The November elections for Chicago’s partially elected school board are not just a routine exercise in civic governance; they are a potentially decisive moment in the battle for the future of public education in Chicago. These elections pit two competing visions of education against one another: one rooted in the neoliberal, corporate-driven model that has dominated Chicago Public Schools for decades, and another based on grassroots, progressive policies that prioritize the needs of working-class, Black, Latino and immigrant communities.
In many ways the 2023 mayoral elections in Chicago were a referendum on public education as former CPS CEO Paul Vallas squared off with former teacher and Chicago Teachers Union organizer Brandon Johnson. Johnson is no socialist, by any means, despite the right-wing slander. The social and political forces that coalesced to push for his election, however, overlap with the base of support for working-class and socialist politics (labor unions, social movements, youth and people of color). In order to grasp the essence of the struggle being played out over education, and arguably any struggle in politics, we have to look deeper to the class essence of the matter.
As Russian revolutionary leader V.I. Lenin cogently put it: “People always have been the foolish victims of deception and self-deception in politics, and they always will be until they have learnt to seek out the interests of some class or other behind all moral, religious, political and social phrases, declarations and promises.”
CPS and mayoral control
CPS has a long and storied history shaped by the city’s broader struggles over racial and economic inequality. For much of the 20th Century, CPS functioned as an extension of the city’s segregated housing and labor policies, with Black and Latino students concentrated in underfunded, overcrowded schools. The Chicago Board of Education repeatedly resisted efforts to desegregate, even as civil rights activists, parents and educators fought for equitable schooling opportunities for all students.
In 1988, the Chicago School Reform Act established Local School Councils to serve as democratic governing bodies overseeing individual schools. In 1995, however, the Reform Act was amended to centralize control of Chicago Public Schools into the office of the mayor, then Richard M. Daley. This move, in coordination with the state GOP, represented a political backlash to the reform process started in 1988. In addition to giving the mayor the exclusive authority to appoint members to the Board of Education, the Amendatory Act of 1995 limited collective bargaining rights, enabled the Board to privatize school operations and renamed the position of “Superintendent” to “CEO.”
Notably, the CEO position did not require any experience in educational operations; in fact, the first CEO of CPS was none other than Paul Vallas, who served as the city budget director under Daley and would go on to oversee the proliferation of charter schools not only in Chicago, but also in Philadelphia and New Orleans.
Armed with a business-minded CEO and complete authority over the Board of Education, Daley ushered in an era of privatization, school closures and charter school expansion which disproportionately affected Black and Latino students. Subsequent mayors, most notoriously Rahm Emanuel, continued this assault on public education by closing 50 schools in 2013 and implementing budget cuts that devastated neighborhood schools while siphoning resources to charters, turnarounds and other privately operated public schools.
The struggle for an elected school board
The movement to establish an elected school board arose as a response to these inequities. For decades, educators, parents and activists demanded an end to mayoral control, arguing that it stripped local communities of their democratic rights. The CTU, alongside grassroots organizations, played a pivotal role in this fight, framing the struggle for an elected board as a key part of the broader battle against neoliberalism and systemic racism. This is a significant demarcation among organized labor, especially when put into the broader context of the retreat of the labor movement as a political movement following the launching of the Cold War.
In 2021, after years of organizing, Governor J.B. Pritzker signed legislation transitioning the school board from mayoral control to a partially elected body. The 2024 elections will be the first step in this transition, with 10 of the board’s 21 seats up for election. By 2027, the board will be fully elected, marking a significant shift in how CPS is governed.
Nov. 5 — competing visions for education — who will win?
The 2024 elections are not just about choosing school board members; they are a referendum on the future of public education in Chicago. The CTU-backed “Our Schools” campaign is fielding candidates committed to fully funding all schools, addressing homelessness, hunger and other needs which impact student learning, and ending the privatization of school workers. While some candidates on the slate are stronger than others, the “Our Schools” platform is one committed to educational equity and justice, recognizing that CPS has long failed its Black, Latino and working-class students.
