Chicago's first school board elections mean crash course time for voters, candidates

Adam Parrott-Sheffer went to a community forum earlier this month as a candidate for elected office in hopes of shaking hands and listening to voter concerns. He wound up first having to explain the office he’s seeking.

Parrott-Sheffer, a former Chicago Public Schools principal, is one of five people who have filed campaign disclosure documents intending to run for Chicago’s first-ever school board elections this November.

They’re the first of likely dozens who will submit their names to election authorities over the coming weeks. Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a bill this month establishing that Chicago voters will elect 10 school board members to represent geographic districts this fall, while Mayor Brandon Johnson will appoint another 10 and the school board president. All 21 seats will be up for election in November 2026.

Much of the public still knows little if anything about these elections, as Parrott-Sheffer quickly learned. Delays caused by disagreements in the Illinois General Assembly over the details didn’t help.

But behind the scenes, candidates and special interest groups already are gearing up to take advantage of this new opportunity to shape the city’s education system. Some organizations are conducting candidate training sessions. Others are hosting informational meetings for parents. And at least three political action committees are raising money to support candidates, including a newly formed one led by defeated mayoral candidate Paul Vallas and former charter school executive Juan Rangel.

“I really want to meet the moment,” said Bridget Lee, executive director of a new program that kicked off a fellowship for aspiring candidates. “We’re at this inflection point where our city is transitioning from the mayoral-appointed board to the democratically elected board. It’s going to be 21 folks, which is also a big change for the city.”

Pat Nabong/Sun-Times

Tuesday was the first day candidates could circulate petitions to get on the ballot. They need 1,000 signatures by June 24. Candidates have to file disclosure notices with the Illinois State Board of Elections before then if they raise more than $5,000.

Parrott-Sheffer, whose campaign has reported $22,030 in contributions so far, said he’s worried a lot of good candidates will be dissuaded from running by the high number of signatures required — double that of City Council campaigns — plus scarce information and the fact that the seats are unpaid.

“As I started to think about that Venn diagram of people who know our schools deeply, send their own children to our schools and have seen the world of schools and know what good board governance is … I realized that the group of people who fit in that circle are pretty small,” he said.

Parrott-Sheffer is a former CPS principal with two sons in CPS schools. He’s now a consultant to school districts through a Harvard University program and plans to run in District 10, which includes Hyde Park and a strip of the South Side along Lake Michigan and the Indiana border.

Trying to figure out how to run for CPS’ new school board

Keith Kysel is another CPS dad thinking of running. He’s been working as a substitute teacher, which he said has given him a way to tour the school district. He has a long list of ideas, from ways to get more school bus drivers to how to retain teachers.

But right now he’s trying to figure out how to run. He went to the March Board of Education meeting to ask some questions. He doesn’t know the exact boundaries of the district he would represent or who is eligible to sign the petitions.

“I don’t see enough information on what needs to be done other than we needed 1,000 signatures,” Kysel said.

The Board of Education has created a webpage with the basics, such as the election map, timeline, eligibility and board member responsibilities.

Dwayne Truss, who was an appointed board member under former Mayor Lori Lightfoot, was gung ho about running but is now questioning the process. He’s particularly worried about the role money will play, dubbing the election the “attack of the PACs.”

“I feel like to get money you are going to have to pick a side,” Truss said. “And the only side I want to pick is for children and family.”

Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates said the union is in the early stages of preparing for elections because its members are also focused on imminent contract negotiations.

Ashlee Rezin / Sun-Times file

The CTU’s process will mirror what they do for other elections, she said: Anyone who wants the union’s support will share their views with a committee and make deep connections with the community. The union will then vote on whether to endorse a candidate and grant them access to the resources — primarily on-the-ground volunteers and funding.

“For a very long time, CTU has had space in this city to expose what isn’t in the Chicago Public Schools,” she said. “Now, Chicago will have an opportunity to hear the families and the communities who believe that our schools need more, and they’ll get to debate that.”

Some are questioning whether the CTU and other sister unions and organizations will have enough money to support candidates in 10 school board races after heavily contributing to Johnson’s mayoral campaign last year.

Two PACs run by CTU leaders repaid the union $423,432 between April and October last year for member dues borrowed to help fund political campaigns — including Johnson campaign staff salaries — plus interest.

But Davis Gates said the union has proven it can successfully support candidates with community outreach campaigns while being outspent. And she said she hopes races are affordable enough for the average parent to run.

The CTU PACs pulled in $182,572 in donations from October to December last year and had $207,743 available as of the end of the year.

Education advocacy groups jumping in

Meanwhile Rangel, the former charter school executive, is heading up a nonprofit organization called The Urban Center. Vallas is serving as the head of the group’s PAC, which filed with the Board of Elections earlier this month and has raised $27,400 from Mary Perry and James Perry Jr., a partner with the private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners.

Rangel said the organization is focused on “organizing communities around a more centrist and common sense agenda that addresses issues of education reform, school choice, options for parents, crime and community safety.” The PAC is reaching out to people who are frustrated with high taxes, the way the migrant issue is being handled and rampant crime, he said.

He hopes this election has the same excitement and momentum as the first Local School Council elections in 1989.

“It only works when people are engaged in actually exercising the rights that they’ve been given, and so it would be a tragedy if people don’t,” Rangel said. “Our job really is to generate excitement around these elections.”

Rangel is the former CEO of the United Neighborhood Organization, or UNO, which once ran the city’s largest charter school network. He was fired in 2013 after the Sun-Times reported UNO had paid millions of dollars to companies owned by the brothers of another UNO executive. The federal Securities and Exchange Commission issued civil securities fraud charges against Rangel in the case. He settled and paid a fine without admitting wrongdoing.

John H. White/Sun-Times

The Illinois Network of Charter Schools also plans to be active. President Andrew Broy said the organization will have “sufficient resources” — its two affiliated PACs had about $1.8 million at the end of 2023. The group has previously gotten major financial backing from the billionaire Walton family, heirs to the Walmart fortune.

But Broy acknowledged knocking on doors will be as important as funding. He said charter school parents and supporters will be plenty motivated by the threat from the current city and school district leaders to shift away from school choice.

“I think our membership is fired up about it,” Broy said. “This is a fight we didn’t choose, [but] it’s one we’ll have to engage because they don’t see the world as we do.”

Other organizations are trying to play a more neutral role to educate community members about the elections.

Kids First Chicago, a business-backed parent advocacy group, has partnered with other community organizations to hold candidate information sessions. They’ve also hosted presentations to keep parents informed of updates.

National Louis University meanwhile has kicked off a pre-candidate fellowship to help aspiring candidates and activists understand how the school system works, the history of initiatives and how they’ve played out, said Lee, whose fellowship is out of a program called Academy for Local Leadership.

“I’ve heard consistently that the learning curve is really, really steep,” she said. “It’s “important to me … that this program can help shorten that learning curve.”

Sarah Karp covers education for WBEZ. Nader Issa covers education for the Chicago Sun-Times.