FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 4, 2024

CHICAGO SCHOOL BOARD CANDIDATES SHARE THEIR POSITIONS ON THE ISSUES

A Collective of Chicagoland Advocacy Organizations Conducted a Survey to Help Voters Get to Know Their School Board Candidates

(Chicago) – The School Board Voter Education Initiative, a group of parent, educator, and community organizations committed to increasing voter awareness of the upcoming school board election, conducted a survey of Chicago School Board candidates to get their perspective on the issues and share unbiased information about them to their constituents.

This November marks the first time Chicago will be able to vote for its school board members. Despite this being a historic moment for the city, a Joyce Foundation Poll found that only 36% of Chicagoans are aware of the upcoming school board election. “This is the first time voters will elect a CPS school board member, which is a tremendously exciting opportunity,” said Natasha Dunn, a Chicago parent and Digital Organizing Manager with Stand for Children. “It also means there is not as much awareness about this opportunity as other offices.” In response to the lack of awareness, nine advocacy organizations came together to make sure voters are as informed as possible about their candidates, thus creating The School Board Voter Education Initiative. 

The Initiative developed an extensive survey that asked candidates from each district to share their position on topics like the budget, busing, and equity. The survey questions were curated by parents, students, teachers, and community members who shared what they most wanted to know from their school board candidates.

Voters can explore the survey results and see how their candidates responded by visiting votecps.org. “We hope this tool will be helpful to our neighbors as they prepare to cast their votes,” said Dunn. The new elected school board will allow Chicagoans to have a greater voice in public education, and this survey gives them the opportunity to make an informed decision on who they want to represent their vision for the future of education in Chicago Public Schools.

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The School Board Voter Education Initiative is a group of parent, educator, and community organizations committed to increasing voter awareness of the upcoming school board election and sharing unbiased information about the candidates on their ballot.

In December, we sounded the alarm when CPS’ board adopted a vision to transition away from public school options.  But Chicago parents stepped up and spoke out. This morning, the Chicago School Board called a Special Board meeting to pass their five-year strategic plan for CPS schools that calls for “supporting schools across multiple models, including neighborhood schools, selective enrollment, magnet, charter, and other programming options that meet the needs of our students and their communities.” 

In our January poll, we found that 82% of Chicago voters and 86% of Chicago parents believe families in CPS should be able to choose the public school that best meets their student’s needs, whether that’s their neighborhood school, a school in another neighborhood, or a magnet, selective enrollment, or charter school. 

The five-year plan includes many other equity-centered positive goals: an ambitious expansion of access to early college credits and career credentials for high schoolers, curbing high rates of absenteeism for our youngest learners, boosting the number of students who can read proficiently by third grade, a steep reduction in out-of-school suspensions and expulsions for students of color, and expansion of dual language programs. 

We are optimistic that the Board was responsive to community input, and we look forward to continuing our fight for equitable access to education for all Illinois students.

Stand for Children Calls on the Senate to Save Critical Bill

The following statement can be attributed to Jessica Handy, Illinois Executive Director of Stand for Children:

“HB 303 would extend the moratorium on school closures for ALL Chicago Public Schools until the fully elected school board is seated. ALL of them. Magnet, charter, neighborhood, selective enrollment. ALL of them.

This isn’t a bill about protecting a small group of selective enrollment schools from closure. A commitment to not close a narrow segment of selective enrollment schools is not an alternative to HB 303.

Opponents have called selective enrollment schools racist, while promising they have no intention of closing them. The same assurances have not been given to charter, magnet, and neighborhood schools from closures. CPS’s charter schools serve a student body that is 98% Black and Latino/a. Sixty-five percent of CPS’s Black students attend a school of choice rather than their zoned school, including 84% of Black high school students in CPS. Half of CPS’s Latino/a students attend a school of choice rather than their zoned school, including 71% of high school students.

In December, the CPS school board passed a resolution imposing its vision to “transition away from” selective enrollment, charter, and magnet schools. We polled Chicago families to ask how they felt about that vision, and 82% of respondents believe CPS families should be able to choose the public school that best meets their student’s needs, whether that’s their neighborhood school, a school in another neighborhood, or a magnet, selective enrollment, or charter school. Sixty-four percent of voters believe eliminating school choice would limit opportunities and increase segregation. 

A student’s zip code should never determine the quality of public education they receive. Public school choice will always be available to families who can afford to move and live in areas with better quality schools. The students who will be hurt by “transitioning away from” schools of choice are not the ones with resources – they are those who are already the most disadvantaged and marginalized. If ‘HB 303 seeks to solve problems that do not exist’ and CPS truly does not intend to close or disproportionately cut options schools, then it makes very little sense to fight HB 303.”