How we made the CPS School Board voter guide

The voter guide includes information about all 46 candidates, endorsements, and campaign donations totals.

Community input for voter guide

We worked with Chalkbeat Chicago and Block Club Chicago to ask voters and parents about educational issues and questions for candidates.

Over 900 community responses

More than 900 people from neighborhoods across Chicago responded, representing over 260 CPS schools.

Key community concerns

People cared most about improving reading skills, preparing students for life after graduation, and equitably funding schools.

Specific community requests

Torrence Winfrey wanted CPS board members to focus on vocational education for students with real employable skills.

“focus on vocational education for students where they graduate with real employable skills”

Candidate questionnaire

We sent a questionnaire to all 43 candidates who filed petitions to run for the school board.

Candidate questions

Lawanda Kelly asked about the single most overlooked factor impacting instructional effectiveness in CPS classrooms.

“the single most overlooked factor impacting instructional effectiveness in CPS classrooms”

Fact-checking process

Biographical information was fact-checked using candidate questionnaires, resumes, campaign websites, and interviews.

Endorsements included

We list only organizations that do education-related work and education-focused political action committees.

Voter guide availability

The voter guide is available in English, Spanish, and Chinese online, with 30,000 printed copies for distribution.

Upcoming forum

A forum for the four school board president candidates will be held on Oct 14 at 8 pm on WBEZ 91.5.

Student participation

The forum will feature questions from Chicago Public Schools students to increase news literacy for future voters.