Will the Senate Fold on Elected Chicago School Board?
The House and Senate have yet to find agreement on the makeup of a new elected Chicago School Board, as both sides are hoping to get the new board on the ballot this November.
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When lawmakers left Springfield at the conclusion of the fall veto session, the House and Senate seemed miles apart addressing the makeup of a new elected Chicago School Board.
As lawmakers return to the Capitol Thursday, there are signs the Senate could be moving toward adopting the House version of the plan, but there has been little communication between the two sides, we’re told.
The House version, passed by Rep. Ann Williams (D-Chicago), would create a hybrid Chicago school board, consolidating 20 districts to 10 for voters to select and allow Mayor Brandon Johnson to appoint the other 10 until the 2026 election.
The Senate version, passed by Senate President Don Harmon, moves to a 20-district, fully elected school board immediately.
We’re told the two sides haven’t spoken since the fall veto session, but last week, the Senate put the House version of the bill on the calendar for a vote as early as this week.
In a statement, Williams encouraged the Senate to pass the House version of the bill.
“With the historic first school board election less than a year away, we hope the Senate will act now so that the transition to a fully elected school board can begin, prospective candidates can review district boundaries and Chicagoans will have the opportunity to vote for a representative school board for the first time this November," she said.
A spokesman for Harmon did not respond to a request for comment Monday.
Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot was heavily involved in the negotiations of the bill, but we’re told new Mayor Brandon Johnson has taken a far more “hands off” approach.
In conversations with multiple Senators and insiders, nobody could say, or was willing to say, what Harmon’s plan with the bill is.