notifying voters of their school board districts will be compressed, potentially limiting awareness and candidate preparation.

In the final hours of the Illinois Senate's spring session, lawmakers passed an amendment extending the deadline for finalizing Chicago Public Schools' newly elected school board map by nine months. This amendment disregards a deadline that had been in place for almost two years. The transition from a mayor-appointed panel to a 21-member elected board by 2026 was signed into law by Governor J.B. Pritzker in 2021. Planning issues, disagreements between chambers, and concerns about representation led to the last-minute delay, according to the Chicago Tribune.