On the other side, corporate-backed candidates, funded by billionaire donors and pro-charter school advocates, are pushing a vision of “school choice” that would further privatize public education. These candidates advocate for policies that prioritize charter school expansion, increased police presence in schools and austerity measures that could lead to more school closures and cuts to critical services.
One only needs to “follow the money” behind these pro-charter candidates, such as those endorsed by the Chicago Tribune, to understand exactly what — or rather, whose — interests they represent. Millions of dollars have been raised by Super PACs affiliated with the Illinois Network of Charter Schools and Urban Center, two groups committed to the expansion of charter schools. Among these millions includes several donations from out-of-state billionaires, such as more than $300,000 from Wal-Mart heir Jim Walton and $100,000 from Netflix chairman Reed Hastings.
The outcome of these elections will have a profound impact on CPS. If the CTU-backed candidates win, it will mark a significant victory for working-class families and could begin to reverse the damage caused by years of neoliberal policies. Conversely, if corporate-backed candidates prevail, CPS could see an acceleration of privatization efforts, which would deepen the inequalities that have long plagued the district.
So, what’s at stake for our class?
For Chicago’s working-class, racially and nationally oppressed communities, much more than just control of the school board is at stake in these elections. CPS serves more than 340,000 students, the majority of whom are Black, Latino or from working-class families. The “Our Schools” campaign represents a vision of public education that centers these students and their communities, ensuring that schools receive the resources they need to succeed. One need not agree on every single political point of every member proposed on this slate.
However, if pro-corporate, pro-charter candidates gain control of the board, it could result in further cuts to public schools, leading to larger class sizes, reduced services and a deepening reliance on charter schools that lack the accountability and oversight of neighborhood schools. For working-class families, this would mean fewer opportunities for their children to receive a quality education, perpetuating cycles of poverty and inequality, ultimately betraying the historical legacy of the Civil Rights and the Black and Chicano Power movements that laid the basis for our struggle today. There is an unbroken link between those struggles of the past and the ones of the present. This election will be a showdown between the forces of capital and labor, and the question confronts us all: which side are you on?
Nov. 5: showdown at the ballot box
After over a decade of determined struggle, led principally by the CTU and community allies, the people of Chicago will be able to cast their ballots for a school board that seeks to strengthen public education. The consequences of this election will be felt most acutely by Black, Latino and working-class students, whose futures depend on a fully funded, democratic and accountable public school system. For those committed to the struggle for social and economic justice, and to defeat the legacies of Jim Crow, segregation and corporate domination, the school board elections must be taken very seriously.
Yet while the upcoming elections offer potential for change, they also reveal the limits of bourgeois democracy. In a system that claims to serve the people, it is both ironic and hypocritical that billions are allocated for war, occupation and supporting Israel’s colonization of Palestine, while Chicago struggles to fund public schools and pay education workers fairly. In the past five years, taxpayers have shouldered nearly $400 million in police misconduct settlements. Meanwhile, Illinois Treasurer Michael Frerichs continues to invest public funds — at least $120 million since 2014, including $30 million added after October 2023 — in Israeli bonds, diverting crucial resources from local communities to support genocide.
Despite growing discontent with the U.S. government’s support for Israel’s genocide of Palestinians and the ongoing crimes of police, capitalist democracy fails to provide working people a real say in where their created wealth is spent. The struggle to fully fund public schools, both locally and nationally, exposes capitalism’s contradictions and anti-democratic nature. Revolutionary socialists must unite teachers, students and families; emphasize the class dynamics; intensify contradictions between workers and the ruling class; and build a cohesive movement to win the battle for democracy. The wealth to fully fund our schools exists; what’s missing is the political power to seize and allocate it for the benefit of the working class.
Feature photo: Community activists demonstrating in support of legislation calling for an elected representative school board in Chicago in 2017. Liberation photo
