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For the first time in Chicago’s history, voters on Tuesday chose 10 people to be on the city’s partially elected, 21-member school board.
Now there’s a new question: Who will Mayor Brandon Johnson choose as the remaining 11 board members?
Chicagoans may not know the answer for another month because state law gives Johnson until Dec. 16 to make his appointments.
But early election results, the mayor’s recent overhaul of the school board, and the mayor’s alliances provide some clues as to whom Johnson could pick. The mayor’s office did not respond to requests for an interview in time for this story.
Preliminary election results show that four winners were backed by the teachers union — the mayor’s close ally — in Districts 1, 2, 5, and 7. Three more people, backed by pro-school choice groups, won in Districts 3, 4, and 8. And the remaining winners, in Districts 6, 9, and 10, did not take money or volunteer support from the union, pro-charter, or pro-school choice groups.
With 11 appointments and four ideologically aligned elected members, Johnson will still hold significant control over the school system as it transitions out of 30 years of straight mayoral control.
The former seven-person board that resigned en masse — six whom Johnson appointed — acted on several of the mayor’s priorities, including removing police officers from school campuses, implementing a new school funding formula, and passing a strategic plan that focuses on neighborhood schools.
The mayor’s new majority could again be instrumental for him to push through his preferred agenda, including ousting CPS CEO Pedro Martinez or taking out a short-term loan to pay for pension and labor union obligations. It could also keep the board from approving school closures, since a state law that prevents such closures in Chicago is set to expire Jan. 15, 2025, the same day the new board will be sworn in.
However, there are some restrictions on whom Johnson can now appoint.
According to state law, each school board district is split into two subdistricts for the purposes of the 2026 election and beyond. Tuesday’s winners become incumbents in the subdistrict in which they live. The law spells out that between now and Dec. 16, Johnson must appoint school board members who live in the opposite subdistrict of the winning candidate.
In an interview with Chalkbeat last month on the day the entire previous school board resigned, Deputy Mayor Jen Johnson said the mayor’s office has been “thinking about and monitoring the machinations” in the election. Asked if the mayor was gaming out different scenarios, or considering people who live in both parts of each district, Deputy Mayor Johnson, who is currently on leave, declined to elaborate.
“I’m not going to get into details, but we’ve taken it all into account,” she said.
Will the mayor pick losing school board candidates?
The mayor could appoint people who ran for school board and were endorsed by his ally, the teachers union, but did not win a seat.
There are three people who fit the bill: Karen Zaccor, Anusha Thotakura, and Felix Ponce.
Zaccor, a longtime community organizer and retired teacher, lost her bid to represent District 4 to Ellen Rosenfeld. Rosenfeld lives in 4B, but Zaccor lives in 4A. In an interview with Chalkbeat on Wednesday, Zaccor said the mayor’s office has not yet approached her about being appointed. If Johnson does, she would accept.
“I’m not in any way shape or form going to be a puppet for anybody, but yeah, I think I can contribute things that other people cannot based on having just come out of the classroom and also coming from a long history of being part of fighting for equity,” Zaccor said.
In District 6, the union-backed candidate Anusha Thotakura lives in 6A, opposite of winner Jessica Biggs, who lives in 6B. Thotakura said Wednesday she has not heard from the mayor’s office but that it “will really be an honor to be considered by the mayor to be appointed as an independent thinker who did receive a lot of community support.”
“I think we do share a lot of values and a vision for high quality public schools in our city, so to that extent, it really would be an honor to be considered,” she told Chalkbeat.
In District 8, Felix Ponce is the union-endorsed candidate who lives in 8B, opposite of winner Angel Gutierrez, who resides in 8A. Ponce did not immediately return a call asking for comment.
Could newly appointed board members stay on?
Johnson already appointed a new set of people to the school board last month, after the previous board resigned en masse. One member — the board president — has already resigned amid a swirl of controversy related to past antisemitic, misogynistic, and conspiratorial online comments.
Although the mayor claimed the new appointments were part of a transition plan, he will now need to re-evaluate his appointments in light of who won Tuesday’s school board races.
Chalkbeat analyzed public records, including property records, filings with Cook County and Illinois Board of Elections, to determine where the new current school board members reside. That does not rule out the possibility that they may have moved recently.
Michillia Blaise, a current school board member who ran in District 5 on the West Side but later dropped out, could stay on as a Johnson appointment because her last known address is in 5B, opposite of Jitu Brown, who won Tuesday night. Brown was the only candidate on the ballot in District 5 and lives in 5A. Blaise used to live in an Albany Park home she owns but is now separated from her husband and lives with her two children in a property owned by her mother in East Garfield Park, in District 5, she told Chalkbeat over the summer.
Another new school board appointee, Mary Gardner, would likely have to step down since her last known address is in the same part of District 5 as Brown’s home. The mayor could select either Gardner or Brown as board president, however, because the person in that role can live anywhere in Chicago. The board will begin to transition into a fully elected board in 2026, so voters will also choose the board president at that time.
Board members Debby Pope and Olga Bautista could also stay on, since their last known addresses according to public records are on the opposite sides of winners in Districts 2 and 10, respectively.
Ebony Deberry, a union-backed candidate, won in District 2 and lives in 2A, while Pope listed an address in 2B on paperwork she filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections when she was mulling a run for school board.
Che ‘Rhymefest’ Smith, an independent candidate, appears to have won in District 10 and lives on the 10A side. Bautista, a longtime environmental activist who ran for alderperson in the 10th Ward on the far southeast side by the Indiana border in 2015, owns a home in 10Bb, according to Cook County property records.
Board member Frank Niles Thomas appears to own a home in subdistrict 9A, according to Cook County property records. That would allow Thomas to stay on, since his home is on the opposite side of District 9 presumed winner Therese Boyle, who lives in 9B according to Chicago Board of Elections records.
How will the mayor determine whom to appoint?
The Mayor’s Office did not respond to Chalkbeat’s requests to interview the mayor about how he’s thinking through school board appointments. But at a press conference last month, he talked about the process.
“There are plenty of people who want to be on the school board.” Johnson said. “We don’t have an issue with that.”
He also reiterated several times that he still holds the sole power to appoint people. There is no formal or public process for expressing interest.
“I have the authority to vet as many people as I want,” Johnson said.
In Tuesday’s election, the candidates in District 1 and 3 both lived in the same subdistrict. There are no losing candidates or current school board members living in the opposite subdistrict.
In District 7, Yesenia Lopez lives in the 7A subdistrict, according to Chicago Board of Elections records from this election cycle. Both of her opponents live in the opposite subdistrict, 7B, but neither are ideologically aligned with Johnson. Current appointed board member Rafael Yanez appears to own a home in District 7, based on Cook County property records and city building permits, but that home is in the same subdistrict as Lopez.
Samantha Smylie and Becky Vevea contributed.
Reema Amin is a reporter covering Chicago Public Schools. Contact Reema at ramin@chalkbeat.org.
