School Board Elections 2024

As voters cast their ballots for members of Chicago’s first elected school board, Chalkbeat hosted live Q&A forums with the candidates so you can stay informed and get to know each candidate.

Chalkbeat, WBEZ, and the Chicago Sun-Times partnered to get to know the candidates running for school board and ask them a series of policy questions. Use this guide to search who is running and find out where they stand on the issues.

Chicagoans will elect school board members for the first time on Nov. 5. Here’s a guide to who is running in each district.

Profiles of School Board Candidates, by District

Learn more about the candidates in your district. These profiles were published in partnership with Block Club Chicago.

Explaining Chicago Public Schools

More Chicago Election News

Since April 1, nearly $4 million has flowed into candidates’ campaign funds and more than $2.8 million has been spent by two pro-school choice independent expenditure committees.

The remarks from Rev. Mitchell Ikenna Johnson raised questions about how well city officials vetted him before the mayor appointed him as president of the Chicago Board of Education

As voters cast their ballots for members of Chicago’s first elected school board, Chalkbeat hosted live Q&A forums with the candidates so you can stay informed and get to know each candidate.

Chicago Public Schools raised pay and added staff with the help of federal COVID aid. The loss of that money is fueling leadership turmoil.

The resignations will come after weeks of pressure from Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration to oust CPS CEO Pedro Martinez and take out a high-interest loan to cover costs — which the mayor’s appointed board has so far declined to do.

The pro-school choice advocacy group contributed enough in several board districts to lift campaign contribution limits for all candidates.

The Chicago neighborhoods that either Raquel Don, Yesenia Lopez, or Eva A. Villalobos will represent include Pilsen, Little Village, Bridgeport, and Brighton Park.

The Chicago neighborhoods that Therese Boyle, Miquel Lewis, Lanetta Thomas, and La’Mont Raymond Williams will represent include Washington Heights, Beverly, and Auburn-Gresham.

The Chicago neighborhoods that Kate Doyle, Ebony DeBerry, Maggie Cullerton Hooper, or Bruce Leon will represent include parts of West Ridge, Edgewater, Rogers Park, Andersonville, Lincoln Square, Albany Park, North Park, and Uptown.

Kimberly Brown, Andrew A. Davis, Thomas Day, Carmen Gioiosa, Ellen Rosenfeld, and Karen Zaccor come from different backgrounds, ranging from teaching and community organizing to marketing and the military.

Chicago School Board District 5 stretches from the West Loop to Austin. There is one candidate on the ballot — Aaron ‘Jitu’ Brown — and two people running as write-ins: Jousef Shkoukani and Kernetha Jones.

The Chicago neighborhoods that either Jennifer Custer or Michelle N. Pierre will represent include Jefferson Park, Edison Park, Portage Park, and Norwood Park.

The Chicago neighborhoods that either Angel Gutierrez or Felix Ponce will represent stretch from the South Loop to McKinley Park, and Back of the Yards.

The Chicago neighborhoods where Robert Jones, Karin Norington-Reaves, Adam Parrott-Sheffer, and Che 'Rhymefest' Smith are vying for a school board seat stretch from Hyde Park to the Illinois-Indiana border.

District 6 has three candidates on the ballot and one write-in candidate running for a seat in Chicago’s first school board race. Here’s what you should know.

The Chicago neighborhoods that Jason Dónes or Carlos Rivas Jr. will represent include parts of Humboldt Park, Hermosa, Belmont Cragin, Logan Square, Avondale, Old Irving Park, and Mayfair.

Chalkbeat, WBEZ, and the Chicago Sun-Times partnered to get to know the candidates running for school board and ask them a series of policy questions. Use this guide to search who is running and find out where they stand on the issues.

Chicago’s Board of Education oversees policies that can impact how well students do in school. Academic performance has improved at CPS over the past three decades, but there is vast room for improvement.

The Chicago Board of Education owns more than 800 school buildings, annexes, and other property. It would cost $14.4 billion to update and repair all of Chicago’s public school buildings.