uncontested in their respective districts<\/a>.<\/p>\nMeanwhile, in two other districts, only the elected incumbents filed to run. Neither is aligned with CTU: Ellen Rosenfeld in District 4B on the North Side and Angel Gutierrez in District 8A on the Southwest Side.<\/p>\n
Notably, sitting board member Yesenia Lopez, representing District 7B on the Southwest Side, did not receive an endorsement. She was elected with CTU support but has often diverged from the union, increasingly voting with a bloc of independent elected members on issues such as charter schools and the district’s budget.<\/p>\n
This election cycle, CTU is again expected to go toe to toe with special interest groups supporting charter schools and school choice.<\/p>\n
In 2024, the union’s two political action committees spent $4.3 million, more than any other group, according to a Chalkbeat analysis. Super PACs for the Illinois Network of Charter Schools and Urban Center together spent $3.5 million.<\/p>\n
To decide endorsements, the union’s political committee meets with candidates and reviews questionnaires. The CTU House of Delegates, which is made up of roughly 700 members, must approve the list in a majority vote.<\/p>\n
Kathryn Zamarr\u00f3n, the legislative committee chair of CTU’s political action committee, said voters should trust that teachers know the best path forward for the district.<\/p>\n
“Nobody questions that doctors should run hospitals \u2026 The doctors, who are experts, should run that organization,” Zamarr\u00f3n said. “So, why wouldn’t teachers? Why wouldn’t paraprofessionals?”<\/p>\n
The SEIU Illinois State Council also endorsed 13 candidates Tuesday, including current board appointees, elected incumbents and a mix of new candidates with and without CTU endorsements. SEIU Local 73 represents 13,000 support staff in CPS, a group that could similarly serve as a powerful mobilizing force.<\/p>\n
Only four candidates have both CTU and an SEIU backing. The two unions were once close allies, but their relations have frayed over the past year after a turf war over district employees.<\/p>\n
SEIU did not endorse a candidate in the board president race, but Local 73 President Dian Palmer said union leaders “are still having discussions.”<\/p>\n
“We want the best for our workers, and the workers want the best for our students,” Palmer said. “We don’t take it lightly.”<\/p>\n
The CTU has endorsed the following school board candidates:Board President<\/p>\n
Hilario Dominguez<\/p>\n
District 1A<\/p>\n
Ed Bannon<\/p>\n
District 1B<\/p>\n
Claudia Peralta<\/p>\n
District 2A<\/p>\n
Ebony DeBerry<\/p>\n
District 2B<\/p>\n
Deborah “Debby” Pope<\/p>\n
District 3A<\/p>\n
Norma Rios-Sierra<\/p>\n
District 3B<\/p>\n
Jason Dones<\/p>\n
District 4A<\/p>\n
Karen Zaccor<\/p>\n
District 5A<\/p>\n
Aaron “Jitu” Brown<\/p>\n
District 5B<\/p>\n
Michilla Blaise<\/p>\n
District 6A<\/p>\n
Anusha Thotakura<\/p>\n
District 7A<\/p>\n
Emma Lozano<\/p>\n
District 9B<\/p>\n
Katherine Dunneback<\/p>\n
District 10A<\/p>\n
Tameka Walton (write-in candidate)<\/p>\n
District 10B<\/p>\n
Connie Anderson<\/p>\n
The SEIU has endorsed the following candidates:District 1A<\/p>\n
Ed Bannon*<\/p>\n
District 1B<\/p>\n
Claudia Peralta*<\/p>\n
District 2A<\/p>\n
Ebony DeBerry*<\/p>\n
District 3A<\/p>\n
Norma Rios-Sierra*<\/p>\n
District 3B<\/p>\n
Carlos Rivas<\/p>\n
District 4A<\/p>\n
Ellen Sherratt<\/p>\n
District 4B<\/p>\n
Ellen Rosenfeld<\/p>\n
District 7A<\/p>\n
Jesus Ayala, Jr.<\/p>\n
District 7B<\/p>\n
Yesenia Lopez<\/p>\n
District 8A<\/p>\n
Angel Gutierrez<\/p>\n
District 9A<\/p>\n
Brittany Preston<\/p>\n
District 9B<\/p>\n
Therese Boyle<\/p>\n
District 10A<\/p>\n
Che “Rhymefest” Smith<\/p>\n
*Candidates who are endorsed by both CTU and SEIU<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Chicago Teachers Union has endorsed a slate of 15 candidates for the 21 seats on the city’s…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":935144,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[318888,205365,11125,960,139400,376893,5386,1818,376892,304895],"class_list":["post-935143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-board-members","tag-board-president","tag-candidates","tag-chicago","tag-ctu","tag-elected-members","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-representing-district","tag-school-board-races"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116920465968529105","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935143","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=935143"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/935143\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/935144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=935143"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=935143"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=935143"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}