# Chicago School Board Voter Guide

> Chicago Sun-Times builds 2026 school board voter guide with community input.
- Title: Chicago School Board Voter Guide · Chicago Sun-Times
- Summary: Chicago Sun-Times builds 2026 school board voter guide with community input. Chicago Sun-Times created a voter guide for 46 school board candidates with…
- Keywords: cps, school board, voter guide, chicago public schools, community input, education, campaign donations, endorsements, school board election, chicago school board, news, local
- Source: Chicago Sun-Times — https://chicago.suntimes.com/education/2026/09/21/how-we-made-the-cps-school-board-voter-guide
- Published: 2026-09-21T11:00:00+00:00
- Read time: 1 min
- Topics: cps, school board, voter guide, chicago public schools, community input, education, campaign donations, endorsements, school board election, chicago school board, news, local
## 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.
## Key takeaway

Chicago Sun-Times created a voter guide for 46 school board candidates with community input, including endorsements and campaign finance data.