Mayor Brandon Johnson has told the Illinois Senate president he would like to see 10 school board seats up for election this November, a decision that could help reignite stalled Springfield negotiations.
Some of the most critical details of the city’s first-ever school board elections remain up in the air just nine months from Election Day, including exactly how many board members voters will elect in the fall.
Johnson, who previously hadn’t publicly shared his view on the debate, said this week he would like to stick with the original legislation, which established a 21-member board with 10 elected this November and the mayor appointing the other 11, including the board president. Those 11 seats would then be up for election in November 2026.
In a letter to Illinois Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, dated Tuesday and obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times, Johnson said the 2021 school board legislation “clearly communicated to interested parties the timeline and structure of the initial elections, thereby informing their plans for participation.”
“Those agreements should be honored to allow for the intended phased transition to a fully elected school board,” Johnson wrote.
“I was personally involved in negotiating ... the bill you helped pass in 2021 that created a phased-in elected board,” the mayor said. “We engaged in multiple discussions specifically about that proposal at the end of the 2021 spring session. I remain proud of the work of all stakeholders who contributed to the process and my role in ushering in greater democracy to the Chicago Public Schools.”
The mayor’s stance aligns with the Chicago Teachers Union and would help him keep control of Chicago Public Schools through the end of his term.
Johnson also backed stronger ethical provisions that Harmon called for last fall. Back then, Harmon criticized ethics protections in a CTU-backed House bill as “woefully inadequate.” The rules Johnson said he supports would prevent the owner or employee of a company that has a contract with CPS from serving on the Board of Education.
Harmon said through a spokesman Friday that he will review Johnson’s message with Senate Democrats. The Illinois Senate is in session three days next week, though it’s unclear how soon legislators will move to finalize the bill.
“I appreciate the mayor’s clear direction on his preferred path forward, including his support for the strong ethics provisions contained in the Senate proposal,” Harmon said.
The original 2021 legislation was a compromise, establishing a hybrid board before transitioning to a fully elected one. Most pushing for an elected board — including the CTU — had wanted all 21 seats elected simultaneously, and this past fall, Harmon unexpectedly reopened the door to do just that.
Harmon faced initial pushback from the CTU, which had accepted the compromise and spent the past couple years planning for only 10 races to start. The dispute has led to a delay in determining the election’s rules. If the situation isn’t resolved soon, prospective candidates will have an abnormally short window to file petitions.
In a December interview, Davis Gates said the union wasn’t entirely opposed to all board seats coming up for election this year, but she said Harmon needed to explain why that was now possible when he previously argued against it. She denied claims that the CTU had flipped its position because it wasn’t prepared to potentially finance and campaign in 21 races.
“That’s never the question,” she said then. “You’re asking an organizing union is it prepared to organize? Well, that’s kind of what we do.”
Many other key details appear to be resolved. An election map has been approved. Members of the new board will likely not be paid. And it doesn’t appear as though non-citizens will be allowed to vote, dashing the hopes of activists who wanted that guarantee in the original bill.
Contributing: Tina Sfondeles, Sarah Karp
