Source: ballotpedia.org
51 candidates have filed to run for the 21 seats on the Chicago Board of Education, including 20 district seats and one at large president position.
Voters will directly elect all members on November 3, 2026, marking the final step in ending mayor appointed control of Chicago’s school board.
51 candidates are running for Chicago’s first fully elected school board
Five candidates are running for the powerful president’s seat, but incumbents are running unopposed in two districts. The other 18 districts have competitive races with two or three contenders.
Minutes after the clock struck 5 p.m., Patricia Easley sat on a window ledge in the Chicago Board of Elections supersite furiously signing her name.
“Thank you. It means so much to me,” she said to the election workers waiting for her.
Easley wanted to run to represent a Chicago School Board district on the city’s West Side that’s currently held by longtime activist Jitu Brown. But when the official list of candidates came out Tuesday evening, she wasn’t among the 51 names.
Tuesday was the deadline to enter the race for a seat on Chicago’s first fully elected school board. All 20 district seats and the citywide president position will be up for grabs in the Nov. 3 election. Voters will get to cast a ballot for a school board member in their community, plus the president.
About a dozen people showed up in the final hour to submit their petitions in hopes of landing a prominent spot on the bottom of the ballot.