CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Supporters of the effort to give Chicago an elected school board will have to try again in Springfield.
The bill that would allow people in Chicago to vote for 21 school board positions as early as 2023 wasn't even called for a vote Wednesday during the Illinois General Assembly’s lame-duck session.
An elected school board in Chicago would require a change in state law. It has been a longtime goal of education reform activists.
Community groups uniting as the Grassroots Education Movement, along with the Chicago Teachers Union, who support the bill focused their anger on Senate President Don Harmon and Mayor Lightfoot, who they claim lobbied against the bill behind the scenes.
“We are outraged that despite widespread public support, support from two thirds of the State Senate, and a Mayor that ran on a campaign promise of an elected school board, HB2267 was once again not called for a vote,” the Grassroots Education Movement said in a statement Wednesday. “Chicago will remain the only school district in Illinois without an elected school board.”
While Lightfoot has said that she supported the idea of changing state law to give Chicago an elected school board, she said the idea needs more discussion.
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Proponents said an elected school board would better represent CPS families.
The bill set out that 21 members would be chosen in consolidated primary elections in 2023 and 2027. The city would be divided into 20 districts with locally selected representatives, with the president elected at large. By June 2029, legislators would have to review the matter and reauthorize the practice of electing the board. Without reauthorization, the board in 2031 would revert to a seven-member body appointed by the mayor.