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News coverage roundup: Chicago school board election results

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* [Note from Rich: I would disagree that CTU picked up four seats. District 1’s apparent winner Jennifer Custer was, indeed, endorsed by CTU, but she criticized the mayor numerous times and, by extension, the union. She won’t be an automatic CTU vote.] Tribune

Chicago voters have rejected Mayor Brandon Johnson’s education agenda as only four of 10 candidates endorsed by the powerful teacher’s union will hold seats on the city’s new hybrid Board of Education.

Though the races began as sleepy provincial contests, they quickly became a referendum on Johnson and his closely allied Chicago Teachers Union. The new mayor, whose 2023 campaign was bankrolled by the CTU, has struggled to retain control of the nation’s fourth-largest public school district and drawn criticism for plans to take out a high-interest, $300 million loan. […]

CTU spent at least $1.7 million in direct contributions to candidates as of Monday, largely in-kind contributions for field staffing, polling, advertising or voter outreach. In all but two races, the CTU-backed candidate had raised the largest sum. Spending caps were also lifted on nine of the races.

The Illinois Network of Charter Schools Political Action Committee had devoted nearly $2.3 million to either supporting or opposing school board candidates during that same time period. A second pro-school-choice PAC, the Urban Center, had devoted another $770,000.

Districts 1, 9, and 10 have yet to be called. Click here for the up-to-date totals.

* Sun-Times

Three races didn’t yet have a winner, and two of them remained neck-and-neck — the 1st District on the Northwest Side with a union hopeful with a small lead, the other in the South Side’s 10th District with an independent candidate slightly ahead. Another independent led in the 9th District by a wider margin.

With the union failing in six districts, a school system that has been under mayoral control for 30 years now looks likely to have a caucus of board members for the first time who aren’t in the mayor’s corner. Some of the groups that opposed the CTU in these elections called that a victory against Mayor Brandon Johnson, a former organizer for the union that vaulted him into office last year and remains a strong ally. […]

Candidates who received financial support from anti-CTU corners won in the 3rd, 4th and 8th Districts — Carlos Rivas Jr., Ellen Rosenfeld and Angel Gutierrez, respectively.

CTU-backed Yesenia Lopez won in the 7th District, adding to the wins by Brown and DeBerry. Jennifer Custer, another candidate endorsed by the CTU, held a small lead in the 1st District but hadn’t yet been declared the winner by the AP.

* Chalkbeat Chicago

At a union election watch party Tuesday night, Chicago Teachers Union president Stacy Davis Gates led the crowd in a chant of “Whose Schools? Our schools!”

She framed the election, which the union advocated for well before Johnson’s election as mayor, as a success: While not all union-endorsed candidates prevailed, Johnson, a close CTU ally, still gets to appoint 11 out of 21 members of the new, partly elected board.

“You all created an expansion of democracy in an entire society that’s toying with the idea of fascism,” Davis Gates said.

She decried an influx of large checks, including some from out-of-state billionaires, in support of pro-school choice candidates.

* Sun-Times

A pair of candidates running for spots on the first elected school board in Chicago said they were surprised at the level of political attacks against them during the campaign.

“The amount of attack ads from the Chicago Teachers Union was crazy,” Carlos Rivas, running to represent District 3, said at a Chicago Democrats for Education election party in River North on Tuesday night.

Rivas said some were comparing him to Republican former president Donald Trump, which made no sense.

“I’m a gay Latino man raised in the neighborhood,” he said.

* More…

posted by Isabel Miller
Wednesday, Nov 6, 24 @ 9:50 am

Comments

  1. Maybe it’s just me, but I wouldn’t exactly call winning 40% of the board seats a “rejection of the Mayor’s education agenda”

    Comment by Marky D Wednesday, Nov 6, 24 @ 9:57 am

  2. Given how fast and far Custer sprinted away from the mayor during the campaign, I don’t see her being a rubber stamp for CTU on the Board.

    Comment by Roman Wednesday, Nov 6, 24 @ 9:57 am

  3. Wait, CTU doesn’t have complete control over all Chicago elections? Huh.

    Comment by Excitable Boy Wednesday, Nov 6, 24 @ 10:12 am

  4. @ Marky D

    Agreed and considering the charter spent double what CTU did and the mayor’s current unpopularity, I thought every CTU candidate was going to lose.

    Comment by Chicago Blue Wednesday, Nov 6, 24 @ 10:26 am

  5. @Roman Especially because most of her support came from the trade unions. She seems to be more of a middle ground candidate than CTU one.

    Comment by ElTacoBandito Wednesday, Nov 6, 24 @ 10:32 am

  6. CPS should put a referendum to the voters. While also advocating for more school funding alongside the other school districts. CTU attacks the Superintendent for not advocating enough at the State level. We’ll what the about advocacy at the local level. Many school board referendums passed (Indian Prairie, Barrington, Park Ridge, Wheaton, Barrington, Bloomingdale, Salt Creek). And some failed (Summit Hill). And then there are the city, park district, etc. referendums. Ask the voters. Or have they hired a consultant to do some polling and already know the answer?

    Comment by Two Left Feet Wednesday, Nov 6, 24 @ 10:42 am

  7. And keep in mind that Mayor Johnson has already lost control of a previous board he handpicked. Given that, we shouldn’t assume that he will be able to lockdown the support of the CTU-supported elected members — or even the new 10 appointed members he will soon select. It takes a special level of political incompetence to make that so, but that’s where we’re at.

    Comment by Roman Wednesday, Nov 6, 24 @ 11:11 am

  8. - ElTacoBandito - Wednesday, Nov 6, 24 @ 10:32 am:

    Gee whiz, it’s as if most simplistic media narratives are invented to fit people’s pre-existing biases and do not reflect reality.

    Comment by Google Is Your Friend Wednesday, Nov 6, 24 @ 11:27 am

  9. SDG is clueless about what yesterday’s vote meant. It was not just against the CTU. It was also a message to the Mayor.

    Comment by Amalia Wednesday, Nov 6, 24 @ 11:30 am

  10. @ Mark D

    More like winning only 33% of the board as one member ran unopposed.

    Comment by My Thoughts Wednesday, Nov 6, 24 @ 11:47 am

  11. =Ask the voters.=

    My guess is that don’t want to do that for a couple of (maybe 3) reasons:

    1) They don’t want a tax increase to stick to them, better that someone else wears that jacket. They also likely know how unpopular these types of referenda are.

    2) Referendums are a lot of work. A lot.

    3) They want someone else to own to fix the problem. Activists tell you there is a problem but usually (at least in CTU’s case) don’t have a realistic fix. That is an unfair top all activists statement so I would just say CTU and not everyone else.

    Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Nov 6, 24 @ 11:56 am

  12. Yesenia Lopez also distanced herself from the Mayor.

    Comment by Peoples Republic of Oak Park Wednesday, Nov 6, 24 @ 12:08 pm

  13. Ebony and Brown are the only two elected that will be beholden to the Mayor and CTU.
    They will have 13 of 21 spots but we see how well the fully appointed board of Johnson’ worked out this past month. Hopefully some vetting is being done this time around.

    Comment by Coach Wednesday, Nov 6, 24 @ 12:22 pm

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